Last Wednesday, Tom, Bonnie and I attended the Tyndale Society's Carol Service at The Guild Church of St Mary Abchurch in London.
The church is quite near St. Mary Woolnoth, John Newton's last church.
The service was lovely consisting of those present singing carols, readings from Tyndale's translation of the Christmas story (Tom and Bonnie each read a portion) and a choir singing a number of carols. The acoustics were fantastic so all singing was quite beautiful!
The original church to stand on this site, built in the 12th century, may have been named 'up church' because it was upstream from its then-owner the Priory of St Mary Overie, now Southwark Cathedral.
The present building dates from 1681 - 86, and is a restored Wren church, one of the 51 churches built in London by the prolific architect after the Great Fire of 1666.
The simple Dutch-influenced red-brick exterior of the building conceals the magnificence of the interior. Wren's marvellous shallow dome, painted by William Snow, gives the building an unusually spacious feel.
Beneath the dome is some splendid 17th century woodwork, including the the carved limewood reredos created by Grinling Gibbons. This superb altar screen is the only example in the City to be definitely attributed to the 17th century master carver.
From - http://www.touruk.co.uk/london_churches/stmaryabchurch_church1.htm
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