St Michael Bassishaw, or Basinshaw, was a parish church in Basinghall Street in the City of London, standing on land now occupied by the Barbican Centre complex. Recorded since the 12th century, the church was destroyed in the Great Fire of 1666, then rebuilt by the office of Sir Christopher Wren. The rebuilt church was demolished in 1900. History St Michael Bassishaw was one of seven churches in the City of London dedicated to the Archangel Michael. The earliest surviving reference to the church is in a deed of 1196, as “St Michael de Bassishaghe”. This has been interpreted as Basing's haw, in which Basing is the name of a prominent family in medieval London and ‘haw’ means yard. The north wall of the 12th-century church was built over Roman and medieval rubbish pits, so that it had to be strengthened by buttresses. This was established by excavations in the late 19th century and in 1965. A 14th-century parish priest of St Michael's, by the name of William, dug a ditch outside the church to assert his ownership and control of the right of way, but was obliged by the Corporation of London to fill it in again. The church was rebuilt in the 15th century. John Burton, a mercer, and his wife Agnes were major contributors to the cost "as appeared by his mark placed throughout the whole roof of the Choir, and the middle Isle of the Church". Burton died in 1460 and was buried in the choir of the new church. From the fifteenth century, the dean and chapter of St Paul's Cathedral were patrons of the parish, meaning they appointed its clergy. A chapel was built on the north side of the choir by Sir James Yerford (or Yarford), Lord Mayor in 1520. He was buried there in 1527. The building restored in 1630, but all was lost in the Great Fire of 1666. In 1662, Francis Hall, a chaplain to Charles II, was appointed as Rector. He fled the parish on the outbreak of the Great Plague of London in 1665, and returned only in 1670 to collect his stipend. His substitute, a priest called Williams, succumbed to the plague in September 1665, along with his wife and three children. 17th century rebuilding Following the Great Fire of London, a new church designed by Wren was begun in 1675 and was completed four years later.