Sacred London

Places of religious significance. Worth a visit for the architecture, the art or the history.

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St George in the East

Hawksmoor's white tower over Shadwell, with a smaller church built inside the shell the war left.

ChristianityHawksmoor

Nicholas Hawksmoor built it in 1729 in white ashlar: a tall western lantern tower reached up a flight of steps, pepperpot turrets at the corners, round-arched windows down the flanks and an apsidal east end. The tower still carries this part of Stepney - you see it from a long way off, and from the river.

What happened afterwards is the reason to come. The inside was gutted in the Second World War, and rather than rebuild what was lost, a smaller church was constructed within the standing outer walls. The rest of the shell was left: there is a courtyard inside the old west end with flats leading off it, and the present west wall of the church is a screen of glass. You are standing in a building that contains another one.

The crypt has been cleared and is a hall now, and the churchyard around it is St George's Gardens.

Where
14 Cannon Street Road, E1 0BH
Nearest station
Shadwell · 3 min walk

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Data is compiled from public sources including OpenStreetMap, under the ODbL. Hours change often, so check before making a journey.

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