St George's church, Bloomsbury
Beautifully restored church from the reign of George I.
(Photos/words © urban75, 18th February 2007)

Consecrated by Edmund Gibson, Bishop of London on 28 January 1730, St. George's church was designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil and former assistant of Sir Christopher Wren. It proved to be his last church.

St. George's has served as a centre of worship in Bloomsbury for over 250 years, and even provided a place of refuge during the Gordon riots of 1780.

You can now visit or worship at the church for free, and you can find it at 7 Little Russell St, WC1.

St George's church views




The imposing frontage is claimed by some to be the most handsome Georgian portico in London, and was based on the Temple of Baalbek in the Lebanon.


Steps leading to the Portico.


Restoration work is nearly complete inside.






St George's was used as the setting for 'The Bloomsbury Christening' in Charles Dickens 'Sketches by Boz,' while the Victorian novelist Anthony Trollope was baptised in the church in 1824.

The church hosted the funeral of Emily Davison, the suffragette who threw herself in front of the King's horse in 1913, and in 1937 the Emperor Haile Selassi of Ethopia attended a controversial requiem for the dead of the Abyssinian war.


It's delightfully quiet inside and a great place to chill out and get a few moments to yourself!


Virgin Mary.


Stained glass window detail.




Hawksmoor's stepped tower - inspired by Pliny's description of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus - comes topped with the only statue of George I, and can be seen in William Hogarth's well-known engraving 'Gin Lane' (1751).


Beautifully restored plaster ceiling.


Scene by the back of the church.


Looking up at the tower.



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