St Mary's Islington - Detail and location of the painting.
A detail from the Godden painting "Half Demolished Wall" that shows St Mary's Islington.
The image John painted shows the tower of St Mary's Islington at Upper Street that is from a partly demolished building. Now replaced by homes at Drapers Place off Dagmar Passage.
There has been a church on the site of St Mary's as early as the 12th C. An act of parliament allowed a new building that was consecrated in May 1754 designed by Launcelot Dowbiggin. On Monday 9th September 1940 a German bomb destroyed much of the church during WWll, but the tower and portico survived. The building we see today was constructed by local company Dove Brothers and was dedicated in December 1956.
The tower we see in the painting by John is from the May 1754 building by Launcelot Dowbiggin that survived the WWll attack without serious damage.