St George's Church, Beckenham
| St George's Church | |
|---|---|
 | |
| General information | |
| Architectural style | Victorian architecture |
| Town or city | Beckenham, Kent |
| Country | England |
| Coordinates | 51°24′33″N 0°01′29″W / 51.4092°N 0.0247°WCoordinates: 51°24′33″N 0°01′29″W / 51.4092°N 0.0247°W |
| Construction started | 12th Century / 1885 |
| Completed | 1887 |
| Demolished | c. 1885 |
| Technical details | |
| Structural system | Ragstone masonry with ashlar dressing |
| Design and construction | |
| Architect | W. Gibbs Bartleet |
St George’s Church, Beckenham is the Church of England parish church of Beckenham, Kent (now in the London Borough of Bromley).
St George's Church is the principal parish church, and is in the centre of Beckenham.[1] It has been extensively rebuilt, but has a 13th-century lychgate that is said to be the oldest in England.[2][3]
The church was originally built in the twelfth century and survived as a humble medieval church until it was rebuilt between 1885 and 1887 as a “confident town church” by local architect W. Gibbs Bartleet in ragstone with ashlar dressing. The pinnacled southwest tower is the focal point of the High Street and was completed in 1902–1903. The church sustained damage in the Second World War as a result of two V-1 flying bombs, on 2 July and 27 July 1944.[4] The modern stained glass was created between 1963–1966 by Thomas Freeth.
The numerous monuments, many of outstanding quality by monumental masons such as Thomas Adye, John Hickey, John Flaxman, Sir Frances Chantrey, Henry Weekes and Gaffin, were transferred from the old church to the new, as was the church plate. William, Lord Auckland has his memorial within the church and was buried in the churchyard, which features a number of good eighteenth-century gravestones.[5]
Nearby churches include St Barnabas on Oakhill Road (A. Stenning & H. Hall, 1878 or 1884), Christ Church, Fairfield Road (Blashill & Hayward, 1876), St Edmund’s Catholic Church, Village Way (J. P. O’Hanlon Hughes, 1937), St. James, St James’ Avenue (A. R. Stenning, 1879–1898), St Michael and All Angels, Ravenscroft Road (W. H. Hobday & F. H. Maynard, 1955–1956), St Paul, Brackley Road (Smith & Williams, 1872), Holy Trinity, Lennard Road (E. F. Clarke, 1878), Baptist Church, Elm Road (Appleton & E. W. Mountford, 1889), Congregational Church, Crescent Road (J. W. & R. F. Beaumont, 1887–1888), Methodist Church (James Weir, 1887).[5]
References
- ↑ St George's Parish Church Beckenham Website
- ↑ Brewer's Britain and Ireland, compiled by John Ayto and Ian Crofton, Weidenfeld & Nicolson, 2005, ISBN 0-304-35385-X
- ↑ St George’s church
- ↑ "V1 & V2 Incident logs Beckenham". flyingbombsandrockets.com. Retrieved 8 June 2015.
- 1 2 John Newman. West Kent and the Weald. The "Buildings of England" Series, First Edition, Sir Nikolaus Pevsner and Judy Nairn, eds. (London: Penguin, 1969), pp. 141-142
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