A few weeks ago, a sunny day that wasn’t too hot tempted me to visit Greenwich, one of my favourite places.
First on the list to visit was a Nicholas Hawksmoor masterpiece, the church of St Alfege …
Alfege, Archbishop of Canterbury, was taken hostage by Danish invaders who took him to Greenwich, hoping to raise a large ransom. St Alfege refused to be ransomed, as it would mean starvation for many of his people. As a result he was martyred in 1012 …
During a drunken Easter feast the frustrated Vikings pelted him with the leftover meat and bones of cattle and oxen. He was eventually put out of his misery with a fatal blow from an axe, hence the animal skull and the axe in the stained glass image.
This is the third building on the site and was designed by Hawksmoor in 1711. Unfortunately, on 19 March 1941, two incendiary devices hit the church causing huge damage and little of the original interior now remains. After the war the leading British architect, Albert Richardson, restored the church in a way which combines both traditional and modern approaches. The work was completed in 1953.
There is some beautiful stained glass.
The east window, above the altar, was installed in 1953. It shows the risen Christ and beneath, St Alfege and Cardinal Morton, Archbishop of Canterbury under Henry VII …
There is also a series of post-war stained glass windows by Francis Spear depicting famous historical figures associated with the church, including General Wolfe …
Wolfe died aged 32, leading his troops to victory at Quebec, a turning point in the struggle between Britain and France for control of Canada. Wolfe, who worshipped here, is buried in a family vault in the crypt.
Some more important people and events …
Finally, ‘the father of English church music’ …
From 1540 t0 1585, the church was lucky enough to have Thomas Tallis as church organist …
Engraving by Niccolò Haym after a portrait by Gerard van der Gucht.
Tallis is considered one of England’s greatest composers and parts of this old keyboard may date from his period with the church …
The Chandelier was installed in 1998 and has 58 electric candle lights …
The dove at the top symbolises the Holy Spirit …
Bell Ringing boast …
Some generous benefactors including, in 1577: ‘William Riplar, Fisherman gave his house called the Peter boat to the poor for ever‘ and in 1605, Joyce Whitehead gave 5 shillings to repair the church every year. All fascinating local tales of charity….
There are cherubs in the bottom corners of the benefactors’ board …
The ironwork in the galleries (and the altar rails) survived the bombing and are from the workshop of the French Huguenot Jean Tijou, who also produced work for St Paul’s Cathedral and Hampton Court …
You’ll find more cherubs outside …
Some extremely informative, and beautifully worded, memorials …
Major Dinwiddy was a very talented man …
Here he is as pictured in the Western Front Association Magazine along with a fascinating article about the rangefinder …
Conrad Dinwiddy was born in Greenwich in 1881, and was the son of London architect and surveyor, Thomas Dinwiddy who had an architectural practice based in Greenwich.
Like his father, Conrad was also a surveyor, and initially developed a rangefinder to make it easier for ground batteries to hit the Zeppelins that were attacking British cities. He joined the Royal Garrison Artillery in 1916, where he was posted to the Western Front in charge of a six inch howitzer battery. He would continue inventing improvements to how guns were aimed, firing from barges, and the methods for transporting ammunition.
He was wounded by German battery fire on the 26th of September, 1917, and died the following day. He is buried in a military cemetery in Belgium. The memorial in St. Alfege has the wrong date, as he died a day earlier on the 27th of September. You can read more about him, the church, and Greenwich in general in the excellent London Inheritance blog.
The ‘South African War’ …
Despite the destruction meted out in 1941, it remains a lovely, atmospheric church (Photos by David Iliff 2015 – Creative Commons) …
There is, of course, another Hawksmoor masterpiece in the City of London, St Mary Woolnoth, which you can read about here.
Still in Greenwich, a few yards away and dated 1814 …
The inclusion of Education and Industry in its title reflects the standard early 19th-century curriculum for lower-class girls. Alongside reading, writing, and religious catechism, the students were taught practical industrial/domestic skills (such as needlework, spinning, and straw-plaiting) to prepare them for future employment as domestic servants or textile workers.
I headed for the river as the day got warmer and then encountered this monster …
You can just see the masts of the Cutty Sark in the distance on the right …
Two vessels, 150 years of history between them.
Looking towards the City …
The Scalpel, The Cheesegrater, 22 Bishopsgate and The Gherkin all lined up …
Looking towards Canary Wharf …
This extraordinary monument to Peter the Great (unveiled in 2001) is a short walk along the river path from the centre of Greenwich, overlooking Deptford Creek. According to the Russian/English dedication it is ‘a gift of the Russian people and commemorates the visit of Peter the Great to this country in search of knowledge and experience’. For a few months in 1698, as part of his ‘Grand Embassy’, Peter stayed in the area to study shipbuilding in the famous Deptford dockyards, which had been built in 1513 by Henry VIII. Visitors to the statue often remark on its odd setting, in a modern housing development, and on the smallness of Peter’s head …
A tall, rangy Peter holds a pipe and a telescope and looks out over the Thames, his expression unreadable. He is flanked by a dwarf (he brought one with him to England), a throne, and parapets featuring Russian and English inscriptions, cannon, sea-monster heads, a mysterious triangle filled with balls, and depictions of food and drink. The singular look is the work of two Russians, architect Viacheslav Bikhaev and sculptor Mihail Chemiakin. Some of the unusual style of the work can be put down to Chemiakin’s interests in the playful and the grotesque …
Greenwich never disappoints.
I didn’t get to the Fan Museum as planned …
… maybe next time.
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