This church is situated prominently on Cheapside, the ancient ‘chepe’ or main market street of Old London. To be born within the sound of its bells is the mark of a true Cockney. These famous bells play a central role in that favourite childhood story, ‘Dick Whittington and his Cat’. Young Dick, who had run away from his master and got as far as Highgate Hill, heard Bow Bells chime the message, ‘Turn again, Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London!’ (The real Dick Whittington actually was mayor four times.) The rest of the story about how the cat made Dick’s fortune is legend, but the twelve mighty bells of Bow Church can indeed be heard on Highgate Hill. Bow Church was probably first built during the reign of William the Conqueror (1066–87). It was rebuilt by Wren after the Great Fire, 1670–83. In May of 1941 it was burnt out by incendiary bombs. It was then restored by Laurence King in 1956–64. The ‘Bow’ in the name refers to the stone bows or arches which the Normans used for a foundation. However, it was first called ‘St Mary Newchurch’, meaning either (or both) that it replaced a Saxon structure or was being distinguished from the older St Mary Aldermary.
Bow Church has had more than its share of violence over its life of at least 900 years. During Norman times a hurricane-force wind lifted the roof off and deposited it in the street, driving the rafters deep into the ground and killing several people. A hundred years later (in 1196) a murderer took refuge in the tower and was subsequently smoked out. The tower itself collapsed in 1271. In 1284 a certain Laurence Duckett wounded one Ralph Crepin in a fight over a woman and took sanctuary in the steeple. Friends of Crepin violated the sanctuary and killed Duckett, leaving his body to appear a suicide. They in turn were discovered and executed, and the building had to be purged. In 1331 a temporary grandstand built at the front of the church, in which the wife of Edward III was viewing a tournament, collapsed. And, as already mentioned, Bow Church was a victim both of the Great Fire and the blitz.
The tower and steeple of Bow Church, together with its bells, are justly famous. The lofty pre-Fire tower had lanterns on all sides and in the centre to illuminate Cheapside. Wren dismantled what was left of the old tower and rebuilt it on a line with the other buildings along Cheapside, connecting it to the nave with a vestibule. He topped it with a steeple that is one of his masterpieces and the most elaborate in the City. It took seven years to build, and as a result Bow Church is his most expensive. After the blitz the tower and steeple again had to be taken down to strengthen the foundation, but it is once more the outstanding landmark of Cheapside. The other celebrated feature of Bow Church is the Norman crypt, rediscovered by Wren and rebuilt after World War II. Here one can see the stone ‘bows’ upon which the church rests and which make St Mary-le-Bow, in one sense, the oldest parish church still existing in London. From medieval times right up the present day a church judicial body, called the Court of Arches, has met in the crypt of Bow church to decide cases of ecclesiastical law and to confirm the election of bishops.