Bus tour of Hawksmoor’s Six London churches
Saturday, 13th May 2006, 9.15 am to 5.30 pm

We were delighted to have William Palin, Assistant Curator at Sir John Soane’s Museum, London as our expert guide for the day. The Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields would like to thank him most warmly for giving up his day to the Friends and for his erudite and illuminating talks on Hawksmoor and the six churches.

We visited all six of the remarkable Hawksmoor churches built by the Commissioners of the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711 and for many of us this was the first time that we were able to see inside the newly restored St George Bloomsbury.

The Friends are currently planning their next tours and events. If you would like to be informed of forthcoming events please contact the Friends

Nicholas Hawksmoor’s London Churches: All day bus tour
Saturday 21 May 2005 & Saturday 24 September 2005

For both these tours we were delighted to have Andrew Martindale, Director of the Architectural Heritage Society of Scotland as our expert guide. The Friends are most grateful to him for coming down to London and generously giving up his time for us. On previous tours we have not always been able to see inside all the churches because of ongoing restoration work. However, this year we were able to see inside five of the six churches - St George Bloomsbury is currently undergoing major restoration work and so was closed for both these visits.

We were able to see current progress at St Anne’s and for many of the people on both tours this was their first time inside the newly restored Christ Church. Here they were able to see evidence of the crafts and skills that went into restoring the interior and to hear about forthcoming projects that the Friends are organising.

The outsides of these churches are as magical as the interiors and we were able to spend time studying their exteriors. The newly cleaned exterior at St George Bloomsbury was a revelation and we look forward to the conclusion of the works there.

Hawksmoor six London churches bus tour
Saturday 25 September 2004

The annual Six London Churches Bus Tour organised by the Friends took place this year in September. Although there are works planned and in progress at five of the churches, this year it was possible to see inside all six of them. One of the participants wrote:

I would like to thank you for the very enjoyable tour last Saturday. It was well organised, and ran efficiently, but not at the cost of informality and friendliness. Lunch was great too! Of course the glory of the tour was the churches, and being guided in and around them by experts, who were so enthusiastic, and the incumbents who are so willing to receive us. Your own church was the star, the restoration was so wonderful, it really took your breath away stepping inside for the first time.

The Friends are very grateful to William Palin, deputy curator at the Sir John Soane’s Museum, who kindly gave up his Saturday to be our expert guide. The party benefited from the tremendous amount of trouble he took in researching his day and for making it so interesting.

We were also fortunate to be able to have a quick look inside St George Bloomsbury which is currently a building site full of scaffolding. Peter Waxman of Molyneux Kerr, architect to the project at St George was able to tell the party a little about the extensive works that are being carried out there.

London Open House Weekend
Saturday 18 September 2004

Christ Church attracted several thousand visitors at this year’s London Open House weekend. This was the first major opportunity to see inside the restored interior and the universal acclaim in the press had created a huge amount of interest.

The Friends would like to express their thanks to all those who came and worked as volunteer stewards for their hard work in making this such a successful weekend.

Nicholas Hawksmoor's London Churches
All day bus tour, Saturday 13 September 2003

The Friends of Christ Church Spitalfields arranged a coach party to visit all six of the remarkable Hawksmoor churches, built as a result of the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711. In recent years the individuality of Hawksmoor’s commanding style has been increasingly recognised and after earlier neglect he is now acknowledged as one of the major architects of the European Baroque. This was a unique opportunity to see six of his finest works in a day.

Meeting at St George Bloomsbury, near Holborn Tube, we travelled by coach to the first of Hawksmoor’s churches St Alfege in the centre of Greenwich. After that we passed by the Royal Naval College, part of which was built to designs by Hawksmoor, through the Blackwall Tunnel to St Anne Limehouse. The astonishingly sunny weather showed the Portland stone to its full advantage. We then visited St George in the East before a pub lunch next to the River Thames.

After lunch, we were able to view the outside of Christ Church Spitalfields, although the major restoration works to the interior prevented us from going inside this year. The interior of St Mary Woolnoth by the Bank however, provided a welcome respite from the bustle outside. Then the party went on foot through some narrow back streets to St. Michael Cornhill, the tower and spire of which are also by Hawksmoor. On our return to St George Bloomsbury we passed by St Luke Old Street, now converted but with an unusual spire by Hawksmoor.

Our excellent and expert guide was William Palin, Assistant Curator at Sir John Soane’s Museum, London. The Friends wish to extend their warmest and most sincere thanks to him for leading this day in such an informed and interesting way and for giving of his time so generously.
The Friends are planning the next six churches bus tour in September 2004 when we hope we will be able to visit the newly restored and finished interior at Christ Church Spitalfields. Details about this tour and other events planned by the Friends will be published on this website.

Easton Neston Visit
19 June 2003

On 19 June 2003 the Friends visited Easton Neston, the only country house designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and built between 1686 and 1702. The house was owned by Lord and Lady Hesketh at the time of the visit and was not normally open to the public.

We were given an extensive and fascinating tour of the house guided by the Lady Hesketh. We had invited Richard Wheeler, (Curator, Parks and Gardens, National Trust, South of England), to join us for the tour and after seeing the house, we had the opportunity to see the gardens guided by Lady Hesketh in conversation with Richard Wheeler.