St Anne's Limehouse

St Anne's Limehouse
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Conservative Evangelical
Website	Church website
Architecture
Heritage designation	Grade I listed
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	London
Deanery	Tower HamletsDeanery
Parish	Limehouse
Clergy
Rector	The Revd Richard Bray

St Anne's Limehouseis aHawksmoorAnglican ChurchinLimehouse,in theLondon Borough of Tower Hamlets.It was consecrated in 1730, one of the twelve churches built through the1711 Act of Parliament.

History

St Anne's Limehouse was formed from part of the parish ofSt Dunstan's, Stepney,prior to the 18th century a large (but then thinly populated) East London parish that extended all the way down to theThames River.As the population of London increased, growing parishes were subdivided. In 1709 a new parish in Limehouse was formed from part of the parish of St. Dunstan. The church may have been named afterQueen Anneas she raised money for it by taxing coal passing along the River Thames.

The building was designed byNicholas Hawksmoor,as one of twelve churches built to serve the needs of the rapidly expanding population of London in the 18th century. The scheme never approached its ambitious target of 50 churches, but those built were also known as theQueen Anne Churches.The building was completed in 1727 and consecrated in 1730. The church was built byEdward Strong the Youngera friend ofChristopher Wren the Younger.

Queen Anne decreed that as the new church was close to the river it would be a convenient place of registry for sea captains to register vital events taking place at sea. Therefore, she gave St. Anne's Church the right to display the second most senior ensign of the Royal Navy, theWhite Ensign.The prominent tower with its golden ball on the flagpolebecame aTrinity House"sea mark" on navigational charts, and the Queen's Regulations still permit St. Anne's Limehouse to display the White Ensign 24 hours a day, 365 days a year.

The church was gutted by fire onGood Friday1850, andrestoredbetween 1851 and 1854 byPhilip Hardwick.It was further restored by Julian Harrap between 1983 and 1993, when tubular steel trusses were added to support the roof. The church wasGrade I listedin 1950.St Anne's underwent extensive restoration during 2007–2009, including complete restoration of the organ and work on the altar and floor.

The original 1741 pipe organ, destroyed in the 1850 fire, was byRichard Bridge,modified byWilliam Russellin 1799. The replacement organ, byGray and Davison,won first prize in theGreat Exhibition of 1851at Crystal Palace, and is much prized by musicians. In 2009, the church became the main rehearsal venue for the recently formedDocklands Sinfonia,and occasionally hosts classical concerts. Today, the church remains the parish church of Limehouse, and is within theDiocese of London.

St Anne's viewed from the churchyard

After the churchyard closed to burials, it was converted to public gardens with the assistance of theMetropolitan Public Gardens Association.The garden was laid out by the Association's landscape gardenerFanny Wilkinson.She retained the notable stone pyramid by Hawksmoor,dating from 1730 and bearing the inscription "The wisdom of Solomon".Also located within the churchyard is a 1918 white stone war memorial with bronze figure of Christ.They are separately Grade II listed.

Present day

St Anne's is within theConservative Evangelicaltraditionof the Church of England,and it is under the extended episcopal oversight of the Bishop of Maidstone.It describes itself as, "A genuinely mixed East End Church with a passion for straightforward Bible teaching."

Location

The church is next door toLimehouse Town Halland close toLimehouse Library,both Grade II listed buildings, the former now used as a community centre. Across the road is the former Sailors' Mission, whereSituationist Internationalheld its conference in 1960.

The address is: St Anne's Church, Three Colt Street, London E14 7HP

The nearestDocklands Light Railway stationisWestferry.

St Peter's Barge

With the redevelopment of the East London Docklands in the late 20th century, over 100,000 people work in theCanary Wharfarea, and a large part of this centre of business and finance lies within the parish of St Anne's Church. As a result, St Anne's began to run lunchtime meetings in pubs andwine barsto reach out to those working in the Wharf. This effort developed with the support ofSt Helen's Bishopsgate,but further growth was hampered for lack of a permanent venue on the site, which has high property values.

The idea to build a floating church was realised with the formation of the St Peter's Canary Wharf Trust and the purchase of a Dutch freightbargein 2003. The barge was refitted in the Netherlands and brought across theNorth Seaunder its own power in the summer of that year – a journey which was chronicled in a BBC documentary shown in the autumn. The barge now has a permanentmooringat the heart ofCanary WharfinWest India Quay.

A permanent full-time Church of England minister was appointed by the Trust in July 2004 and licensed by the area bishop to head the clergy. In September 2004 St Peter's launched a new Sunday evening congregation with its own programme of meetings and groups to serve the many thousands who now live in the area.

See also

• List of churches and cathedrals of London

External links

• St Anne's Limehouse Homepage
• Care for St Anne's
• St Peter's Barge Homepage
• Diocese of London
• BBC Childhood Memory: St Anne's Church, Limehouse, during WW2
• Exploring East London
• Restoration of Gray & Davison's pipe organ case and carvings at St Anne's Limehouse Church in London;Laurent Robert, Woodcarver and cabinetmaker