IDENTITY STATEMENT
Reference code(s): GB 0074 P96/CLE
Held at: London Metropolitan Archives
Title: SAINT CLEMENT DANES: STRAND, WESTMINSTER
Date(s): 1579-1580
Level of description: Collection
Extent: 0.07 linear metres
Name of creator(s): St Clement Danes Church, City of Westminster | Church of England
CONTEXT
Administrative/Biographical history:
The origins of the name "Saint Clement Danes" remains unclear; any connection with Danish peoples is uncertain although an account by John Stow suggests that "Harold [Harefoot], a Danish king and other Danes were buried here". Another tradition holds that it became the church of the Danish community in the ninth century who had been expelled from the City of London - the church stands at the entrance to the City at the end of Fleet Street. Between 1170 and 1312 it was in the care of the Knights Templar. The church survived the Great Fire but shortly afterwards it became so decayed that rebuilding became essential. A new church by Sir Christopher Wren was completed by 1682, with a steeple added by James Gibbs in 1719.
In 1941, extensive bomb damage gutted the church. It was restored between 1953 and 1958 by WAS Lloyd, paid for with contributions from the Royal Air Force and Allied Forces. It became the Central Church of the Royal Air Force. Inside the church there are many items relating to the air-force including Remembrance Books, colours and standards, and the names of 19,000 American airmen based here during the war, commemorated in a special shrine.
Saint Clements Danes is one of the churches referred to in the popular nursery-rhyme 'Oranges and Lemons'.
Information from The London Encyclopaedia, eds. Weinreb and Hibbert (LMA Library Reference 67.2 WEI).
CONTENT
Scope and content/abstract:
Churchwarden's financial accounts for the church of Saint Clement Danes, Strand, Westminster.
ACCESS AND USE
Language/scripts of material: English
System of arrangement:
One document.
Conditions governing access:
These records are available for public inspection, although records containing personal information are subject to access restrictions under the UK Data Protection Act, 1998.
Conditions governing reproduction:
Copyright to these records rests with the depositor.
Physical characteristics:
Fit
Finding aids:
Please see online catalogues at: http://search.lma.gov.uk/opac_lma/index.htm
ARCHIVAL INFORMATION
Archival history:
Immediate source of acquisition:
Records deposited in 1919 as part of the Harben Bequest.
ALLIED MATERIALS
Related material:
See also O/540 for a report from the London County Council containing a list of coffins removed from the vault, 1955. A register from 1558 is held at Westminster City Archive.
DESCRIPTION NOTES
Date(s) of descriptions: April to June 2010.