Identity area
Type of entity
Authorized form of name
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Description area
Dates of existence
History
The church of Saint George in the East, Stepney, was one of three Stepney churches built under the 1711 "Act for the building of Fifty New Churches in the Cities of London and Westminster or the Suburbs thereof" to be paid for by a tax levied on coal entering the City of London. The church was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor to serve the residents of Upper Wapping, however it was not consecrated until 1729 because of financial difficulties. It has a 160 foot tower. The east window was designed by Sir Joshua Reynolds.
The church was the centre of a controversy in the 1850s when the Presbyterian Bishop of London A C Tait replaced the high church rector with a low church preacher, causing demonstrations and unrest and the eventual temporary closure of the church.
The interior of the church was gutted during World War II, but the exterior was left intact. After the bombing, services continued in a shed at the rear. In 1963 a new church, by Arthur Baily, was built within the Hawksmoor shell. The original apse with its plasterwork and the font at the west end have been retained. There was space for an inner courtyard between the original west front and the new, which was built entirely of glass. On either side of the courtyard, the former galleries incorporate four flats which were given the Civic Trust Award in 1967.