St Mary-le-Bow in the UK, resort of London
Rating: 8,7/10 (4981 votes)  According to a long-standing belief, if a person is born in a place where the bells of St Mary-le-Bou are heard, he can be called a real Londoner - Cockney. The history of the appearance of this beautiful temple goes back no less than the 11th century. Since then, several churches have been rebuilt on this site, destroyed by a hurricane and fires. In the form in which the temple appears now, it appeared in the 17th century thanks to the architect Christopher Wren. He built a new building on top of an underground Norman chapel with a stone arched vault. Hence the word “bow” in the name of the church, which translates as “arch.” Above Saint-Mary-le-Bou, there is a bell tower that seems airy because of the two light rotundas that adorn the tower. The structure is crowned with a spire on which a dragon-vane sits. Several interesting legends and stories are associated with the bells of this temple. First, their ringing of bells has been a curfew since ancient times. Secondly, local bells rang not only when it was necessary to inform about the time, but also when announcing some fateful information. So, Dick Whittington once went to London to see if it was true that the city's pavements were covered with gold. Convinced that this was not so, he was about to return when he heard the bell the ringing of St. Mary-le-Bow calls out to him and asks the"three times Lord Mayor of London" to return. Whittington returned and soon indeed became mayor. In addition, the temple is known for being the reference point of the road from the city in some directions, similar to the London stone. At the beginning of World War II, St Mary-le-Bou was severely damaged by air raids. It was restored in the 1950s, and now, with the bells ringing, new generations of Cockney are still being born.     Topic: St Mary-le-Bow in the UK, resort of London. |
