Old St Paul's Cathedral Facts for Kids

The Cathedral, as it would have appeared in 1561.

Old Saint Paul's Cathedral was the medieval cathedral of the City of London. It was one of the largest churches in northern Europe. It was started in 1087, under William the Conqueror, after a fire destroyed the old cathedral in the same year. It was not complete until 1314. In 1666, it burned down in the Great Fire of London. After that, Christopher Wren built a new cathedral on the same site.

Images for kids

Old St Paul's, still with its spire, as shown on the "Copperplate" map of the 1550s
Wenceslas Hollar's engraving of the cathedral nave, "Paul's walk"
John Franklin's illustration of Paul's Walk for William Harrison Ainsworth's 1841 novel Old Saint Paul's
A sermon preached from St Paul's Cross in 1614
A graffito executed on a wall of St Mary's Church, Ashwell in Hertfordshire is believed to show Old St Paul's Cathedral.
Wenceslaus Hollar's 1658 plan of the cathedral
Classical-style West Front by Inigo Jones added between 1630 and 1666
The tomb of John of Gaunt and Blanche of Lancaster in the choir of St Paul's Cathedral, as represented in an etching of 1658 by Wenceslaus Hollar. The etching includes a number of inaccuracies, for example in not showing the couple with joined hands. The tomb was lost in the Great Fire of 1666.
The Great Fire of London, depicted by an unknown painter (1675), as it would have appeared from a boat in the vicinity of Tower Wharf on the evening of Tuesday, 4 September 1666. To the left is London Bridge; to the right, the Tower of London. St Paul's Cathedral is in the distance, surrounded by the tallest flames.
An 1871 illustration showing the positions of the old and new St Paul Cathedrals
Memorial to John Donne, St Paul's Cathedral
A memorial listing those buried or memorialised in the old cathedral