Chelsea Old Church, also known as All Saints, is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church, on Old Church Street, Chelsea, London SW3, England, near Albert Bridge. It is the church for a parish in the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

, part of the Church of England. Inside the

Grade I listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

building, there is seating for 400 people. There is a memorial plaque to the author

Henry James Henry James ( – ) was an American-British author. He is regarded as a key transitional figure between literary realism and literary modernism, and is considered by many to be among the greatest novelists in the English language. He was the ...

(1843–1916) who lived nearby on Cheyne Walk, and was buried in

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

. To the west of the church is a small public garden containing a sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein.

History

Norman origins

Chelsea Old Church dates from 1157. It was formerly the parish church of Chelsea, before it was engulfed by London. The building consisted of a 13th-century

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

with chapels to the north and south (c. 1325) and a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and tower built in 1670.

16th century and Sir Thomas More

The chapels were private property. The one to the north was called the Lawrence Chapel and was owned by Chelsea's

Lord of the Manor Lord of the manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England and Norman England, referred to the landholder of a historical rural estate. The titles date to the English Feudalism, feudal (specifically English feudal barony, baronial) system. The ...

. The chapel to the south was rebuilt in 1528 as

Sir Thomas More Sir Thomas More (7 February 1478 – 6 July 1535), venerated in the Catholic Church as Saint Thomas More, was an English lawyer, judge, social philosopher, author, statesman, theologian, and noted Renaissance humanist. He also served Henry V ...

's private chapel. The date can be found on one of the capitals of the pillars leading to the chancel, which were reputedly designed by

Hans Holbein the Younger Hans Holbein the Younger ( , ; ; – between 7 October and 29 November 1543) was a German-Swiss painter and printmaker who worked in a Northern Renaissance style, and is considered one of the greatest portraitists of the 16th century. He ...

. There is a statue of More by Leslie Cubitt Bevis outside the church, facing the river.

17th century

There is a 1669 memorial to Lady Jane Cheyne. It was designed by the son of

Gian Lorenzo Bernini Gian Lorenzo (or Gianlorenzo) Bernini (, ; ; Italian Giovanni Lorenzo; 7 December 1598 – 28 November 1680) was an Italians, Italian sculptor and Italian architect, architect. While a major figure in the world of architecture, he was more prom ...

and executed by Gian Lorenzo's favourite sculptor Antonio Raggi. It is the only London church to have chained books. They were the gift of Sir Hans Sloane, Bt, the

Anglo-Irish Anglo-Irish people () denotes an ethnic, social and religious grouping who are mostly the descendants and successors of the English Protestant Ascendancy in Ireland. They mostly belong to the Anglican Church of Ireland, which was the State rel ...

physician A physician, medical practitioner (British English), medical doctor, or simply doctor is a health professional who practices medicine, which is concerned with promoting, maintaining or restoring health through the Medical education, study, Med ...

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

collector, Member of the British Parliament and

President of the Royal Society The president of the Royal Society (PRS), also known as the Royal Society of London, is the elected Head of the Royal Society who presides over meetings of the society's council. After an informal meeting (a lecture) by Christopher Wren at Gres ...

. The books consist of a copy of the so-called " Vinegar Bible" of 1717 (containing a misprint of the word 'vineyard'), two volumes of '' Foxe's Book of Martyrs'' (1684 edition), a 1723 printing of the ''

Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...

'' and a 1683 edition of ''

The Books of Homilies ''The Books of Homilies'' (1547, 1562, and 1571) are two books together containing thirty-three sermons developing the authorized reformed doctrines of the Church of England in depth and detail, as appointed for use in the 35th Article of the T ...

''.

19th century

The church appears in several paintings by

James McNeill Whistler James Abbott McNeill Whistler (; July 10, 1834July 17, 1903) was an American painter in oils and watercolor, and printmaker, active during the American Gilded Age and based primarily in the United Kingdom. He eschewed sentimentality and moral a ...

and J. M. W. Turner, in all cases little more than distant tower; the church was painted white in the 19th century. For example, the church was depicted in the background of Whistler's '' Nocturne: Blue and Gold - Old Battersea Bridge'', painted c. 1872–1875.

Second World War

The church suffered severe bombing damage during the Blitz of the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

on 14 April 1941, in which the church and tower were mostly destroyed by a parachute mine.Official History
Retrieved 24 September 2021. The Thomas More Chapel was least affected. Services were held in the adjoining Cheyne Hospital for nine years.

Restoration and rebuilding

In 1950 the More Chapel was reopened, followed by the chancel and Lawrence Chapel in May 1954, after restoration by the architect Walter Godfrey. It was then listed Grade I on 24 June 1954. In May 1958, the entire church was reconsecrated by the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

in the presence of

Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Elizabeth Angela Marguerite Bowes-Lyon (4 August 1900 – 30 March 2002) was Queen of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 to 6 February 1952 as the wife of King George VI. She was al ...

, as it had been restored in its entirety on its old foundations. It looks much as it did before World War II. Many of the tombs and monuments inside were salvaged and reconstructed, almost like

jigsaw puzzle A jigsaw puzzle (with context, sometimes just jigsaw or just puzzle) is a tiling puzzle that requires the assembly of often irregularly shaped interlocking and mosaicked pieces. Typically each piece has a portion of a picture, which is comple ...

s. Some original 16th-century stained glass was also preserved. In 1978, Jack Leslau wrote an article in '' The Ricardian'' suggesting that one of the

Princes in the Tower The Princes in the Tower refers to the mystery of the fate of the deposed King Edward V of England and his younger brother Prince Richard of Shrewsbury, Duke of York, heirs to the throne of King Edward IV of England. The brothers were the only ...

survived, namely

Edward V of England Edward V (2 November 1470 – ) was King of England from 9 April to 25 June 1483. He succeeded his father, Edward IV, upon the latter's death. Edward V was never crowned, and his brief reign was dominated by the influence of his uncle and Lord ...

, and was buried in Chelsea Old Church. His evidence depends on a complex interpretation of a painting by

. Leslau's website expands on this, but no major academic institution has endorsed the thesis. The social reformer The Baroness Courtney of Penwith is buried in the church. In 2000, the Museum of London Archaeological Services carried out an archaeological dig at the cemetery. File:Chelsea Old Church 07.JPG, Chelsea Old Church File:Chelsea Old Church 09.JPG, Chelsea Old Church File:Chelsea Old Church 10.JPG, Chelsea Old Church File:Chelsea Old Church 02.JPG, Chelsea Old Church File:HenryJamesMemorial.jpg, Memorial to author

at Chelsea Old Church, London

Burials

* Jane, Duchess of Northumberland (died 1555) * John Braye, 2nd Baron Braye (died 1557) * The 10th Baron Dacre (died 1594) * Anne, Baroness Dacre (died 1595) * Katherine, Countess of Huntingdon (died 1620) * Sir Robert Stanley (died 1632, with verses on the tomb alleged to point to the true author of the works of

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

) *

Sir Hans Sloane Sir Hans Sloane, 1st Baronet, (16 April 1660 – 11 January 1753), was an Irish physician, naturalist, and collector. He had a collection of 71,000 items which he bequeathed to the British nation, thus providing the foundation of the British ...

(died 1753) * Catherine Courtney, Baroness Courtney of Penwith (died 1929)

References

External links

* *
List of the Rectors and Incumbents - British History Online
1157 establishments in England Chelsea, London Buildings and structures completed in 1157 Churches completed in the 1150s 12th-century church buildings in England Church of England church buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Churches bombed by the Luftwaffe in London Diocese of London Grade I listed churches in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea History of the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Churches on the Thames Thomas More {{Coord, 51, 28, 59, N, 0, 10, 15, W, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title