Queen Victoria granted the Welsh community the right to worship at St. Benet Paul’s Wharf in 1879, and services have been held in the Welsh language here ever since. A church dedicated to St. Benet (or Benedict) has stood on this site since 1111, and excavations under nearby Paul’s Wharf revealed Roman foundations. Shakespeare refers to the ‘bells of St. Benet’ in Twelfth Night, and it is believed that both Anne Boleyn and Lady Jane Grey may have received the last rites at St Benet on the way to their executions at the Tower. St Benet has also been the Church of the nearby College of Arms since 1555, and the Officers of Arms still have their own seats within the church while their personal banners hang from the gallery. The current church was designed by Sir Christopher Wren and was completed in 1685. There are only four of Wren’s churches in the City that stand undamaged following the Second World War, and St. Benet’s is the only church that has not required extensive renovation work.
- Guild Church of St Benet Paul’s Wharf
- Queen Victoria Street, London EC4V 4ER
- www.stbenetwelshchurch.org.uk
- Underground: St. Paul’s