Located behind the Guildhall in the City of London, a small garden square marks the site where the Church of St. Mary Aldermanbury once stood. Today, visitors to Aldermanbury Garden can find a bust of William Shakespeare. The monument is actually a memorial to John Heminge and Henry Condell, fellow actors and friends of Shakespeare who lived in the parish and were buried at St. Mary Aldermanbury. It is due to them that the works of the greatest English playwright were preserved for the world to enjoy. Following Shakespeare’s death in 1616, Heminge and Condell collected Shakespeare’s works and published the ‘First Folio’ in 1623. The memorial reads, ‘We have but collected them…to keep the memory of so worthy a friend and fellow alive, as was our Shakespeare’. The actual footings of the original 15th century church can also be found within the garden square. The original church was damaged during the Great Fire in 1666 and was rebuilt by Christopher Wren. Later, Wren’s church was nearly destroyed by bombs during WWII, and it was never rebuilt on the original site. Instead, the structure was moved stone-by-stone to Fulton, Missouri USA where it was reconstructed on the campus of Westminster College as a museum and memorial to Winston Churchill who made his famous ‘Iron Curtain’ speech at Fulton in 1946.
- Aldermanbury Garden
- Aldermanbury, London EC2