Guild of St Bride

The late medieval parish guilds were lay societies. Their members paid for various causes in honour of a saint, in petition for their own soul after death or in more general support of the church.

The Guild of St Bride was confirmed by writ of King Edward III in 1375. Its primary purpose was to maintain a light burning before the statue of St Bridget the Virgin; later to additionally engage a priest to perform associated duties. King Henry VIII dissolved such guilds and chantries in 1475 by which time the Guild had become inactive.

Much of Sir Christopher Wren’s church building was destroyed in December 1940 and archaeological research began in 1952. By the inspiration of Rector Cyril Armitage, the Guild was reconstituted in 1954 and the restored church was rededicated three years later.

The Guild currently comprises 142 men and women including a small number of Guild Chaplains.

The Guild’s purpose is to assist in the conduct of public worship in St Bride’s. Members, alongside others in the congregation, assist with reading lessons in services, leading intercessions, administering the Communion chalice and affording warm welcome.

Guild medallion

 
It features a Celtic cross, St Bridget’s celestial fire (also alluding to Wynkyn de Worde’s ‘Sign of the Sun’), the curfew bell (metal from which is cast in the current bell) and vines (after William Vyner, Warden of the Fleet Prison and a major benefactor of the church’s fifteenth century rebuilding). The crypt contains remains of the 12th century curfew tower.

Members of the Guild at the annual Guild Sunday Service in 2023

The Guild is a registered charity and further supports St Bride’s in other ways, liturgically, financially and in our Ministry to Journalism.

The Guild is managed by annual general Council and an elected Court.

The Master’s public profile in Fleet Street is evidence of the enduring link with the media, journalism and newspaper publishing with which St Bride’s has been closely associated since Caxton’s press was brought alongside the churchyard in the year 1500.

Membership is open to any regularly worshipping member of St Bride’s’ congregation.