The Rise of St Paul's Cathedral

Not Just the Tudors

History Hit

History

4.8 • 3K Ratings

🗓️ 10 November 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

St Paul’s Cathedral still dominates the London skyline, defiant, majestic, timeless. Yet, its story begins in the ashes of the Great Fire of London out of which would rise Sir Christopher Wren’s masterpiece. To mark the 350th anniversary of Wren's daring new design, Professor Suzannah Lipscomb is joined by architectural historian Dr. Elizabeth Deans. Together they tell the story of how destruction gave birth to beauty.

MORE:

Sir Christopher Wren

Great Fire of London

Presented by Professor Suzannah Lipscomb. The researcher is Max Wintle, audio editor is Amy Haddow and the producer is Rob Weinberg. The senior producer is Anne-Marie Luff.

All music courtesy of Epidemic Sounds.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb.
0:02.6	If you'd like not just the Tudors ad-free to get early access and bonus episodes, sign up to History Hit.
0:10.5	With a History Hit subscription, you can also watch hundreds of hours of original documentaries,
0:16.0	including my own recent two-part series, A World Torn Apart, the Dissolution of the Monastries, and enjoy a new release every week.
0:25.2	Sign up now by visiting historyhit.com forward slash subscribe.
0:32.0	Hello, I'm Professor Susanna Lipscomb and welcome to Not Just the Tudors from History Hit,
0:42.0	the podcast in which we explore everything from Anne Boleyn to the Aztecs,
0:46.1	from Holbein to the Huguenots, from Shakespeare to Samarise,
0:50.4	relieved by regular doses of murder, espionage and witchcraft.
0:55.3	Not in other words, just the Tudors, but most definitely also the Tudors.
1:06.6	When I look across the River Thames from the Tate Modern on London's bankside, I'm struck at just how dominant the monumental dome of St. Paul's Cathedral remains, despite the overwhelming
1:12.7	forest of steel and glass monolithic towers just to its east. It's extraordinary to think that this
1:19.1	is the same St Paul's Dome that emerges defiantly out of the dense shroud of smoke and fire
1:25.1	in that famous photograph of Blitzdorn London in the Second World War.
1:30.0	And it's a site that has captivated onlookers and been a beacon of faith and resilience for more than 300 years.
1:37.2	In fact, it was exactly 350 years ago in 1675 that Christopher Wren was given the go-ahead
1:43.6	to embark on creating his timeless, commanding masterpiece.
1:47.9	Just nine years previously, onlookers would have been witnessed
1:51.1	to a completely different spectacle.
1:54.0	London, September 1666, the city is ablaze.
1:58.6	Flames roar down narrow lanes.
2:00.8	The skies are choked black. Citizens are fleeing for their lives. The city is ablaze. Flames roar down narrow lanes. The skies are choked black.
	...

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