St Anne's Church serves in 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, ...
the
Soho
SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
section of
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
. It was consecrated on 21 March 1686 by Bishop
Henry Compton as the
parish church
A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), 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 com ...
of the new civil and ecclesiastical parish of
St Anne Within the Liberty of Westminster, created from part of the parish of
St Martin in the Fields. The church is under the
Deanery of Westminster (St Margaret) 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 ...
.
Parts of its churchyard around its west including tower are now the public park of
St Anne's Gardens, accessed from the
Shaftesbury Avenue end of
Wardour Street. The church is accessed via a gate at that end of
Dean Street.
The parish, having spawned two new churches dedicated to Saints Thomas and Peter, reconsolidated on St Anne's in 1945.
History
1677–1799
The parish was dedicated to
Saint Anne because Compton had been tutor to Princess
Anne before she became Queen. Construction commenced in 1677 on a plot in what was then the countryside of Soho Fields, with
William Talman and/or
Christopher Wren
Sir Christopher Wren FRS (; – ) was an English architect, astronomer, mathematician and physicist who was one of the most highly acclaimed architects in the history of England. Known for his work in the English Baroque style, he was ac ...
as architect(s). The church was designed as an long and wide
basilica
In Ancient Roman architecture, a basilica (Greek Basiliké) was a large public building with multiple functions that was typically built alongside the town's forum. The basilica was in the Latin West equivalent to a stoa in the Greek Eas ...
n church, with a high west end tower.
In 1699 a tuition-free parish school was founded for boys and in 1704 it started to admit girls. The church received an organ in 1699 from the
Dowager-Queen's
Chapel
A chapel (from , a diminutive of ''cappa'', meaning "little cape") is a Christianity, Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. First, smaller spaces inside a church that have their o ...
in
St James's Palace
St James's Palace is the most senior royal palace in London, England. The palace gives its name to the Court of St James's, which is the monarch's royal court, and is located in the City of Westminster. Although no longer the principal residence ...
and from 1700 the church's first organist was
William Croft (composer of the "St Anne" tune to ''
O God, Our Help in Ages Past''). That organ (which was by
Father Bernard Smith) was removed in 1798 and installed in
St Michael Paternoster Royal. The church's tower was only completed in 1718, with the addition of a timber spire by local carpenter John Meard.
Edmund Andros was buried in the church's churchyard in 1714 as was the actress
Hester Davenport in 1717, while in 1724/5 the church saw the marriage of
Edward Harley, 3rd Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer, and in 1743
Prince William Henry (younger brother of
George III
George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland, Ireland from 25 October 1760 until his death in 1820. The Acts of Union 1800 unified Kingdom of Great Britain, Great Britain and ...
) was baptised here. The actress and dancer
Arabella Menage was baptised here in 1782.
1800–1939
The tower, however, became unstable by 1800 and, after 41 meetings of a "Tower Rebuilding Committee" came no closer to solving the problem, the architect
Samuel Pepys Cockerell was commissioned to design a replacement. The original tower was demolished (though the 1 ton clock bell, cast in 1691 and still in use, was retained) and the new tower's brickwork was completed by 1801, its bell chamber's
Portland stonework by March 1803, and its copper
cupola
In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, usually dome-like structure on top of a building often crowning a larger roof or dome. Cupolas often serve as a roof lantern to admit light and air or as a lookout.
The word derives, via Ital ...
by May 1803. The new tower's ground floor room became the parish's
vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
room, and later (in the 20th century) a robing room for the clergy, and in the deep brick chamber beneath it are interred the ashes of the novelist
Dorothy L Sayers, who was a longtime Churchwarden of the parish and member of the St Anne's Society. 19th-century burials in the churchyard included
David Williams (1816) and
William Hazlitt
William Hazlitt (10 April 177818 September 1830) was an English essayist, drama and literary criticism, literary critic, painter, social commentator, and philosopher. He is now considered one of the greatest critics and essayists in the history ...
(1830). Also placed in the crypt was the body of
Thomas Pitt, 2nd Baron Camelford in 1804.
The church's choir and music, famous since its consecration, continued with Sir
Joseph Barnby (later Precentor of Eton), who served as its organist from 1871 to 1888 and introduced the first UK performance of
Bach's "
Saint John Passion", and with royal command performances (in 1886 for
Queen Victoria
Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...
at
Windsor, singing
Louis Spohr's "Last Judgement"; and later, at
Buckingham Palace
Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...
, for
Queen Alexandra). The first religious service with music broadcast by radio came from this church in the 1920s.
1939–present
The whole church was left burned out on the night of 24 September 1940 during
the Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
, apart from the tower, which was left derelict. St Thomas's Regent Street (now demolished) and the adjoining St Anne's House in the "Upper Room" (now known as the "Allen Room") were used for worship from then on. Though
Jacques Groag in 1945 proposed keeping the ruins as a war memorial, it was by 1949 assumed that the church would not be rebuilt, so in 1953 the remains of the east wall (the only significant parts left standing) were demolished, the site deconsecrated and prepared for sale, and the parish amalgamated with those of the churches of
St Thomas's Church, Regent Street and
St Peter's Church, Great Windmill Street (creating the Parish of St Anne with St Thomas and St Peter, centred on St Thomas's).
The tower was used as a chapel for a time in the 1950s, partly restored in 1979 by
the Soho Society, and fully restored in the 1990–91 rebuilding of the whole church – the tower is now a Grade II* listed building. That reconstruction had been the result of
London County Council's policy to keep Soho as a residential area, was facilitated by a new private act of parliament in 1965 allowing the site to be cleared and began in earnest with a foundation stone laid by
Princess Anne on 12 March 1990. The new complex was completed in time for an opening and rededication on St Anne's Day, 26 July 1991. The new church and its associated complex is not ''per se'' a reconstruction of the old and can be varied from a large to a small space. It is set within a community centre and is a community focus such as for grief surrounding the 1999
Admiral Duncan pub bombing.
Despite the lack of a building at that time, from 1941 to 1958 the St Anne Society under Father
Patrick McLaughlin encouraged links between the literary world and the Church of England, with members such as Fr
Gilbert Shaw,
J. C. Winnington-Ingram,
Charles Williams,
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Mary Clarissa Christie, Lady Mallowan, (; 15 September 1890 – 12 January 1976) was an English people, English author known for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections, particularly those revolving ...
,
T. S. Eliot, Fr
Max Petitpierre, Dom
Gregory Dix,
Arnold Bennett
Enoch Arnold Bennett (27 May 1867 – 27 March 1931) was an English author, best known as a novelist, who wrote prolifically. Between the 1890s and the 1930s he completed 34 novels, seven volumes of short stories, 13 plays (some in collaborati ...
,
C. S. Lewis
Clive Staples Lewis (29 November 1898 – 22 November 1963) was a British writer, literary scholar and Anglican lay theologian. He held academic positions in English literature at both Magdalen College, Oxford (1925–1954), and Magdalen ...
and the churchwarden
Rose Macaulay. Continuing the work of the church's 18th- and 19th-century philanthropic rectors, in the 20th and 21st centuries the "Vestry of St Anne's" (now called the Parochial Church Council) has been active in social work with London's poor and homeless (
Kenneth Leech founded the charity
Centrepoint in St Anne's House's basement in December 1969 whilst he was assistant priest at St Anne's and it remained based at the church until 2023). The Church is currently thriving as a church community and as venue for many local community and charitable events and meetings; it also houses the Soho Society, anti-homophobic bullying charity Diversity Role Models and since January 2024 its own community coffee shop Sacred Grounds. To celebrate the 25th anniversary of the rebuilding of the church a redesigned entrance on Dean Street was unrevealed on 8 December 2016.
The new entrance by UAL London students Lina Viluma and Sherief al Rifa’i who were chosen, as a result of a competition to redesign the entrance of St Anne's. Winning the President's Award for alterations to a church building in the 2017 Church Architecture Awards, the judges said that "The design has a strong idea but has been carefully refined employing subtle geometries in the ceiling and joinery. These elements have been combined with a striking lighting scheme to make a dynamic and inviting entrance to the church."
Rectors of St Anne's Church, Soho
*1686–1704† John Hearne
*1704–1750†
John Pelling
*1750–1766†
Samuel Squire (as Dean of Bristol from 1760, Bishop of St David's from 1761)
*1766–1778 Richard Hind
*1778–1781† Robert Richardson
*1781–1806†
Stephen Eaton (as Archdeacon of Middlesex)
*1806–1845† Roderick MacLeod
*1846–1891 Nugent Wade
*1891–1914 John Henry Cardwell
*1914–1929† George Clement Wilton
*1930–1933 Basil Bourchier
(resigned after mountaineering accident or due to scandal)
*——
*1953–1962
Patrick McLaughlin
*1963–1975 John Frear Hester
*1978–1984 Michael Barnabas St Leger Hurst-Bannister
*1985–1998 Frederick Crichton Stevens
*1998–2007 Clare Marguerite Herbert
*2007–2011 David Samuel Gilmore
(sacked for unbecoming conduct)
*2011–2013
William Mungo Jacob
*2013– Richard Simon Fildes Buckley
† ''Rector died in post''
See also
*
List of Christopher Wren churches in London
References
External links
Detailed descriptionfrom the ''
Survey of London'' online
Official websiteof this church; domain: stannes-soho.org.uk
The Soho Society360° Panorama inside the church
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soho, Saint Anne's Church
Church of England church buildings in the City of Westminster
Christopher Wren church buildings in London
Grade II listed churches in the City of Westminster
Diocese of London
Churches completed in 1686
Soho
SoHo, short for "South of Houston Street, Houston Street", is a neighborhood in Lower Manhattan, New York City. Since the 1970s, the neighborhood has been the location of many artists' lofts and art galleries, art installations such as The Wall ...
Saint Anne's Church
Burial sites of the Pitt family
1686 establishments in England
Saint Anne