St. Mary Axe was a mediaeval church in the City of London. Its full name was St. Mary, St. Ursula and her 11,000 Virgins, and it was also sometimes referred to as St. Mary Pellipar. Its common name (also St. Mary at the Axe) derives from the sign of an axe over the east end of the church. The church's patrons were the Skinners' Company. According to John Stow in A Survey of London (1603), the name derived from "the signe of an Axe, over against the East end thereof".