St Mary Le Strand Church

The parish of St Mary le Strand may lay a good claim to being one of the oldest parishes in London. It stands dominating a roadway which since prehistory has been the main artery to the west from the City of London. In early Saxon times the Strand area was the very heart of London, for it seems that the City was effectively abandoned by the newly-arrived settlers. The Saxons predominantly inhabited "Lundenwic", an area stretching from Fleet Street to Whitehall and from the Thames to Covent Garden from the sixth to the ninth centuries. Christianity came to this settlement with St Mellitus and his followers in 604, and, despite their brief expulsion in the 620s, became firmly established. We do not know if any of the existing churches in the area date back that far but some, such as St Clement Danes, are known to have existed in later Saxon times.
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