Religious, Spiritual sights in London
- Sort by:
- Popular
-
A
Church of St Olave
The 15th-century Church of St Olave, northwest of Tower Hill, is one of the City’s few remaining Gothic parish churches.
reviewed
-
B
Church of St Ethelburga-the-Virgin
Perhaps the finest surviving medieval church in the City is the 13th-century Church of St Ethelburga-the-Virgin near Liverpool St station, which was restored after Irish Republican Army (IRA) bombings in 1993.
reviewed
-
C
St Paul’s Church
To the south of Albury St is this baroque church built in 1730. In the churchyard is the grave of Mydiddee, a native Tahitian who returned with Captain Bligh (of Bounty mutiny fame) on the HMS Providence and died in Deptford almost immediately in 1793.
reviewed
-
D
St Pancras Chambers
Its current rundown surroundings make it tempting to describe this Victorian Gothic masterpiece as the poor cousin of the Houses of Parliament. But it's an unusual building nonetheless. Today it constitutes part of St Pancras' train station and with the adjacent Eurostar Terminal due to have opened in late 2007, it's partly being redeveloped into the same thing George Gilbert Scott built it for in 1876 - a hotel.
reviewed
-
E
St Mary-le-Bow
Another of Wren’s great churches, St Mary-le-Bow was built in 1673. It’s famous as the church with the bells that dictate who is – and who isn’t – a cockney; it’s said that a true cockney has to have been born within earshot of Bow Bells, although before the advent of motor traffic this would have been a far greater area than it is today. The church’s delicate steeple is one of Wren’s finest works and the modern stained glass is striking.
reviewed
-
F
St Nicholas Church
This late-17th-century church contains a memorial to playwright Christopher Marlowe, who was murdered in Deptford in a tavern brawl at the age of 29 in 1593 and may be buried here. The fight supposedly broke out over who was to pay the bill but it is generally believed that Marlowe was in the employ of the Elizabethan intelligence service. The skull and crossbones over the entrance is said to have been the inspiration for the Jolly Roger pirate flag.
reviewed
-
G
St Giles-in-the-Fields
Built in what used to be countryside between the City and Westminster, St Giles church isn’t much to look at but has an interesting history, while the area around St Giles High St had perhaps the worst reputation of any London quarter. The current structure is the third to stand on the site of an original chapel built in the 12th century to serve the leprosy hospital. Until 1547, when the hospital closed, prisoners on their way to be executed at Tyburn stopped at the church gate and sipped a large cup of soporific ale – their last refreshment – from St Giles’s Bowl. From 1650 the prisoners were buried in the church grounds. It was also within the boundaries of St Giles…
reviewed