79. Service of Thanksgiving for the life of Sir Christopher Wren St Paul’s Cathedral, 27 June 2023


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On 27 June 2023 a service of Thanksgiving for the life of Sir Christopher Wren FRS was held (naturally) in St Paul’s Cathedral, as part of the Wren 300 celebration.  The King was represented by their Royal Highnesses the Duke and Duchess of Gloucester.  The Livery movement was out in force, and there were contributions from the Chartered Surveyors, Chartered Architects, and the Constructors. The Thames Warden’s Consort, Mrs Eileen Bigg, represented the Water Conservators.

The Great Fire of London in 1666 is one of the dates most schoolchildren know, and it is hard to believe that in 2023 we are marking 300 years since the death of Sir Christopher Wren, for he was only 34 at the time of that great conflagration, and was 90 when he died.

We learnt that Sir Christopher Wren was a prodigious mathematician, and embraced the new and rapid developments in science across Europe, becoming Professor of Astronomy at Gresham College at only 25.  A founder of the Royal Society, Wren was appointed Surveyor General of the King’s Works in 1669.  Eighty-seven churches were destroyed in the Great Fire, and in 1670 construction of 52 new London churches began.  Wren was responsible for them all, and showed a remarkable capacity for different forms of architecture. 

Wren was charged with designing a new cathedral that was “handsome and noble to all the ends of it and to the reputation of the City and the nation”.  The total cost was £1,095,556 (around £174m today) funded by a tax on coal.

The preacher was the Revd Dr Professor Maxwell Hutchinson, Past President of the Royal Institute of British Architects.  He professed to never using visual aids in his sermons, so had been somewhat confounded on this occasion, bearing in mind Sir Christopher Wren’s epitaph “If you seek my memorial, look around you”.  He pointed out that whereas Westminster Abbey had been deliberately located close to royal palaces, St Paul’s was a cathedral for the people, positioned where they lived.

There was ample opportunity during the service to admire the architecture, and the magnificent organ and choir again played their part in a splendid service in a truly awe-inspiring setting.

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