St Clement Danes

Parish and church of London, England. The body of the church was built on the site of an older church in 1680–82, under the supervision of Edward Pierce (1630–95) from designs by Christopher Wren; the spire was added by James Gibbs in 1719. The interior of the church was gutted in 1941 and restored from 1955 to 1958. It is now the central church of the Royal Air Force.

The church is traditionally associated with the rhyme ‘Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St Clemens’. St Clement was the patron saint of sailors; the affix ‘Danes’ may refer to a local settlement of Danes. Samuel Johnson frequently worshipped here, and his statue stands beyond the east end.