 Late in the eighteenth century, the church had a reputation as Low Church, as Malcolm in "London Redivivum" (1803) stated ‘When I mention that the late well-known Methodist Mr Gunn was a preacher in it on certain days, the trampled and dirty state of the church will not be wondered at.’

In 1805, the communion plate was stolen and never recovered.The second half of the 19th century saw a movement of population from the City of London to suburbs in Middlesex, Kent, Essex and Surrey.This left many of the city churches with tiny congregations, while many of the newly built suburbs had no churches.