The church of St Mary Woolchurch Haw was an ancient foundation, dating from the time of William I, when it was given to the Abbot and Convent of St John's, Colchester, by Hubert of Ryes, who was the father of Eudo Dapifer, William's steward.

[4] At the end of the sixteenth century John Stow described it as "reasonably fair and large",[5] and John Strype recorded that it was "richly repaired and beautified, at the Charge of the Parishioners" in 1629.

[6] St Mary Woolchurch Haw was one of the 86 parish churches destroyed by the Great Fire in 1666.

[7] In 1670 a Rebuilding Act was passed and a committee set up under the stewardship of Sir Christopher Wren to decide which would be rebuilt.

[8] Fifty-one were chosen, but St Mary Woolchurch Haw was not among them.