St Paul's Cathedral – The Real Location Behind Death at St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, the domed cathedral in the City of London, is the setting for Death at St Paul's Cathedral, book 5 in the London Cosy Mysteries, the series I co-write with Millie Ravensworth (aka Heide Goody and Iain Grant). Here's the story of my research trip there, and the staircase I didn't climb.
Writing books set at iconic landmarks is great fun. You get to imagine dramatic events occurring against an even more dramatic backdrop and, even better, you get to go on some great research trips.
For Death at St Paul's Cathedral, a trip (or two, or maybe three) to the cathedral was mandatory.
Researching the London Cosy Mysteries
I took my first research trip to St Paul's in the summer of 2021, when international travel hadn't yet opened up and London was wonderfully peaceful.
It was a Wednesday afternoon, if I remember right. I was spending a week exploring London, identifying locations (i.e. places to dump a body) for the London Cosy Mysteries series. At that point I wasn't sure what shape the series would take, and I hadn't yet approached Millie Ravensworth about co-authoring it. But I knew it would revolve around a female tour guide who got to take her clients on trips around the city, visit iconic landmarks and sometimes find herself at the centre of mysteries in those locations.
I'd already been to the Tower of London (which didn't make the cut), Greenwich Observatory (also didn't make it, maybe we need more books?), the Houses of Parliament (made it into book 1) and the West End for a show (book 2). That day, it was St Paul's Cathedral's turn.
What is there to see at St Paul's Cathedral?
So I paid the fee and went inside for an explore.
There are two highlights of a trip to St Paul's, in my opinion. The first is the crypts, which are vast (and house the gift shop and toilets, but let's gloss over that). And the second is the climb up into the dome.
It's in two stages. The first stage takes you up onto the roof, and gives you views of the city which, given the number of skyscrapers in the City of London, are surprisingly panoramic.
I imagine that planning rules prohibit tall buildings too close to the cathedral. I certainly hope so.
So I made it up to the roof, and spent some time admiring those views. I walked around as much as I was able, and I took photos.
But I couldn't put it off any longer. It was time to make a decision.
Can you climb the dome of St Paul's Cathedral?
Was I going to make the onward climb into the roof of the dome, or not?
The authorities at St Paul's, it seems, don't want anyone to do it. The warning signs posted at various points along the route are certainly discouraging.
Let's face it, I'm a wimp. I saw those signs, I considered what would happen if I decided I'd had enough halfway up (I'd be forced to continue: those steps are narrow, and one-way), and I bottled it.
My teeny tiny legs (as the lovely Sally refers to them – I'm only short) were already tired from the climb to the roof. At least, that was my excuse.
Not that I was scared. Oh no.
And I'm ashamed to admit that while I wimped out, Heide and Iain visited a couple of years later, and they did not.
They're clearly made of sterner stuff than me. But when they described the experience to me, it made me bloody glad I didn't do it.
Here's Heide's take on why she wouldn't do it again:
'The only thing you can do is keep moving forward, up the twisty narrow death stairs, even though Gus the cat was in my tote bag protesting at the way he kept bumping off my knees (but what he didn't know about was how far he'd have fallen if I'd let him go...).'
So it looks like I made a wise decision. No vertigo for me. But of course, some of the characters in Death at St Paul's Cathedral aren't so wise.
Which of them gets to explore the cathedral, and is there any drama up in the dome? You'll have to read the book to find out.
