This famous church is prominently situated on an island in the centre of the Strand, between the east end of Aldwych and the Royal Courts of Justice. Its date of origin is before the Conquest, and records indicate it was rebuilt of stone in the early part of the eleventh century. It survived the Great Fire, but Wren had it pulled down and replaced in 1680–82. The upper tower was designed by James Gibbs and added in 1719. It was burnt out in 1941, restored in 1955. With St James, Piccadilly, it shares the distinction of being one of two Wren churches outside of London proper.
The ‘Danes’ in the name probably resulted from an order by King Alfred to the Danes in London who had married English women, to dwell ‘between the Isle of Thorney (Westminster) and Cael Lud (Ludgate, the western gate of the walled city)’. Probably the first church building here was built by these ninth-century Danes. Stow, however, cites two other possible sources for the name. One is that Harold Harefoot, illegitimate son of King Canute the Dane, might be buried here. Harold became king of the Saxons from 1037 to 1040 and was buried at Westminster. But when Hardicanute, the lawful heir, came to the throne, he had the body dug up and thrown into the Thames. A fisherman was said to have buried it at St Clement’s. The second source dates to the days of Ethelred the Unready, one of the last Saxon kings (deposed 1013). A band of Danes went on a rampage and were said to have been cut down in the neighbourhood of St Clement’s.
The most important association of St Clement Danes is with Dr Samuel Johnson, the literary, ion of the late eighteenth century. A brass plate in the north gallery which once was affixed to the original pew reads:
In this pew and beside this pillar, for many years attended divine service the celebrated Dr Samuel Johnson, the philosopher, the poet, the great lexicographer, the profound moralist and chief writer of his time. Born in 1709, died 1784. In the remembrance and honour of noble faculties, nobly employed, some inhabitants of the parish of St Clement, Danes have placed this slight memorial, AD 1851.
Dr Johnson is also commemorated by a statue outside the east end of the church. Two notable persons of Christian history buried at St Clement Danes are Ann, wife of John Donne, the great poet and dean of St Paul’s, and Bishop George Berkeley, the eighteenth-century writer and philosopher who sought to oppose materialism and rationalism on their own ground. Many English children are familiar with the lines, Oranges and lemons Say the bells of St Clemen’s The famous (re-cast) bells ring out the tune of this nursery rhyme at 9.00 a.m., 12.00 noon, 3.00 p.m. and 6.00 p.m. On or about 31 March a service is held at which oranges and lemons are distributed to children. The interior of St Clement Danes, completely gutted by fire from incendiary bombs in 1941, is now most impressive for its lightness and openness. This is due to white columns, light-coloured pews contrasting with the dark oak of the Grinling Gibbons pulpit (1685) and exceptionally wide aisles. This is the official church of the Royal Air Force, and over 700 badges of R. A.F. squadrons are fixed in the floor of the entryway. In lighted cabinets around the nave are books of remembrance containing the names of 120,000 airmen who died in the defence of Britain. An American shrine beneath the north gallery contains the names of 19,000 members of the US Air Force who also died during World War II.