Some highs and lows this month – the highs were firstly travelling on the Uber Thames Clipper from London Bridge Pier to Greenwich Pier along the Eastern Thames historic riverbank. And secondly, visits to two beautiful and extraordinary churches. The low point was that I had planned to visit two other churches; both church websites stated that they would be open for the public to visit, both were shut. One of them was not only shut, but behind a locked gate, so I had to abandon this one; consequently there are only three churches this month. So I’ve finished with some views from the top of Greenwich Park at the Royal Observatory, I never get tired of views like the one above.

The Chapel of St Peter and St Paul, Old Royal Naval College

This beautiful chapel is located in one of the domed towers at the entrance to this UNESCO World Heritage Site. Formerly the site of a royal palace, the old college was designed by Sir Christopher Wren between 1696 and 1712 originally to serve as the Royal Navy’s hospital at Greenwich and later as a Navy training establishment. Following a fire, the chapel was rebuilt in 1779 by James ‘Athenian’ Stuart and is now considered to be ‘one of the finest neo-classical interiors in existence.’ The chapel has several sea-related features: the painting above the altar by Benjamin West ‘the Raphael of America’ depicts St Paul shipwrecked on the island of Malta and being miraculously healed after being bitten by a snake. (I found this very hard to make out!) This speaks of the rescue and protection of seafarers by God. There are also tiny sea creatures along the bottom edge of the balconies. The tiled floor is inlaid with an anchor and the relief monument in the entrance to the chapel depicts a ship, mountains (presumably on foreign shores) and a sailor with a chart and globe. The beautiful ceiling in Wedgewood-inspired blue and cream is a neo-classical design of squares and octagons and is echoed in the small ceilings under the balconies.

Sources: ornc.org; Wikipedia

St Alfege Church Greenwich

A plaque in the floor just in front of the altar records that Alfege, Archbishop of Canterbury, was martyred on this site in 1012. Also known as Alphage or Elphage, he was an Anglo-Saxon Bishop whose piety led to his promotion to the highest church office in England. In 1011 he was captured by Viking raiders and murdered the following year after refusing to allow himself to be ransomed. A church was erected here soon after and a second one in the 1200s which survived the next 500 years. In 1710 a violent storm hit the building and the roof collapsed and the structure was considered to be beyond repair. The current church was designed and built by architect Nicholas Hawksmoor and opened in 1718. Only the Medieval tower remains from the second church but this can’t be seen as it was encased in stone by Greenwich architect John James in 1730. He later added the bell tower and spire. Henry Vlll was baptised in the second church in 1491; 39 years later the same king had the church transferred to the Crown, in other words, to himself! In an annexe off the main church is a ‘Cabinet of Curiosities’ displaying items connected to the church including a collection of historical pamphlets and a St Alfege Cookbook.

Sources: Information plaques in the church; Wikipedia

Our Ladye Star of the Sea Catholic Church

This is one of the churches that was closed but I wanted to include it because of its curious name. I still don’t know why ‘Ladye’ is spelt with a Y but I found out that the church is dedicated to Stella Maris Latin for Mary as protector of those at sea. The church was built high on Crooms Hill next to Greenwich Park, half a mile from the Thames, with a tall spire as a landmark for seafarers on ships coming and going along the River from and to the open sea. The first church on the site was the Catholic Mission at Greenwich, a chapel principally serving Irish Catholic Naval pensioners at the Royal Naval Hospital. The church was built in 1793 in the back garden of the architect, James Taylor’s home. As the Catholic community grew, a fundraising appeal for a new, larger church was started in 1839 by Fr Richard North, priest to the Greenwich Mission from 1800 to 1860. The new church finally opened in December 1851 following several setbacks, including funding issues and also a gathering on Blackheath protesting against the building of a Catholic church in a time of strong anti-Catholic and anti-papacy feeling. It was difficult to get good photos of this tall, imposing church, but by climbing to the top of the hill at Greenwich Park I got a shot of the top of the church.

Source: Church website

Photos taken from the Royal Observatory

After visiting the church at Crooms Hill, I walked up to the Greenwich Royal Observatory and the Prime Meridian Line; unfortunately it was an overcast day with leaden skies. The views from here look out across the Old Royal Naval College and the Canary Wharf peninsula to the North and North-West to the City of London. Among the skyscrapers of the City you can just spot a diminutive St Paul’s Cathedral – and the South face of the Scalpel building looking like a Play button!