First recorded in the 11th century, it was destroyed in the Great Fire of London of 1666 and rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren.

Gracechurch meant “Grass Church”, referring to the site of a hay market nearby.

to a plasterer to remove the Biblical texts painted on the interior walls during the time of her Protestant brother Edward VI.

Shortly afterwards, church records recount that a Te Deum was sung "for the birth of our Prince (which was thought then to be)" – a reference to one of Mary's phantom pregnancies.

Stow or Strype mention various tombs there, including that of the Chamberlain of London John Sturgeon (d. 1571), and also a monument to Queen Elizabeth I.

The 1686 accounts include an entry of £1 14s 0d "to wine and sweetmeats for treating the Lord Mayor at the opening of the Church", although work on the spire continued into the following year.

The rebuilt church was rectangular in plan, with a tower, topped by a spire, rising from the north-west corner.

In 1791, Dr. George Gaskin, the secretary of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, became rector at St Benet's.

In 1797, he took up the position of rector of the church of Stoke Newington, while maintaining the benefice of St Benet.

The site, at the intersection of Gracechurch and Fenchurch Streets, is now occupied by a seven-story office block, built in 1997.