History Around Us essay plans

Question 1

Reasons for the location of the site within surroundings

Answer 1

1. Ludgate Hill was the highest point in the City of London with the church built to overlook the city. London was the primary business district of London and contains the historic city centre
2. It has always been likely that there used to be a site of worship on Ludgate Hill as there are theories a Roman shrine used to be there. Mellitus built the cathedral in 604AD to serve the people of London after the Romans left
3. St Paul’s was built to impress and remains a great source of pride to Londoners. It was rebuilt by the Normans after a fire in 1087 and again after The Great Fire of London, being staggeringly impressive on both occasions. Old St Paul’s was over 500ft long and 149m high and New St Paul’s was 111m high and the tallest building in London until 1967

Question 2

When and why people first created the site

Answer 2

1. Pope Gregory ordered Augustine to set up two archbishoprics in London and York. Mellitus was a bishop who went with Augustine and set up a church in the old Roman capital of Londinium
2. In 668, Theodore became the Archbishop of Canterbury and consecrated Erkenwald as the Bishop of London in 675. Erkenwald was canonised after his death and his shrine became a major site of pilgrimage in Medieval England. His shrine helped establish St Paul’s as the primary church of London
3. After a fire destroyed the cathedral in 1087, Bishop Maurice rebuilt the cathedral which would take over 100 years to build and would become one of the finest, most impressive buildings in Europe

Question 3

The ways in which the site has changed over time

Answer 3

1. Old St Paul’s was the ‘grapevine’ of London. Paul’s walk was a bustling marketplace, place of gossip and thoroughfare. St Paul’s cross was the most important pulpit in Tudor and Early Stuart England where sermons and speeches would be read from. St Paul’s churchyard was the home of the London bookseller’s trade
2. During the Long Reformation, the cathedral fell into a state of disrepair following the dissolution of the monasteries in 1534. Restoration attempts began under Charles I who appointed Inigo Jones to build the Grand West Portico in the 1630s in Baroque style. The English Civil War in 1642 led to the site used as a stable for horses and a road running through the transepts. in 1660, Charles II threw out the traders and appointed Wren in 1663 to restore the cathedral
3. In September 1666, The Great Fire of London destroyed the cathedral. In 1675, Charles II accepted the Warrant design which made allowed Wren to make small variations. He added a dome and the cathedral was finished in 1711

Question 4

How the site has been used throughout history

Answer 4

1. Key religious site to bring people closer to closer to God. The shrine of St Erkenwald was a major site of pilgrimage for people all over Europe during the medieval period, establishing St Paul’s as the major church in London. This shrine as well as many other relics and statues were destroyed in the dissolution of monasteries in 1534.
2. A site of national celebration and mourning - Old St Paul’s was a mausoleum with the old cathedral having 2 royal tombs. After the Great Fire, Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee in 1897, tombs of Wren, Wellington and Nelson in the crypt and wedding of Charles and Diana in 1981
3. Symbol of rebirth and survival. Rebirth as an opportunity to rebuild the whole city bigger and better. During WWII, it became a symbol of survival and hope with a photo in 1940 called St Paul’s survives showing St Paul’s amongst the smoke, untouched

Question 5

The diversity of activities and people associated with the site

Answer 5

1. The shrine of St Erkenwald helped to re-establish St Paul’s after becoming the Bishop of London in 675. The shrine of St Erkenwald became a popular place of pilgrimage in the Middle Ages though it was destroyed during the reformation
2. Christopher Wren was a gifted Scientist and Mathematician and astronomer. He rebuilt 52 churches in the City of London after the Great Fire of London and was laid to rest in the Cathedral’s crypt after his death in 1723
3. After the restoration of the monarchy in 1660, Charles II set about restoring the Cathedral which had fallen into a state of disrepair during the civil war. Charles accepted Wren’s plants and established a royal commission in 1663 which gave Wren freedom to make changes to his plans

Question 6

Reasons for the changes to the site and the way it was used (turning points)

Answer 6

1. St Paul’s began to regularly hold events of national significance. Jubilees of Queen Victoria in 1897, Queen Elizabeth II and George V. As well as royal weddings of Charles and Diana, state funerals were held for Admiral Nelson (1806) and the Duke of Wellington (1852), Churchill and Thatcher. Many services of remembrance were also held, such as the Napoleonic wars, Crimean War, WW2 and the recent terrorist attacks in 2001 and 2005
2. During the second world war, St Paul’s became a physical and visible symbol for hope and survival. The St Paul’s fire watch was formed in 1939 to help London firefighters during the war. Despite suffering damage to bombs, the cathedral stayed intact. On 25 August 1944, the cathedral bells rang out to celebrate the liberation of Paris
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Question 7

Importance of the whole site either locally or nationally

Answer 7

1. The 1806 and 1852 state funerals of Nelson and Wellington showed that St Paul’s was extremely important to England as national heroes like Wellington, who defeated Napoleon are there. Nelson was known as the best admiral in the world before he died, and the body was paraded around England before being placed at St Paul’s
2. The marriage of Charles and Diana in 1981 highlights the national importance of St Paul’s as people would have known that hundreds of millions would choose to tune in to watch the royal wedding so the setting would be important. St Paul’s was clearly considered suitable to hold a grand wedding due to its grand nature
3. In 2012, the Olympics and Paralympics are known as internationally significant evens. It suggests that St Paul’s is of huge importance to London not just religiously but recreationally. The Paralympics basketball was held under the dome and the Olympic torch relay came to the step of St Paul’s ahead of the opening ceremony