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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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| Carshalton, All Saints | Originally Surrey, but now in Greater London - near Sutton. Organ on ornate west gallery, the organ case being by Ninian Comper. Screen at east end also by Comper. |
| Croydon, Archbishop's Palace | Laudian, but with a west gallery. |
| Egham, St John the Baptist | Rebuilt by Henry Rhodes, 1817-20; plain Grecian;
yellow glass skylight over sanctuary; marble altar; the altar-painting by
Westall - almost entirely burned in 1949; refitted in 19th C., re-Georgianised
in 1948-49. (CEPC) "Sweeping galleries" (Pevsner) |
| Esher, St George | Not used for regular worship. Unrestored church. Brick transept, with gallery pew which was built in 1725-26; this gallery has been taken down. Upper west gallery 1840-42. |
| Ewell, St Peter & St Paul | Cruciform church dating from the 13th C.. partly rebuilt in 1847 after the fall of the tower in 1837. The west gallery dates from then. |
| Guildford, Holy Trinity | Known as the pro-Cathedral. The tower fell in 1740 and destroyed the old church. Rebuilt 1749-63, being opened in 1633, It is a solid red-brick church with a battlemented tower. In 1869 various side galleries were removed, together with many other fittings and leaving the west gallery only, which remains, together with the pulpit. (CEPC) |
| Lingfield, St Peter & St Paul | There was an hour-glass by the pulpit; the glass has gone but the stand remains. There is also a chained Bible. |
| *Newdigate, St Peter | 13th and 15th C. church with timber tower. Old west gallery front of 1627 set up [hidden behind tables!] under the tower. |
| Morden, dedication unknown | There is a church with a gallery here. |
| Old Woking, St Peter | 1622, rough Jacobean west gallery and pulpit. |
| Petersham, St Peter | Unrestored church, with 17th C. south transept
and tower. Faculty for building the north transept was granted in 1703. Pulpit
1797. South transept rebuilt 1840 onwards. Pews and galleries remain.
(CEPC) Organ in south transept gallery. # |
| *Ripley, dedication not known | Organ placed in west gallery in 1901. Nave rebuilt 1846-8 and extended 1869. |
| *Send, dedication not known | Circa 1670 west gallery with turned balusters. Originally had external access - straight joint in south wall west of porch may indicate position of doorway. 1963 fire damaged part of gallery supports and floor. |
| *Shere, St James | 1748 west gallery erected for the poor by public subscription of 137 subscribers at a cost of £27. 18s. 6d. Had outside stair, now gone. |
| Stoke d'Abernon, St Mary | The south wall is pre-Conquest, with a blocked doorway 12 ft. from the ground. North aisle late 12th C., chancel remodelled 13th C., Norbury Chapel 15th C. A 'destructive' restoration by Ford & Hesketh in 1866, although the interior has, to some extent, been 'de-restored'. Imposing 17th C pulpit with tester and hour-glass. (CEPC) |
| *Walton-on-Thames, dedication not known | 17th C. west and north galleries with square balusters. Heavily restored. (No ref. in Pevsner or CEPC). |
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Churches which are known to have had west gallery features or connections |
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| Abinger, St James | "Singers' Gallery" across west end removed 1857 when barrel organ replaced "a bass-viol, clarionet etc. for the band". In 1946 the choir was restored to the west end. |
| Chertsey, St Peter | Gallery pews sold to raise money to complete the rebuilding of the church, 1806-08. |
| Cobham, dedication not known | Full of galleries in 19th C.
(See guide book p. 11.) "June 30th, 1799 - At a meeting of the Committee appointed to regulate the Pews in the Church, it is ordered that in future all Gentlemen's Livery Men Servants shall sit in the Gallery, On the south side of the organ, that all women servants be placed in a pew on the left side next the Gallery and the two opposite ones, and also all women strangers be placed there, and in the next adjoining Pew on the left hand, that all Farmers' servants, apprentices, journeymen and boys and girls sit in the right hand Chancel, the people in the workhouse in the left hand Chancel; that Wm. Atkins be appointed Beadle to attend the inhabitants to their Pews, and that he be provided with a coat and hat, and that each Pew have a lock fixed as soon as convenient." (Parish records.) |
| Compton, St Nicholas | Edward Hasell's watercolours of the interior of the church in about 1830 shows a west gallery and box-pews of differing heights. See the new (2002) church guide. |
| Dunsfold, Holy Trinity | The 1892 restoration removed the west gallery. It had an outside stair; disturbed stonework marks the position of its door in the south wall of the church. |
| East Clandon, dedication not known | "In 1900 the West Nave was galleried, but this was rotten, as were two of the legs holding up the bell tower." Restoration removed gallery. (Guide book) |
| Farnham, St Andrew | Organ presented in 1800 and set up on a west gallery to replace choir and instrumentalists. Smaller organ built near chancel in 1860. Hymns Ancient and Modern and Anglican chanting of the psalms in place of the metrical version introduced in 1870s. |
| Godalming, St Peter & St Paul | In 1819 an organ was placed in the west gallery;
but removed to the nave in 1879 during the "restoration" by Sir G G
Scott. The galleries were 18th C.; - a faculty was granted in 1716 for a gallery in the north aisle, to be paid for by subscription. Outer walls of aisles were raised to accommodate the galleries, and two dormer windows inserted on the north side together with two square-headed windows in the west wall of nave to compensate for light cut off by galleries. A 1764 will refers to "my seats in the singing gallery I give to my daughter, Sarah Rose." 1828 drawings show north, south and west galleries. In 1840 restoration added galleries for children in transepts. The 1879 restoration was to be carried out "in consequence of the present inconvenient and unsightly condition" caused by "the existence of large galleries over the nave aisles and west end of the nave." In 1869 comment was made about "terrible galleries" and the floors "so blocked up with pews that a stranger naturally concludes that the parishioners must all be thin for no unusually stout person could pass down the narrow passages." (Source??) |
| Guildford, St. Mary | West gallery was added in 1709, and removed again in 1863. |
| Kingston-upon-Thames, All Saints | In the 17th and 18th centuries two west galleries were installed, the lower one carrying the organ which was placed there in 1703. Also two galleries in south aisle; two more added in north aisle by 1852. All removed mid 19th C. - presumably the "restoration" by Brandon in 1862. |
| Leatherhead, St. Mary & St Nicholas | In the 18th C. and early 19th C. north and south galleries were installed, and also two galleries in the tower. These are no longer there. |
| Mickleham, St. Michael | The west gallery was removed in 1891, although it apparently survived the 1822 "restoration" by P F Robinson and Ewan Christian's partial rebuild of the church in Victorian 'Norman' in 1872. |
| Richmond, St. Mary Magdalene | In 1683 a gallery was built in the south aisle.
In 1699 a faculty was granted for a new north aisle, which was built at the
beginning of the 18th C., and a faculty was granted in 1749 for the addition of
a south aisle to match the north aisle. A new north gallery was built, possibly
at the same time as the new north aisle. (CEPC) In 1864-66 the galleries were rebuilt. Side galleries removed 1903, west gallery 1935-36. (Guide Book, - NB church guides give 1750 as the date for the rebuilding of the nave, but this is deemed incorrect by Rev'd B F L Clarke in CEPC) |
| Thorpe, dedication unknown | The present twisted baluster altar rails formerly fronted an old singing gallery at the west end. They were moved to their present position at a date after 1907. |
| Thursley, St Michael & All Angels | Pre-Conquest windows have been uncovered in the nave walls. An impressive 15th C. wooden tower supported by oak piers in the centre of the nave. An 18th C. print shows north and west galleries. North gallery removed 1860, west gallery removed 1884. |
| Asterisks denote churches in preparation | |
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