London - St Helen Bishopgate Church

St Helen's is one of the finest and most interesting churches in the City. Originally built in the 12th C, it was altered between the 13th and 14th C, and has been preserved mainly in its 14th C form. It has two parallel naves of equal size, one originally reserved for the nuns of the convent to which the church belonged, the other for the lay congregation. Features of particular interest are the monument of Sir John Spencer, Lord Mayor of London (1608), on the south wall; the pulpit and altar; the canopied tomb of Sir William Pickering, ambassador to France in the 16th century; and the table-tomb of Sir John Crosby (d. 1475).