St George's Church, Hanworth, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

parish church based in

Hanworth Hanworth is a district of West London, England. Historically in Middlesex, it has been part of the London Borough of Hounslow since 1965. Hanworth adjoins Feltham to the northwest, Twickenham to the northeast and Hampton to the southeast, with ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

. It is dedicated to

Saint George Saint George (Greek: Γεώργιος (Geórgios), Latin: Georgius, Arabic: القديس جرجس; died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was a Christian who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to tradition he was a soldie ...

and has Grade II* listed status.

History

There has been a church on the site, in Castle Way, since at least the 14th century; the church was first mentioned in 1293. The first known rector was

Adam de Brome Adam de Brome (; died 16 June 1332) was an almoner to King Edward II and founder of Oriel College in Oxford, England. De Brome was probably the son of Thomas de Brome, taking his name from Brome near Eye in Suffolk; an inquisition held after ...

, founder of Oriel College, Oxford, in 1309. According to Daniel Lysons, vicar in 1800, the church was made of flint and stone with a low wooden turret. As the church's living was in the hands of the lord of the manor, only the name of the rector was mentioned. The original church included stained glass windows of the coats of arms of the Crosby family, who owned the manor in 1471; the Killigrew family, who owned the manor in the latter part of the 16th century; and the Royal arms of 1625, incorporating the royal cypher JR. The latter window was moved to the rectory after the church's reconstruction in 1808, before moving to its present site in the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (often abbreviated as the V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.27 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and nam ...

in 1975. Monarchs and their consorts who are known to have worshipped here are King Henry VIII,

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and of her execution by beheading for treason and other charges made her a key ...

, Catherine Parr and Queen

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. Elizabeth was the last of the five House of Tudor monarchs and is ...

. Baron Cottington of Hanworth took a further interest in Saint George's Church. He had his son Charles baptised here on 21 July 1628 in the presence of King

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

, the

Duke of Buckingham Duke of Buckingham held with Duke of Chandos, referring to Buckingham, is a title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There have also been earls and marquesses of Buckingham. ...

and Mary Feilding, wife of the Marquess of Hamilton. Cottington also gave the church a silver

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'mug', borrowed from Ancient Greek () 'cup') or goblet is a footed cup intended to hold a drink. In religious practice, a chalice is often used for drinking during a ceremony or may carry a certain symbolic meaning. R ...

and

paten A paten or diskos is a small plate, used during the Mass. It is generally used during the liturgy itself, while the reserved sacrament are stored in the tabernacle in a ciborium. Western usage In many Western liturgical denominations, the p ...

, which are still used today. In 1807, it was decided that the entire church should be dismantled and rebuilt. The building of the new church was done by

James Wyatt James Wyatt (3 August 1746 – 4 September 1813) was an English architect, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to 1806. Early life W ...

, a notable architect of the time. Wyatt only just lived to see it completed in 1812, as he was killed in a carriage accident the following year. His family are buried in the churchyard, but Wyatt himself lies in

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. Saint George's assumed its current form in 1865, when a local architect, Algernon Perkins, volunteered to redesign the church at his own expense. The

spire A spire is a tall, slender, pointed structure on top of a roof of a building or tower, especially at the summit of church steeples. A spire may have a square, circular, or polygonal plan, with a roughly conical or pyramidal shape. Spires a ...

, added at about this time, was designed by

Samuel Sanders Teulon Samuel Sanders Teulon (2 March 1812 – 2 May 1873) was an English Gothic Revival architect, noted for his use of polychrome brickwork and the complex planning of his buildings. Family Teulon was born in 1812 in Greenwich, Kent, the son of a ...

. The

lychgate A lychgate, also spelled lichgate, lycugate, lyke-gate or as two separate words lych gate, (from Old English ''lic'', corpse), also ''wych gate'', is a gateway covered with a roof found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style ch ...

, which forms the main entrance to the church, was built in 1882. It is said to be a copy of the one in

Beddington Beddington is a suburban settlement in the London Borough of Sutton on the boundary with the London Borough of Croydon. Beddington is formed from a village of the same name which until early the 20th century still included land which became t ...

, South London, and was done in memory of the mother-in-law of John Lyndhurst Winslow, rector at the time. Two of the owners of Hanworth Manor, Thomas Chamber and Aubrey Vere, are buried in the church. The former has a memorial tablet, which is now in the north transept, while the latter has a gravestone on the church floor.

Present day

Since 25 April 2021, St George's Church, Hanworth has been served by Fr Michael William Dobson as their

priest in charge A priest in charge or priest-in-charge (previously also curate-in-charge) in the Church of England is a priest in charge of a parish who is not its incumbent. Such priests are not legally responsible for the churches and glebe, but simply hold a ...

. He was previously rector of St John the Baptist in Cairo Egypt and a mission priest at St Gabriel's, Pimlico. He was ordained in Canada and trained at

Regent College Regent College is an interdenominational evangelical Christian College of Christian studies, and an affiliated college of the University of British Columbia, located next to the university's campus in the University Endowment Lands west of V ...

Vancouver and with the Artizo programme. He and as his wife Janet have planted Anglo-Catholic communities around Vancouver and in central London. They intend to help St George's to be a flourishing center of Anglo-Catholic mission. From 1992 until early 2019, Paul Williamson was

of St George's. The new priest on charge is Father Michael William Dobson. St George's is a church in the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

tradition and is also associated with

Forward in Faith Forward in Faith (FiF) is an organisation operating in the Church of England and the Scottish Episcopal Church. It represents a traditionalist strand of Anglo-Catholicism and is characterised by its opposition to the ordination of women to the pr ...

. As it does not accept the ordination of women, the church receives

alternative episcopal oversight A provincial episcopal visitor (PEV), popularly known as a flying bishop, is a Church of England bishop assigned to minister to many of the clergy, laity and parishes who on grounds of theological conviction, "are unable to receive the ministry of ...

from the Bishop of Fulham (currently Jonathan Baker).

Gallery

St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Label head - geograph.org.uk - 1750759.jpg , St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Label head - geograph.org.uk - 1750762.jpg , St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - East end - geograph.org.uk - 1750786.jpg , Interior St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - War memorial - geograph.org.uk - 1750716.jpg , War memorial in the church St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Lych gate - geograph.org.uk - 1750739.jpg , Lychgate

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Georges Church Hanworth

Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom 19th-century Church of England church buildings Diocese of London History of the London Borough of Hounslow

Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Hounslow Anglo-Catholic churches in England receiving AEO