118 - AS II.58. Plan, nearly as executed, c. 1670. Drawn by Edward Woodroofe to a scale of just over 6½ ft to an inch (drawn scale). Dark brown ink over scorer and (mostly) pencil, shaded with a dark black wash. Pencil lines are ruled 2 ft from the exterior face of the N wall. 501 x 354 mm. Watermark: IHS surmounted by a coronet and fleur-de-lis (Heawood 2968). Pricked through. Old catalogue number scrubbed out. Inscribed in pencil by a later hand: St Benet Fink.
Note to 118: This remarkable church was designed in late 1670. The churchwardens visited Wren at Scotland Yard on 28 July and 15 October 1670 (GL, MS 1303/1), and the laying of the foundation-stone took place on 1 December 1670 (GL, MS 1304, fol. 4v). Nicholas Wood, bricklayer and churchwarden, contracted to build the church on 13 December 1670 (GL, MS 25542/1, fol. 210). The geometry of the plan was prompted by the restricted nature of the site, one corner of which was appropriated by the City authorities 'for the enlargement of the street' (GL, MS 25540/1, fol. 21). The neat draughtsmanship, with its distinctive black wash, is consistent with other church plans drawn by Woodroofe c. 1670–72 (Summerson 1970, figs. 15b, 16b, 20b; Geraghty 2001, 479). The church was demolished in 1842–44 (Colvin 1995, 1095).
[WS 9, pl. 7; Geraghty 2001, 478, 479]