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You will then need to navigate back to this page using the County Index |
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Churches which still retain west gallery features or connections |
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| THE CITY | |||||||||||||||
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| City, St Andrew-by-the-Wardrobe | The first mention of a church was in St Paul's Cathedral MS c. 1244, although almost certainly a church stood there previous to that date. It was called "by the Wardrobe" after 1361 when the Great Wardrobe, housing Edward III's robes of state in the Tower, was moved to new quarters adjacent to St Andrew's. Destroyed in the Great Fire in 1666 and rebuilt by Wren 1684-73, gutted in 1940 by enemy action and restored in the 60s by Marshall Sisson. There are galleries on three sides over the church offices in the aisles and at the west end. | ||||||||||||||
| City, Paul's Wharf, St Benet | Red brick exterior with stone dressings, tiled roofs and a tower with lead dome and lantern. Completed by Wren in 1683, the interior has galleries and organ at west end. | ||||||||||||||
| City, Aldersgate, St Botolph | Rebuilt in the style of G Dance, junior, in 1790. Square pillars on each side support a gallery from which rise Corinthian columns themselves supporting an arched ceiling delicately ornamented with bands and flowers. . . the west end, with its organ-case is an elegant composition. The pulpit and sounding board are also of the same date . . . (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| City, Aldgate, St Botolph | George Dance, senior, 1744. Aisled and galleried, heavy Classic redecoration by J F Bentley in the 1880s with plaster work and balusters. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| City, Bishopsgate, St Botolph | James Gold, 1728. Aisled and galleried City classic with tower and inside nave, an 1820 cupola. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| City, Garlickhythe, St James | Finished by Wren in 1683. Interior is columned, wainscotted and plaster-vaulted with much Renaissance woodwork . . . (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) West Gallery. | ||||||||||||||
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| Present organ said to have been built by Father Smith in 1697. The London Gallery Quire practice here. | |||||||||||||||
| City, London Bridge, St Magnus the Martyr | The church ha a Portland stone tower and steeple which marks the entrance to old London Bridge. Inside is a wealth of magnificent woodwork and ironwork - west screen with gallery and organ-case, doorcases, pulpit, altar-piece, sword rests and Communion rails. Restored after war damage. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| City, Lothbury, St Margaret | "Filled with old woodwork from the City churches destroyed by the Victorians . . .The rich pulpit and sounding board are from All Hallows, London Wall.(J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| City, St Margaret Pattens |
Church rebuilt by Wren 1687. Inside the church is like St Margaret, Lothbury, and has an attractive organ gallery.(J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) |
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| City, St Mary at Hill | A plain exterior hiding a multitude of riches internally. . . . The plasterwork throughout is rich and bold, but best of all are the wood and ironwork particularly over the west gallery, and on the pulpit and altar-piece. . . . The high pews survive. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| City, Woolnoth, St Mary | The church was designed by Wren's talented clerk, Nicholas Hawkesmoor, 1716-27 . . . The only projecting gallery to survive is at the west end. Organ-case, pulpit, gallery fronts and wrought-iron Communion rails are all fine and and part of Hawkesmoor's compact design. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| City, Cornhill, St Peter | . . .but the woodwork, screen, organ gallery and pulpit are beautiful and make it one of the most complete City church interiors. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| OTHER LONDON BOROUGHS | |||||||||||||||
| Bermondsey, St James | James Savage, 1829. Greek exterior; galleried interior Finest Commissioners church in London(J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958). Interior of 1675 Wren-like, galleries survive. West front 1830 'playful Gothick'. (Pevsner) | ||||||||||||||
| Camberwell, St Chrysostom, Peckham | Church built 1813. Flimsily attractive Gothic. Galleried interior. Little spoilt within or without. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Carshalton, All Saints | Originally Surrey, - near Sutton. Organ on ornate west gallery, the organ case being by Ninian Comper. Screen at east end also by Comper. | ||||||||||||||
| Chelsea, St Luke, Sydney Street. | Church built 1820-34. Ashlar faced. Tower and portico sumptuous King's Chapel style within. Galleries; stone-vaulted chancel roof. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Clapham Common, dedication unknown | William Wilberforce worshipped here. West and side galleries. | ||||||||||||||
| Dagenham, St Peter and St Paul | |||||||||||||||
| Deptford, St Paul | Built under the 1711 Act by Thomas Archer, currently being restored after serious fire damage. Galleries, four private pews, excellent plasterwork. | ||||||||||||||
| Finsbury, St James | Church 1788-92. . . Interior with double west galleries very splendid. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Finsbury, St Luke, Old Street | By G Dance, Senior, 1732-33. . . .Very strange. Interior wealthy 18th C. city-style. Ionic columns, galleries, pulpit altar-piece and organ-case. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Greenwich, St Alphege | Hawksmoor 1711 church, tower 1726, modern 1950 galleries replaced those destroyed in War, and said not to of the same standard as those erected by Gibbons. Benefaction boards good & some old woodwork survives. Wrought iron communion rails & gallery rails. (E1000BC) Henry VIIIth baptised here; General Wolfe and Thomas Tallis both buried here. | ||||||||||||||
| Hampstead, St John, Church Row | The Parish Church, built of stock brick with a castellated steeple. A galleried interior with its vaulted interior and Ionic columns. Pulpit ca. 1750. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Holborn, St Giles-in-the-Fields | Henry Flitcroft 1731-33. galleried interior, well restored after the war, airy and Georgian . . . (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Holloway, St Mary Magdalene | 1867 Organ by Father Willis built in west gallery in 1867. Rebuilt in 1947. Father Willis organist here for many years. [NPOR website] | ||||||||||||||
| Islington, St Mary Magdalene | Church built 1812. Plain brick without the square tower. Interior galleried and with much Georgian woodwork. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Kennington Park, St Agnes | Built 1956 by R Covell to replace a magnificent church by G G Scott, junior, High Victorian building of 1877 which was damaged during the war. | ||||||||||||||
| Lambeth, St Matthew, Brixton | Church built 1822. Galleried interior. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Limehouse, E14, St Anne | Organ 1744. Present organ in west gallery. [NPOR website] | ||||||||||||||
| Paddington, St Mary | The Parish Church. Inside is an octagonal gallery round three sides and the chancel on the fourth. . . (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Paddington, St Peter, Kensington Park Road | Church built 1852. The last gasp of the Georgian Classic by the designer of the heavy Italianate Ladbroke Estate, T. Allom. Corinthian and galleried inside. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Piccadilly, St George, Hanover Square | One of the 1711 Act churches, the architect being J James. Arguably, it has the first portico on a London church. Galleried interior, Venetian east window with late medieval glass (foreign) .Curving west gallery. J James also built Tiverton, St George, Devon, they being slightly similar in detail. | ||||||||||||||
| St Marylebone, All Souls, Langham Place | J Nash, 1822-24. Inside, this stone church is a galleried Corinthian hall with flat ceiling, all tastefully restored by H S Goodhart-Rendel since the 1939 war, and very Evangelical. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| St Marylebone, St John's Wood Chapel | Church built 1814. Tuscan interior, all white, with galleries glazed from nave. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| St Marylebone, St Mary | The Parish Church, built 1817. The galleried interior was over-decorated in later Victorian times. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| St Marylebone, St Peter, Vere Street | Church built 1724. A humble brick exterior with Tuscan portico and bell turret. Singularly exquisite inside, tall columns rise past the galleries and support a carved ceiling with 'spritely plaster-work by Bagutti'. (Pevsner) A miniature St Martin-in-the-Fields. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| St Pancras, St James, Hampstead Row | Church built 1791, galleried interior. | ||||||||||||||
| St Pancras, St Pancras, New Church | The best of all English Greek Revival churches, built 1819-22 by W and H W Inwood. At the west end here are three impressive entrance lobbies, two for gallery staircases . . . The interior is a vast ceilinged hall, terminated by an Ionic apse and surrounded on three sides by galleries supported on columns decorated with lotus leaves. mahogany pulpit and oak pews are worth seeing. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Shoreditch, St Leonard | The Parish Church by G Dance, Senior, 1736-40. The inside denuded of side galleries, old stained-glass, and a famous east window, it is best seen looking west where there is a beautiful Chippendale-style gilt clock-case on the gallery front. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| South Norwood, Holy Innocents | Organ in gallery over S chancel aisle | ||||||||||||||
| Southwark, St George | By J Price, 1734-36. Stone steeple, galleried interior under ceiling of cherubs and clouds by Basil Champneys, 1897. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Southwark, St Peter, Walworth | Built 1823-25. Ionic outside, plain galleried interior, light and wide, with original altar at east end. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Spitalfields, Christb Church | Built by Hawksmoor 1714-29, one of the six "Fifty New Churches Act commissions that he won. West gallery survives, either side of organ by Richard Bridge, in two tiers. Side galleries removed vene/an e window.all in great need of its lottery funded restoration.saw it in 2000 & in Jenkins book. | ||||||||||||||
| Stepney, St Anne, Limehouse | By N Hawkesmoor, 1712-24. At the west end is a beautiful pilastered apse, with semi-dome. The interior, burnt in 1850, was beautifully restored by P Hardwick. It is galleried, with a great oval ceiling hanging over the nave. . . (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Stepney, Christ Church, Spitalfields | ? ? ? | ||||||||||||||
| Stepney, St George's in the East | By Hawkesmoor, 1715-23. ? ? ? | ||||||||||||||
| Stepney, St Paul, Shadwell | By J Walters, 1817. Galleried interior. | ||||||||||||||
| Wandsworth, All Saints |
The Parish Church. Tower dates from 1630, the
nave, 1780. (J Betjeman in CEPC,
1958) "Galleries, shining with gilded records of benefaction, lurk far back in wide aisles, and there is a fine sweeping staircase up to them. Font and pulpit are original, and a square church-wardens' pew survives." (E and W Young, quoted by J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) |
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| Wandsworth, Christ Church, Streatham | Church built 1842. The church has a tall, galleried interior. | ||||||||||||||
| Westminster, St Clement Danes | Old church demolished in 1680 except for the tower. | ||||||||||||||
| Westminster, Grosvenor Chapel | Built 1730. Light, white interior with galleries and attractive vaulted ceilings. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Westminster, St George | 1711 Act church with galleries good fittings, old glass. 1st portico on London church arguably. By J James, also the architect of St George's, Tiverton, Devon, and with similar detailing. (info: P Shepherd) | ||||||||||||||
| Westminster, St James, Piccadilly | By Wren 1682-84. Columns rise from galleries to carry elegant barrel vaults Organ-case from the Chapel Royal, Whitehall. Outdoor pulpit by Temple Moore. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Westminster, St Martin's -in-the-Fields | By J Gibbs 1722-26. The interior has galleries, tall columns, supporting vaulted nave ceiling with graceful plasterwork, especially over chancel arch and shallow domes over aisles. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Woolwich, Holy Trinity, Beresford Square | By J D Hopkins, 1833. Modest classic with unspoilt galleried interior. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| St. Peter's Church, Liverpool Grove, Southwark |
The importance of St.
Peter's Church as the best preserved of the three
Commissioners' Churches designed by Sir John Soane cannot be
over-emphasised. It is a remarkable example of restrained
late Georgian classicism, reflecting both the architectural
taste of the period and the limited budget of the
Commissioners.
In the autumn of 1999 proposals were submitted for an ambitious scheme to transform the church into a community centre. These comprised an extension to the east end to create a new hall, the alteration of the galleries, refurbishment of the crypt and the provision of access for the disabled. The Group vehemently opposed the scheme, which would have destroyed the architectural and historical character of the church. The current scheme is a significantly reduced version to adapt the crypt and provide access. While recognising this as an improvement on the initial scheme, the Group still believe that the alterations proposed would be highly damaging. The crypt is a fascinating example of early nineteenth century brickwork engineering. The proposals would remove four of the cruciform piers and severely compromise all three of the recessed circular features that articulate the west end. The provision of access would entail the insertion of a lift in the centre of the west tower staircase compartment. The stair towers are outstanding examples of Soane's brilliance at handling space and detail. The Group believes the lift structure is too intrusive and has objected to the proposal. |
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| ST JOHN'S, DOWNSHIRE HILL | Built as a proprietary chapel in 1818 to serve Hampstead's elegant down-hill expansion, in the conventional Classical style of its day. The late Georgian interior survives, with galleries, traditional Anglican reredos (Decalogue, Lord's Prayer and Creed), and umbrella-stands on the pew doors. | ||||||||||||||
| CHRIST CHURCH, HAMPSTEAD SQUARE | Built in 1851-2 in the centre of Old Hampstead rather than among the new houses, for reasons of local politics; designed according to the Puginian canon in Decorated Gothic by S. W. Daukes (1811-80). In 1860 George Gilbert Scott, a parishioner, designed the west gallery, of 'exceeding lightness and beauty' (Illustrated London News). A new north aisle was added in 1881 by Ewan Christian, who also moved the organ, extended the north porch, and created the vestry within the tower. The reredos (by Powell) dates from 1912. A restoration was completed in 1920. | ||||||||||||||
| ST LUKE, KIDDERPORE AVENUE | Groups with the vicarage etc. in a prosperous, turn-of-the-century development. Red brick and stone, but a sophisticated Perpendicular design of 1898 by Basil Champneys; asymetrical front, with porches either side of a gallery bay, and a gallery-staircase bay. Inside, octagonal nave pillars without capitals, below a high clerestory; aisleless chancel, and no chancel arch. Glass by Powell. | ||||||||||||||
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Churches which are known to have had west gallery features or connections |
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| City, Fleet Street, St Bride | Wren 1671-1703. Gutted 1940. Restored and re-opened 1958, interior arcaded and once galleried, now replanned and rebuilt on collegiate lines. | ||||||||||||||
| Finsbury, St Barnabas, King's Square | Church built 1826. Ionic front and odd thin spire well related to wide late Georgian square. Interior refurnished after bad war damage and galleries and pews removed. | ||||||||||||||
| Islington, St James, Pentonville | Galleries and their surrounding walls taken away before the War.(J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
| Poplar, All Saints | The Parish Church, built 1821-23. Expensive Greek revival . . . Interior looks awkward now that the galleries have been removed. (J Betjeman in CEPC, 1958) | ||||||||||||||
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Chapels which have or had west gallery features or connections |
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| London, City Road, John Wesley's Chapel | Wesley's Chapel was designed by the architect George Dance the Younger, surveyor to the City of London. It was built in 1778 by the builder Samuel Tooth, a class leader and local preacher, and was opened by Wesley that same year (on All Saints' day).Just over 100 years later, in 1899, it was rebuilt after a fire. John Wesley is buried in the little graveyard behind the chapel and commemorated by a statue (J A Acton, 1891) on the forecourt. | ||||||||||||||
| London, Tower Hamlets St George's German Lutheran Church |
A Listed Grade II building, St George's dates from 1762-3 and is the oldest German church in Britain. The congregation was founded by Dederich Beckmann, a wealthy sugar boiler and cousin of the first pastor. It served as a religious centre for generations of German immigrants who worked in the East End sugar refineries and in the meat and baking trades until the First World War. Inside, the church retains a remarkable and mostly original series of furnishings. These include a complete set of ground floor and gallery pews and a magnificent, high, central double-decker pulpit and sounding board. On the wall above hangs the coat-of-arms of King George III (pre-1801) and two carved timber Commandment Boards in German. The Royal Arms, once enjoined to be erected in all Anglican churches, and adopted by others as a mark of loyalty, also recall a connection with the Duchess of Kent, mother of Queen Victoria, who was Patron of the adjacent German and English schools from 1819. There are 18th and l9th-century memorials and stained glass of great interest and a fine German Walcker organ. Visit the Historic Chapels Trust web site at http://www.hct.org.uk/chapel13stgeorges.html for which we are indebted for this information and picture. |
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| ST PETER, BELSIZE PARK | Erected with the earliest houses on Palmer's development of the Dean and Chapter of Westminster's Belsize Park Estate, giving it 'tone and respectability from the start'. Nave, aisles and transepts, 1858-9, cost £9,000, and J.P. St Aubyn's tower and chancel of 1875, £2,500. East and west windows by O'Connor. The aisles - with latitudinal gables, a continental fashion often used by G.G. Scott - originally had north and south galleries. | ||||||||||||||
| ST MARK, PRINCE ALBERT ROAD | Thomas Little gave the site for his own 13th century design, executed in 1851-2 in stock brick faced with Kentish rag; the chancel was sympathetically extended in 1890 by Sir Arthur Blomfield. The galleries were removed from the aisles in 1908. Wrecked by a bomb in 1940, the church was reconstructed on the original lines by A.B. Knapp-Fisher in 1955-7. West window by Goddard and Gibbs, 1956. | ||||||||||||||
| Asterisks denote churches in preparation | |||||||||||||||
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