Before it became a parish in its own right, what is now the parish of St Mark’s was in the much larger parish of St Pancras, with the parish church well over a mile away. There was certainly a need for more churches in St Pancras by 1840 and even more so by 1850. From a parish on the outskirts of London with a population of a couple of thousand in 1750, mostly in Kentish Town, this grew to 46,000 in 1811 and 130,000 in 1841.
The Second World War brought disaster. At midnight on 21 September 1940 the church was hit by an incendiary bomb. The roof quickly caught alight and the fire rapidly spread from the west to the east of the church. The blaze only lasted a few hours but when it was over the interior was completely destroyed. Five days later the church was again hit, this time by a high explosive bomb which fell in the chancel. The reredos, the fine Willis organ and the high altar frontals were destroyed, though the vestments and the registers, and most of the contents of the vestry, were saved. The rebuilding took many years and the church was only reopened in 1957, seventeen years after its bombing. To echo its connection with the Zoo, and its alternate title of ‘The Zoo Church’, the new stained glass contained a range of Zoo animals.
If you would like to add to this fine series please go to the **Church Micro** page to request a suitable number.
