Located on a rise above Queen Victoria Street, this church reminds one of a lighthouse, with a trumpetshaped spire, porthole-like windows and balcony resembling a crow’s nest. It first appears in recorded history in 1144 in a letter of Pope Lucius II. After the Great Fire it was one of Wren’s first restorations, 1671–77. In 1941 it was burnt out by fire bombs. It was restored in 1962 along the lines of Wren’s design.
‘Cole Abbey’ in the name is of uncertain origin. Stow says, ‘it hath been called of many Golden Abbey, of some, Gold Abbey, or Cold Bey, and so hath the most ancient writings, as standing in a cold place, as Cold harbour, and such like’. He also adds the note, ‘But I could never learne the cause why it should be so called, and therefore I will let it passe’. In late Victorian times it was nicknamed ‘Coal-hole Abbey’ due to a nearby railway tunnel vent which emitted black smoke.
We have already alluded to the lighthouse-like appearance of St Nicholas, Cole Abbey. On the top of this church is a ship weathervane, a reminder of its age-old association with the sea and seamen. Actually it was not deep-sea sailors so much as fishermen who were ministered to by the old church. Before Billingsgate Fish Market was built, the London fish market was nearby. The fisher- folk worshipped here, and many were buried in and around the old building. The name, as Stow points out, quite possibly alludes to a place of shelter from the sea.
The very plain and completely open interior of the restored church is enriched by the original Wren pulpit, altar rails and font. Original carving may also be seen on the three west doorways, the screen at the west end and above the south doorway. The parish of St Nicholas was particularly hard hit during the Great Plague of 1665. Of the 125 parishioners, ninety-one perished. In 1737, during the Evangelical Revival, George Whitefield preached here. Now it is a Presbyterian Church associated with the Free Church of Scotland.