St George in the East

For the civil parish abolished in 1927 and present neighborhood, see St George in the East (parish).

St George in the East
St George in the East seen from the south
51.50995°N 0.05983°W / 51.50995; -0.05983
Location	Cannon Street Road, London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
History
Dedication	Saint George
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I
Architect(s)	Nicholas Hawksmoor
Years built	1714–1729
Administration
Diocese	London
Clergy
Priest(s)	Richard Springer, Angus Ritchie & Vienna McCarthy

St George-in-the-East is an Anglican Church dedicated to Saint George and one of six Hawksmoor churches in London, England. It was built from 1714 to 1729, with funding from the 1711 Act of Parliament. The name of the church was also the parish for the surrounding area, until subsumed into Metropolitan Borough of Stepney and abolished in 1927. The church was designated a Grade I listed building in 1950.

In the 1850s, Archibald Campbell Tait, then Bishop of London, appointed a Low Church lecturer, which was contrary to the High Church attitude of the rector and curate. As a protest, there were catcalls and horn blowing, and some male members of the congregation went into the church smoking their pipes, keeping their hats on, and leading barking dogs. Refuse was thrown onto the altar. The church was closed for a while in 1859, and the rector, owing to his poor health, was persuaded by the author Tom Hughes to hand over his duties to a locum.

The church was hit by a bomb during the Second World War Blitz on London's docklands in May 1941. The original interior was destroyed by the fire, but the walls and distinctive "pepper-pot" towers stayed up. In 1964 a modern church interior was constructed inside the existing walls, and a new flat built under each corner tower.

Ian Nairn wrote of it: “A ruin among ruins, in the lost part of Stepney [after the Blitz, and before being blitzed by the Borough Council?] ... The old life has gone ... the new has not yet come ... It makes no difference to Hawksmoor’s bizarre poetry. This is probably the hardest building to describe in London ... This is a stage somewhere beyond fantasy ... it is the more-than-real world of the drug addict’s dream.”

The church still has an active congregation. In May 2015, the parish entered into a partnership with the Centre for Theology and Community (CTC), an ecumenical charity which is based in its East Crypt. Anglican clergy working for CTC now serve the parish, and the second floor is the home to the Community of St George, a group of lay Christians who assist in the worship and mission of the church.

St George-in-the-East is located on Cannon Street Road, between The Highway and Cable Street, in the East End of London. Behind the church lies St George's Gardens, the original graveyard, which was passed to Stepney Council to maintain as a public park in mid-Victorian times. In 1836, the parish of St George in the East was constituted as a Poor Law parish under the Poor Law Amendment Act 1834.

It appeared in the 1980 film The Long Good Friday starring Bob Hoskins.

Gallery

• 
  Looking West from inside
• 
  The nave looking East
• 
  Exterior from the East
• 
  Detailed view from the South
• 
  West front

See also

• List of churches and cathedrals of London
• Stepney Historical Trust

External links

• Parish website
• The Centre for Theology and Community
• Parish history website
• EoLFHS Parishes: St George in the East
• East and West London by the Rev. Harry Jones. Published by Smith, Elder & Co., 1875
• Outline map of parishes of Stepney in 1903 (area 27)
• St. George's-in-the-East From "The Copartnership Herald", Vol. II, no. 24 (February 1933)