St Mary Le Bow Heritage Centre

St. Mary le Bow Heritage Centre is a parish church that has been converted into a heritage centre. It was rebuilt around 1685 from a medieval structure, with a tower added in 1702 and further repairs and restoration in the 19th century. The building features coursed squared sandstone with an ashlar plinth and dressings. It has a west tower, a three-bay nave, and a narrower two-bay chancel that includes a north organ chamber. The chancel windows are decorated, while the east and nave windows are in the Perpendicular style. The three-stage tower slightly projects and has a chamfered round arch with a dropped keystone under a drip mould. Above this is a round-headed niche with a two-centred-arched drip mould, and the tower has two-light round-headed belfry openings and a battlemented parapet. Stepped buttresses, which are diagonal at the corners and topped with pinnacles, support the structure, and both the nave and chancel have battlemented parapets.

Inside, the church features plaster above high wainscoting with panels and a dentilled cornice, along with shallow 15th-century king-post roof trusses and a battlemented frieze. The flat four-centred chancel arch springs from the walls, and there is a stone newel stair in the tower. The chancel panelling, dating from 1731, includes Corinthian pilasters, cherubs' heads, crossed palms, and a modillioned cornice. A panelled west gallery from 1742 is present, as well as a rood screen from 1707 that features intricate leaf and flower carvings. The communion rail has turned balusters, and the stall ends are adorned with high relief carvings of passion-fruit, flowers, and poppyheads. There is an 18th-century font in the chancel and a 19th-century Frosterley marble font in the west baptistry. Notable monuments include a marble slab with the coat of arms of Thomas Wilkinson and his family, who died between 1718 and 1733. Additionally, a chancery court bench from the reign of James I originated in Palace Green.