[Bell Historians] London dedications [was St Cathrin de Cree]

[Anne Willis]

________________________________________
From: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com [mailto:bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com]
On Behalf Of Richard Offen
Sent: 26 June 2007 06:35
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Bell Historians] London dedications [was St Cathrin de Cree]

> How about St Stephen Coleman Street? Can't believe there was or ever 
could be a Saint Stephen Coleman, unless patron saint of ringing 
anoraks and club teas
> 
> CP
>

I thought he was the patron saint of bedside companions :-)

R
 
Wikipedia has the answer.

St. Stephen's was one of two City churches dedicated to the Christian
protomartyr St. Stephen who, by tradition, suffered lapidation in Jerusalem
in about 35 AD. Coleman Street itself is named after the charcoal burners
who used to live there. During the reign of Henry III, the church is
recorded as St. Stephen in the Jewry owing to its situation in the quarter
of London inhabited by many Jews. John Stow asserted that the building had
been used as a synagogue, although this is incorrect.
The earliest surviving reference to the church is to "the parish of St.
Stephen colemanstrate" during the reign of King John. Two centuries later,
the church is recorded as a chapel of ease to St. Olave Old Jewry. It
regained parochial status in the middle of the 15th century.


St Katherine Coleman seems to have been on a similarly named street.

Anne