St. Paul’s Cathedral

Facts and information

Address:: St. Paul’s Cathedral, Ludgate Hill, The City,
London EC4M 8AD
England
Website:: www.stpauls.co.uk
Opening times:: 8.30 AM to 4 PM (Mon–Sat)
Cost:: Adults £14.50; Children £5.50 (6–18); Family ticket £34.50; Note: Opening times and ticket costs can change at short notice. Opening times may not apply on public holidays.
Telephone:: Work +44 (0) 207 246 8348
Buses:: 4 8 11 15 172325 26 56 76 100 176 243 388 521
Trains:: Barbican CR HC MP, Blackfriars CR DS, Cannon Street CR DS, Mansion House CR DS, St. Paul’s CNNote: The nearest station to St. Paul’s Cathedral is St Pauls. We can help plan your journey from Waterloo, King’s Cross and many other stations
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View of St. Paul’s Cathedral from the south-side

^{St. Paul’s Cathedral} St. Paul’s Cathedral in London

^{St. Paul’s Cathedral, London}

Did you know… St. Paul’s Cathedral boasts the second largest dome in Europe, and the biggest bell in London… bigger even than Big Ben!

^{Walking up Ludgate Hill} View from the top of St. Paul’s dome

^{View from the top of the dome}

Old St. Paul’s

^{Old St. Paul’s, c.1561} Drawing of St. Paul’s after the spire was destroyed

^{Old St. Paul’s, c.1630}

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The St. Paul’s that we see today is actually the fifth religious building on the site, and has stood proud since 1666 – when the Great Fire burnt the Old St. Paul’s to the ground.

History of Old St. Paul’s

The very first building was made out of wood, and burnt down in 675 AD. The second was sacked by the Vikings in 962, and replaced by a sturdier edifice in stone.

The fourth building – known as Old St. Paul’s – was started by William the Conqueror after the Norman Conquest. It suffered fire damage in 1087, and a further fire in 1136 set the builders back years. It was finally finished 200 years later.

Old St. Paul’s was quite an accomplishment in its day. It was the largest medieval building in the whole of Europe, and boasted the tallest spire in the world. It stood solid for several centuries until wear and tear left it crumbling into disrepair. Henry VIII’s dissolution of the monasteries meant it was soon stripped of all decoration, and many of the buildings surrounding the site were raised to the ground.

As if all of that wasn’t bad enough, a lightning strike then took out the spire in 1561. James I undertook major renovations, but these were halted during the English Civil War. The final death knell came in 1666, when the Great Fire of London turned it into ash.

Architecture, designed by Christopher Wren

The decision was taken to clear away the burnt-out husk and entrust the rebuild to Christopher Wren. His first idea was for a straight replacement – but this was deemed a waste. His second idea was to build a cathedral in the shape of a Greek cross. His third idea – and the one that we see today – was accepted in 1675 and completed in October 1708.

The resulting masterpiece boasts the second largest dome in Europe (after St. Peter’s in Rome) and is the only domed cathedral in the whole of England.

St. Paul’s Cathedral is rightly regarded as Wren’s pièce de résistance – but many people are unaware of his other London churches – he designed fifty in the City alone. If you walk directly under the dome then you can read his fitting epitaph: Lector, si monumentum requiris, circumspice – Reader, if you seek his monument, look around you.

Upon entering St. Paul’s Cathedral from the front, you are greeted with the long processional nave ^[5]. This is where Princess Diana was filmed in her long flowing train when she married Prince Charles in 1981.

To the left is the All Souls’ Chapel, St. Dunstan’s Chapel ^[6] and the entrance to the bell tower ^[8]. Over to the right is the chapel of St. Michael and St. George ^[7].

The woodwork around the altar ^[2] was carved by Grinling Gibbons, and the iron gates were wrought by Jean Tijou. There is also a 20th-century statue crafted by Henry Moore.

The canopy is a copy of the cover in St. Peter’s, but dates from 1958 – the original was damaged during the war. One of the most interesting artefacts is an effigy of the poet John Donne – one of the few such pieces to survive the Great Fire in 1666. You can even see some scorch marks on its base. (Donne was famous for the immortal lines: No man is an island, and Ask not for whom the bell tolls, it tolls for thee.)

Whispering Gallery, and the dome’s acoustics

St. Paul’s Cathedral boasts an impressive series of domes leading up to the main one, all of which are open to the public. If you look up from Wren’s memorial then you can see the Whispering Gallery – with frescoes by Sir James Thornhill. Legend has it that Wren was hauled up here in a basket to admire the pictures for himself.

If you want to enjoy the interior views from the Whispering Gallery, then be prepared for a hefty 259 steps. But once you’re up there, the views are breathtaking. The cathedral’s sheer scale and patterned floor are best appreciated from above. You may also like to partake in the Gallery’s favourite pastime – talking. Due to a bizarre acoustic effect (which gives the dome its name) everything said on one side of the gallery can be equally understood on the other – 107-feet away.

For exterior views of London, then you will have to head up to the Stone Gallery (another 119 steps) and the Golden Gallery (another 172 steps). A small hole in the centre of the very highest dome gives you a dizzying view of the cathedral floor 364-feet below.

The dome’s ceiling is covered in 30 million pieces of glass, depicting various biblical scenes and prophets – the Creation, the Garden of Eden and Crucifixion.

Big Tom, and St. Paul’s Crypt

‘Big Tom’ is the name of the clock face on the right-hand tower. Whilst nowhere near as impressive as Big Ben on the Houses of Parliament, it measures a healthy 16-foot across, and has a minute-hand taller than a human being. But Great Paul, on the other hand – the 17-tonne bell that rings out for five minutes at 1 o’clock – is actually larger than the one at Westminster.

St. Paul’s Cathedral also boasts the largest crypt in Europe, with over 300 memorials to the great and good… the most notable being Lord Nelson, the Duke of Wellington, and Christopher Wren himself.

Lord Nelson’s black sarcophagus sits directly under the dome, and is carved from the wood of a beaten French warship. The Duke of Wellington’s coffin has the banners from his funeral hanging around the sides. Other tombs include Florence Nightingale and Lord Kitchener.

Discuss St. Paul’s Cathedral in the forum

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Guest – “Whereas Westminster Abbey is absolutely crammed to the brim with monuments and statues, St Paul's is uncluttered Clean and white, and light and airy, instead of dark and dusty like Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey has statuary…”
ronette – “the view from the very top of the dome is magnificent you should definitely put aside your fears and go to the next level above the whispering gallery when you look out you will be scared for the first minute because its very wind…”

Drummerboy’s blog – St. Paul’s Cathedral

Drummerboy – “I climbed all the way to the top (nearly), and I was bloody knackered too – they need to get a lift installed for lazy people like me. The first level you get to is the Whispering Gallery – a mere 257 steps. Once you get to the top you can look down onto the floor far below. You’re supposed to be able to whisper to the wall and hear it clearly round the other side, but seeing as both of my ears were stuck to my head I couldn’t test that out. But you’d be hard pressed to hear it above the three hundred other people doing it… continued.”