St Clement Danes

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  • Address
    The Strand, Holborn, WC2R 1DH
  • Show map Close map
  • Phone
    7242 8282
  • Transport
    underground rail: Temple
  • Mon-Fri 08:30 - 16:30 , Sat 09:00 - 15:30 , Sun 09:00 - 12:30

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Lonely Planet review

This isn't the St Clements referred to in the famous 18th-century verse - that's St Clements Eastcheap in the City - but historical fact needn't get in the way of a good story, and the bells of this church chime the old tune every day. Wren designed the original building in 1682 but only fragments survived the Luftwaffe, and the church was rebuilt after the war as a memorial to allied airmen.

Today it is the chapel of the RAF, and there are some 800 slate badges of different squadrons set into the pavement of the nave. The statue in front of the church quietly and contentiously commemorates the RAF's Sir Arthur 'Bomber' Harris, who led the bombing raids that obliterated Dresden and killed some 10,000 civilians during WWII.