Editing Strand, London (section)

==Churches==
[[File:Let's all go down The Strand^ - geograph.org.uk - 610778.jpg|thumb|right|An [[AEC Routemaster]] on [[London Buses route 1|route 1]] heading down the Strand in 1981, with [[St Clement Danes]] church in the background]]
The church of [[St Clement Danes]] is believed to date from the 9th century. The name may have come from [[Harold Harefoot]], a Danish king who ruled England around 1035–1040 and is buried in the church, or from a place of refuge for Danes after the conquest of [[Alfred the Great]]. It was transferred to the Order of the Knights Templar by [[Henry II of England|Henry II]] in 1189. It survived the Great Fire in 1666, but was declared unsafe and rebuilt by [[Christopher Wren]] in 1679. The building was damaged during [[the Blitz]] in 1941, gutting much of the interior, and was rebuilt in 1958 by Sam Lloyd, since when it has served as the central church of the [[Royal Air Force]].{{sfn|Weinreb et al.|2008|pp=752–753}}<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.raf.mod.uk/stclementdanes/|title=St Clement Danes|publisher=Royal Air Force|access-date=14 November 2015|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150213112307/http://www.raf.mod.uk/stclementdanes/|archive-date=13 February 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|first=Christopher|last=Lucas |url=https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2009/oct/14/sam-lloyd-obituary |title=Sam Lloyd obituary &#124; Art and design |newspaper=[[The Guardian]]|date=14 October 2009 |access-date=27 December 2015}}</ref> The church is one of two possible origins for the "St Clement's" in the [[nursery rhyme]] "[[Oranges and Lemons]]", though more contemporary accounts suggest [[St Clement's, Eastcheap]] in the City of London to be more likely.{{sfn|Weinreb et al.|2008|p=753}}

[[St Mary le Strand]] was designed by James Gibbs and completed in 1717, to replace a previous church demolished to make way for Somerset House. It was the first building to be designed by Gibbs, who was influenced by Wren and [[Michelangelo]]. The column on top of the church was originally designed to support a statue of [[Anne, Queen of Great Britain|Queen Anne]], but was replaced with a spire following Anne's death in 1714. It survived the Blitz but was in poor shape until [[John Betjeman]] led a campaign to restore it in the 1970s.{{sfn|Weinreb et al.|2008|p=792}} [[Essex Street Chapel]], the birthplace of British [[Unitarianism]], abuts onto the Strand. The original chapel was built in 1774, but damaged in the Blitz. It was restored after the war, and now serves as the denominational headquarters of the [[General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches]].{{sfn|Weinreb et al.|2008|p=277}}