St Alfege Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the centre of Greenwich, part of the Royal Borough of Greenwich in London. It is of medieval origin and was rebuilt in 1712–1714 to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor.

Early history

St Alfege Church, Greenwich, stained glass, Thomas Tallis

The church is dedicated to Alfege (also spelt "Alphege"),

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. The current archbishop is Justi ...

, and reputedly marks the place where he was martyred on 19 April 1012, having been taken prisoner during the sack of Canterbury by Danish raiders the previous year. The Danes took him to their camp at Greenwich and killed him when the large ransom they demanded was not forthcoming. Accessed 5 July 2017 The church was rebuilt in around 1290, and

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disa ...

was

baptized Baptism (from grc-x-koine, βάπτισμα, váptisma) is a form of ritual purification—a characteristic of many religions throughout time and geography. In Christianity, it is a Christian sacrament of initiation and adoption, almost ...

there in 1491. The

patronage Patronage is the support, encouragement, privilege, or financial aid that an organization or individual bestows on another. In the history of art, arts patronage refers to the support that kings, popes, and the wealthy have provided to artists su ...

of the church was given to the abbey at Ghent during the 13th century. Following the suppression of alien priories under

Henry V Henry V may refer to: People * Henry V, Duke of Bavaria (died 1026) * Henry V, Holy Roman Emperor (1081/86–1125) * Henry V, Duke of Carinthia (died 1161) * Henry V, Count Palatine of the Rhine (c. 1173–1227) * Henry V, Count of Luxembourg (121 ...

, it was granted to the priory at Sheen with which it remained until transferred to the Crown by exchange under Henry VIII in 1530. During a storm in 1710 the medieval church collapsed, its

foundations Foundation may refer to: * Foundation (nonprofit), a type of charitable organization ** Foundation (United States law), a type of charitable organization in the U.S. ** Private foundation, a charitable organization that, while serving a good cause ...

having been weakened by burials both inside and outside.

The present church

St Alfege Church 1, Greenwich, London, UK - Diliff

Western End of Saint Alfege's Church, Greenwich (2)

Following the collapse of the medieval church, the present building was constructed, funded by a grant from the

Commission for Building Fifty New Churches The Commission for Building Fifty New Churches (in London and the surroundings) was an organisation set up by Act of Parliament in England in 1711, the New Churches in London and Westminster Act 1710, with the purpose of building fifty new church ...

, to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor, one of the Commission's two surveyors. The first church to be built by the Commissioners, it was begun in 1712 and basic construction was completed in 1714; it was not, however, consecrated until 1718. The church was built by Edward Strong the Younger a friend of

Christopher Wren the Younger Christopher Wren (1675–1747), of Wroxall Abbey, Warwickshire was a Member of Parliament and the son of the architect Sir Christopher Wren. Life Wren was the second but first surviving son of Sir Christopher Wren and his first wife, Faith Cog ...

. The church is rectangular in plan with a flat ceiling and a small apse serving as a chancel. The east front, towards the street, has a portico in the Tuscan order, with a central arch cutting through the entablature and pediment—a motif used in

Wren Wrens are a family of brown passerine birds in the predominantly New World family Troglodytidae. The family includes 88 species divided into 19 genera. Only the Eurasian wren occurs in the Old World, where, in Anglophone regions, it is commonly ...

's "Great Model" for

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...

. A giant order of pilasters runs around the rest of the church, a feature

Kerry Downes Kerry John Downes (8 December 1930 – 11 August 2019) was an English architectural historian whose speciality was English Baroque architecture. He was Professor of History of Art, University of Reading, 1978–91, then Emeritus. Early life a ...

suggests may have been added by

Thomas Archer Thomas Archer (1668–1743) was an English Baroque architect, whose work is somewhat overshadowed by that of his contemporaries Sir John Vanbrugh and Nicholas Hawksmoor. His buildings are important as the only ones by an English Baroque architec ...

, who, according to the minutes of the Commission, "improved" Hawksmoor's plans. On the north and south sides of the churchwide projecting vestibules rise to the full height of the building, with steps leading up to the doors. Hawksmoor planned a west tower, in the position of the existing one, which had survived the collapse. However the Commission was reluctant to fund it, and the medieval tower was retained. In 1730 John James refaced it, and added a spire. Hawksmoor's design, published in an engraving in 1714, had an octagonal lantern at the top, a motif he was later to use at St George in the East. The organ was installed in 2001, having been relocated from the Lower Chapel at Eton College, with some minor changes. It is an 1891 Lewis & Co instrument, with modifications in 1927 by A. Hunter & Son and 1970 by

Harrison & Harrison Harrison & Harrison Ltd is a British company that makes and restores pipe organs, based in Durham and established in Rochdale in 1861. It is well known for its work on instruments such as King's College, Cambridge, Westminster Abbey, and the R ...

. The previous organ had a long history. Of 16th century origin, it was restored in 1706 by

Thomas Swarbrick Thomas Swarbrick (c. 1675 – c. 1753) (sometime Schwarbrook) was an organ builder active in England in the eighteenth century. History He learned his trade as an apprentice to the famous builder Renatus Harris. He appears to be working on ...

, with further restorations and modifications by Dallam (1765),

George England George England ( 1811–1878) was an English businessman and engineer. He founded George England and Co., a steam locomotive manufacturing business based in Hatcham, New Cross. Early life England was born around 1811, in Newcastle upon Tyne. ...

(1770) and J. W. Walker & Sons Ltd (1840, 1853 and 1863). In was further restored and rebuilt in 1875 by

Joseph Robson Joseph Robson was an 18th-century stonemason, surveyor and author, best known for writing about the decades he spent constructing forts for the Hudson's Bay Company. Robson's place and date of birth are unknown. It is known he came to Hudson's ...

and Benjamin Flight, modified by Lewis & Co in 1910 and rebuilt by R. Spurden Rutt & Co in 1934. By this point it had grown to 47 stops. It survived the bomb damage of 1941 and was rebuilt, again by R Spurden Rutt, in 1953, with 55 stops. The National Pipe Organ Register does not record its present whereabouts. Additionally, there is a small, six-stop moveable organ located in the north aisle, by W & A Boggis of

Diss Diss or DISS may refer to: *Diss, Alberta, a place in Canada *Diss, Norfolk, a market town in England, United Kingdom **Diss railway station **Diss Rugby Club ** Diss Town F.C. *Diss grass, a Mediterranean grass *Diss (music), a song whose primary ...

from c 1960, with a later restoration by

Mander Organs Mander Organs Limited formerly N.P Mander Limited was an English pipe organ maker and refurbisher based in London. Although well known for many years in the organ building industry, they achieved wider notability in 2004 with the refurbishment ...

. The church had two churchyards, which were closed to burials in 1853. In 1889 they were transferred to the Greenwich District Board of Works. The later of the two churchyards was laid out as a garden and recreation ground by the landscape gardener

Fanny Wilkinson Fanny Wilkinson (1855–1951) was a British landscape designer. She was the first professional female landscape designer in Britain, and responsible for the design and the layout of more than 75 public gardens across London in the late 19th centu ...

, and opened in 1889. It was renamed St Alfege Park. Wilkinson planted 500 trees. The crypt served as an air-raid shelter during World War II. During the Blitz on 19 March 1941, incendiary bombs landed on the roof causing it to collapse, burning into the nave. The walls and the tower remained standing but much of the interior was gutted. The church was restored by Sir Albert Richardson in 1953. As part of the post-war restorations, stencils of Mary the Mother of Jesus and St John the Evangelist were installed either side of the Cross (forming a traditional rood) in the side chapel of St Alfege with St Peter by the tempera artist Augustus Lunn. In 2015 a fund-raising

cream tea A cream tea (also known as a Devon cream tea, Devonshire tea, or Cornish cream tea) is an afternoon tea consisting of tea, scones, clotted cream (or, less authentically, whipped cream), jam, and sometimes butter. Cream teas are sold in tea ro ...

garden party for Christian Aid, held in the churchyard after the Sunday sermon, was stormed by armed police. An attendee said that the vicar's wife was “almost knocked over by a policeman with a huge machine gun”, but “people just carried on drinking their tea” in a display of typical British fortitude even though “all these armed police bursting in was like the film '' Hot Fuzz''”. The police proceeded to the adjacent St Alfege Park, where a man was arrested and a firearm found. The church is currently used to celebrate "Founder's Day" of

Addey and Stanhope School Addey and Stanhope School is a voluntary-aided, co-educational secondary school, located in Lewisham, London, England. It is a former grammar school and sixth form, with origins dating to 1606. The headmistress is currently Jan Shapiro. History ...

and The John Roan School.

Notables buried here

Notable people buried in and around the church include the Renaissance choirmaster and composer

William Newark William Newark (c. 1450–1509, sometimes spelt Newerk) was an English choirmaster and composer. He served at the Chapel Royal under five English kings. Rank and income Newark was born in Newark-on-Trent about 1450. He was admitted in 1476 into ...

(died 1509, no surviving memorial), Richard Bower (died 1561), Master of the Children of the Chapel Royal 1545-1561, the composer Thomas Tallis (died 1585), the courtier Elizabeth Roper (died 1658),Daniel Lysons, The Environs of London: Counties of Herts, Essex & Kent, vol. 4 (London, 1796), p. 475. the merchant Sir John Lethieullier (died 1719) on the outer south-west corner of the church, the English-born explorer of Canada Henry Kelsey (died 1724), General James Wolfe, the victor over the French in Canada but who died in the process at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham in 1759, the actress

Lavinia Fenton Lavinia Powlett, Duchess of Bolton (1708 – 24 January 1760), known by her stagename as Lavinia Fenton, was an English actress who was the mistress and later the wife of the 3rd Duke of Bolton. She was probably the daughter of a naval lieutenan ...

(died 1760), and the MP Sir

James Creed Sir James Creed (c. 1695 – 7 February 1762) was an English merchant and politician. Creed was a merchant of London and a director of the Honourable East India Company. He was in business in the manufacture of white lead, for which he obtained ...

(died 1762) against the outer north wall.'Greenwich: The parish church', ''Old and New London'': Volume 6 (1878), pp. 190–205
Accessed 26 May 2007. Sarah Barrett Moulton, the Jamaican-born schoolgirl (1783–1795) who was the subject of the celebrated painting ''Pinkie'' (shown above right), was buried in the church after dying aged twelve, just a year after her portrait had been painted. The merchant,

Lloyd's Lloyd's of London, generally known simply as Lloyd's, is an insurance and reinsurance market located in London, England. Unlike most of its competitors in the industry, it is not an insurance company; rather, Lloyd's is a corporate body gove ...

underwriter and art collector John Julius Angerstein (died 1823), who was a churchwarden in the early 19th century, is also buried here.

Literary connection

In Charles Dickens's novel ''

Our Mutual Friend ''Our Mutual Friend'', written in 1864–1865, is the last novel completed by Charles Dickens and is one of his most sophisticated works, combining savage satire with social analysis. It centres on, in the words of critic J. Hillis Miller, quo ...

'', Bella Wilfer marries John Rokesmith in St Alfege Church. In Tom McCarthy's novel '' C'', after a Marinettiesque car crash, Serge Carrefax laughs from his position within the upturned chassis. This laughter is "a pleasant noise; reminds him of liturgical chants and whispers echoing around St. Alfege's interior."

References

External links