England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
St Helen Bishopsgate

The Parish

The parish of St Helen Bishopsgate is located in the eastern end of the city of London close to its border with the wider county of Middlesex. St Helen Bishopsgate covered a small area a few hundred yards south of the present day Liverpool Street Station either side of Bishopsgate which follows the line of the ancient A10, London to Cambridge, road as it heads for London Bridge. At the time of this transcript St Helen would have been a reasonably populated area of small yards and fully occupied with small businesses and trades. Today St Helen is at the heart of the financial area of The City, massive office blocks surround the church, dwarfing this rare survival, the notorious "Gherkin" being only a few yards away on St Mary Axe, the modern overnight population is tiny by comparison, but a bustle of financial personnel during the day. The parish is drained the short distance to the nearby Thames by mostly underground routes. St Helen Bishopsgate is sited at 12 metres above the sea, land rising steadily away from the Thames to local heights of little more than 20 metres for some distance. St Helen Bishopsgate parish was a tiny city enclave covering no more than a few blocks of the city, it nevertheless supported a population of close to 700 parishioners at the time of this transcript.

The Church

St Helen's church, known Great St Helen's, sits to the east of Bishopsgate on the road named after it and surrounded by the office blocks of Britain's financial capital. A rare survival of the Great Fire St Helen has its origins in a 13th century Benedictine nunnery and some masonry survives to commemorate that period. The whole western and northern walls plus the southern transept remain as testament to the long history of this building. Of course much has altered across the centuries, the windows being replace in the 15th century, doors in both 14th & 16th centuries. The Decorated style windows evident in many places are faithful reproductions of 19th century restoration and embellishment. St Helen's church sits at the eastern end of the road, Great St Helen's with the "Gherkin" immediately ahead and behind it as you approach from Bishopsgate. Surrounded by office blocks on a tiny walled churchyard the building is difficult to gain sufficient distance in order to photograph other than from the Bishopsgate approach.