St Swithin's Church was situated on Candlewick Street, the original name for Cannon Street, located just within the boundaries of Walbrook Ward. Also known as 'St Swithun London Stone', the church, dedicated to the 9th century Bishop of Winchester, stood on the south-west corner of St Swithin's Lane, adjoining a house which, in the early years of the 16th century, was inhabited by Edmund Dudley.

On the morning of 17 August 1510, a large crowd gathered on Tower Hill, a large area of open land, overlooking the Tower of London, in anticipation of a double execution. One of the victims that had been led from his cell within the nearby Tower of London was Edmund Dudley, Henry VII's controversial chief financial agent, who had been sentenced to death, convicted on charges of constructive treason.

On 02 September in 1666, an accidental fire started in a bakery on Pudding Lane, within the City of London. The blaze was not properly extinguished, and so within hours the flames grew into a blazing inferno, which devastated the city and became known as 'The Great Fire of London'.

Edmund Dudley, esq. was the grandson of John Dudley, 1st Baron Sutton - a courtier and diplomat, who after switching from the Lancastrian to the Yorkist cause during the Wars of the Roses, joined the court of Edward IV and was appointed as 'Constable of the Tower of London'.