 lthough Westminster Abbey holds the destinction as being the church where kings and queens have been crowned since Harold, St. Paul's is where the people of the country turn to in times of national crisis and rejoicing. The present Cathedral is possibly the third or fourth religious building to be constructed on the site. The land on which the cathedral is built is the highest in the area and as such was the most likely location for such a building. During excavation work in 1830, a stone alter with a sculpture of Diana was found and this indicates that there was a temple dedicated to Diana on the site at the time of the Romans. The Saxons also built a temple here and Ethelbert, King of Kent built a Cathedral.
The first Pre-Norman church burned down in 675. The cathedral was rebuilt, in stone, in 685 but was sacked by the Vikings in 961. The third cathedral was begun in 962, again in stone. It burnt, with the whole city, in a fire in 1087. 'Old St Paul's' was begun by the Normans after the 1087 fire. Work took over 200 years, and a great deal was lost in a fire in 1136. The roof was once more built of wood, which was ultimately to doom the building. The church was consecrated in 1240, but a change of heart led to the commencement of an enlargement programme in 1256. This 'New Work' was completed in 1314 - the cathedral had been consecrated in 1300. It was the third-longest church in Europe. "Old St Paul's" was gutted in the Great Fire of London of 1666. While it might have been salvageable, albeit with almost complete reconstruction, a decision was taken to build a new cathedral in a modern style instead. Indeed this had been contemplated even before the fire. The new cathedral was completed on October 20, 1708, Wren's 76th birthday. While not a medieval cathedral we include it as a medieval cathedral stood on this site |
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