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Known for its royal connections, St Martin’s is the only church to have a royal box. There has been a church on the site since the 13th century, but the handsome present building was designed by James Gibbs in 1726. Coffee shop in the crypt.

This priory church was elevated to a cathedral in 1905. It has many connections with the area’s Elizabethan theatres, and with Shakespeare, who is commemorated in a memorial and a stained-glass window. US college founder John Harvard, who was baptised here, is remembered in The Harvard Chapel.

This circular church was built in the 12th century for the Knights Templar, a crusading order. Effigies of the knights are embedded in the floor. A chancel was added later, and a reredos (screen), designed by Christopher Wren. The church was rebuilt in 1958.

A survivor of the Great Fire, this is London’s only Norman Church apart from St John’s chapel in the Tower of London. It was founded in 1123 by a courtier of Henry I, and its solid pillars and Norman choir have remained unaltered. The 14th-century Lady Chapel, restored by Sir Aston Webb in 1890, once housed a printing press where Benjamin Franklin worked.

This very un-English, Italianate church was established by a Catholic convert, John Henry Newman (1801–90). He introduced England to the Oratory, a religious institute of secular priests founded in 16th-century Rome. The building, designed by Herbert Gribble, opened in 1884, with many of its treasures imported from Italy.

Brompton Oratory interior

The main Roman Catholic church in England is in a fearless Byzantine style, designed by John Francis Bentley and completed in 1902. It has an 87-m (285-ft) campanile, which can be climbed for a great view of the city. Mosaics and marble decorate the interior, which has the widest nave in Britain.

There has been a church on this site since Roman times. Sir Christopher Wren’s fine church has a wonderful tiered spire that was copied for a wedding cake by a Fleet Street baker, Mr Rich, starting a trend. This is traditionally the journalists’ church and memorial services are held here.

This distinctive building, with a semi-circular portico and stiletto spire, was designed by John Nash, creator of Regent Street. After the BBC built their headquarters next door, it became the home of religious broadcasts.