St Peter's Church, Eaton Square
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St. Peter's Church, Eaton Square, is a
Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
at the east end of
Eaton Square Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest Squares in London, square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main ...
, Belgravia,
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 a neoclassical building designed by the architect
Henry Hakewill Henry Hakewill (4 October 1771 – 13 March 1830) was an English architect. Early life Henry Hakewill was born on 4 October 1771 to English painter and decorator John Hakewill and Anna Maria Cook. Hakewill was a pupil of John Yenn , and ...
with a hexastyle portico with Ionic columns and a clock tower. On 19 October 1991 ''
The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...
'' newspaper wrote "St Peter’s must now rank as one of the most beautiful churches in London". It is a
Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...
.


History

St Peter's was built between 1824 and 1827 during the first development of Eaton Square. The interior was, as was common at the time, a "preaching box", with galleries in three sides and the organ and choir at the west end. James Elmes called the effect "chaste and simple". This building burnt down, and in 1837 was rebuilt from Hakewill's drawings by one of his sons. The original building was a
Commissioners' church A Commissioners' church, also known as a Waterloo church and Million Act church, is an Anglicanism, Anglican church in England or Wales built with money voted by Parliament of the United Kingdom, Parliament as a result of the (58 Geo. 3. ...
, receiving a grant from the Church Building Commission towards its cost. The full cost of the building was £22,427 (equivalent to £ in ), towards which the Commission paid £5,556. In 1875, the church was enlarged and reordered to designs by Sir
Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...
, who added a
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
at the east end and north and south
transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...
s and "fiercely normanized" the interior. Internally Blomfield's chancel and transepts are
Romanesque Revival Romanesque Revival (or Neo-Romanesque) is a style of building employed beginning in the mid-19th century inspired by the 11th- and 12th-century Romanesque architecture. Unlike the historic Romanesque style, Romanesque Revival buildings tended t ...
, but externally they conform with Hakewill's neoclassical style. From its founding St Peter's, Eaton Square, was considered in Pimlico and until at least 1878 was usually recorded as St Peter's, Pimlico. All of the parish of Christ Church, Broadway and half of that of St Andrew's Church, Ashley Place were merged into St Peter's after they were both damaged beyond repair in
the Blitz The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War. Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
, with the other half of St Andrew's parish going to St Stephen's Church, Rochester Row. In 1951 the crypt containing some 400 burials was cleared and the remains reinterred at Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey. Choristers for the choir were provided b
London Choir School
until 1958 when the choir school closed.


Arson and rebuilding

On 20 October 1987 an anti-Catholic arsonist set fire to the east end, in the mistaken belief that the building was a
Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...
chapel. Within hours the church was engulfed. By the next day the fire was out but only the Georgian shell of the building remained. It was roofless, with most of its furnishings destroyed. The church needed total rebuilding. The Braithwaite Partnership of architects was appointed to completely redesign the building with a new and simpler interior, and to incorporate within the site a vicarage, offices, flats for a curate, verger and music director, a meeting hall, nursery school rooms and a large playroom for the church's youth club. Work on the new church began at Easter 1990 and was completed in 1991. It retained the grand Georgian portico but beyond that the interior is described by visitors as clean, bright and modern. The choir and organ are at the west end, as in the 1827 plan, but the fittings are thoroughly modern. The church is accessible and has disabled-accessible toilets. Behind the altar is an apse that is decorated entirely with gold mosaic. Around the side of the apse, part of the 1873 sanctuary which survived the fire can be seen, and also a side chapel now used as the
vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
office, complete with stained glass.


Present day

St Peter's stands in the
liberal Anglo-Catholic The terms liberal Anglo-Catholicism, liberal Anglo-Catholic or simply liberal Catholic, refer to people, beliefs and practices within Anglicanism that affirm liberal Christian perspectives while maintaining the traditions culturally associated wit ...
tradition of the Church of England. It holds ''
Book of Common Prayer The ''Book of Common Prayer'' (BCP) is the title given to a number of related prayer books used in the Anglican Communion and by other Christianity, Christian churches historically related to Anglicanism. The Book of Common Prayer (1549), fi ...
'' as well as ''
Common Worship ''Common Worship'' is the name given to the series of services authorised by the General Synod of the Church of England and launched on the first Sunday of Advent in 2000. It represents the most recent stage of development of the Liturgical M ...
'' services.


Notable weddings

*Gertrude Vernon and Sir Andrew Agnew, 9th Baronet, 15 October 1889 * Olga FitzGeorge and Charles Edward Archibald Watkin Hamilton (later to become Sir Archibald Hamilton, 5th Baronet), on 18 December 1897 *Prince Victor Duleep Singh and Lady Anne Blanche Alice of Coventry, 4 April 1898 * Edith Helen Chaplin and Charles Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh, 28 November 1899 * Dorothea Beighton and J. A. Middleton, MC, 4 January 1921 * Margaret Campbell Geddes and Prince Ludwig of Hesse and by Rhine, 17 November 1937. The wedding had been planned for the day after but was moved forward after Prince Ludwig's family perished in the Sabena OO-AUB Ostend crash. *
Stirling Moss Sir Stirling Craufurd Moss (17 September 1929 – 12 April 2020) was a British racing driver and sports broadcasting, broadcaster, who competed in Formula One from to . Widely regarded as one of the greatest drivers to never win the Formula On ...
and Canadian heiress Katie Molson, 7 October 1957. The wedding was attended by over 500 guests. * Lady Camilla Bingham and
Michael Bloch Michael Anthony Bloch (born 24 September 1953) is an author and historian. Educated at Portadown College and St John's College, Cambridge, he was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1978 and in 1979 became an assistant to Maître Suzan ...
, 12 September 1998UK Lord Lucan's son arrested
at BBC.co.uk, accessed 25 February 2018


See also

* List of Commissioners' churches in London * Mother Cecile of Grahamstown


References


Sources

* *


External links


St Peter's Eaton Square
* (not accessible)
St Peter's Eaton Square C of E Primary School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Peter's Church, Eaton Square 1987 fires 1980s fires in the United Kingdom 19th-century Church of England church buildings
Eaton Square Eaton Square is a rectangular, residential garden square in London's Belgravia district. It is the largest Squares in London, square in London. It is one of the three squares built by the landowning Grosvenor family when they developed the main ...
Belgravia Building and structure arson attacks in London Church of England church buildings in the City of Westminster Churches completed in 1827 Churches completed in 1837 Churches completed in 1875 Churches completed in 1991 London, Saint Peters Church, Eaton Square Diocese of London Georgian architecture in the City of Westminster Grade II* listed churches in the City of Westminster Greek Revival church buildings in the United Kingdom Neoclassical architecture in London Religious buildings and structures in the United Kingdom destroyed by arson Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom Neoclassical church buildings in England