St Mary-le-Bow

St Mary-le-Bow tickets: which one to buy

St Mary-le-Bow stands on Cheapside in the City of London, England, a few minutes' walk east of St Paul's Cathedral, and entry is free, with donations welcome. It is one of the most famous churches in London, because of its bells: according to tradition, a true Cockney is someone born within the sound of Bow Bells. The church was rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren after the Great Fire, and its steeple is one of his finest. The nearest stations are St Paul's, Bank and Mansion House.

Visitors combine the church with St Paul's Cathedral, the Guildhall and its art gallery, which covers the remains of a Roman amphitheatre, the Bank of England Museum, One New Change, with its rooftop terrace and views of St Paul's, and Wren's other City churches. The church is active, with weekday services and lunchtime concerts, and it is often closed at weekends. The crypt holds a café, the Café Below, popular with City workers for lunch, set among the Norman arches. A statue of Captain John Smith, the English adventurer who helped to found Jamestown in Virginia, stands in the churchyard, recalling his links with the parish.

Visiting St Mary-le-Bow: what to see

The church was founded in the eleventh century, and its Norman crypt, built around 1080 with stone arches, or bows, gave the church its name. It became an important church of the Archbishop of Canterbury in London, and the Court of Arches, the ecclesiastical court of the province of Canterbury, took its name from the crypt, where it met. The bells of the church were rung as a curfew in medieval London, and a legend tells how they called Dick Whittington back to London, ringing Turn again, Whittington, thrice Lord Mayor of London. The church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, and Wren rebuilt it between 1670 and 1680;

its steeple, about seventy metres high, rises in stages of columns and arches, topped by a dragon weathervane. On 10 May 1941 German bombing destroyed the church, except for the steeple and the outer walls, and the bells crashed to the ground. The church was rebuilt between 1956 and 1964 by Laurence King, and new bells were cast, rung for the first time in 1961. The rebuilt interior is bright, with modern stained glass windows by John Hayward, a Wren-style ceiling and two pulpits, used for dialogue sermons. The crypt, still Norman, holds the café and a chapel.

St Mary-le-Bow opening hours and the best time to go

The church is usually open on weekdays during the day, and closed on most weekends. Lunchtime recitals and dialogue talks are held on certain weekdays. The City is quiet at weekends and busy with office workers on weekdays, when the Café Below fills at lunchtime. The bells are rung for services and special occasions. Summer is pleasant for a walk between Wren's churches, and Christmas brings carol services. Allow about twenty minutes for the church, and more if you stop for lunch in the crypt.