INTRODUCTION

IN 1750 A collection of the Wren family papers was published by Sir Christopher Wren’s son as a volume called Parentalia. It has proved a valuable source of information on Wren’s life, including his career and family background. There have been many biographies since then on one of this country’s greatest ever architects. But here lies the problem. The majority of these biographies have concentrated and focused on Wren the architect – the great designer of St Paul’s Cathedral and of the many churches destroyed after the Great Fire of London in 1666. It is absolutely no exaggeration to say that even today, few people are fully aware of the fact that Wren was a distinguished professional astronomer until he was in his mid-thirties, and that it was as a scientist and an astronomer that he became a founder-Fellow of the Royal Society. Labelled a ‘miracle of a youth’ at a very early age, he served under five sovereigns and built some of England’s greatest churches, ranging from the majestic St Paul’s Cathedral to the City of London churches, as well as some of our finest secular buildings, including royal palaces, university facilities at Oxford and Cambridge, grand and imposing hospitals at Greenwich and Chelsea and a number of great houses. This book’s purpose is therefore not a detailed account of his life but an introduction to Sir Christopher Wren, the astronomer, scientist, mathematician, architect and, above all, a versatile and English gentleman.

The Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. Copper engraving (1675) by David Loggan (1635–1692).