St George's Church, Hanworth, is a

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, ...

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, London, Hampton to the ...

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 is dedicated to

Saint George Saint George (;Geʽez: ጊዮርጊስ, , ka, გიორგი, , , died 23 April 303), also George of Lydda, was an early Christian martyr who is venerated as a saint in Christianity. According to holy tradition, he was a soldier in the ...

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 t ...

, founder of

Oriel College, Oxford Oriel College () is Colleges of the University of Oxford, a constituent college of the University of Oxford in Oxford, England. Located in Oriel Square, the college has the distinction of being the oldest royal foundation in Oxford (a title for ...

, 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 Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

windows of the

coats of arms A coat of arms is a heraldic visual design on an escutcheon (i.e., shield), surcoat, or tabard (the last two being outer garments), originating in Europe. The coat of arms on an escutcheon forms the central element of the full heraldic ac ...

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 The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the royal arms, are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently Charles III. They are used by the Government of the United Kingdom and by other The Crown, Crown instit ...

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 (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

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

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is known for his Wives of Henry VIII, six marriages and his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. ...

Anne Boleyn Anne Boleyn (; 1501 or 1507 – 19 May 1536) was List of English royal consorts, Queen of England from 1533 to 1536, as the Wives of Henry VIII, second wife of King Henry VIII. The circumstances of her marriage and execution, by beheading ...

Catherine Parr Catherine Parr ( – 5 September 1548) was Queen of England and Ireland as the last of the six wives of King Henry VIII from their marriage on 12 July 1543 until Henry's death on 28 January 1547. Catherine was the final queen consort o ...

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. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

Baron Cottington Baron is a rank of nobility or title of honour, often hereditary, in various European countries, either current or historical. The female equivalent is baroness. Typically, the title denotes an aristocrat who ranks higher than a lord or knight, ...

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, referring to the market town of Buckingham, England, is an extinct title that has been created several times in the peerages of England, Great Britain, and the United Kingdom. There were creations of double dukedoms of Bucki ...

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

chalice A chalice (from Latin 'cup', taken from the Ancient Greek () 'cup') is a drinking cup raised on a stem with a foot or base. Although it is a technical archaeological term, in modern parlance the word is now used almost exclusively for the ...

and

paten A paten or diskos is a small plate used for the celebration of the Eucharist (as in a 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 Wes ...

, 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 Neoclassicism, neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles. He was elected to the Royal Academy of Arts in 1785 and was its president from 1805 to ...

, 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 Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

. 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. Spire ...

, 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 (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

, 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 ...

, 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

From 1992 until early 2019, Paul Williamson was

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; they will normally work on a short-term contract and have less freedom to act within the ...

of St George's. From 25 April 2021 until 23 April 2024 the parish was served by The Rev'd Fr Michael William Dobson as

. St George's is a church in the

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholicism, Catholic heritage (especially pre-English Reformation, Reformation roots) and identity of the Church of England and various churches within Anglicanism. Anglo-Ca ...

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 pri ...

. As it does not accept the

ordination of women The ordination of women to Minister of religion, ministerial or priestly office is an increasingly common practice among some contemporary major religious groups. It remains a controversial issue in certain religious groups in which ordination ...

, 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 w ...

from the

Bishop of Fulham The Bishop of Fulham is a suffragan bishop in the Diocese of London in the Church of England. The bishopric is named after Fulham, an area of south-west London; the see was erected under the Suffragans Nomination Act 1888 by Order in Council ...

(currently Jonathan Baker).

Gallery

St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Window - geograph.org.uk - 1750713.jpg , St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Window - geograph.org.uk - 1750705.jpg , St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Window - geograph.org.uk - 1750711.jpg , St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Window - geograph.org.uk - 1750712.jpg , St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Screen - geograph.org.uk - 1750729.jpg , 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 - Organ - geograph.org.uk - 1750787.jpg , Organ St George, Castle Way, Hanworth - Font - geograph.org.uk - 1750777.jpg , Font 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 1865 establishments in England Churches completed in 1865

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 Henry VIII Anne Boleyn Catherine Parr Elizabeth I