It stands on the north side of Holborn Viaduct across a crossroads from the Old Bailey, and its parish takes in Smithfield Market.

[5] It was completely rebuilt in the 15th century[5] but was gutted by the Great Fire of London in 1666,[6] which left the outer walls,[7] the tower and the porch standing.

[9][10] Lightly modified in the 18th century,[11] the interior of the church is a wide, roomy space with a coffered ceiling[12] installed in 1834 with plasterwork of three years later.

During Mary I's persecutions, in 1555, the incumbent vicar John Rogers was burned at the stake as a heretic.

[13] In 1605, London merchant tailor John Dowe paid the parish £50 (equivalent to £14,000 in 2023) to buy a handbell and to mark the execution of prisoners at the nearby gallows at Newgate.

Between the 17th and 19th centuries, the clerk was responsible for ringing it outside the condemned man's cell in Newgate Prison the night before his execution, and announcing the following "wholesome advice":[14][1] All you that in the condemned hold do lie, Prepare you, for to-morrow you shall die; Watch all, and pray, the hour is drawing near That you before the Almighty must appear; Examine well yourselves, in time repent, That you may not to eternal flames be sent.

[16] The ashes of conductor Sir Henry Wood, founder of The Proms, who learnt to play the organ at the church as a boy, were interred here in the 1940s.

A Service of Thanksgiving for all those in the book is held at the church each year as well as a requiem close to All Souls' Day.

In 2017 the vicar ceased parish funds financing the requiem and allowing of most free rehearsing time.

A protest was held and many prominent musicians including John Rutter sought continued benevolence from the wider congregation and church patron.