St George in the East
| St George in the East | |
|
Middlesex | |
|---|---|
| File:StGeorgeInTheEast.JPG St George in the East | |
| Church of England | |
| Diocese of London | |
| Parish: | TQ34748079 |
| Location | |
| Grid reference: | TQ34748079 |
| Location: | 51°30’36"N, 0°3’35"W |
| Address: | Cannon Street Road |
| History | |
| Built 1714–1729 | |
| Classical (with Palladian and Byzantine elements) | |
| Information | |
St George-in-the-East is a parish church in Church of England, in the Parish of St George-in-the-East which lies between the City of London and Shadwell, in the south-east of Middlesex. The parish is part of the Diocese of London.
The church stands located on Cannon Street Road, between The Highway and Cable Street, in the East End of London. Behind the church lies St George's Gardens, the original graveyard.
The church is a Grade II listed building.[1]
History
The church is one of six Hawksmoor churches in and around London. It was built from 1714 to 1729, with funding from the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches, establish ed in 1711 by Act of Parliament. Its name has become that of the parish it serves.
In 1836, the parish of St George in the East was constituted as a Poor Law parish under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834.
In the 1850s, Archibald Campbell Tait, then Bishop of London, appointed a Low Church lecturer, which was contrary to the High Church attitude of the rector, curate and congregation. Forms of dissent included catcalls and horn blowing, and some male members of the congregation went into the church smoking their pipes, keeping their hats on, and leading barking dogs.[2] Refuse was thrown onto the communion table. The church was closed for a while in 1859, and the rector, owing to his poor health, was persuaded by the author Tom Hughes to hand over his duties to a locum.[3]
The church was hit by a bomb during the Second World War Blitz on London's docklands in May 1941. The original interior was destroyed by the fire, but the walls and distinctive "pepper-pot" towers stayed up. In 1964 a modern church interior was constructed inside the existing walls, and a new flat built under each corner tower. A ring of eight replacement bells, cast at the Whitechapel Bell Foundry was put in place at this time.[4]
Ian Nairn]] wrote of it in his 1966 guide to London:
A ruin among ruins, in the lost part of Stepney, south of Commercial Road. The old life has gone or been deliberately killed, the new has not yet come up with any pattern or buildings worth twopence. It makes no difference to Hawksmoor's bizarre poetry. This is probably the hardest building to describe in London ... This is a stage somewhere beyond fantasy, which is always comfortably related to common sense: it is the more-than-real world of the drug addict's dream."[5]
Community work
In May 2015, the church entered into a partnership with the Centre for Theology and Community, an ecumenical charity which is based in its East Crypt. Anglican clergy working for the Centre now serve the parish, and the second floor is the home to the Community of St George, a group of lay Christians who assist in the worship and mission of the church.
Popular culture
It appeared in the 1980 film The Long Good Friday starring Bob Hoskins. It also appeared in Season 2, Episode 1 of Killing Eve.
Pictures
| ("Wikimedia Commons" has material about St George in the East) |
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Outside links
- Parish of St George in the East
- The Centre for Theology and Community
- Parish history
- East and West London by the Rev. Harry Jones. Published by Smith, Elder & Co., 1875
References
- ↑ National Heritage List 1357779: Church of St George in the East (Grade II listing)
- ↑ SMITH, PHILLIP T. (1986). "The London Police and the Holy War: Ritualism and St. George's-in-the-East, London, 1859-1860". Journal of Church and State 28 (1): 107–119. doi:10.1093/jcs/28.1.107. SSN 0021-969X. https://www.jstor.org/stable/23916615.
- ↑ Ben Weinreb; Christopher Hibbert (1993). The London Encyclopaedia (1983 ed.). Macmillan. p. 729. ISBN 0-333-57688-8.
- ↑ Dove's Tower Guide https://dove.cccbr.org.uk/tower/17069
- ↑ Ian Nairn, Nairn's London (Harmondsworth, Middlesex.: Penguin, 1966), pp.161-2