London's 100 Best Churches

A chalice is among items stolen from St Giles-in-the-Fields during the night.

Entry is thought to have been made about 3.40am on Thursday 28 June.

ITV News has pictures.

Canon Samuel Wells will be inducted as vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields on Monday 2 July at 6.30pm.

He will be installed by the Bishop of London who says: “St Martin’s has an international role – it is very appropriate that someone with international experience has been appointed to develop the next chapter in the church’s story.  The growth of the Chinese Church at St Martin’s, under the Revd Paul Lau, is an especially important aspect of its life and I look forward to supporting Sam Wells as he strengthens the links between London and Chinese Christians.”

Sam Wells was Dean of the Chapel and Research Professor of Christian Ethics at Duke University in North Carolina, USA

He succeeds Nicholas Holtam who is now Bishop of Salisbury.

The sound of Bow Bells can now be downloaded thanks to The Times Atlas.

The idea came about when it was pointed out that the sound of the bells of St Mary-le-Bow in Cheapside is no longer heard over a wide area. It sounds deafening and dramatic if you stand in Bow Lane when the bells are rung out on Ascension Day.

But at best the bells are only heard within the area bounded by the Millennium Bridge in the south, Shoreditch in the north, the Barbican in the west and Spitalfields in the east.

A fascinating new map made available online shows that in 1851, when there was little traffic or industrial noise, the sound reached much further.

It’s interesting to see that then the circle embraced Stratford which means that the City’s bells were heard in Bow. It has long been claimed that real cockneys are those people born between Bow Church in the east end and St Mary-le-Bow in The City.

In the 13th-century Dick Whittington is reported to have heard the bells calling him back from Highgate.

The model of St Bride’s. Fleet Street, made in sponge cake by Michelle Wibowo, has been viewed all weekend at John Robertson Architects in Southwark.

It is so good that it does not look like a cake but there will be a cutting by Sir Terry Farrell on Thursday at St Bride’s.

London SE1 has  a full report.

In London’s 100 Best Churches there are several mentions of the annual Tyburn Walk from the Old Bailey to Marble Arch.

It was started in 1911 and every year a silent procession has followed the route of the Roman Catholic martyrs who were dragged from prison to the gallows at the top of Edgware Road.

Stops are made at St Sepulchre’s, St Etheldreda’s, St Anselm & St Cecilia and St Patrick’s.

The custom was even maintained during the Second World War thanks to Mgr John Filmer who completed the route alone each year.

This year’s event, which takes place whatever the weather, is on Sunday 24 June starting at 2pm.

Marble Arch will be reached at 4.30pm when the Tyburn Convent will be open.

St Bride’s Church is to be depicted in cake this weekend.

John Robertson Architects, a short walk over Blackfriars Bridge from the church, is creating a scale model of the building whose spire is itself said to have inspired the wedding cake!

The model and an accompanying exhibition on the history of St Bride’s is in support of the INSPIRE! Appeal to fund the urgent repair of the church spire.

Sponge cake and tea will be served to visitors with all money raised donated to the appeal.

The sponge model can be seen from 10am to 6pm on Saturday 23 and Sunday 24 June. JRA is at 111 Southwark Street SE1 on the corner of Bear Lane.

Celebrate the City is a four day programme of open days, talks, walks and concerts in the City of London.

Over the weekend 21-24 June 2012 around thirty churches will be open at various times including St Andrew’s Holborn, St Helen’s Bishopsgate, St Mary-at-Hill and St Sepulchre.

Bow bells will ring out from St Mary-le-Bow at 2pm on Saturday 23 June. Outside will be the Cheapside Street Fayre.

On the same day, the bell tower of St Vedast can be visited. There will be a sound and movement installation in the lovely cloister yard and after the last performance a quarter peal will be rung.

ITV newscaster Julie Etchingham has called St Etheldreda’s Church in Ely Place as a haven of peace, “like a screeching hand-brake turn in your day”.

The church features in Beyond Sight, a new initiative to make London landmarks more accessible to blind and partially-sighted people.

“A stunning setting for a living place of worship, packed with historical significance,” is Julie’s description. “Kings, queens, bishops as well as Shakespeare and Dickens, all knew, visited and wrote about the original vast Ely Place, with its palace and church.”

She discovered the church when looking for an Ash Wednesday Mass. This is a good short guide with new facts and a description of the building as a living church.

After the Diamond Jubilee Pageant had moved downstream from London Bridge on Sunday it was time for the dedication of Southwark Cathedral’s Jubilee window.

The tiny church of St Vedast in Foster Lane will be the location for the daily offices of the nearby St Paul’s Cathedral on Monday.

Whilst the cathedral is being prepared for Tuesday’s Royal Diamond Jubilee Service it is to St Vedast on Monday and Tuesday morning that clergy and congregation must go for the daily mattins and Eucharist.

In 1981, when Prince Charles married Diana, the pre-wedding cathedral services were at St Martin’s on Ludgate Hill.