The peculiar name of this church, and the main road that it faces, has an interesting history. The original church was dedicated to St John the Evangelist, later changed to St Mary. The nearby brook was called Tyburn, from the name of the village where Marble Arch is now located. But when ‘Tyburn’ became synonymous with ‘execution’ the brook was simply called the Bourne. Thus the church became ‘St Mary at Bourne’ or ‘by the Bourne’, and eventually ‘St Marylebone’.
The first St Marylebone, however, was not in the present location but somewhere on the old road to Tyburn near where Marylebone Lane comes into Oxford Street. Second and third churches, located to the north on the High Street, were built in 1400 and 1740 respectively. The present building, placed still farther north on Marylebone Road and designed in classical style by architect Thomas Hardwick, was consecrated in 1817. It is a pleasant landmark on busy Marylebone High Road. The gate to Regents Park across the road was designed by John Nash to align with the portico and its circular tower.
The celebrated marriage of Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett took place secretly in the present church in 1846. In 1946 a Browning Chapel was created at the west end. Charles Dickens, whose son was baptized here, made St Marylebone the place of Mr. Domby’s marriage to Edith Granger in Domby & Son. In the old churchyard on Marylebone Lane, mentioned earlier, are buried the great hymnwriter Charles Wesley (died 1788) and his son Samuel Wesley (died 1837). An obelisk in their honour may be seen in the present garden of rest. Here, too, is the grave of James Gibbs, architect of St Mary-le-Strand and St Martin-in-the-Fields.