The church of St Mary Somerset was situated on the north side of Upper Thames Street, opposite Broken-wharf, see map below. The church dates back to the late middle ages, and was first mentioned in a deed during the reign of Richard I, circa AD 1190. The origin of the name is uncertain, but may have been linked to Ralph de Somery who is mentioned in records at the same time or linked to Summer’s Hithe, a small haven on the River Thames. The church of St Mary Somerset and according to Stowe [1] derives its name from a small hithe or haven called Summer's het, or hithe which has since been corrupted to Somerset.

Location of St Mary Somerset Church, Upper Thames Street

It appears from ancient records that a church stood on this site before the year 1335, but was razed to the ground in the great fire of London in 1665. The church was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren, the construction of which was completed in 1695. It was noted that the parish was very poor with Wren providing funds for the furnishings. During the second half of the 19th century the congregation dwindled and the last service at St Mary Somerset was held on 1 February 1867, with about 70 people attending. The parish was then combined with that of St Nicholas Cole Abbey, and the church of St Mary Somerset was demolished in 1871 (except for the tower which still stands today)[2].

The tower of the church, in the style of Nicholas Hawksmoor, creates an optical illusion of changing heights when viewed from different vantage points, was spared demolition and survives to this day. Located on the south-east corner of the church, it stands 120 feet high, faced with Portland stone. Lines of windows alternately circular and rounded run up each side with cherubs serving as keystones. It has eight Baroque pinnacles, four on each corner interspersed with obelisks with ball finials.

At the beginning of the twentieth century the tower stood isolated amongst the drab commercial buildings which characterised Upper Thames Street at the time. Most of the housing had been replaced by warehouse buildings used to store goods as they were unloaded at the port of London, evident by the access doors clearly visible on the upper floors of the buildings used to lift and lower cargo onto wagons for onward transportation [3].

Images of the tower are available on the London Metropolitan Archives website Collage London Picture Archive here.

Up to the mid-nineteenth century the church was part of a thriving port of London community, comprising wharves, warehouses and domestic housing. Towards the end of the nineteenth century, the population declined and the residential areas were replaced by commercial buildings, mostly warehouses for storing goods coming into London. The wholesale clearance of large parts of the city of London after the second-world war has left the tower isolated within the now predominately business district.

Before the Second World War the church tower was used as a woman’s rest room and today stands on a traffic island in a small landscaped garden. The tower was designated a Grade I listed building during the 1950s and, having suffered bomb damage during the second world war, was restored by the City Corporation in 1956. The building has recently been refurbished and extended into a private family home [4].

The early twentieth-century urban landscape of the tower are in stark contrast to todays twenty-first century surroundings (see below). The 1930s setting of the tower closely surrounded by five-storey commercial buildings with facades blackened with soot accumulated from years of exposure to the effects of coal-burning fires in the centre of London. Today, the tower is set in landscape gardens with the glass office buildings and concrete road structures so beloved by the mid-twentieth century City of London planners.

St Mary Somerset Tower, 2005

Copyright © 2006 - R Wilkins