The late fourteenth-century miracle narrative St Erkenwald features one of the most dynamic, and disruptive, depictions of church-building in Middle English literature. The pagan temple, on which site Old St Paul's is being re-founded, is 'abatyd & beten doun and buggyd efte new' by a team of busy builders and merry masons whose endeavours unearth a marvel: Mony a mery mason was made þer to wyrke, Harde stones for to hewe wyt eggit toles; Mony a grubber in grete þe grounde for to seche þat þe fundement on fyrst shuld þe fote halde. & as þai makkyd & mynyd a meruayle þai founden. 1 (Many a merry mason was made to work there, hewing hard stones with sharp-edged tools; many a digger in the earth sought the ground, so that the foundation from the first should have a firm footing. And as they made and mined, a marvel they found.)Digging deep into the ground to secure the foundations for the new cathedral reveals a tangible embodiment of the Christian church's pagan past that demands to be recognised. Inside a 'ferly [wondrously] faire toumbe' (46) lies the uncorrupted body of a righteous pagan judge whose presence, miraculous reanimation, and conversation with Bishop Erkenwald throws the community into turmoil. This dramatic encounter raises fundamental questions about the relationship between Christian sacred space, history, and materiality, and it does so through its focus on the preeminent sacred site in medieval London, Old St Paul's cathedral. St Paul's becomes a representative sacred space for examining the complex history of Christianity in Britain but at the same time, the Erkenwald-poet uses the miracle narrative to reflect upon the cathedral's particular sanctity and status in late fourteenth century London.In his essay 'Of Other Spaces', Michel Foucault argues that 'in the Middle Ages there was a hierarchic ensemble of places': 'sacred places and profane places; protected places and