Thomas Becket, whose father was a Mercer, was born near the junction of Cheapside and Ironmonger Lane in 1120.
There is a tribute to him on the front of the building at 90 Cheapside and below it a small plaque commemorating him which reads "Thomas Becket, Chancellor, Archbishop and Martyr, son of Gilbert Becket, Mercer was born here in c1120"
St Mary le Bow
According to the tradition, a true Cockney must be born within the sound of Bow bells.
The first reference to the church was in 1091 during a great storm ( the London Tornado) which blew the roof and some of the rafters off. They embedded so far into the ground that they had to be cut off at ground level.
The 'le Bow' in the churches name derives it's name from the arches in the crypt. St Mary’s served as the meeting place of the medieval Court of Arches, the court of appeal of the Archbishop of Canterbury from the 13th century.
In 1392 Richard Whittington heard Bow bells call him back to London to become Lord Mayor. The bells were once used to order the curfew in the City. Burned down in the Great Fire, it was rebuilt by Wren in 1671.
At the top of the present spire is a copper weathervane in the form of a dragon, which is nearly 9 feet long.
St Vedast-alias-Foster
Founded just off Cheapside in Foster Lane by the Flemish community in London in the 12th or 13th century (1170?) and dedicated to a French saint, who was Bishop of Arras in northern Gaul around the turn of the 6th century called Vaast.
Restored after the Great Fire and damaged during the Blitz, more modern work was completed in 1962.
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