Churches - Archive Articles

Tickets Alert: Chance to climb a church tower

A nearly 150 year old church in South London is opening its tower for one day to let the public climb up and see the views from the top.

Westminster Abbey gets a new tower

Slightly hidden away, Westminster Abbey has gained a striking new bronze tower that sits well against its ancient stones.

London’s Pocket Parks – St Mary Aldermanbury, EC2

This pocket park covers the remains of St Mary Aldermanbury, a church that was destroyed during WW2, and rebuilt -- in the USA.

London’s Pocket Parks – St Mary Staining, EC2

This small pocket park can be found slightly hidden away in a corner of a side street near the Guildhall and owes its current existence to the Great Fire of London.

Where the London Underground gets fresh air through an old graveyard

A small side street near Cannon Street railway station marks the site of a ancient graveyard, and today, a ventilation shaft for the London Underground.

The church still recovering from WW2 damage

In leafy Clerkenwell is a mighty church that externally looks as polite as a Clerkenwell church should look, but inside is still showing the massive scars left by WW2.

Of College Chapels and Steam Trains

Deep within the heart of King's College on the Strand can be found a most marvelous chapel and a dinky steam train.

My scariest ever church tower climb

There's a very significant church in docklands that allowed people to climb up to see the clock mechanism at the weekend. The scariest church tower climb I have ever done.

Two Windsor churches to visit

Windsor contains a church that despite walking past hundreds of times in my youth, I was never able to go inside -- until today.

Visit the ruins of London’s Lesnes Abbey

Sitting not far from central London can be found the ruins of a large Abbey, which if it were almost anywhere else would be a major tourist attraction.

A church with a routemaster bus stained glass window

On site of an ancient church stands its modern successor, and a most curious set of modern stained glass windows.

Take a tour of St Paul Cathedral’s hidden Triforum

If you were to walk up the spiral staircase to St Paul Cathedral's famous whispering gallery, you might notice locked doors leading to hidden places, and behind one of them lurks a marvel.

Your chance to photograph Southwark Cathedral in candlelight

Southwark Cathedral is planning a special night where the interior will be lit by candles, just for photographers.

Inside the restored Middlesex Hospital chapel

Until fairly recently, there was a large plot of empty land in central London, sealed off, and incongruously, a small church sat alone in the wasteland.

London’s last surviving Catholic Embassy Chapel of Penal Times

Located on a side street near Soho can be found a modest looking building with a history seeped in riot, anti-catholic executions, and war.

The year an observatory sat on top of St Paul’s Cathedral

In 1821, had a person looked up at the summit of St Paul’s Cathedral, a wonderous sight would have greeted their eyes.

There will be a religious election on Thursday

While secular law prevails and causes millions to ascribe a pencil cross on a slip of paper this coming Thursday, another election will also take place, of a religious variety.

Visit the Museum of Methodism

In 1778, a new chapel opened on the edges of the City of London for the new Christian movement known as the Methodists, and it's still there, just down the road from Old Street tube station, with a museum in its basement.

South London’s tallest church spire

A touch under 140 years ago, a new church was consecrated in the fast-growing area of Kennington with a mighty steeple that remains to this day the tallest in South London.

Matters of life and death in a 17th-century church

Just around the corner from Bank tube station, an exhibition exploring the fleeting nature of life and the spectre of death has opened, appropriately enough for the topic, in an old church.

The wonderfully restored interior of All Saint’s Margaret Street

Peeking out above the shops and offices just to the North of Oxford Street can be found one of the great hidden marvels of English church building.

A look inside the modern St Barnabas church in Dulwich

On the 7th December 1992, a Victorian gothic church on top of a hill in Dulwich burnt down, following an arson attack.

Chance to see inside the Lost Church under Charing Cross Station

There sits underneath the forecourt of Charing Cross railway station a hidden marvel, the remains of a Hawksmoor designed church that is today sealed off and hidden -- except for one prominent and often misattributed visible sign of its existence.

The 300 year old Chapel of Ease just off Oxford Street

Just behind Debenhams on Oxford Street can be found a building that looks like a church, but isn't. A building that was consecrated, but not as a church, even though it is used for worship.