Tallest Building in London: #2 Old St Paul's

A few days ago I blipped about the ten buildings that have ever been the tallest building in London. Amazingly, only one of the ten no longer stands - number two: Old St Paul's Cathedral, which burnt down in the Great Fire of London in 1666. It was the tallest building for the longest period of time - 365 years - and its spire was taller than the dome of New St Paul's Cathedral today!

The Saxon cathedral on the same site burnt down soon after the Norman invasion. The medieval cathedral took a couple of centuries to build. When finished it was one of the longest cathedrals in the world, with one of the tallest spires, and the finest stained glass. It looked like Salisbury cathedral but much longer, with a much taller spire - how I would have loved to have seen it!

Its footprint wasn't quite the same as Wren's Cathedral. All you can see today is a modern garden outlining where the old chapter house was and this wonderful stone representation of the old footprint (the dark outline with columns) superimposed on the new footprint (in solid grey).