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Description: | The parish church of Greenwich commemorates Alfege (the normal modern spelling), Archbishop of Canterbury, who having been captured by Viking raiders was taken to their camp at Greenwich and murdered there after a drunken feast in 1012. The early church was reputedly built on the spot, later succeeded by a medieval one whose roof collapsed in a storm in 1710. Thomas Tallis, the Elizabethan composer was buried in that building and Pepys described it as a 'fine church' when he attended in January 1660.
This print shows Hawksmoor's building of 1714, the first of Queen Anne's 'fifty new churches' scheme for London (though that total was never built).The body of the church was built up against the medieval square tower, which survives inside the Portland casing which John James added, with the steeple above, in 1730.
This view from across Greenwich High Road is practically the same today as far as the church and churchyard are concerned, with part of Church Street on the right. The church no longer has a flagmast and the roof and most of the interior date from the 1950s, when it was sensitively rebuilt by Professor Sir Albert Richardson after being gutted by incendiary bombing during World War II. The victor of Quebec, 1759, Major-General James Wolfe is buried in the vault as is John Julius Angerstein, founder of the National Gallery (both local residents) and have visible memorials in the church, as does Sir George Airy, 7th Astronomer Royal.
Box Title: Seaports I1830 - I1900 Greenwich.
caption: S.E. View of St. Alphege Church, Greenwich | Publisher: | "http://collections.rmg.co.uk/" | Rights holder: | "Royal Museums Greenwich" | Subjects: | Greenwich Best R. H. Josiah Neele prints | Source: | Royal Museums Greenwich | Identifier: | http://collections.rmg.co.uk/collections... | Go to resource |
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