St Mark's Church, Myddelton Square

St Mark's Church is an Anglican church standing in the middle of Myddelton Square, the largest square in London's Clerkenwell district. This Gothic-style church with a tall west tower is the focal point of the whole layout and a good stop on a walk through a quieter, residential corner of central London.

Who designed the church and the square?

The designer was William Chadwell Mylne, surveyor to the New River Company. The company managed the waterway that brought drinking water to London, and it owned land in Clerkenwell that it turned over to housing in the early nineteenth century. The square is named after Sir Hugh Myddelton, who financed the New River in the early 1600s. The church went up in the 1820s; sources give slightly different dates, so the late 1820s is the safest way to put it. The square itself, with houses put up by more than a dozen different builders, was still being completed in the 1830s.

What does St Mark's look like?

The building is in a plain, restrained Gothic style. It was planned for a large congregation, with room for roughly 2,000 people, and the cost is put at about £18,000. The west tower rises around 90 feet (about 27 metres). The church is Grade II listed.

The interior was damaged in the Second World War and rebuilt in a simplified form. One postwar feature is the east window of 1962, which shows the Ascension and is by A.E. Buss of Goddard & Gibbs.

What to see nearby

Myddelton Square is framed by terraced houses in a classical, Greek Revival-influenced manner. The north side of the square was badly damaged in an air raid on 11 January 1941, and some of the houses were rebuilt in the late 1940s. A walk around the church shows how London estates were planned in the Regency and early Victorian period: a church as the centrepiece, with a green space in the middle.

Close by is the site of the old New River Head, tied to the story of London's water supply, along with streets named after people linked to the New River Company, such as Mylne Street and Chadwell Street.

Frequently asked questions

Is St Mark's Church a listed building? Yes, it is Grade II listed.

Who designed the church? William Chadwell Mylne, surveyor to the New River Company, who also planned the square.

How many people could the church hold? Around 2,000, according to available descriptions.

What style is the building? A plain Gothic church with a west tower about 90 feet high.

Is it worth a short visit? Yes. The church and the square around it are a calm part of Clerkenwell and combine well with exploring other places in the district.