The Great Fire of May 1842 destroyed the medieval church, which began as a wooden chapel completed in 1195, with a brick hall church begun in 1335. George Gilbert Scott designed the new church, begun in 1846 and consecrated on September 27, 1863, with the tower finished in 1874.
The Gothic Revival design draws on French and English Gothic, with a typically German pointed spire. The nave was 282 feet (86 m) long with a vault 92 feet (28 m) high. The tower is 483 feet (147.3 m) high, and the article notes unusually many sandstone sculptures on it and inside the church.
Allied bombing on July 28, 1943 collapsed the roof, and the nave was demolished in 1951. Only the tower, crypt and some wall remnants survive, preserved as a war memorial. A 51-bell carillon was installed in 1993. Since 2005 an elevator takes visitors to a platform 247 feet (75.3 m) up.
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