Old St Paul's Cathedral

Old St Paul's Cathedral
Digital reconstruction giving an impression of Old St Paul's during the Middle Ages. The image is based on a model of the Cathedral in the Museum of London, composited with a modern city background.
Old St Paul's Cathedral Old St Paul's on a 1300 map of the City of London
51°30′49″N 0°5′54″W / 51.51361°N 0.09833°W / 51.51361; -0.09833
Denomination	Church of England
History
Dedication	Saint Paul
Events	Cathedral and canonry destroyed by fire—1087, 1666
Architecture
Previous cathedrals	3
Style	English Gothic
Years built	c. 604–675 c. 685–961 c. 962–1087 1087–1666
Administration
Diocese	London
Deanery	City of London Paddington St Margaret St Marylebone
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Bishop of London
Dean	Dean of St Paul's
Building details
Record height
Tallest in the world from the mid-13th century to 1311[I]
Preceded by	Great Pyramid of Giza
Surpassed by	Lincoln Cathedral

Old St Paul's Cathedral was the cathedral of the City of London that, until the Great Fire of 1666, stood on the site of the present St Paul's Cathedral. Built from 1087 to 1314 and dedicated to Saint Paul, this building was perhaps the fourth such church at this site on Ludgate Hill, going back to the 7th century.^[1]

Work on the cathedral began after a fire in 1087, which destroyed the previous church. Work took more than 200 years, and over that time the architecture of the church changed from Norman Romanesque to early English Gothic. The church was consecrated in 1240, enlarged in 1256 and again in the early 14th century. At its completion in the mid-14th century, the cathedral was one of the longest churches in the world, had one of the tallest spires and some of the finest stained glass.

The continuing presence of the shrine of the 7th century bishop Saint Erkenwald made the cathedral a site of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages.^[2] In addition to serving as the seat of the Diocese of London, the building developed a reputation as a social hub, with the nave aisle, "Paul's walk", known as a business centre and a place to hear the news and gossip on the London grapevine. During the Reformation, the open-air pulpit in the churchyard, St Paul's Cross, became the place for radical evangelical preaching and Protestant bookselling.

The cathedral was in structural decline by the early 17th century. Restoration work begun by Inigo Jones in the 1620s was temporarily halted during the English Civil War (1642–1651). In 1666, further restoration was in progress under Sir Christopher Wren when the cathedral was devastated in the Great Fire of London. At that point, it was demolished, and the present cathedral was built on the site.^[3]