The original Saxon church on the site was dedicated to St Edmund the King and Martyr. In 1137 it was given to the Priory of St Bartholomew. During the Crusades in the 12th century the church was renamed St Edmund and the Holy Sepulchre, in reference to the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem, by soldiers who passed by the church on the way to the Holy Lands. The name eventually became contracted to St Sepulchre. The church is today the largest parish church in the City. It was completely rebuilt in the 15th century but was gutted by the Great Fire of London in 1666, which left only the outer walls, the tower and the porch standing. Modified in the 18th century, the church underwent extensive restoration in 1878. It narrowly avoided destruction in the Second World War, although the 18th-century watch-house in its churchyard was destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The interior of the church is a wide, roomy space with a coffered ceiling installed in 1834. The Vicars' old residence has recently been renovated into a modern living quarter. During the reign of Mary I in 1555, St Sepulchre's vicar, John Rogers, was burned as a heretic.
The bell
St Sepulchre is named in the nursery rhyme Oranges and Lemons as the "bells of Old Bailey". In 1605, London merchant tailor Mr. John Dowe paid the parish £50 to buy a handbell on the condition that it would be rung to mark the execution of a prisoner at the nearby gallows at Newgate. This handbell, known as the Execution Bell, now resides in a glass case to the south of the nave. Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the clerk of St Sepulchre's was responsible for ringing a handbell outside the condemned man's cell in Newgate Prison the night before his execution and announcing the news by repeating the following "wholesome advice": Given its proximity to both Newgate Prison and the Old Bailey, the bells in its tower, in addition to the usual functions of marking time, were rung to announce executions. On the day of the execution, the bells were tolled as the condemned were led to Tyburn.
Musicians' Chapel
In the north aisle of the church is the Musicians' Chapel. This Chapel was dedicated The Musicians' Chapel by Dr W.R. Matthews, Dean of St Paul's, on 2 January 1955 in the presence of many distinguished musicians including an orchestra conducted by Sir Malcolm Sargent and the BBC Singers. The ashes of the conductor Sir Henry Wood, C.H., founder of the Promenade Concerts, who learnt to play the organ at the church as a boy, had been interred in the Chapel a decade earlier. There are four windows commemorating Sir Henry Wood, John Ireland, the singer Dame Nellie Melba, Walter Carroll respectively. The Chapel contains the Musicians' Book of Remembrance and both the Chapel and the Book of Remembrance are maintained by the Friends of the Musicians' Chapel. A Service of Thanksgiving for those named in the Book of Remembrance is held at the church each year as well as a Requiem close to All Souls' Day. Many concerts and memorial events for musicians have been held in the church over the years. In 2017 the Rector caused a storm in the media by ending the hiring scheme and excluding many choirs from singing and rehearsing in the church. A protest was held about this and many prominent musicians including John Rutter protested against the church decision. Attempts to mediate failed.
Military link
The south aisle of the church holds the regimental chapel of the Royal Fusiliers , and its gardens are a memorial garden to that regiment. The west end of the north aisle has various memorials connected with the City of London Rifles. The church was designated a Grade I listed building on 4 January 1950.
Rev Dr Peter Mullen, commentator, author and former rector, sometime chaplain to the London Stock Exchange
John Rogers, minister, Bible translator, and the first English Protestant martyr under Mary I of England
Sir Anthony St Leger, Tudor judge, and his first wife Eleanor Markham, buried here
Sir John Smith, governor of Virginia and associate of Pocahontas, buried 1631 in the south aisle. Smith is also commemorated by a window designed by Francis Skeat and installed in 1968.
Austin Osman Spare, artist, attended the church school, now a physiotherapy centre, behind the church in Snow Hill Court
The north aisle is dominated by a splendid organ built by Renatus Harris in 1670. The swell was added by John Byfield in c.1730. The organ was enlarged in 1817 by James Hancock and by John Gray in 1828 and 1835, and Gray and Davison in 1849, 1852 and 1855. It was rebuilt in 1932 by Harrison and Harrison. A specification of the organ can be found on the . It is not currently playable, and a Makin digital organ is used when required for services.
