More to St Paul’s than religion

In the Shadow of St Paul’s Cathedral: The Churchyard that Shaped London

By Margaret Willes

Yale University Press, pp. 320, £25

The Romanists, indeed, may build larger churches,” wrote Christopher Wren, “it is enough if they hear the murmur of the Mass, and see the elevation of the Host, but ours are fitted for auditories.”

In truth, though, neither the medieval St Paul’s Cathedral, nor the present building which Wren designed after the Great Fire of 1666, were ever remarkable for Christian practice.