Southeast View of the Church of Saint Luke, Charlton (01)

St Luke's Church in

Charlton, London Charlton is an area of southeast London, England, in the Royal Borough of Greenwich. It is east of Greenwich and west of Woolwich, on the south bank of the River Thames, southeast of Charing Cross. An ancient parish in the county of Kent, it b ...

, England, 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 ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in community activities, ...

in the

Diocese of Southwark The Diocese of Southwark is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient Dio ...

. Records suggest that a church dedicated to

St Luke Luke the Evangelist (Latin: '' Lucas''; grc, Λουκᾶς, '' Loukâs''; he, לוקאס, ''Lūqās''; arc, /ܠܘܩܐ לוקא, ''Lūqā’; Ge'ez: ሉቃስ'') is one of the Four Evangelists—the four traditionally ascribed authors of t ...

existed on the site around 1077. It was rebuilt in 1630 with funds provided by

Sir Adam Newton Sir Adam Newton, 1st Baronet (died 1630) was a Scottish scholar, royal tutor, dean of Durham and baronet. Life He spent part of his early life in France, passing himself off as a priest and teaching at the college of St. Maixant in Poitou. There, ...

, of

Charlton House Charlton House is a Jacobean building in Charlton, within the Royal Borough of Greenwich in south-east London. Originally it was a residence for a nobleman associated with the Stuart royal family. It later served as a wartime hospital, then ...

. The coat of arms of one of Newton's executors, the Scottish courtier David Cunningham of Auchenharvie is displayed on the pulpit. The 1630s work, constructed of Kentish red brick, forms the core of the present building, which is

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

. It was modified in the 17th century, again in 1840 and finally in 1956. Remnants of

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

and

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and start fir ...

walls have been found and may relate to the original building. Porch of the Church of Saint Luke, Charlton (01)

The church operated under the aegis of Bermondsey Abbey until the Dissolution of the Monasteries; thereafter, in 1607, the lands upon which it stood passed to Newton. It now practises the Modern Catholic tradition. Marriages of notable people at St Luke's include that of Anne Shovell, granddaughter of Sir

Cloudesley Shovell Admiral of the Fleet Sir Cloudesley Shovell (c. November 1650 – 22 or 23 October 1707) was an English naval officer. As a junior officer he saw action at the Battle of Solebay and then at the Battle of Texel during the Third Anglo-Dutch Wa ...

, to John Blackwood on 28 July 1726. Among the people buried at the church are two whose deaths were political assassinations. One of those is the British Prime Minister

Spencer Perceval Spencer Perceval (1 November 1762 – 11 May 1812) was a British statesman and barrister who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. Perceval is the only British prime minister to ...

, and the other

Edward Drummond Edward Drummond (30 March 1792 – 25 January 1843) was a British civil servant, and was Personal Secretary to several British Prime Ministers. He was fatally shot by Daniel McNaughton, whose subsequent trial gave rise to the McNaughton rules, t ...

, a personal secretary to several British Prime Ministers whose murder led to the establishment of the legal test for insanity known as the M'Naghten rules. The church's patron, Sir Adam Newton (former tutor to the

Prince of Wales Prince of Wales ( cy, Tywysog Cymru, ; la, Princeps Cambriae/Walliae) is a title traditionally given to the heir apparent to the English and later British throne. Prior to the conquest by Edward I in the 13th century, it was used by the rulers ...

) and his wife Katharine, are buried in the church, as are a number of other royal servants: Edward Wilkinson (d.1567), master-cook to Queen Elizabeth; Brigadier Michael Richards (d.1721),

Surveyor-General of the Ordnance The Surveyor-General of the Ordnance was a subordinate of the Master-General of the Ordnance and a member of the Board of Ordnance, a British government body, from its constitution in 1597. Appointments to the post were made by the crown under L ...

to King George I; and John Griffith (d.1713), brigadier of the second troop of Guards, under Queen Anne. The church is entitled to fly the

ensign An ensign is the national flag flown on a vessel to indicate nationality. The ensign is the largest flag, generally flown at the stern (rear) of the ship while in port. The naval ensign (also known as war ensign), used on warships, may be diffe ...

that was in use prior to the 1800 Acts of Union. It can do so on the saint's days of St Luke and St George, in recognition of its past role as a navigational landmark for ships on the

Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

References

Notes Citations

External links

* *{{cite web , url=https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1358934 , publisher=Historic England , title=Church of St Luke Charlton Anglo-Catholic church buildings in London 17th-century Church of England church buildings 1000s establishments in England Grade II* listed churches in London History of the Royal Borough of Greenwich Charlton, London Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Greenwich