remained almost unchanged. It is set in a narrow street close to the Thames, surrounded by former warehouses and facing the charity school house which was built in 1703. In 1760, Birmingham industrialist Matthew Boulton wed his second wife, Anne, here. The two had journeyed far from home to evade ecclesiastical difficulties; she was his first wife's sister, and the marriage was forbidden by canon law, but not void if no one objected when the banns were read. In 1838, when the well-known ship Temeraire was broken up, some of her timbers were used to build a communion table and two bishop's chairs in the Rotherhithe church. The interior of the church was much altered in 1876. Between 1996 and 1999, the bells were restored and re-hung, and essential repairs made to the spire. The bells are regularly rung by members of the Docklands Ringing Centre. Present day St Mary's Church is within the Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England. As the parish rejects the ordination of women, it receives alternative episcopal oversight from the Bishop of Fulham (currently Jonathan Baker). The organ St Mary's Church, Rotherhithe is fortunate to possess a fine pipe-organ dating from 1764 installed by the organ builder John Byfield II. Despite several alterations in the intervening years the present-day instrument retains much of its original character and its magnificent organ case. A history of the instrument can be found at https://alanjohnphillips.weebly.com/rotherhithe.html#history Maritime connections As befits a church near the merchant activity on the river, there are several maritime connections. The communion table in the Lady Chapel and two bishop's chairs are made from salvaged timber from the warship HMS Temeraire. The ship's final journey to the breaker's yard at Deptford was made famous by Turner in his evocative painting The Fighting Temeraire, now in the National Gallery. In the church a memorial marks the final resting place of Christopher Jones, captain of the Mayflower, which took the Pilgrim Fathers to North America in 1620. It is also the burial place of Prince Lee Boo of Palau, a Pacific Island prince, and Vice Admiral Sir Thomas Teddeman (c.1620–1668). Nearby are some of London's Nordic churches and missions to seafarers. See also List of churches and cathedrals of London References Further reading Howard Colvin, Biographical Dictionary of British Architects Oxford Dictionary of National Biography entry for "Teddeman, Sir Thomas". Austin Niland 'The Organ at St Mary's,