The Friends of the City Churches

The Friends of the City Churches are an architectural heritage charity dedicated to preserving the beautiful and unique churches found within the square mile of the City of London. As part of our work we:

bring together the many interesting people who love and value the City churches

assist in the conservation and repair of these historic buildings through small grants and services

help to keep churches open and welcome weekday visitors and worshippers through the work of our volunteer Church Watchers

enrich our members’ knowledge through events including walks, talks, visits and tours

advertise forthcoming services, concerts and events in our regular listings guide, City Events

explore the heritage and the modern life of the churches in our quarterly magazine, Skyline

Copyright remains vested in the individual contributors to Skyline. For enquiries, please contact skyline@london-city-churches.org.uk.

Friends' Church Watchers

The Friends of the City Churches' volunteer Church Watchers usually help to keep all the churches listed below open to visitors and worshippers on a regular basis.

As lockdown eases, most City of London churches are open for private prayer or permitted communal services, but worshippers are strongly advised to check with the individual church for current opening hours: links to their Web sites are collected on our Churches Online page; you can also find further contact details in the Church Finder, by clicking on the photos. Click here for current guidance from the Church of England.

St Mary Abchurch, where the The Friends of the City Churches are based, is currently open from 11:00 am until 1:00 pm, Monday to Thursday, with Holy Communion at 12:30 on Wednesday.

Members with queries or merchandise orders are asked to phone or e‑mail if you can. Please use the order form on the Shop page for merchandise; we can accept payment by cheque or card.

Our weekly volunteer Church Watching has been suspended for the duration, but we hope to resume in September. Friends' events will be held online until we can all safely travel to and congregate in the City, but our Zoom talks are open to non-members, with booking via Eventbrite. We hope to welcome you to the City Churches as soon as it is safe for our volunteers and visitors to meet again.

Pre-pandemic, our last Church Watching schedule was as follows.

Mondays

St Botolph Aldgate (11am - 3pm)
St Ethelburga Centre
(11am - 3pm, 1st and 3rd Mondays of each month)
St Mary Abchurch (11am - 3pm)
St Sepulchre Newgate (11am - 3pm)

Tuesdays

The Dutch Church
(11am - 3pm, 2nd and 4th Tuesdays of each month)
St Dunstan in the West (11am - 3pm)
St Katharine Cree (11am - 3pm)
St Mary Abchurch (11am - 3pm)
St Michael Cornhill (11am - 3pm)
St Peter upon Cornhill (1pm - 4pm)

Wednesdays

All Hallows London Wall (11am - 3pm
St Botolph Aldersgate (11am - 3pm)
St Magnus the Martyr (1pm - 4pm)
St Mary Abchurch (11am - 3pm
St Stephen Walbrook (11am - 3pm)

Thursdays

St Benet Paul's Wharf (11am - 3pm)
St James Garlickhythe (11am - 3pm)
St Martin Ludgate (11am - 3pm)
St Mary Abchurch (11am - 3pm)
St Mary at Hill (11am - 3pm)

Fridays

St Andrew by the Wardrobe (11am - 3pm)
St Clement Eastcheap (11am - 3pm)
St Mary Abchurch (11am - 3pm)
St Martin Ludgate (11am - 3pm)

Please be aware that, to accommodate other activities, any one church may occasionally be closed to visitors on short notice.