Designed in 1672 by Sir Christopher Wren, the current St Bride's replaced a smaller church of the same name destroyed in the 1666 Great Fire of London. The 234 ft spire, added in 1701, was the tallest ever designed by Wren and was supposed to withstand both lightning and war. The tower's shape, which looks like three tiers, has led to it being dubbed the Wedding Cake Church. It has a traditional link with journalists and newspaper proprietors, who paid for it to be rebuilt after it was gutted by incendiary bombs dropped by the Luftwaffe in 1940.
Since then, it has acquired a reputation as not only a place of worship for traditional services, but also for concerts and carol singing - indeed, a CD of a performance by the choir was recently given away with the Sunday Express.
Bruce Kirk, a consultant who specialises in the design of ecclesiastical installations, was charged with upgrading the 1980s installation and says, "I've specified Source Fours in a number of my installations, as they have a wide range of lenses and are very reliable. "They are able to outperform the previous fixtures, and can fit into the same space - they needed to be hidden in a trough and uplight the ceiling from there, in order to comply with stringent regulations. The Source Four luminaires are used as a discreet indirect light source for all the singing events as well as general church services."
Kirk continues, "Working on a Grade I listed building means we need to be very careful what we install and where - it can be a challenge to make sure wires and fixtures are not visible, but still providing the best possible lighting. Generally, we're not allowed to touch the fabric of the building."
(Jim Evans)
