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What Endured, What Became A Legend
Locksmith EC3A: A Synagogue Still Standing, A Church Known Only By Legend
Bevis Marks has held services since 1701, Britain's oldest synagogue still in use. St Mary Axe takes its name from a vanished church and a story nobody can confirm. Call 020 8534 4949 for a locksmith who knows this corner of the City.
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Covering EC3A around Bevis Marks and St Mary Axe. Open in Google Maps
Why EC3A Is Different
One building still holds services. One left behind only its name.
EC3A covers Bevis Marks and St Mary Axe, a stretch where the City's oldest surviving religious community sits close to the site of one that vanished centuries ago. Jews were formally banished from England in 1290 and only began returning from 1656, after Oliver Cromwell permitted it. A small synagogue opened on Creechurch Lane the following year, and by 1699 the growing Sephardic community had commissioned something larger. Built by Joseph Avis, a student of Christopher Wren, Bevis Marks Synagogue was completed and dedicated in September 1701. It remains the oldest synagogue in continuous use anywhere in Britain, surviving a 1738 fire and the Blitz with only minor damage. As recently as 2021, the City rejected a planning application for a 48-storey tower that would have loomed directly over it.
A Church Whose Real Story Nobody Can Confirm
A short walk away, the street called St Mary Axe remembers a church that no longer exists. It stood there from at least the 1100s until the 1560s, when disrepair finally caught up with it and the parish was merged elsewhere. Its full name was St Mary, St Ursula and her Eleven Thousand Virgins, and where that name came from depends on which account you trust.
The historian John Stow, writing in 1603, put it down to something ordinary: a sign shaped like an axe, hung over the church's east end. A separate document from Henry VIII's reign tells a stranger story, claiming the church held a relic, an axe said to be one of three used in the legendary martyrdom of Ursula's eleven thousand virgin companions. Historians treat that massacre as legend rather than verified history, and nobody can say for certain which explanation, sign or relic, actually gave the street its name.
So EC3A holds two kinds of history side by side. One is a community whose presence here is a matter of plain, continuous record. The other, meanwhile, is a church remembered only through a name that might rest on nothing more than an old story.
We deal only in the first kind of certainty. A lock either works properly or it doesn't, and that's not something we'd ever leave to legend.
If you need us fast: a lockout gets solved on the spot, a repair can wait until it suits you, and the phone is answered at 3am just the same.
What EC3A Residents & Businesses Call About
What this stretch near Bevis Marks brings us
Offices In The Modern Towers
Glass-fronted blocks fill much of this postcode, each handling high daily footfall. Whatever security goes on the door needs to keep pace with that.
Book aheadHistoric Buildings Near Bevis Marks
Near the synagogue, a few older structures still carry hardware that predates every tower around them. We repair with that setting in mind, not against it.
Book aheadShops & Cafés Serving Office Workers
Whether lunchtime trade here holds up depends entirely on the offices around it staying open. A jammed lock gets swapped quickly, protecting that trade. Same-day priority
Flats Among The Offices
Wedged between the commercial towers in this postcode, a handful of homes still hold their ground. Each one gets looked at on its own, separate from the surrounding offices. Book ahead
Broken Or Snapped Keys
Snapped keys don't come free easily from this stretch's older locks. Our page on broken keys explains how we handle that carefully.
Call nowEvening Lockouts
The office towers empty quickly once evening arrives, and this postcode follows suit. That doesn't change our response, whatever the hour.
Call nowA quick note on scope: making spare keys and programming access-card or intercom systems both sit with other specialists, not us.
Locked Out In EC3A
Office towers full by day, strangely still by night
The towers around Bevis Marks and St Mary Axe fill up fast on a working day, and a locked door among them draws attention quickly.
Come evening, the picture reverses entirely, and the same stretch turns noticeably quiet.
Our method doesn't bend to match. Soft techniques get a full run before a drill even enters the conversation.
What comes next depends on whether the key snapped or genuinely disappeared. Broken keys and lost keys each have their own page, explaining how we handle them.
Around EC3A
What sits just outside EC3A
Every EC3 postcode, summarised in one place.
Aldgate and Minories, just east.
North, beyond the old wall line.
Fenchurch Street, south of here.
North-west, towards the station.
Tower Hill, further south-east.
What We Do
Services across EC3A
Record Versus Legend
Checking beats assuming, every time
A synagogue with a dedication date and an unbroken congregation is one kind of history. A church name resting on a disputed relic from a legendary massacre is quite another. Both have shaped how this corner of the City is remembered, but only one of them can actually be confirmed.
Wikipedia's entry on Bevis Marks Synagogue sets out its full, documented history. The competing explanations for the other name are covered in this piece on St Mary Axe.
The same instinct applies to a lock. What's actually fitted matters far more than any story told about the building it's in.
Can't quite tell what your own door needs? Explain what's happening and we'll share our honest view.
The Process
Booking a locksmith EC3A callout
- Get in touchAddress, which unit, and a quick line on the fault.
- Access gets arrangedWhere sign-off is needed, that happens before the visit.
- See first, then quoteThe door gets inspected before any price is given.
- We confirm it worksTesting comes before we leave, never left to chance.
Access & Traffic
Getting to you around Bevis Marks and St Mary Axe
This stretch carries heavy office traffic through most of the working day, with loading restrictions applying across the area.
Because Aldgate and Liverpool Street stations both sit close by, the Underground often proves faster than sitting in surface traffic.
Because the busiest conditions come during weekday office hours, easing off by evening and at weekends, we route around whichever applies.
Why People Call Us
What EC3A tenants and residents rely on us for
- We go by what's there, not by reputation. A building's age tells us little about what's actually fitted.
- We don't reach for force. Every gentle method gets tried before a drill does.
- At ease among modern towers. High-footfall office buildings are routine work for us.
- Homes get full attention too. A residential job gets exactly what a commercial one does.
- Upfront about scope. Spare keys and access-system programming aren't ours to handle.
- No gap in coverage. Quiet street or packed junction, someone always picks up.
Nearby
Areas around EC3A
Common Questions
Still Standing Since 1701
Is Bevis Marks Synagogue genuinely the oldest in Britain?
Yes, the oldest synagogue in continuous use anywhere in the UK, completed and dedicated in 1701.
Why did it take so long for a purpose-built synagogue to appear?
Jews had been formally banished from England since 1290, and only returned from 1656 onward.
Has the building faced modern threats as well as old ones?
Yes. As recently as 2021, the City rejected a proposal for a 48-storey tower overlooking it.
A Name Built On A Legend
Did a real church called St Mary Axe once stand nearby?
Yes, a medieval church on this spot, demolished in the 1560s once it fell into disrepair.
Is the eleven thousand virgins story actually true?
No. It's a medieval legend, and historians treat the martyrdom story itself as unverifiable.
So where does the name genuinely come from?
Nobody knows for certain. It may be a simple shop sign, or a document's claim about a supposed relic. Both explanations survive.
Booking Around Bevis Marks & St Mary Axe
Which streets does EC3A actually cover?
Bevis Marks and St Mary Axe, plus the surrounding lanes near Aldgate.
Do you work on modern towers as well as historic buildings here?
Yes to both, and the age of a building doesn't decide how we approach the job.
Can you reach a lockout near a busy office entrance?
We can, often finishing the last stretch on foot given peak-time crowds.
Is weekend cover realistic in this part of the City?
Absolutely — seven days a week, no matter what's happening on the streets outside.
Do you handle flats as well as commercial premises here?
We do, alongside commercial work, which makes up the larger share of EC3A callouts.
What if my building has its own entry procedures?
Run them past us before the visit and we'll fit our approach around them.
Some things here are proven, some are only legend. Your lock should never be either.
Whatever's behind your own door near Bevis Marks, reach out and we'll have the right engineer sent your way.