St George's Church, Esher is a Grade I listed

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 in

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in the borough of Borough of Elmbridge, Elmbridge in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole, Surrey, River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London, close to the London–Surrey border; with Esher Commons at its ...

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

. Built in the 16th century, it was Esher's

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 ...

for 300 years, though later worshippers included

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 ...

. However, by the mid-19th century the building was deemed too small for the growing population, and was replaced by Christ Church, built nearby on Esher Green in 1853/4. St George's was not therefore subjected to Victorian ‘improvements’, and its Tudor origins remain evident. It is now cared for by the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

History

Esher is mentioned in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book ( ; the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book") is a manuscript record of the Great Survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 at the behest of William the Conqueror. The manuscript was originally known by ...

, but there is no mention of a church; the first record of a patron and rector appears in 1292, but little remains of any previous building, except a doorway on the south side of the nave and the priest's door (now walled in) on the north side of the chancel, both probably 15th century. A rare example of an English church built during the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

, the present building was built about 1540 of a jumbled assortment of chequered sandstone,

clunch Clunch is a traditional building material of chalky limestone rock used mainly in eastern England and Normandy. Clunch distinguishes itself from archetypal forms of limestone by being softer in character when cut, and may resemble chalk in lowe ...

, undressed

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. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

and brick, and roofed with both stone and clay tiles, with a small oaken timber bell- or clock-turret with pyramid spire. Inside, the Tudor open roof remains, with timber tie and collar beams; referring to its

vernacular Vernacular is the ordinary, informal, spoken language, spoken form of language, particularly when perceptual dialectology, perceived as having lower social status or less Prestige (sociolinguistics), prestige than standard language, which is mor ...

construction, Simon Jenkins says: ". . . St. George's cannot decide whether it is a barn masquerading as a chapel, or a chapel masquerading as a barn."Jenkins (1999), p. 675. The wooden clock-turret houses the original

clock A clock or chronometer is a device that measures and displays time. The clock is one of the oldest Invention, human inventions, meeting the need to measure intervals of time shorter than the natural units such as the day, the lunar month, a ...

mechanism from the early 17th century, the face and hour hand being added in 1783. Various additions made in the 18th and early 19th centuries include the three-decker pulpit and

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

of 1722 with fine carving, the Newcastle Pew (1725-26), and the brick north aisle with

crenellated A battlement, in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at intervals ...

gables (1812).

Newcastle Pew

In 1725–26 a brick extension, with a slate roof and its own entrance, was added to the south side of the church. The extension contains a remarkable family chamber pew built to Sir

John Vanbrugh Sir John Vanbrugh (; 24 January 1664 (baptised) – 26 March 1726) was an English architect, dramatist and herald, perhaps best known as the designer of Blenheim Palace and Castle Howard. He wrote two argumentative and outspoken Restor ...

’s design for the 1st

Duke of Newcastle Duke of Newcastle upon Tyne was a title that was created three times, once in the Peerage of England and twice in the Peerage of Great Britain. The first grant of the title was made in 1665 to William Cavendish, 1st Duke of Newcastle, Willi ...

, who had purchased Vanbrugh's nearby country house, Claremont, and therefore worshipped at St George's, as did Newcastle's brother,

Henry Pelham Henry Pelham (25 September 1694 – 6 March 1754) was a British Whig statesman who served as Prime Minister of Great Britain from 1743 until his death in 1754. He was the younger brother of Thomas Pelham-Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle, who serv ...

of Esher Place. Connected to the body of the church through a

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a ''gulf'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

in the south wall, the pew has a temple front of eight Corinthian

columns A column or pillar in architecture and structural engineering is a structural element that transmits, through compression, the weight of the structure above to other structural elements below. In other words, a column is a compression member ...

and

pilasters In architecture, a pilaster is both a load-bearing section of thickened wall or column integrated into a wall, and a purely decorative element in classical architecture which gives the appearance of a supporting column and articulates an ext ...

surmounted by a

pediment Pediments are a form of gable in classical architecture, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the cornice (an elaborated lintel), or entablature if supported by columns.Summerson, 130 In an ...

of pine. The Georgian interior of the pew was later divided into two sets of three boxes, the inhabitants of Claremont sitting on the right, and those of Esher Place on the left, each with their own fireplace. Vanbrugh also replaced the Tudor windows of the church with those of Georgian style: the only remaining stained glass window was removed to the

Great Hall A great hall is the main room of a royal palace, castle or a large manor house or hall house in the Middle Ages. It continued to be built in the country houses of the 16th and early 17th centuries, although by then the family used the great cha ...

of Wadham College,

Oxford Oxford () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and non-metropolitan district in Oxfordshire, England, of which it is the county town. The city is home to the University of Oxford, the List of oldest universities in continuou ...

. George II’s royal coat of arms hangs from the chancel beam. The Duke of Newcastle's successors at Claremont would all have worshipped at St George's at some time. These include Princess Charlotte, only child of George IV and heiress presumptive to the throne, who died at Claremont; her husband Prince Leopold of Saxe-Coburg, later first King of the Belgians; his niece by marriage, the young Princess Victoria; her youngest son Leopold; and

Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone Princess Alice, Countess of Athlone (Alice Mary Victoria Augusta Pauline; 25 February 1883 – 3 January 1981) was a member of the British royal family. She was the longest-lived Princess of the Blood Royal, and one of the longest-lived Britis ...

. A sculpted triptych memorial to Charlotte and Leopold, commissioned in 1870 from

Francis John Williamson Francis John Williamson (17 July 1833 – 12 March 1920) was a British portrait sculptor, reputed to have been Queen Victoria's favourite. Career After studying under John Bell he was an articled pupil of John Henry Foley for seven years, ...

by Queen Victoria and originally in their former home, Claremont, stands at the west end of the north aisle.

St George’s today

After Christ Church was built, St George's fell into some disrepair, but it was restored by the community in 1965, and remains a consecrated building, now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust and supported locally by the Friends of St George's Church.Th
Friends of St George's Church
/ref> St George's is not open every day, but several services are held each year. It can also be visited on Saturday mornings during the summer, and is a periodic venue for music and the arts. The church may be visited by borrowing a key from an adjacent property (Monday to Saturday inclusive).

References

Bibliography

* Blatch, Mervyn (1997). ''The Churches of Surrey''. Phillimore *

External links

Photographs
of exterior & interior *Esher Paris
website
about St George's on the Churches Conservation Trust website {{DEFAULTSORT:Esher, St George's 1540s establishments in England Churches completed in the 1540s