Dr Williams’s Library leaves Bloomsbury after serving theologians and church historians for 300 years

Dr Williams’s Library first opened in 1730 and was on Gordon Square from 1890 until it closed in 2025 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Patrick Comerford

It is always sad to see a library – particularly a library with a large collection related to theology, church history and religious studies – to close or to move away and to find it is no longer be accessible.

For over a century, Dr Williams’s Library was in Bloomsbury, where it was housed in the former University Hall on the west side of Gordon Square, beside the former Catholic Apostolic Church, now the Church of Christ the King. But the library closed within the past two years, and the collection has been moved to Manchester.

From 1890 until it closed in 2025, Dr Williams’s Library was housed in University Hall, built in 1848 to designs by the architect Thomas Leverton Donaldson (1795-1885), a pioneer in architectural education, a co-founder and President of the Royal Institute of British Architects and a winner of the RIBA Royal Gold Medal.

Donaldson was born nearby at 8 Bloomsbury Square, the eldest son of the architect James Donaldson (c 1756-1843). His maternal uncle, the architect Thomas Leverton (1743-1824), is said to have designed the south range of Bedford Square.

After attending King Edward Grammar School, St Albans, Donaldson trained as an architect and travelled widely. He found a clerical job at the Cape of Good Hope before joining an expedition to attack the French-owned island of Mauritius. He visited Italy and Greece in 1818-1823 with John Lewis Wolfe and WW Jenkins. Back in London, he joined his father’s practice and designed 4 Hamilton Place for Richard Bingham (1764-1839), 2nd Earl of Lucan, who had extensive estates in Co Mayo.

Donaldson’s first significant work was Holy Trinity Church, Brompton (1826-1829), in South Kensington. With Jacques Ignace Hittorff and Charles Robert Cockerell, he was a member of the committee formed in 1836 to determine whether the Parthenon or Elgin Marbles and other Greek statuary in the British Museum had originally been coloured.

Donaldson reworked substantial sections of the Wilkins building at University College London (UCL) and designed the Flaxman Gallery and library buildings. He also designed All Saints’ Church, Gordon Street (1842, closed 1909, destroyed by bombing 1940) and was involved in the Great Exhibition in 1851.

Donaldson pioneered the academic study of architecture and in 1841 he became the first Professor of Architecture at University College London, a post he held until 1865. He was a co-founder of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1834, was its honorary secretary until 1839, then its foreign secretary for another 20 years.

He designed the institute’s Mycenaean lions medal with the motto Usui civium, decori urbium. He was awarded the institute’s royal gold medal in 1851 and was its president in 1863-1864. He was described by the Prince of Wales in 1879 as ‘the father of the Institute and of the profession’.

Thomas Leverton Donaldson designed the former library on Gordon Square as University Hall in 1848 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Donaldson designed the one-time library on Gordon Square as a Hall of Residence for students of University College London, following an architectural competition. It was built in stone and brick in the late Gothic style in 1848-1849. It was built as University Hall to mark the passing of the Dissenters’ Chapels Act in 1844.

From 1853, University Hall was shared with Manchester New College. Henry Morley, professor of literature at University College and editor of Morley’s Universal Library was the principal of University Hall in 1882-1890.

Manchester New College acquired the lease in 1882 but moved to Oxford in 1890, the building was bought by the trustees of Dr Williams’s Charity to house their library.

The Revd Dr Daniel Williams (1643-1716), a leading nonconformist minister in Dublin and London, endowed the library in his will

The founder of the library, the Revd Dr Daniel Williams (1643-1716), was a leading nonconformist minister in both Dublin and London in the late 17th and early 18th century.

Williams was born into a Welsh family, probably in Wrexham, and his early plans to enter ministry were interrupted by the Restoration of Charles II and the Act of Uniformity (1662). After a few years preaching in England he moved to Ireland, where he was a domestic chaplain to Mary (Chambré) Brabazon, Countess of Meath in 1664-1667.

Williams was then one of the ministers of the Wood Street Chapel, near Whitefriar Street in Dublin, for 20 years, from 1667 to 1687. The chapel had its roots in early Puritans and Presbyterians and became one of the Dublin congregations that lead to the formation of the Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church in Ireland and the Unitarian Church in Dublin.

As religious tensions heightened in Dublin during the reign of James II, Williams believed his life was in danger. He fled to London in 1687, and soon found an influential place amongst London Presbyterians, particularly after the death of Richard Baxter (1615-1691).

He was appointed minister to the Presbyterian congregation in Hand Alley, Bishopsgate, and despite repeated requests to return to Dublin, he remained at Hand Alley for the rest of his life. He received the degree of Doctor of Divinity in 1709 from the Universities of Edinburgh and Glasgow in recognition of his outstanding services to nonconformity.

Williams died at the age of 72 in January 1716 and was buried in Bunhill Fields. His congregation eventually moved towards Unitarianism, but has long since disappeared.

In his will, he left instructions for his trustees to house his collection as a public library for nonconformist ministers, tutors and students in the City of London. He also left bequests to Saint Thomas’s Hospital, the University of Harvard, and to support missionaries in Scotland, Ireland, and New England.

His trustees built and equipped a library that first opened in Red Cross Street, Cripplegate, almost 300 years ago in 1730. Over the years, the collections were enlarged with gifts of books, manuscripts and portraits. His original benefaction of about 7,600 books became a small part of a library that eventually extended beyond Puritanism to include Biblical subjects, church history, Byzantine studies, philosophy, literature and more.

The library’s original home was bought by the Metropolitan Railway Company and demolished in 1865. The library moved to Bloomsbury and was housed at No 8 Queen Square from 1865 to 1873. It then moved into premises designed by the architect Thomas Chatfeild Clarke (1829-1895) in Grafton Street, now Grafton Way, off Tottenham Court Road.

Dr Daniel Williams remembered in a plaque at the entrance to the former library (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

When Manchester New College moved to Oxford, the library’s trustees acquired University Hall, Gordon Square, in 1889 and the library moved there in 1890. The library had close ties with Unitarians and several of its first directors were ministers associated with Newington Green Unitarian Church, London's oldest Nonconformist place of worship still in use.

The Revd Robert Travers Herford (1860-1950), librarian of Dr Williams’s Library from 1914 to 1925, was a scholar of rabbinical literature, and he was one of the first Christian scholars of the Pharisees to take a neutral view between Talmud and New Testament. He is commemorated by a blue plaque on the façade of the building. His brother, the Revd Ulric Vernon Herford (1866-1938), was one of the most colourful and eccentric Unitarian ministers in Oxford. He was a Unitarian minister in Oxford in the 1890s before seeking consecration by the Nestorian Church in India as Metropolitan Mar Jacobus I in 1902, and then formed the Evangelical Catholic Church.

After a V-1 flying bomb destroyed Essex Hall, the headquarters of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the library offered rooms to displaced workers, and they stayed there for 14 years, until 1958. In 1976, the library acquired the library of New College London, which until then had trained Congregationalist ministers.

Dr Williams’s Library closed in 2025 and its copy of Shakespeare’s First Folio was sold by Sotheby’s at auction in 2006 for £2.8 million. After a prolonged discussion, the trust agreed to house its collection in the John Rylands Library at the University of Manchester, and the Library moved to Manchester in 2024-2025.

Meanwhile, Manchester New College, which moved from Gordon Square to Oxford in 1889, later became Harris Manchester College and became a constituent college of the University of Oxford in 1996.

The Revd Robert Travers Herford was the librarian of Dr Williams’s Library in 1914-1925 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

As for the Wood Street congregation where Williams ministered in Dublin for 20 years, it was joined in 1762 by the Dissenters of Mary’s Abbey and together they moved to Great Strand Street where a new meeting house opened in 1764. They were joined there in 1787 by the Cook Street congregation.

In the 1850s, the Strand Street congregation decided that it needed a new church on a more prominent street. The Unitarian Church on Saint Stephen’s Green, Dublin, opened in June 1863, and it was joined by the Eustace Street congregation in 1867.

The Saint Stephen’s Green congregation in Dublin is part of Non-Subscribing Presbyterian Church of Ireland and also maintains links with Unitarians in England, Scotland and Wales through the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches.

The Unitarian Church on Saint Stephen’s Green … the spiritual heir to the ministry of Daniel Williams in Dublin in the late 17th century (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Rutland’s struggles to survive as England’s smallest county, but it has its rivals, including London, Bristol … and Lichfield

Rutland’s name and fame have spread far beyond its small size … the Rutland Fountain in Merrion Square, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Patrick Comerford

I was musing earlier this week (31 August 2026) on which is the smallest state in Europe, recalling my visits to the Vatican City, San Marino, Malta, Cyprus and the tiny territory of the Sovereign Military Order of Malta,and even stepping on the steps of the former supreme court of Andorra, albeit in French sovereign territory.

In a similar vein, I have sometimes wondered what is the smallest county in England. I have some of the places that make that claim, and as I was researching Monday’s posting on Europe’s micronation, I came across a feature in The Guardian last week (26 August 2026) on how Rutland’s council is due to merge with Leicestershire in 2028 and how some local people are incensed. Lucy Knight asked whether the county can hold on to its ceremonial status.

But is Rutland still the smallest county? Well, that all depends on which list of counties you work from and how you define a county.

The Historic Counties Trust lists 39 English counties, there are 48 ceremonial counties, 84 metropolitan (6) and non-metropolitan (78) counties, and the 48 former postal counties from 1974 to 1996, making England a confusing patchwork of administrative counties, ceremonial counties, postal counties and unitary authority areas.

England’s counties are the source of much regional pride, not least when it comes to cricket. To identify with Yorkshire, Devon or Northumbria is to invite certain expectations about your forthright views or your fondness for cider and clog-dancing. The historic counties continue to be the basis for county cricket teams. Sussex and Yorkshire, for example, continue to be widely recognised as cultural regions, significant in sport and used by many organisations as regional units.

Although Middlesex dates back to the eighth century, Middlesex County Council was abolished in 1965. Yet Middlesex County Cricket Club, and Middlesex University live on, and so too does the historic county of Middlesex, even though most of its inhabitants now live in the ceremonial county of Greater London.

Middlesex has disappeared as a county, but the Fitzrovia Chapel survives as the former chapel of the Middlesex Hospital (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

A major reform and reorganisation of local government in 1974 redrew the map of England and introduced metropolitan counties such as Greater Manchester, South Yorkshire and the West Midlands. Administrative counties and county boroughs were abolished, England, with the exception of Greater London and the Isles of Scilly, was divided into two types of counties: metropolitan and non-metropolitan counties.

Several counties, such as Cumberland, Herefordshire, Rutland, Westmorland and Worcestershire, vanished from the administrative map, while new entities such as Avon, Cleveland, Cumbria and Humberside appeared, in addition to the six new metropolitan counties.

A review of local government structures led to the Rutland, East Riding of Yorkshire, Herefordshire and Worcestershire being restored as administrative areas in the 1990s, while Avon, Cleveland and Humberside were abolished less than 25 years after their creation. Traditional borders were restored between Somerset and Gloucestershire (except at Bristol), County Durham and Yorkshire (towards the mouth of the River Tees, but not in Teesdale), and Yorkshire and Lincolnshire.

The case of Huntingdonshire was considered twice, but the commission found that ‘there was no exceptional county allegiance to Huntingdonshire, as had been perceived in Rutland and Herefordshire’.

The Duke of Rutland depicted on the Rutland Fountain in Merrion Square, Dublin (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Rutland is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, described by Lucy Knight in The Guardian as a pocket between Leicestershire, Lincolnshire and Northamptonshire, and she repeats the claim it ‘is often considered to be England’s smallest county’.

If we go by the list of historic counties, Rutland is the smallest with a total area of 382 sq km (147 sq miles), and an estimated population of just over 41,000. It has the second-smallest population for a ceremonial county after the City of London.

Rutland is a rural county, and the only towns are Oakham in the west and Uppingham in the south. Rutland is so small that I only remember passing through it on a train between Cambridge and Birmingham that stopped at Oakham.

But despite its size, the name of Rutland has spread far and wide: Parnell Square, one of the oldest Georgian square in Dublin, was laid out in 1753-1785 as Rutland Square, and kept that name until 1933. Charles Manners, Duke of Rutland, was a popular Viceroy of Ireland until he died on 24 October 1787 at the Vice-Regal Lodge in the Phoenix Park, Dublin, now Áras an Uachtaráin, the official residence of the President of Ireland. His memory lives on in the names of Rutland Street, Rutland Place and Granby Row, Dublin, Rutland House and Rutland Street in Limerick, and the Rutland Fountain, an imposing monument in Merrion Square, Dublin, and a second Rutland Fountain in James’s Street, Dublin.

Rutland became a non-metropolitan district of Leicestershire in legislation that took effect in 1974. Under plans for local government reorganisation announced in July 2026, Rutland is about to become part of a new unitary authority area, Leicestershire and Rutland.

The City of London measures just 2.9 sq km, making it the smallest ceremonial county in England (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

But if we rely on the list of ceremonial counties, then the smallest county in England is the City of London, which includes Saint Paul’s Cathedral, Fleet Street, the Bank of England and the Stock Exchange. It is often known as ‘the Square Mile’, measures just 2.9 sq km (1.12 sq miles) and is the smallest ceremonial county in England and the smallest city in the UK by area.

Although more than half a million people work in the City of London, it has a population of only 8,583 people.

Surrounded by the modern ceremonial county of Greater London, the City is a unique local authority area governed by the City of London Corporation, which is led by the Lord Mayor of London, not to be confused with the elected Mayor of London. It is also part of the Greater London Authority, which shares local government powers in the region with the councils of 32 London boroughs and the City of London Corporation. However, it does not include two historic liberties, the Inner Temple and the Middle Temple, enclaves within the City of London.

Tyne and Wear, including Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland, is 540 sq km (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

If the City of London is removed from the debate, the ceremonial county of Bristol must be taken into account. It measures 110 sq km (42 sq miles) and was part of the county of Avon from 1974 to 1996, but then returned to being an independent county.

The Isle of Wight is usually regarded as part of Hampshire, but is also a ceremonial county and a unitary authority. It has a land area of 380 sq km (146.7 sq miles), so it is marginally smaller than Rutland, but larger than Bristol and much larger than the ceremonial county of the City of London.

Tyne and Wear, including Newcastle, Gateshead and Sunderland, is 540 sq km (210 sq miles); Merseyside, including Liverpool and the Wirrall, is 652 sq km (252 sq miles); and the West Midlands, including Birmingham, Coventry, Dudley, Sandwell, Solihull, Walsall and Wolverhampton, is 902 sq km (348 sq miles).

St Neots is the largest town in Huntingdonshire, now a local government district in Cambridgeshire (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

All are smaller in area than Huntingdonshire, historically a county in its own right and also, at times, claimed as the smallest county in England. Huntingdonshire has an area of 918 sq km (354.3 sq miles) and boundaries dating from Anglo-Saxon times. It became an administrative county in 1889. It was merged in 1965, with the Soke of Peterborough to form Huntingdon and Peterborough, which in turn was merged with Cambridgeshire and Isle of Ely in 1974 to form Cambridgeshire. Huntingdonshire is now a local government district in Cambridgeshire, and St Neots (33,410) is the largest town.

Cambridgeshire also incorporates the Isle of Ely and the Liberty of Peterborough, each of which was treated as a separate county in legislation in the 19th century.

The Isle of Ely in Cambridgeshire was under the jurisdiction of the Bishop of Ely from 1109 to 1837. From 1889 to 1965, it was an administrative county of about 970 sq km (374.5 sq miles). The Soke of Peterborough, associated with the City and Diocese of Peterborough, was part of Northamptonshire but was had its own county council. The Soke, also known as the Liberty of Peterborough, was abolished in 1965.

We might also consider the shires that were never counties. Large exclaves affected by legislation in 1844 included the County Durham exclaves of Islandshire, Bedlingtonshire and Norhamshire, later treated as hundreds of Northumberland.

Lichfield became a city and county, separate from Staffordshire, in a charter from Queen Mary I in 1553 and remained so until 1888 (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

But, of course, one of the smallest counties that ever existed, at least in name and with its own sheriff, from the mid-16th century and that will always be my favourite is Lichfield, one of only 18 towns and cities in England to have held county corporate status in the past. A charter from Queen Mary I in 1553 made Lichfield a ‘City and a County’, separate from the rest of Staffordshire, and it remained so for 335 years until 1888.

Richard II gave a charter in 1387 for the foundation of the Guild of Saint Mary and Saint John the Baptist, which effectively exercised the function of local government in Lichfield until it was dissolved by Edward VI, who incorporated the town in 1548, vesting its government in two bailiffs and 24 burgesses.

The corporation established in 1548 probably acquired legal rights to the surrounding land, but the line of the boundary at that date is uncertain. The charter states merely that the limits of the city and its suburbs ‘should extend as far as in times past they have been reputed and considered to extend’.

Queen Mary I’s charter in 1553 repeated this formula. She granted the charter in 1553, the first year of her reign, as a reward thanking the citizens and bailiffs of Lichfield for their loyalty and support during the Duke of Northumberland’s attempt to block her accession to the throne.

The charter separated Lichfield administratively from Staffordshire, making it a county of itself until it was reincorporated into Staffordshire in 1888. The charter also created the ancient office of the Sheriff of Lichfield, and the city remains one of the few towns in England that still appoints to this ancient office.

Queen Mary I’s charter to Lichfield in 1553 … it remained a city and county until 1888

The City and County of Lichfield extended to an area of about 14 sq km (5.4 sq miles), which is larger than the City of London, but smaller than, say, Bristol, the Isle of Wight or Rutland. The area of the Lichfield City remained so until 1934, when it was enlarged to 14.56 sq km with the addition of part of Streethay on the east, and there have been further adjustments to the boundaries since then.

The charter stated that Lichfield ‘should be a city and county of itself, for ever, and not parcel of Staffordshire. That there should be one sheriff of the city and county of Lichfield, to be chosen on the feast of St Thomas’.

The charter required the newly appointed sheriff to ride the boundaries of the city and county, a distance of 16 to 20 miles, every year on the Saturday nearest 8 September, the Feast of the Birth of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and to inspect and enforce the borders. This tradition continues today through the Lichfield City Council events, and the Sheriff’s Ride this year takes place next Saturday, 5 September 2026.

Daily prayer in Ordinary Time 2026: 107, Sunday 23 August 2026, Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XII)

‘On this rock I will build my church’ (Matthew 16: 18) … the monastery of Simonopetra, built on a rocky clifftop on Mount Athos (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

We are continuing in Ordinary Time in the Church Calendar and tomorrow is the Twelfth Sunday after Trinity (Trinity XII, 23 August 2026) and the feast of Saint Bartholomew the Apostle.

Later this morning, I hope to be at in the Parish Eucharist in Saint Mary and Saint Giles Church, Stony Stratford, reading one of the lessons. But, before today begins, I am taking some quiet time this morning to give thanks, to reflect, to pray and to read in these ways:

1, today’s Gospel reading;

2, a reflection on the Gospel reading;

3, a prayer from the USPG prayer diary;

4, the Collects and Post-Communion prayer of the day.

Christ giving the keys of the Kingdom to Saint Peter (see Matthew 16: 19) … a mosaic on the façade of Saint Peter’s Church, Saffron Hill, on Clerkenwell Road, Lonon (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Matthew 16: 13-20 (NRSVA):

13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14 And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’ 15 He said to them, ‘But who do you say that I am?’ 16 Simon Peter answered, ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God.’ 17 And Jesus answered him, ‘Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father in heaven. 18 And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. 19 I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.’ 20 Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was the Messiah.

The Acropolis, the highest point in Athens, stands on an extremely rocky outcrop … a poster seen in a Greek restaurant (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Today’s Reflections:

One of my pleasures in visiting Athens is standing at the top of Acropolis (Ἀκρόπολις) and taking in the breathtaking views in every direction across the city and out to the port of Piraeus.

The Acropolis is the highest point in Athens. It stands on an extremely rocky outcrop and on it the ancient Greeks built several significant buildings. The most famous of these is the Parthenon. This flat-topped rock rises 150 metres (490 ft) above sea level and has a surface area of about 3 hectares (7.4 acres).

Below, immediately north-west of the Acropolis, is the Areopagus, another prominent, but relatively smaller, rocky outcrop. Its English name comes from its Greek name, Ἄρειος Πάγος (Areios Págos), the ‘Rock of Ares,’ known to the Romans as the Hill of Mars.

In classical Athens, this functioned as the court for trying deliberate homicide. It was said Ares was put on trial here for deicide, the murder of the son of the god Poseidon. In the play The Eumenides (458 BCE) by Aeschylus, the Areopagus is the site of the trial of Orestes for killing his mother.

Later, murderers would seek shelter here in the hope of a fair hearing.

Here too the Athenians had an altar to the unknown god, and it was here the Apostle Paul delivered his most famous speech and sermon, in which he identified the ‘unknown god’ with ‘the God who made the world and everything in it, he who is Lord of heaven and earth’ (Acts 17: 24), for ‘In him we live and move and have our being’ (verse 28).

This is the most dramatic and fullest reported sermon or speech by the Apostle Paul. He quotes the Greek philosopher Epimenides, and he must have known that the location of his speech had important cultural contexts, including associations with justice, deicide and the hidden God.

The origin of the name of the Areopagus is found in the ancient Greek, πάγος ( pagos), meaning a ‘big piece of rock.’

Another word, λιθος (lithos) was used for a small rock, a stone, or even a pebble – it is the Greek word that gives us words like lithograph and megalithic, meaning Great Stone Age.

When I see breathtaking sights like these, I understand how culturally relevant it was for Christ to talk about the wise man building his house on a rock rather than on sand (see Matthew 7: 21-29, 25 June 2026).

Ordinary domestic buildings might have been built to last a generation or two, at most. But building on rock, building into rock, building into massive rock formations like the Acropolis, was laying the foundations for major works of cultural, political and religious significance that would last long after those who had built them had been forgotten.

And so, when Christ says to Saint Peter in the Gospel reading this morning that the Church is going to be built on a rock, he is talking about the foundations for a movement, an institution, an organisation, a community that is going to have lasting, everlasting significance.

In the past, Christians have got tied up in knots in silly arguments about this Gospel story. Some of us shy away from dealing with this story, knowing that in the past it was used to bolster not so much the claims of the Papacy, but all the packages that go with those claims. In other words, it was argued by some in the past that the meaning of this passage was explicit: if you accepted this narrow meaning, you accepted the Papacy; if you accepted the Papacy, then you also accepted Papal infallibility, Papal claims to universal jurisdiction, and Papal teachings on celibacy, birth control, the immaculate conception and the assumption of the Virgin Mary.

And that is more than just a leap and a jump from what is being taught in the Gospel reading today. But to counter those great leaps of logic, Protestant theologians in the past put forward contorted arguments about the meaning of the rock and the rock of faith in this passage. Some have tried to argue that the word used for Peter, Πητρος (Petros), is the word for a small pebble, but that faith is described with a different word, πητρα (petra), meaning a giant rock, the sort of rock on which the Greeks built the Acropolis or carved out the Areopagus.

But they were silly arguments. The distinction between these words existed in Attic Greek in the classical days, but not in the Greek spoken at the time of Christ or at the time Saint Matthew was writing his Gospel. Πητρος (Petros) was the male name derived from a rock, πητρα (petra) was a rock, a massive rock like Petra in Jordan or the rocks of the Acropolis or the Areopagus, and the word lithos (λιθος) was used for a small rock, a stone, or even a pebble.

And Saint Peter is a rock, his faith is a rock, a rock that is solid enough to provide the foundations for Christ’s great work that is the Church.

How could Saint Peter or his faith be so great? This is the same Peter who in last week’s Gospel reading (Matthew 15: 21-28; 16 August 2026) wanted Christ to send away the desperate Canaanite woman because ‘she keeps shouting at us.’

This is the same Peter who a week before (Matthew 14: 22-33; 9 August 2026), tried to walk on water and almost drowned, and Christ said to that same Peter: ‘You of little faith, why did you doubt?’ (verse 31).

This is the same Peter who, in the week before that (Matthew 14: 13-21, 2 August), was among the disciples who wanted to send away the crowd and let them buy food for themselves (verse 15).

This is the same Peter who seems to get it wrong constantly. Later in this Gospel, he denies Christ three times at the Crucifixion (Matthew 26: 75). After the Resurrection, Christ has to put the question three times to Peter before Peter confesses that Christ knows everything, and Christ then calls him with the words: ‘Follow me’ (John 21: 15-19).

Saint Peter is so like me. He trips and stumbles constantly. He often gets it wrong, even later on in life. He gives the wrong answers, he comes up with silly ideas, he easily stumbles and trips, like I do, on the pebbles and stones that are strewn across the pathway of life.

But eventually, it is not his own judgment, his own failing judgment that marks him out as someone special. No. It is his faith, his rock solid faith.

Despite all his human failings, despite his often-tactless behaviour, despite all his weaknesses, he is able to say who Christ is for him. He has a simple but rock-solid faith, summarised in that simple, direct statement: ‘You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God’ (verse 16).

Who do you say Christ is?

Who is Christ for you?

I often spend time off in Lichfield, where I began working as a freelance journalist for the Lichfield Mercury 55 years ago in 1971. George Fox, the founding Quaker, once walked barefoot through the streets of Lichfield. But he also challenged his contemporaries with these words: ‘You may say Christ saith this, and the apostles say this, but what canst thou say? Art thou a child of the Light and hast thou walked in the Light, and what thou speakest, is it inwardly from God?’

Who is Christ for you? Is he a personal saviour? One who comforts you? Or is he more than that for you? Who do you say Christ is?

It is a question that challenges Peter in this Gospel reading. Not who do others say he is, but who do you say Christ is?

Peter’s faith is a faith that proves to be so rock-solid that you could say it is blessed, it is foundational. Not gritty, pebbly, pain-on-the-foot sort of faith. But the foundational faith on which you could build a house, carve out a temple or monastery, or a place to seek justice and sanctuary, rock-solid faith that provides the foundation for the Church.

There are other people in the Bible and in Jewish tradition who are commended for their rock-solid faith, including Abraham and Sarah (see Isaiah 51: 1f).

It is the sort of faith that will bring people into the Church, and even the most cunning, ambitious, evil schemes, even death itself, will not be able to destroy this sort of faith (verse 18).

Throughout the Bible, as people set out on great journeys of faith, their new beginning in faith is marked by God giving them a new name: Abram becomes Abraham, Jacob becomes Israel, Saul becomes Paul, and Simon son of Jonah is blessed with a new name too as he becomes Cephas or Peter, the rock-solid, reliable guy, whose faith becomes a role model for the new community of faith, for each and every one of us.

Why would Christ pick me or you? Well, why would he pick a simple fisherman from a small provincial town?

It is not how others see us that matters. It is our faith and commitment to Christ that matters. God always sees us as he made us, in God’s own image and likeness, and loves us like that.

The faith that the Church must look to as its foundation, the faith that we must depend on, that we must live by, is not some self-determined, whimsical decision, but the faith that the Apostles had in the Christ who calls them, that rock-solid, spirit-filled faith in Christ, of which Saint Peter’s confession this morning is the most direct yet sublime and solid example.

Apostolic faith like Saint Peter’s is the foundation stone on which the Church is built, the foundation stone of the new Jerusalem, with Christ as the cornerstone (Ephesians 2: 20; Revelation 21: 14).

It does not matter that Saint Peter was capable of some dreadful gaffes and misjudgements. I am like that too … constantly, every day.

But Christ calls us in our weaknesses. And in our weaknesses, he finds our strengths. So that, as the Apostle Paul reminds us in the Epistle reading this morning, the Church is then built up by the gifts that each one of us has to offer, ‘each according to the measure of faith that Christ has assigned’ (Romans 12: 3).

Our weaknesses can be turned to strengths if we accept the unique gifts each of us has been given by God and joyfully use them, lovingly use them, in God’s service, for building up his kingdom.

Let us not be afraid of our weaknesses. Let us not be afraid of the mistakes we inevitably make. But let us accept the gifts God has given us. Let us use those to build up our faith, to build up the Church, and to serve Christ and the world.

Symbols of Saint Peter, the crossed keys and the upside-down cross, on a hassock at the font in Saint Peter’s Church, Lingwood, Norfolk (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Today’s Prayers (Sunday 23 August 2026, Trinity XII):

In Pray with the World Church, the prayer diary of the Anglican mission agency USPG (United Society Partners in the Gospel), the theme this week, from 23 to 29 August 2026 (pp 32-33), is ‘Legacies of History’. This theme is introduced today with a reflection by the Revd Dr Rachele Evie Vernon O’Brien, a Jamaican-born theologian and advocate:

The Revd Levon Alkins is a recent graduate of Codrington College and assistant curate in Barbados. In an extract from Legacies of History, he reflects on how younger generations are wrestling with the Church’s history of slavery and its lasting impact.

“When we think about the church and slavery,” he says, “we look at it from an unfortunate point of view - how could someone who is promoting the gospel also promote slavery?” He notes that many young people struggle with this contradiction and that some “don’t even want sometimes to get involved in the church… because the church upholds something that wasn’t right.”

He names the tension clearly: “On the one hand the church says you have to love, but on the other hand, the church is treating people without love because we are using people for labour to gain profits.” His words highlight the gap between the gospel’s call to love and the failures of human institutions.

Yet he also points towards hope. He urges the Church “not [to] dwell too heavily on the past, but look into the relevance for the future.” This forward-looking hope is grounded in formation and reflection, pointing to Codrington College as “an institution … where one can come and learn about spirituality,” alongside the importance of forgiveness.

Legacies of History brings Caribbean perspectives to the forefront, helping churches reflect faithfully on history, justice, and mission. Explore and use the resource in your church or small group at www.uspg.org.uk/legacies-of-history.

The USPG Prayer Diary today (Sunday 23 August 2026, Trinity XII, International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition) invites us to pray:

God of truth, as your Church reflects on its history, give us wisdom and honesty. Help us face the past with humility, recognise our mistakes, and follow your call to reconciliation.

The Collect of the Day:

Almighty and everlasting God,
you are always more ready to hear than we to pray
and to give more than either we desire or deserve:
pour down upon us the abundance of your mercy,
forgiving us those things of which our conscience is afraid
and giving us those good things
which we are not worthy to ask
but through the merits and mediation
of Jesus Christ your Son our Lord,
who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

The Post-Communion Prayer:

God of all mercy,
in this eucharist you have set aside our sins
and given us your healing:
grant that we who are made whole in Christ
may bring that healing to this broken world,
in the name of Jesus Christ our Lord.

Additional Collect:

God of constant mercy,
who sent your Son to save us:
remind us of your goodness,
increase your grace within us,
that our thankfulness may grow,
through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Collect on the Eve of Saint Bartholomew:

Almighty and everlasting God,
who gave to your apostle Bartholomew grace
truly to believe and to preach your word:
grant that your Church
may love that word which he believed
and may faithfully preach and receive the same;
through Jesus Christ your Son our Lord, who is alive and reigns with you,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.

Yesterday’s reflections

Continued tomorrow

A statue of Saint Peter in Saint Peter’s Church, Eaton Square (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible: Anglicised Edition copyright © 1989, 1995, National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. http://nrsvbibles.org

An updated guide to my visits to London churches and other religious places of worship

Sir Christopher Wren rebuilt Saint Paul’s Cathedral after the Great Fire of London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2024)

Patrick Comerford

In previous postings, I have summarised and listed cathedrals, churches and chapels I have visited in Limerick, Stony Stratford, Milton Keynes, Buckinghamshire, Oxford, and other places, with hyper-links to my blog postings about each church I have visited in those places.

In a similar way, I have provided guides to the synagogues I have visited across the world.

Since my teens, I have also visited countless churches, chapels and cathedrals in London, as well as synagogues and mosques, and I have been blogging about them since about 2007. I last provided a posting with links to the blogs about each building I have visited and written about on 27 March 2025.

In the 2½ years since then, the number of churches, synagogues and other places I have blogged about has continued to grow. This posting is an effort to update that list of blog pastings and to provide an accessible index to those blog postings, with about 140 churches and church sites, and more than 30 synagogues, as well as and three mosques.

I hope to continue to update this posting intermittently, with links to each new posting.

Cathedrals in London:

1, All Saints’ Cathedral (Greek Orthodox), Camden Town (8 November 2022).

2, Saint George’s Cathedral (Roman Catholic), Southwark (1 September 2019) and here (29 October 2023).

3, Saint Paul’s Cathedral (Church of England) (9 May 2021).

4, Southwark Cathedral (Church of England) (3 December (2007), here (29 April 2016), here (1 September 2019), here (4 September 2023) and here (3 November 2023).

5, Westminster Abbey (Church of England) (11 July 2019) and here (19 August 2019).

6, Ukrainian Catholic Cathedral, Duke Street, Mayfair (1 June 2025).

7, Westminster Cathedral (Roman Catholic) (26 November 2018).

All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street, known for its architecture, liturgy, interior, rich decoration and music (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2023)

Church of England (Anglican) churches:

8, All Hallows by the Tower (16 August 2022).

9, All Hallows, Bread Street (16 September 2021).

10, All Saints’ Church, Margaret Street (23 September 2023).

11, All Souls’ Church, Langham Place (2 November 2023).

12, Christ Church, Blackfriars (21 September 2023).

13, Christ Church, Greyfriars (12 May 2017) and here (17 September 2021).

14, Christ Church, Marylebone, also known as Christ Church, Lisson Grove, and Christ Church, Cosway Street (3 August 2025).

15, Christ Church, Spitalfields (2 February 2018) and here (29 May 2021).

16, Christ the King, Gordon Square, Bloomsbury (27 July 2025).

17, Christ the Saviour, Ealing Broadway (15 August 2012).

18, Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch (25 March 2025).

19, Euston Church, Gordon Square, Bloomsbury (27 July 2025).

20, Fitzrovia Chapel (former chapel, Middlesex Hospital), Pearson Square (29 June 2025).

21, The Grosvenor Chapel, Mayfair (6 July 2025).

22, Harvard Chapel, Southwark Cathedral (4 November 2023).

23, (former) Church of the Holy Trinity, Minories (27 June 2023).

24, Holy Trinity Church, Sloane Square, Chelsea (28 September 2022).

25, Queen’s Chapel, Saint James’s Palace (11 July 2019).

26, Royal Foundation of Saint Katharine (23 November 2016) and here (11 July 2019).

27, Saint Alphage’s Church (24 January 2020).

28, Saint Alban the Martyr, Holborn (19 February 2024).

29, Saint Andrew, Holborn (7 June 2023).

30, Saint Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe (12 May 2017) and here (5 September 2021).

31, Saint Anne’s Church, Soho (13 July 2025).

32, Saint Augustine, Watling Street, tower (22 May 2018), and here (18 September 2021).

33, Saint Bartholomew the Great, Smithfield (21 February 2024).

34, Saint Benet Fink, Royal Exchange (19 September 2021).

35, Saint Benet Paul’s Wharf (13 May 2017).

36, Saint Botolph without Aldersgate (25 January 2020).

37, Saint Botolph without Aldgate (27 January 2020) and here (29 October 2022).

38, Saint Botolph-without-Bishopsgate (2 February 2009) and here (22 November 2016).

39, Saint Bride’s, Fleet Street (6 September 2021).

40, Saint Christopher-le-Stocks, Threadneedle Street (20 September 2021).

41, Saint Clement Danes, The Strand (28 October 2022).

42, Saint Columba’s House chapel, Maybury Hill, Woking (22 May 2021).

43, Saint Cyprian’s Church, Glentworth Street (3 August 2025).

44, Saint Dunstan and All Saints, Stepney (13 February 2023).

45, Saint Dunstan-in-the-East (13 August 2022).

46, Saint Dunstan-in-the-West, Fleet Street (22 February 2024).

47, Saint Edmund, King and Martyr, Lombard Street (5 February 2020) and here (7 September 2021).

48, Saint Elsyng Spital (tower) (24 January 2020).

49, Saint Ethelburga-the-Virgin, Bishopsgate (1 April 2018).

50, Saint Gabriel, Warwick Square, Pimlico (8 August 2026).

51,, Saint George, Hanover Square (16 March 2025).

52, Saint George, Holborn (6 July 2022).

53, Saint George, Southwark (16 May 2019).

54, Saint George-in-the-East (22 November 2016).

55, Saint Giles-in-the-Fields Church, St Giles (7 September 2025).

56, Saint Hilda, Crofton Park, Brockley (12 July 2026).

57, (former) Saint James’ Church, Friern Park (12 October 2025).

58, Saint James’ Church, Picadilly (17 February 2025).

59, Saint John-at-Hampstead, Church Row, Hampstead (29 September 2024).

60, Saint John’s, Downshire Hill, Hampstead (30 September 2024).

61, (former) Saint John the Evangelist, Wilton Road, Victoria (12 August 2026).

62, Saint Katharine Cree, Leadenhall Street (27 October 2022).

63, Saint Lawrence Jewry (29 September 2016) and here (8 September 2021).

64, Saint Magnus the Martyr, Lower Thames Street (17 August 2022).

65, Saint Margaret Lothbury (30 September 2016) and here (9 September 2021).

66, Saint Margaret Pattens (15 August 2022).

67, Saint Margaret’s, Westminster (20 November 2012) and here (21 May 2021).

68, Saint Martin in the Fields (26 February 2024) and here (27 May 2021).

69, Saint Martin within Ludgate (25 January 2020) and here (10 September 2021).

70, Saint Mary Aldermary (14 May 2017) and here (10 September 2021).

71, Saint Mary, Bryanston Square (3 August 2025).

72, (former) Abbey of the Minoresses of Saint Mary of the Order of Saint Clare (27 June 2023).

73, Saint Mary at Hill (14 August 2022).

74, Saint Mary-le-Bow, Cheapside (11 May 2017) and here (12 September 2021).

75, Saint Mary le Strand (25 February 2024).

76, (former) Saint Mary Matfelon, Whitechapel (17 February 2020).

77, Saint Mary Somerset (tower), Lambeth Hill (22 May 2018) and here (21 September 2021).

78, Saint Mary, Somers Town (2 Mary 2025).

79, Saint Mary-within-Cripplegate (24 January 2020).

80, Saint Mary Woolnoth (15 May 2018) and here (22 September 2021).

81, Saint Matthew, Friday Street (23 September 2021).

82, Saint Matthew, Westminster (1 July 2011).

83, Saint Michael, Bassishaw (24 September 2021).

84, Saint Michael’s Church, Chester Square (1 October 2023).

85, Saint Michael’s Church, Cornhill (28 September 2023).

86, Saint Nicholas Cole Abbey (13 May 2017) and here (13 September 2021).

87, Saint Olave’s Church, corner of Hart Street and Seething Lane (27 February 2023).

88, Saint Olave Jewry (tower) (September 2016) and here (25 September 2021).

89, (former) Saint Pancras, Soper Lane (10 July 2022).

90, Saint Pancras New Church, near Euston Station (7 November 2022).

91, Saint Pancras Old Church (15 June 2022).

92, Saint Paul’s Church, Lisson Street (3 August 2025).

93, Saint Peter’s Church, Ealing (20 August 2012).

94, Saint Peter’s, Eaton Square, Belgravia (11 August 2026).

95, Saint Saviour’s, Saint George’s Square, Pimlico (10 August 2026).

96, (former) Saint Stephen’s Church, Rosslyn Hill, Hampstead (1 October 2024).

97, Saint Stephen Walbrook (30 May 2018), also here (16 February 2019), here (14 September 2021) and here (14 May 2022).

98, (former) Saint Thomas, Southwark (31 October 2023).

99, Saint Vedast-alias-Foster (24 February 2017) and here (15 September 2021).

100, The Temple Church (24 February 2024).

101, USPG Chapel, USPG offices, Southwark (20 March 2021) and here (4 March 2020).

102, Saint Vedast Foster Lane or Saint Vedast-alias-Foster (24 February 2017).

Inside Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, Shaftesbury Avenue (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Baptist Churches:

103, Bloomsbury Central Baptist Church, Shaftesbury Avenue (28 December 2025).

104, Heath Street Baptist Church, Hampstead (5 October 2024).

105, (former) Soho Baptist Chapel, Shaftesbury Avenue (29 December 2025).

Chinese Church:

106, Chinese Church in London, Shaftesbury Avenue (29 December 2025).

Christian Science Church:

107, The Cadogan Hall, Chelsea, former Christian Science Church (5 October 2022).

Evangelical / Brethren:

108, Rossmore Hall Evangelical Church, Rossmore Road, Marylebone (3 August 2025).

Orthodox churches:

109, Saint Katherine’s Church (Greek Orthodox), Friern Park (12 October 2025).

110, (former) Greek Church, Soho (2 September 2025).

Quakers (Religious Society of Friends):

111,, Friends House, London Road (10 August 2025) and here (15 June 2026).

The French Protestant Church on Soho Square is the last remaining Huguenot church in London (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2025)

Reformed and Congregational traditions:

112, The American International Church (former Whitefield Memorial Church), Tottenham Court Road (20 July 2025).

113, City Temple, Holborn Viaduct (1 April 2026).

1144, Dutch Church, Austin Friars (16 May 2018).

115, French Church, Soho Square (23 February 2025).

116, (former) King’s Weigh House Chapel (Congregational), Duke Street, Mayfair (1 June 2025).

117, (former) Huguenot church, Brick Lane (23 January 2020).

118, (former) Lyndhurst Road Congregational Church, Hampstead (1 October 2024).

119, (former) Scottish Presbyterian Church, Willoughby Road, Hampstead (1 October 2024).

120, Stepney Meeting House, United Reformed Church (14 February 2023).

121, The Swiss Church, Endell Street, Covent Garden (4 January 2026).

122, (former) Welsh Presbyterian Chapel, Charing Cross Road (3 January 2026).

Looking out on Clerkenwell Road and Hatton Garden from the loggia and portico of Saint Peter’s Church, Saffron Hill (Photograph: Patrick Comerford, 2026)

Roman Catholic Church:

123, Ealing Abbey (14 August 2012) and here (6 January 2013).

124, Farm Street Church, Mayfair (22 June 2025).

125, The Kairos Centre chapel, Maryfield Convent, Richmond (22 November 2018), and here (22 May 2021).

126, Saint Aloysius Church, Somers Town (9 Mary 2025).

127, Saint Etheldreda’s Church, Ely Place (31 March 2026).

128, Saint Mary Magdalene, Comerford Road, Brockley (9 July 2026).

129, Saint Mary Moorfields (22 January 2020).

130, Saint Mellitus Church, Islington (11 July 2022).

131, Saint Patrick’s Church, Soho Square (16 February 2025).

132, Saint Peter’s Church, Saffron Hill (2 April 2026).

Saint Benedict’s Abbey, Ealing, is the first Benedictine abbey in Greater London since the Reformation (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Unitarian:

133, Rosslyn Hill Chapel, Hampstead (2 October 2024).

See also:

134, Royal Peculiars (11 July 2019)

135, former almshouse chapel, Museum of the Home, Hoxton (21 December 2025)

Church-linked buildings:

136, Lambeth Palace (27 July 2011).

137, Ye Old Mitre, Ely Place, Holborn, site of the Palace of the Bishops of Ely (6 June 2023).

138, Salters’ Hall, Saint Swithin’s Lane, Presbyterian meeting place, 1700s (24 January 2020).

139, Southwark Deanery (2 August 2023).

140, Winchester Palace (5 June 2023).

Bevis Marks Synagogue … the only synagogue in Europe that has held regular services continuously for more than 300 years (Photograph: Patrick Comerford)

Other religious traditions:

Judaism:

1, (site of) the Great Synagogue, Old Jewry (29 April 2016)

2, Kehillas Ya’akov, Commercial Road, Stepney (1 February 2018)

3, (site of) a synagogue at Threadneedle Street (17 February 2019)

4, The Bevis Marks Synagogue (22 January 2020)

5, (site of) Fieldgate Street Great Synagogue, Whitechapel (23 January 2020)

6, (site of) former Brick Lane Synagogue (23 January 2020)

7, (site of former) Creechurch Lane Synagogue (6 March 2020)

8, (site of former) Great Synagogue, Duke’s Lane (6 March 2020)

9, Sandy’s Row Synagogue (9 March 2020)

10, Princelet Street Synagogue (10 March 2020)

11, The Spital Square Poltava Synagogue, Heneage Street (24 February 2023)

12, (former) Artillery Lane Synagogue (28 February 2023)

13, (former) Gun Street Synagogue, Spitalfields (1 March 2023)

14, The East London Central Synagogue, also known as Nelson Street Synagogue or Nelson Street Sfardish Synagogue (2 March 2023) and here (6 February 2026)

15, the Konin Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

16, the Glory of Israel and Sons of Klatsk Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

17, the Poltava Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

18, the Brethren of Suwalki Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

19, Hanbury Street Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

20, the Lovers of Peace Synagogue and the Voice of Jacob Synagogue, Hanbury Street (3 March 2023)

21, (former) Hambro’ Synagogue (6 March 2023)

22, (former) New Synagogue, Leadenhall Street (17 March 2023)

23, the Central Synagogue, Great Portland Street, London (19 May 2023)

24, Hampstead Synagogue, Dennington Park Road, Hampstead (15 November 2024).

25, (former) Beit HaSepher Synagogue, Soho Square (14 February 2025)

26, (former) West End Talmud Torah, Green’s Court, Soho (14 February 2025)

27, (former) Bikkur Holim synagogue, Manette Street, Soho (14 February 2025)

28, (former) West End Great Synagogue, Dean Street, Soho (14 February 2025)

29, (former) West Central Liberal Jewish Synagogue (28 February 2025).

30, Montague Centre, Maple Street (28 February 2025).

31, West London Synagogue (14 March 2025).

32, West Marble Arch Synagogue (7 March 2025).

Islam:

1, Brick Lane Mosque, formerly London Great Mosque (23 January 2020)

2, East London Mosque, Whitechapel Road (23 January 2020).

3, The Shah Jahan Mosque, Woking (28 November, 2019).

Secular/Humanist ‘chapels’ and halls:

1, Conway Hall, Theobald’s Street and Red Lion Square (7 April 2026) and here (27 February 2024).