St Paul's Church, Covent Garden

St Paul's Church in Covent Garden, London, designed by architect Inigo Jones in 1630 as England's first wholly classical church, famously conceals its altar behind a grand classical portico that never served as the main entrance. Dubbed the Actors' Church, its portico hosted London's first recorded puppet play on May 9, 1662. The grounds contain the grave of Margaret Porteous, who died on April 12, 1665, as the Great Plague's first recorded victim.

London Β· from the walk β€œLondon's Best-Kept Secrets” Β· audio ~4 min Β· Generated

St Paul's Church, Bedford Street, London WC2E 9ED

Who was the first recorded Great Plague victim buried at St Paul's Church in Covent Garden?

Take a look at that grand portico ahead of you... those tall columns, that classical pediment. It looks like the entrance to a temple, doesn't it? Well, here's the first surprise. That magnificent front has Never actually been the main entrance to the church. The altar sits just behind that wall, and the real door is all the way round the back.......... This is St Paul's Church, Covent Garden... and it has one of the best origin stories in London. In sixteen thirty, the Fourth Earl of Bedford was given permission to demolish buildings on his land north of the Strand, creating the Covent Garden Piazza... London's very First formal square. He hired the brilliant architect Inigo Jones to design it all. But when it came to the church, the Earl was famously tight with his money. He told Jones he wanted it "not much better than a barn." The architect's reply? "You shall have the Handsomest barn in England!"

...... And what a barn it is. Jones faithfully followed the ancient Roman architect Vitruvius's design for a Tuscan temple, making this the first wholly classical church built in England.......... Now, here's where the story gets truly theatrical. On the ninth of May, sixteen sixty-two, the diarist Samuel Pepys noted seeing the first "Italian puppet play" right here, under this very portico. That show was performed by an Italian showman named Pietro Gimonde from Bologna, who went by the stage name "signor Bologna." And unlike today's Punch and Judy, he used marionettes... stringed puppets, not glove puppets. Pepys called it "very pretty, the best that ever I saw." He was so impressed, he came back two weeks later to show his wife! And Gimonde must have made quite the impression on London society, because by October that year, he was performing a Royal Command show for King Charles the Second at Whitehall... and the delighted king rewarded him with a gold chain and medal worth twenty-five pounds. To this day, May the ninth is celebrated as "Mr. Punch's birthday" because of that diary entry.......... But the church's nickname... the Actors' Church... that runs much deeper. The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane was built just thirty years after the church, in sixteen sixty-three, with a Royal Charter from King Charles the Second. George Bernard Shaw set the opening scene of Pygmalion... the play that became My Fair Lady... right under this portico.......... And if you step inside... look for one particular memorial plaque. It commemorates Charles Macklin, one of London's most famous eighteenth-century actors. He once Killed a fellow actor during a backstage argument... by stabbing him in the eye. Though found guilty of manslaughter, Macklin never went to prison. And his memorial plaque? It depicts a knife plunging through the eye of a theatrical mask. The argument, believe it or not, was over a Wig.......... The painter J. M. W. Turner and W. S. Gilbert of Gilbert and Sullivan fame were among the many famous people baptised right here at St Paul's. And one more remarkable fact... buried in these very grounds is Margaret Porteous, the First recorded victim of the Great Plague of London, who died on the twelfth of April, sixteen sixty-five.......... From the birth of Mr. Punch to a murder over a wig to the first victim of the Plague... not bad for the handsomest barn in England.

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