Guildford is an ancient town, but its Cathedral is modern - to be precise, the only cathedral to be…read morebuilt on a new site in the southern province of England since the Reformation (Liverpool having been built in the north, and Coventry rebuilt). Whatever its status, there is no doubt that the Cathedral, set high on Stag Hill, completely dominates the town below. The need for a new cathedral came about when the diocese of Guildford was carved from part of Winchester diocese, in 1927, reflecting the population growth of the Surrey commuter belt in the 19th and early 20th centuries. The competition for its design was won by Sir Edward Maufe, who was appointed architect in 1933. The site was donated by Earl of Onslow - the name Stag Hill recalling the time when it was a Royal hunting ground. After the foundation stone was laid in 1936 by Cosmo Lang, the Archbishop of Canterbury, the first major task was to insert hundreds of concrete piles into the clay of the hill to provide a solid foundation. This was completed in 1937, in the presence of Queen Mary. Work continued at a quick pace, but halted with the outbreak of War in 1939, with the chancel and crossing only partially completed. Because of the post-war shortage of building material, work did not recommence until 1952. It was consecrated in 1961 in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. Maufe's design is essentially a modern take on Early English Gothic, with clean lines and scale replacing ornament and detail, and a traditional plan of nave, transepts and chancel, with a robust 160ft (50m) crossing tower. The exterior has, however, often been criticised as being dull: built of red brick made from the clay taken from the hill itself, it has been unkindly likened to a large civic crematorium. Pevsner, the architectural critic and historian, was a little kinder, calling it "sweet-tempered, undramatic Curvilinear Gothic". I tend to share his view (just as well - who am I to dare to disagree with Pesvner..?): it's not my favourite modern building, but the scale and setting is dramatic and there is actually quite a lot of detailing, in the form of statues and decoration once you get close. And the views around are superb. I don't like the main road approach - it's a bit featureless and windswept - but the pedestrian approach via Cathedral Close is rather nicer. The interior is more widely admired, and is something of a shock after the exterior: the walls are faced with creamy, pale Somerset limestone with a floor of white Italian marble. Flooded with light through the tall lancet windows, the interior is awe-inspiring, the relative sparsity of decoration adding to the effect. The poet John Betjeman said "Its red brick exterior belies the really splendidly proportioned nave and aisles within". Quite. The interior has a number of chapels, some with modern carvings and sculpture, and there are memorials to previous Bishops. In the Ursula Porch are bricks signed by members of the Royal family (bricks were 'sold' to help pay for the cathedral), and the Treasury contains an impressive collection of gold and silver belonging to the Cathedral and various churches in the diocese. Guildford is famous for its choir school, and maintains a strong tradition of music: on my last visit, there was a choir and orchestra practising an impressive selection of Haydn, Bruckner, Mahler and Mozart. The Cathedral has step-free access via the West Door, a hearing loop for the deaf and is able to provide large print hymn books, orders of service and news sheets on request. There is a refectory providing refreshments, lunch and afternoon tea, a bookshop and gift-shop. The Cathedral contains a library of some 5000 theological texts, available to members only - details of access are on the web-site.

I've been going to Guildford for 50yrs but only got around to visiting the cathedral 2 yrs ago. I…read morewon't try to duplicate dmj1962's extensive review. A guy I work with in Farnborough contributed to the cost by buying a brick. He told me that it was designed to be rendered in white - if true, that idea was abandoned. The red brick exterior is a little stark & resembles a water works! Saying that, it's not ugly but utilitarian. The interior gives the impression of vastness & is a wonderful space that's covered in pale stone. The main entrance is under the west window. It comprises of 3 sets of glass doors that are etched & the surrounds carved. The organ pipes or at least some of them are above the entrance to the treasury in the North Transept that mirrors the the west doors in shape that cave large wrought iron gates. The organist sits opposite above the south transept that's accessed by a railed spiral set of steps to the south aisle. The cathedral is set on Stag Hill with the university directly north. A huge wooden cross erected well before WWII has a Naval connection is situated near to the eastern wall. Beyond that is a delightful garden dedicated to childhood with a sculpture of a boy & girl at play. The south edge of this garden lies a footpath that's the shortest route on foot to the railway station & town centre. The main drive up the cathedral is from Onslow Village splits in two before rejoining at the west doors. The north part houses a cafeteria, souvenir shop & administrative rooms. Car parking is beyond, also on the north side. There's also a path fom the south transept doors to the road below.

St Mary Magdalene's is the parish church of Wandsworth Common, and situated on Trinity Road,…read moremid-way between Tooting and Wandsworth. It is a Grade-II listed building, largely on account of the quality and preservation of the interior and its fixtures and fittings. The church is the third on the site, replacing earlier temporary 'mission churches'. Work on a permanent church to designs of B Edmund Ferrey began in 1857, and the nave and aisles were consecrated in December 1888. His designs for the church were completed by the erection of the chancel in 1899. The present altar was installed in 1900, with the addition of the reredos in 1916 and the present rood screen in 1918. In 1924 the chancel was decorated with marble and mosaics in memory of Canon Theodore Wood. The church now consists essentially of a nave, chancel and Lady Chapel: although the arcades remain, the nave aisles have been screened off to form office and storage space. The chancel screen and the space behind are worth a look for their decoration. It is a broadly 'middle-of-the-road' Anglican parish, and has a large, welcoming congregation of all ages, a busy parish life, and plenty of provision on Sundays for children.

One of Wren's most impressive churches, St Martin's is often overlooked by tourists rushing along…read moreLudgate to visit St Paul's Cathedral. It is remarkable for its range of 17th century fittings. History There has been a church on the site since 1174, and it was rebuilt in 1437. However, the tower was struck by lightning in 1561, and worse was to come in the Great Fire in 1666, when the church was completely gutted. However, work on rebuilding was well under way by 1680 and completed in 1703, and shows Wren's amazing genius for making the most of a restricted site. The parish was amalgamated in 1890 with those of St Mary Magdalene Old Fish Street and St Gregory by St Paul's, and acquired a number of furnishings from those churches. Further re-ordering in 1894 gave the present layout, and the church escaped relatively unscathed in World War II. The church was the venue for the marriage in 1643 of one William Penn, the father of the founder of Pennsylvania. The church The façade on Ludgate is in a restrained Classical style, but impressive in scale. The tower is a prominent landmark, surmounted by a tall, lead-black spire. It is entered through a vestibule on the south side, which lies under a south gallery. The interior is immediately a surprise, being much larger and loftier than one expects. The plan is a Greek cross within a square, with four Corinthian columns at each corner of the cross. The furnishings are outstanding: the chancel contains its original reredos, but the beautifully carved pews, pulpit and font are also original, all dating from around 1680. Also of interest are a church bell, a 16th century memorial brass from the earlier church, a handsome late 18th century chest, and a 17th century bread shelf from St Mary Magdalene, where the wealthy would leave bread for poorer members of the congregation. The church has a number of paintings, one a copy of a Raphael from around 1720, the others Victorian, as is the glass. The font under the organ gallery is inscribed in Greek: NIYON ANEMHMA MH MONAN OYIN, translated (apparently!) as 'cleanse my sin not only my face'. This palindrome (ie reading the same backwards and forwards) is found in several English and European churches. Practicalities The church is almost opposite the City Thameslink entrance on Ludgate. The church is open weekdays from 10-16h for visitors and private prayer, with services on Mondays (11h) and Thursdays (13.15h). There are regular recitals as well - see website for details.

Located just off busy Sloane Square, Holy Trinity is one of the Churches most closely associated…read morewith the Arts & Crafts movement in the UK, and is a stunning monument to late 19th century decorative art. Inspired by people like John Ruskin and William Morris, the movement triumphed hand-made craftsmanship in an age of emerging mass-production. Alongside aesthetic considerations was the belief that such skills were the hallmark of human creativity and endeavour, and the desire to provide work for artisans displaced by industrialisation. Their message was to make everyday objects beautiful, and to revere nature through crafts, painting and architecture. The church was built for the 5th Earl Cadogan by the architect John Sedding, and decorated and furnished by the likes of William Morris, Edward Brunes-Jones and Henry Wilson. The handsome west frontage is in orange-red brick with banded stone decoration, with a huge perpendicular window. The interior plan is straightforward: a wide nave (wider than St Paul's Cathedral) and spacious north aisle, and a smaller south aisle. These lead to a short chancel and sanctuary, which sits beneath an enormous East Window. But it is the rich fittings and furnishings which catch the eye. No expense was spared: there is an abundance of marble, porphyry, alabaster, bronze and gilt. As well as astonishing stained glass - the East Window is William Morris's largest - every item, from the light fittings to the screens and railings - is elaborately conceived and executed. A visit is a must if you are in the area - and a welcome distraction from the retail temptations close by. The church also has a very active worship and music programme - see website for details. At Christmas, it is also renowned for selling one of the best selections of charity Christmas Cards in London.

Situated close to Chelsea Embankment, a short walk from Battersea bridge, Chelsea Old Church…read moreappears as a rather unprepossessing, modern-looking red brick building. There are some nice leafy gardens around, but from the outside it is totally unremarkable. But inside, it's a revelation: for it possesses one of London's outstanding collection of 16th and 17th century tombs and memorials. The church itself dates back to around the 13th century, although was much modified over the years, with significant additions in Tudor period and later. But all this was shattered in 1941, when the church received a direct hit from an enemy bomb, reducing most of it to its foundations. A huge effort was made to collect the remains and restore the church, and the present interior is faithful to the original mediaeval plan, and uses as much of the salvaged fabric as possible. Particularly lovely are the capitals on the More chapel, with faces and delicate relief carvings, reputedly designed by Holbein, to represent the symbols of Sir Thomas More's offices of both church and state. The tombs and memorials dominate the interior. Pride of place has to go to the monument of Sir Thomas More, on the south wall of the sanctuary. A plain perpendicular arch surmounts a marble panel with an inscription he drafted before his death, by beheading, in 1535. It commemorates his first wife and expresses the wish that he and his wife should be buried together. On the south wall, Lord Dacre (1595) and his wife lie, mediaeval style, under a huge classical canopy. Opposite, on the north wall, Lady Jane Cheyne (d 1669) looks out from under a baroque canopy, sculpted by Antonio Raggi, a collaborator of Bernini. Richard Jervoise (1563) is commorated with a huge triumphal arch (unique as a memorial in Britain) which thoroughly dominates the entrance to the Lawrence chapel. The bust of Sir Robert Stanley (1632) forms the centrepiece of another substantial Renaissance piece, just beyond. It is said his representation was one of the earliest to be modelled on his true likeness. Other memorials commemorate the Northumberlands, Brays, Hungerfords, Colvilles and Lawrences. Most poignant for me, though, is a later memorial to four young men who drowned opposite the church when their boat sank in the Thames in 1839, 'erected by a few of their intimate companions'.

A lovely church, the internals of which were partially pieced together from the original medieval…read morechurch, which was badly damaged in WW2. Minimal parking outside. Current incumbent is a nice chap ( as is his brother, also a priest , who sometimes subs for him) .

St Michael's is the parish church of Camden, and is located (and easily missed) next to…read moreSainsbury's. It has a lively congregation and an active social outreach into the local community. History The nave was built in 1880-1 and the sanctuary in 1893-4 by the prolific church architect George Frederick Bodley (1827-1907) and Thomas Garner, with whom he had a 28-year professional partnership. A planned tower was never built. St Michael's subsumed the parish of All Saints in the 1950s, and since 2003 has been part of a team ministry with St Pancras Old Church, St Mary's Somers Town and St Paul's Camden Square. The church The church is orientated north-south, with the liturgical west end facing the road. The church is built of yellow stock brick with stone dressings in the Decorated Gothic style. Both the west window and the clerestory windows over the aisles have delicate geometric tracery and have recently been restored. Inside, the stone-lined interior consists of a nave of 5 bays, which draws the eye to the large sanctuary: Bodley did not include a chancel arch in the scheme, so the nave and sanctuary form a single, large space. The height of the nave is emphasised by the fact that the floor is lower than the street outside. There is a small, stone-vaulted chapel to the north. The interior has decorative stencilling, but is need of repair. Fittings and furnishings are relatively limited, but include the original altar of 1880, and a selection of statues, some in the pre-Raphaelite style, though that of St George dates from 1939; an attractive coloured pulpit; a marble altar and Easter Sepulchre in the north chapel; and a brass to Edward Bainbridge Reynolds, incumbent, who died in 1907. The church has a flourishing congregation in the Anglo-Catholic tradition, and the adjacent centre provides a range of outreach services for the local community.

Elim pentecostal church brockley is a church in Brockley London. The church is located on Foxberry…read moreRoad and is just a few minutes' walk from Brockley rail station. Elim pentecostal church brockley is my place of worship for many reasons, one of them is the sense of family that the church brings. Elim Brockley is a church with a congregation of about 100 members who meet and worship in a beautiful church building which has been renovated. There are other services alongside the usual Sunday services which takes place at 11:00 am, such as the mid week service on Wednesday at 19:00. The Church is a great place itself to worship and learn more about the Bible.

St Luke's, with its striking golden stone tower soaring to 142ft (43m), dominates the area around…read moreSydney Street, just off the upper end of the King's Road close to Chelsea Town Hall. It is set in a spacious square, opposite the anonymous brown mass of the modern Royal Brompton Hospital. The need for a new church was identified in the early 19th century as the original Parish Church (now known as Chelsea Old Church) was becoming too small for the area's rapidly increasing population. The new church was designed by James Savage in a grand perpendicular gothic it was, in fact, one of the earliest Gothic revival churches. Consecrated in 1824, it is built in a lovely golden Bath stone and the exterior resembles King's College Chapel, Cambridge. The grand scale reflected the wealth of Chelsea even then the first rector was the brother of the Duke of Wellington, the wonderfully-named Reverend Gerald Valerian Wellesley, and the Earls of Cadogan, who remain patrons of the parish. From Sydney Street, the church is dominated by its tower, which sits above a generous five-arched entrance portico. Behind it, resembling some grand ocean liner, is a high, square nave, flanked by tall aisles and regular flying buttresses. After the exterior, the interior is something of an anti-climax. Originally built as a 'preaching-box', with a small altar, it was re-ordered in a more traditional style in the late 19th century. With the galleries, the church can seat over 850 people. The most striking features, apart form its incredible height (at 60ft, it has the tallest nave of any parish church in London), are the huge window in the east wall, and the wonderful organ in the west, rebuilt in 1932, but incorporating parts of the original. The window is over 500 square feet in area, and was reglazed in 1959 to replace the original destroyed in the Second World War. The colourful design features emblems of the Trinity and Saints. The reredos behind the altar is also attractive, and contains a painting of Christ being taken down from the Cross, by the portrait painter James Northcote (1746-1831). Other fittings of interest include a wonderful eagle lectern, and various flags and memorials to the Punjab Frontier Force, which was based in India from1847 to 1947. The church has a colourful history: Charles Dickens was married here in 1836, two days after the first publication of the Pickwick Papers; the Rector from 1836-1860 was the father of Charles Kingsley, author of the Water Babies, and John Goss, who wrote the well-known hymn 'Praise my soul the King of Heaven'. But the most bizarre incident was associated with the 'Flying Man', Vincent de Groof, in 1874. He had constructed a primitive flying-machine from which he planned to descend to awaiting crowds - from a hot-air balloon. Setting off from nearby Cremorne Gardens, the balloon drifted dangerously towards the tower of St Luke's. The balloonist cut de Groof free, hoping he would land gently in the churchyard, but instead he crashed into Robert Street, and died shortly after. More happily, the church was used to film some of the scenes in the 1995 Disney remake of the film '101 Dalmatians'. Nowadays, the church has a loyal congregation, attracted by the traditional but inclusive Anglican services. The church is also famous for its choir the largest voluntary choir of any London church which sings regularly at services, as well as performing in Cathedrals in the UK and France. More details can be found at: http://www.vinumbonum.org.uk . The church has a ramped access at the front for pushchairs and wheelchairs. Sunday Services: 8h Holy Communion 10.30h Sung Eucharist 18.30h. Choral Evensong (15h in winter) For details of other services, see web-site.

this church is so beautiful and the grounds attached make the perfect place to get away from the…read morehustle and bustle of the king's road. On a sunny day you can buy some stuff form waitrose round the corner have a lovely picnic and finish up with a nice glass of wine at the builder's arms opposite!