Looking at Buildings

, printed from the Looking at Buildings website on Friday 19th April 2024

Baptism, preaching and music

fontGlossary Term [1], where infants were baptized as members of the church, follows the usual form of the 17th and 18th centuries: a marble bowl on a baluster-like stem. Those of the City Churches are usually treated as display pieces, with deep-cut foliage carving (as here), sometimes combined with cherub heads or figure reliefs. The timber cover is also typical, with a low decoratedGlossary Term [2] baseGlossary Term [3] and an ogeeGlossary Term [4] or double-curved top. Less common is tht the bowl has two inscriptions: one in Greek, translatable as 'wash my sins, not my face only', the other recording its donation in 1673 - that is, some years before the church was built. The explanation is that it originally served a wooden 'tabernacleGlossary Term [5]' or temporary church, many of which were provided for homeless congregations awaiting church new buildings. Other unusual features are the little railed enclosure and the marble sculpture behind of a pelican and its young, symbolic of Christ.

pulpitGlossary Term [6] is of oak, of a standard hexagonal shape with raised panels on each face, which in this instance take the form of an inlaid disc with a foliage border. It originally sat beneath a broad, flat canopy or sounding board called a testerGlossary Term [7], which was meant to help the preacher's voice carry. Its original setting would have included an enclosed desk for the Parish Clerk, who led the congregation through the services. The present staircase with its very slender balusters is almost certainly later, perhaps of the 18th century.

lightGlossary Term [8] for services on dark mornings and evenings. The very beautiful example here, like something that might be found in a ballroom or country house stair-hall, came to the church via St Vincent's Cathedral in the West Indies, probably in 1777: a reminder of the links between the City's trading economy and the British Empire overseas.

newelGlossary Term [9] posts, closed stringGlossary Term [10] and thick balusters appears to belong to the 17th-century work. It occupies the usual position, at the west end facing the altar.

London, St Martin Ludgate, organ

URL to this page:

http://www.lookingatbuildings.org.uk/cities/london/st-martin-ludgate-a-wren-church/baptism-preaching-and-music/print.html?size=2

Links on this page:

Last updated: Monday, 26th January 2009