St James's Church, Piccadilly Explained

St James's Church, Piccadilly
Location:Piccadilly, London
Country:England
Denomination:Church of England
Churchmanship:Liberal
Dedication:James the Great
Dedicated Date:13 July 1684
Heritage Designation:Grade I
Architect:Christopher Wren
Diocese:Diocese of London
Rector:Lucy Winkett
Asstpriest:Ayla Lepine
Curate:Mariama Ifode-Blease
Nonstipendiaryminister:Daniel Norris
Ivan Khovacs
Warden:Claire Wright and Dee Hetherington

St James's Church, Piccadilly, also known as St James's Church, Westminster, and St James-in-the-Fields, is an Anglican church on Piccadilly in the centre of London, England. The church was designed and built by Sir Christopher Wren.

The church is built of red brick with Portland stone dressings. Its interior has galleries on three sides supported by square pillars and the nave has a barrel vault supported by Corinthian columns. The carved marble font and limewood reredos are both notable examples of the work of Grinling Gibbons. In 1902, an outside pulpit was erected on the north wall of the church. It was designed by Temple Moore and carved by Laurence Arthur Turner. It was damaged in 1940, but restored at the same time as the rest of the fabric.[1]

History

In 1662, Henry Jermyn, 1st Earl of St Albans, was granted land for residential development on what was then the outskirts of London. He set aside land for the building of a parish church and churchyard on the south side of what is now Piccadilly. Christopher Wren was appointed the architect in 1672 and the church was consecrated on 13 July 1684 by Henry Compton, the Bishop of London. In 1685 the parish of St James was created for the church.

The church was severely damaged by enemy action in the London Blitz on 14 October 1940.[2] After the war ended, the church was restored by Sir Albert Richardson. Specialist contractors, Rattee and Kett, of Cambridge, under the supervision of Messrs. W. F. Heslop and F. Brigmore, undertook restoration work, which was completed in 1954.[3] The old lead-covered spire was replaced by a much lighter fibreglass copy.[4] The restored interior, with its pews and light fittings, represents a rare survival of a full suite of church furnishing by Richardson. Southwood Garden was created in the churchyard by Viscount Southwood after the Second World War as a garden of remembrance, "to commemorate the courage and fortitude of the people of London", and was opened by Queen Mary in 1946.[5]

Present

Like many central London churches surrounded by commercial buildings and ever fewer local people, St James's lost numbers and momentum in the 1960s and 1970s. When, in 1980, Donald Reeves was offered the post of rector, the bishop allegedly said "I don't mind what you do, just keep it open." During that decade and most of the 1990s numbers and activity grew, the clergy and congregation gaining a reputation for being a progressive, liberal and campaigning church. That has continued. The "congregation" rejects that description and prefers "community". It is centred on the Eucharist, the celebration of the principal Christian sacrament. It finds expression in a wide range of interest groups: spiritual explorers, labyrinth walking, Julian prayer meetings, the Vagabonds group (a lively discussion group which takes its name from a William Blake poem and in faithfulness to that text meets in a local alehouse), an LGBT group and many others. The community has actively supported, and supports, the ordination of women to all the orders of the church, the just treatment of asylum seekers and those living in poverty. It celebrates what it regards as the "radical welcome" found in the heart of the Gospels and attested to by the Incarnation. The church was embroiled in a controversy in 2023 after organizing a drag show in the Church,[6] it drew some criticism, being described as "inappropriate".[7] In May 2024 St James's was the first church to have a show garden at RHS Chelsea Flower Show. Its gold award-winning 'Imagine the World to be Different' garden was designed by Robert Myers to highlight the restorative power of urban green spaces and was sponsored by Project Giving Back in support of its fundraising campaign for the Wren Project, to revitalise the church and garden.[8] [9] [10]

Organ

The west wall of the Church is dominated by a sumptuous organ case of carved and gilded oak by Grinling Gibbons, which originally contained an organ by Renatus Harris, originally built for the Roman Catholic chapel in Whitehall Palace, and installed here in 1691. This organ was entirely rebuilt in 1852 by J. C. Bishop, who added the choir case that now sits in front of the original Gibbons Case. A restoration project has been underway since at least 1982,[11] which has not yet come to fruition. The current proposal is to re-build a new organ within the historic case.[12] At present, the case sits empty, and an electronic replacement is used instead.

Concerts

Concerts are regularly held in the church.[13] Concerts have included performances by popular contemporary musicians such as John Grant,[14] Tokio Myers,[15] Victoria Canal, R.E.M.,[16] the folk musician Laura Marling as part of her "church tour",[17] the collegiate Indian-American music group Penn Masala[18] and Devin Townsend on his 2015 UK acoustic tour.[19]

Creative art programme

Hauser & Wirth, a contemporary art gallery, ran a programme of outdoor sculpture exhibitions in Southwood Garden in the grounds of the church in 2009–2010. The first exhibition was of work by the Swiss sculptor Hans Josephsohn.[20]

From 23 December 2013 to 5 January 2014 the "Bethlehem Unwrapped" demonstration against the Israeli West Bank barrier featured an art installation by Justin Butcher, Geof Thompson, and Dean Willars, which included a large replica section of the wall. The installation blocked the view of the church, other than a section of the top of the tower, which was stated by church authorities to be part of the point of the demonstration.Following a short-term residency based in the bell tower at St James's, Turner Prize nominated artist Jesse Darling's Miserere (a substantial new work in the form of a choir or congregation) was installed in the church 12-16 October 2022.[21]

In September 2023, a series of murals by Che Lovelace were unveiled in the church, to mark the 250th anniversary of the baptism of abolitionist Ottobah Cugoano, which took place at St James's in 1773; it was the first permanent artwork commissioned by the church, as well as the first anywhere in the world to commemorate Cugoano.[22]

Rectors of St James's

Rector died in post

Other staff

Notable baptisms

Notable weddings

Notable burials

Notable memorials

Detached burial ground

Short Title:Saint James, Westminster Improvement Act 1789
Type:Act
Parliament:Parliament of Great Britain
Long Title:An Act for providing an additional Burying Ground for the Parish of Saint James, Westminster, and erecting a Chapel adjoining thereto, and also a House for the Residence of a Clergyman to officiate in burying the Dead.
Year:1789
Citation:29 Geo. 3. c. 47
Royal Assent:31 July 1789
Collapsed:yes

A separate burial ground[30] of St James's Church was developed in Camden,[31] [32] in use from 1790 until 1853.[33] It had been obtained via a 1789 act of Parliament (29 Geo. 3. c. 47), which also provided for the erection of a chapel of ease for the parish, designed by Thomas Hardwick and opening in 1791.[34]

With the railway-related expansion around Euston Station, the Chapel was given a parish of its own in 1871,[35] but the cemetery fell into disrepair and became St James's Gardens in 1878 with only a few gravestones lining the edges of the park.[36] Part of the Gardens, located between Hampstead Road and Euston railway station, was built over when Euston station was expanded[37] in around 1887. To avoid public outcry, the affected remains were reinterred at St Pancras Cemetery.[38] The Gardens were closed to the public in 2017[39] to allow the further expansion of Euston station for the High Speed 2 (HS2) rail project.[40] Between October 2018 and 2020, archaeologists working on HS2 excavated approximately 40,000 burials. It was proposed to re-bury the remains after they had been examined by osteo-archaeologists. The remains were agreed to be re-interred at Surrey's Brookwood Cemetery which has received relocated remains from London since the 1870s. While almost all remains would be relocated there, it was agreed in 2019 that Matthew Flinders' remains would be buried in his home village of Donington, Lincolnshire.[41] Work to prepare for the arrival of the remains at Brookwood began around August 2020 and was completed sometime after November 2020.[42] The Church hosted an exhibition, Stories of St James's Burial Ground, with Museum of London Archaeology in spring 2023.[43]

Notable burials included:

Sources

See also

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: History – St James's Church Piccadilly London . Sjp.org.uk . 8 February 2019 . 18 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200918132351/https://www.sjp.org.uk/buildinghistorya.html . dead.
  2. Web site: St. James's Church, Piccadilly | Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30 (pp. 31-55) . british-history.ac.uk . 2011 . 28 November 2011.
  3. Web site: The Building – St James's Church Piccadilly London . Sjp.org.uk . 6 October 2017 . 18 September 2020 . https://web.archive.org/web/20200918132351/https://www.sjp.org.uk/buildinghistorya.html . dead.
  4. Web site: by . 2019-09-18 . Visit St James's Church Piccadilly . 2023-09-19 . ianVisits . en-GB.
  5. Web site: The Churchyard . The Survey of London: about St James's Church Piccadilly . 2008 . 7 September 2009.
  6. Web site: Preach! .
  7. Web site: The culture wars drag on | Fred Skulthorp . 8 March 2023 .
  8. News: Rear . Jack . 2024-05-21 . Chelsea Flower Show: Best Show Garden and medal winners – plus your favourite revealed . 2024-07-01 . The Telegraph . en-GB . 0307-1235.
  9. RHS Chelsea Flower Show - 2024: RHS: Countdown to Chelsea . en-GB . 2024-07-01 . www.bbc.co.uk.
  10. Web site: Mayfair Times . 2024-07-01 . edition.pagesuite-professional.co.uk . en-US.
  11. Web site: St James, Piccadilly . 7 December 2016 .
  12. Web site: The Wren Project .
  13. http://www.corinthianorchestra.org.uk/concerts.php Corinthian Chamber Orchestra One of the groups which gives concerts in the church
  14. News: Lynskey . Dorian . 2023-02-10 . John Grant review – uncanny beauty with jagged edges . en-GB . The Guardian . 2023-08-24 . 0261-3077.
  15. Web site: 2023-02-15 . Review: Tokio Myers Raises the Roof at The Piccadilly Piano Festival, London . 2023-08-24 . The Luminaries Magazine . English.
  16. https://web.archive.org/web/20070609151305/http://www.st-james-piccadilly.org/EveningConcerts.html Evening Concerts Website detailing REM performance.
  17. http://www.nme.com/news/laura-marling/36570 Laura Marling unveils church tour details
  18. News: Penn Masala to Perform at Jorgensen, 12/3. BroadwayWorld.com. 5 July 2017.
  19. http://www.stereoboard.com/content/view/193643/9.html An Evening with Devin Townsend
  20. Web site: Hauser & Wirth / St James's Church, Piccadilly . Glass Magazine . 1 September 2009 . 7 September 2009.
  21. Web site: Jesse Darling: Miserere . 2023-08-24 . SJP . en-US.
  22. Web site: Khomami . Nadia . London church unveils artwork to commemorate African-born abolitionist . . 3 October 2023 . 20 September 2023.
  23. Web site: England birth and christenings . familysearch.org . 21 April 2015.
  24. https://books.google.com/books?id=-9TxAwAAQBAJ&dq=lost+world+of+Scott+Key+John+Ross+married+Alicia&pg=PA4 The Lost World of Francis Scott Key
  25. Mayer, Dorothy Moulton. (1972) Angelica Kauffmann, R.A. 1741–1807. Gerrards Cross: Colin Smythe. pp. 57–63.
  26. https://search.ancestry.co.uk/cgi-bin/sse.dll?viewrecord=1&r=5538&db=LMAmarriages&indiv=try&h=10245641 Arabella Menage in the London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1932: Ancestry.com
  27. https://www.ancestry.co.uk/imageviewer/collections/61867/images/61865_314054001181_18074-00073?treeid=&personid=&hintid=&queryId=df0b4bc93613b8dad589329a83bf50ca&usePUB=true&usePUBJs=true&pId=1409686 Westminster, London, England, Church of England Marriages and Banns, 1754-1935 for Michael William Sharp St James, Piccadilly (St James, Westminster), 1803-1858: Ancestry.com
  28. Book: Robinson, John Robert . 'Old Q': A Memoir of William Douglas, Fourth Duke of Queensberry, K.T., One of 'the Fathers of the Turf,' with a Full Account of His Celebrated Matches and Wagers, Etc . Samson Low, Marston and Company, Limited . London . 2nd . 1895 . 249 . 6 November 2017.
  29. Barbara Brandon Schnorrenberg, "Montagu, Elizabeth (1718–1800)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (eds). Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
  30. Location of St James's burial ground 51.5285°N -0.137°W
  31. Book: St. James Church, Hampstead Road. Survey of London: volume 21: The parish of St Pancras part 3: Tottenham Court Road & Neighbourhood. 1949. 123–136. 15 December 2012.
  32. Web site: Final resting place . Matthew Flinders Memorial . 25 January 2019.
  33. News: HS2 exhumations prompt memorial service. BBC News. 23 August 2017.
  34. Web site: 'St. James Church, Hampstead Road', in Survey of London: Volume 21, the Parish of St Pancras Part 3: Tottenham Court Road and Neighbourhood, ed. J R Howard Roberts and Walter H Godfrey (London, 1949), pp. 123-136. British History Online.
  35. Web site: Euston's lost burial ground . 13 October 2020 .
  36. Web site: St. James' Gardens . London Cemeteries . 12 July 2011 . 2 March 2015 . 5 November 2018 . https://web.archive.org/web/20181105160432/http://londoncemeteries.co.uk/2011/07/12/st-james-gardens/ . dead.
  37. Web site: The body now lying under Platform 12 at Euston Station is ... | London My London | One-stop base to start exploring the most exciting city in the world . London My London . 10 August 2013 . 2 March 2015.
  38. Book: Jackson, Alan . 1984 . 1969 . London's Termini . David & Charles . 0-330-02747-6 . 43.
  39. Web site: St. James Gardens – A Casualty Of HS2 . 6 August 2017 . 25 January 2019.
  40. Web site: Addley . Esther . Grave of Matthew Flinders discovered after 200 years near London station . The Guardian . 24 January 2019 . 24 January 2019.
  41. News: London's deceased from Euston's St James's Gardens to be reburied in Surrey's Brookwood Cemetery. High Speed Two Ltd. 2020-09-16.
  42. Web site: HS2 Reburials from Euston Station . John Clarke, Historian of Brookwood Cemetery . 7 June 2022.
  43. Web site: Stories of St James's Burial Ground . 2023-08-24 . SJP . en-US.
  44. Web site: Remains of Captain Matthew Flinders discovered at HS2 site in Euston . UK Government . 26 January 2019 . en . 25 January 2019.