St George's Interdenominational Chapel, Heathrow Airport is a place of worship in

Heathrow Airport Heathrow Airport , also colloquially known as London Heathrow Airport and named ''London Airport'' until 1966, is the primary and largest international airport serving London, the capital and most populous city of England and the United Kingdo ...

near London, in England. It was designed by Sir

Frederick Gibberd Sir Frederick Ernest Gibberd CBE (7 January 1908 – 9 January 1984) was an English architect, town planner and landscape designer. He is particularly known for his work in Harlow, Essex, and for the BISF house, a design for a prefabricated ...

. A prayer room and counselling room adjoin it. The Heathrow Chaplaincy Team includes Christian chaplains from Anglican, Catholic, and Free Church denominations, and representatives from Muslim, Jewish, and other faiths.

History and design

The Chapel of

St George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the R ...

was dedicated on 11 October 1968 as an Ecumenical Christian Chapel in the heart of London Heathrow Airport. Before then, chaplaincy work was pioneered by clergy from local parishes. The site, in the airport's geographical centre at the time, was provided by the then

British Airports Authority Heathrow Airport Holdings is a company that operates and manages Heathrow Airport based in London, England. It was formed by the privatisation of the British Airports Authority as BAA plc as part of Margaret Thatcher's privatisation of governme ...

(BAA), and funded largely by the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

(Anglican) and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

and

Free Churches A free church is any Christian denomination that is intrinsically separate from government (as opposed to a state church). A free church neither defines government policy, nor accept church theology or policy definitions from the government. A f ...

. The challenge for architect Jack Forrest, of

and Partners, was to produce an ecumenical chapel to accommodate Christian traditions, as well as a haven of peace and quiet. Its design is that of a vaulted crypt, reminiscent of the style and atmosphere of a crypt in the early Christian church; its underground setting isolates it from the airport's noise and bustle. The three

apse In architecture, an apse (: apses; from Latin , 'arch, vault'; from Ancient Greek , , 'arch'; sometimes written apsis; : apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical Vault (architecture), vault or semi-dome, also known as an ' ...

s were originally intended for each of the contributing denominations; but in 1972 the main altar was rededicated by the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

, the Cardinal

Archbishop of Westminster The archbishop of Westminster heads the Roman Catholic Diocese of Westminster, in England. The incumbent is the metropolitan of the Province of Westminster, chief metropolitan of England and Wales and, as a matter of custom, is elected presid ...

, and the Moderator of the Free Church Federal Council for shared ecumenical use. The other apses now accommodate the Blessed Sacrament (the

tabernacle According to the Hebrew Bible, the tabernacle (), also known as the Tent of the Congregation (, also Tent of Meeting), was the portable earthly dwelling of God used by the Israelites from the Exodus until the conquest of Canaan. Moses was instru ...

has two separate compartments for Anglican and Roman Catholic traditions) and

baptismal font A baptismal font is an Church architecture, ecclesiastical architectural element, which serves as a receptacle for baptismal water used for baptism, as a part of Christian initiation for both rites of Infant baptism, infant and Believer's bapti ...

. The chapel is licensed for worship in accordance with the

Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 Place may refer to: Geography * Place (United States Census Bureau), defined as any concentration of population ** Census-designated place, a populated area lacking its own municipal government * "Place", a type of street or road name ** O ...

, with registration number 75203. On 1 May 1979 it was licensed for solemnising marriages according to the terms of the

Marriage Act 1949 The Marriage Act 1949 ( 12, 13 & 14 Geo. 6. c. 76) is an act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom regulating marriages in England and Wales. The act had prohibited solemnizing marriages during evenings and at night. Since the Marriage Act ...

Worship and usage

Regular services are held in the chapel, which functions as a community church. Additionally, other sacraments and services are held during the year by request and everyone is welcome to attend any of the public services. Outside, the Memorial Garden is dominated by a 16-foot oak cross, and provides a place of rest and refreshment for staff and passengers. The walls of the garden support memorial plaques for late members of the airport community. On the opposite side of the garden is the ground level multifaith prayer room opened in 1998. The Chaplains meet regularly for prayer; are on call 365 days a year, and are affiliated with the International Association of Civil Aviation Chaplains, covering airports throughout the world.

Memorials

A plaque in memory of

Barbara Jane Harrison Barbara Jane Harrison GC (24 May 1945 – 8 April 1968), known as Jane Harrison, was a British flight attendant who was posthumously awarded the George Cross for her role in the evacuation of BOAC Flight 712. She is one of four women to ...

was unveiled on 23 October 1970. There are also memorial plaques to mark the

Lockerbie bombing Pan Am Flight 103 (PA103/PAA103) was a regularly scheduled Pan Am transatlantic flight from Frankfurt to Detroit via a stopover in London and another in New York City. Shortly after 19:00 on 21 December 1988, the Boeing 747 "Clipper Maid of th ...

– one for crew, on the wall by the door; another made by

Dr Jim Swire Herbert Swire (born 1936), known better as Jim Swire, is an English doctor best known for his involvement in the aftermath of the 1988 bombing of Pan Am Flight 103, in which his daughter Flora was killed. Swire lobbied toward a solution for the ...

near the font.

External links

*
Airport Chaplaincy – Heathrow
Diocese of Westminster
International Association of Civil Aviation Chaplains: IACAC

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint George's Interdenominational Chapel, Heathrow Airport Buildings and structures at Heathrow Airport Chapels in London Churches in the London Borough of Hillingdon Airport chapels