From Domesday until now

Though it may be hard to imagine, the place that we now know as St Marylebone was not always a busy metropolis it is today but, rather, a quiet rural area with a small population of villagers and farmworkers. Our first parish church was built in a small hamlet called Tyburn, named after a brook which flowed from a spring in Hampstead down to the Thames, near Westminster Abbey. This small village was situated within the angle formed by two Roman roads, known today as Oxford Street and Edgeware Road.

During the 12^th century, this was an idyllic rural area with a small parish church dedicated to St John the Evangelist. However, as the century progressed, the area became increasingly vulnerable to thieves and vandals, perhaps made worse by its location along a main highway leading west out of London. So, in 1400, a new church building was erected that was further from the highway and dedicated in the name of the Blessed Virgin Mary, who has been the patron saint ever since. The site of this second parish church can be found on Marylebone High Street, where it is marked by the Garden of Rest.

The name Tyburn had become synonymous with the notorious Tyburn Tree, located at the site of Marble Arch and the place of many contemporary executions of convicted criminals. Wishing to distance themselves from this grim association, the villagers of Tyburn began to avoid this name and formulate a new, more positive title. Over time the village became known as Mary-burn, borrowing from the name of the patron saint and from Ty-burn, which soon evolved into Mary-le-bone, thus creating the name St Marylebone, which has endured for centuries and into the present day.

Many famous faces passed through the doors of the second parish church and marked significant life events within the church building. For example, in 1606, at the age of 45, Francis Bacon married his child bride, 13-year-old Alice Barnham. Lord Byron was baptised in this building in 1788, as was Horatia Nelson in 1803, the daughter of Lord Nelson and Emma Hamilton. Among those buried in the churchyard were James Gibbs, architect of St Martin’s in the Fields, and Charles Wesley, prominent hymn-writer and leader of the Methodist movement.

The second parish church served its community from 1400-1740. During this time, St Marylebone went from being a small rural village to a prosperous town with a growing population. Learn more about the development of St Marylebone by exploring our other heritage pages!