Christ Church Greyfriars...

... stands about 200m north of St Paul's Cathedral. It was destroyed in the Blitz on 29th December 1940, along with 7 other Wren churches - a reminder of how lucky we are that St Paul's escaped :-)

It was founded as a monastery church in the 13th century by the Franciscans (who wore grey habits), was badly damaged after the dissolution of the monasteries by Henry VIII, restored then almost totally destroyed by the Great Fire of London in 1666 and finally rebuilt by Sir Christopher Wren between 1677 and 1704.

It was once the church for Christ's Hospital School which was based in the old priory buildings next door. But after the school moved to Sussex in the early 20th century there were few parishioners left. So after the Second World War the decision was taken not to rebuilt this church but to merge its parish with St Sepulchre-without-Newgate (which I have already blipped).

Today it's a garden where City office workers enjoy eating their lunch. The climbing frames for plants that you can see in the photo mark where the columns used to be down the aisle.