- St Pancras New Church
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- For the saint after whom this church is named, see Pancras of Rome. There is a list of other places named after him at St Pancras.
St Pancras New Church 
St Pancras New Church Present DayCountry United Kingdom Denomination Anglican Architecture Architect(s) William and Henry William Inwood Style Neoclassical Clergy Vicar(s) Rev. Paul Hawkins St Pancras Parish Church, sometimes referred to as St Pancras New Church to distinguish it from St Pancras Old Church, is a 19th century Greek Revival church in London, England.
Contents
Location
The church is on Euston Road, in the northern boundary of Bloomsbury. It was built as a new principal church for the parish of St Pancras, which once stretched almost from Oxford Street to Highgate. The Old Church became a chapel of ease (and now has its own separate parish). During the 19th century many further churches were built to serve the burgeoning population of the original parish, and by 1890 it had been divided into 33 ecclesiastical parishes.
History
St Pancras New Church soon after completion
The New Church was built primarily to serve the newly built up areas close to Euston Road, especially parts of the well-to-do district of Bloomsbury. The building of St Pancras church, was agreed in 1816; after a competition involving thirty or so tenders, designs by the local architect William Inwood in collaboration with his son, Henry William Inwood were accepted . The Duke of York laid the foundation stone on 1 July, 1819 and the church was consecrated by the Bishop of London on 7 May 1822. The total cost of the church, including land and furnishings, was £76,679, making it the most expensive church to be built in London since the rebuilding of St Paul's Cathedral. [1] It was designed to seat 2,500 people.[2]
The church is in the Greek revival style, using the Ionic order. It is built from brick, and faced with Portland stone, except for the portico and the tower above the roof, which are entirely of stone. All the external decoration, including the capitals of the columns is of terracotta . [2]
The Inwoods drew on two ancient Greek monuments, the Erechtheum and the Tower of the Winds , both in Athens, for their inspiration. The doorways are closely modelled on those of the Erechtheum, as is the entablature, and much of the other ornamentation.[2] Henry William Inwood was in Athens at the time that the plans for St Pancras were accepted, [1] and brought plaster casts of details of the Erechtheum, and some excavated fragments, back to England. [2]
The west end follows the basic arrangement of portico, vestibule and tower established by James Gibbs at St Martin-in-the-Fields. [3]. The octagonal domed ceiling of the vestibule is in imitation of the Tower of the Winds, and the tower above uses details from the same structure. At the east end is an apse, flanked by the church's most original features: two tribunes designed in imitation of the Erechtheum, with entablatures supported by caryatids. Unlike those on the Erechtheum, each caryatid holds a symbolic extinguished torch or an empty jug, appropriate for their positions above the entrances to the burial vault. They are made of terracotta, constructed in sections around cast-iron columns, and were modelled by John Charles Felix Rossi, R.A..(1762–1839), who provided all the terracotta on the building. The upper levels of the tribunes were designed as vestries.[1]
Access to the church is by three doorways ranged under the portico. Inside, the church has a flat ceiling with an uninterrupted span of 60 feet, and galleries supported on cast-iron columns. The interior of the apse is in the form of one half of a circular temple, with six columns, painted to imitate marble, raised on a plinth. [1]
The church's crypt which extends the whole length of the church, was designed to contain 2,000 coffins,ref name=britton/> but less than five hundred interments ha d taken place by 1854, when the practice was ended in all London churches It served as an air-raid shelter in both world wars, and is now used as an art gallery. [4]
The church was closed for two years from 1951 for structural renovation made necessary by dry rot and war damage. The North Chapel was added in 1970 and the interior was restored in 1981. St Pancras is still in use as a place of worship and also has program of concerts. The steps of the church were one of several sites used for floral tributes after the 7 July 2005 London bombings.
Today
The church is one of the most important 19th century churches in England and is a Grade I listed building.[5] However because it is situated on Euston Road; one of London’s busiest roads - it has become stained with pollution and recent cleaning attempts have been unable to remove the staining of much of the Portland stone. Father Paul Hawkins is the current Vicar of St Pancras Church. In recent years the Church was used as the location for the nearby University College London Christmas orchestra performances, and has from 2006 hosted the University's Christian Union carol services. It appeared briefly at the end of the 2006 BBC TV adaptation of the novel The Ruby in the Smoke, in a panning shot from its east end into a nearby street being used for street scenes.
Gallery
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St Pancras new church, caryatid, north elevation
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St Pancras New Church caryatids, south elevation
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St Pancras New Church caryatids, south elevation
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St Pancras New Church portico, April 2006
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St Pancras Rear View, December 2006
References
- ^ a b c d The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood. Survey of London. 24. London. 1952. pp. 1-4.
- ^ a b c d Britton, John; Pugin, August (1825). Illustrations of the Public Buildings of London. 1. London. pp. 154-166.
- ^ {{cite book |last1=Summerson |first1=John |title= Georgian London|year=1962 |publisher=Penguin Books |location= Harmondsworth |page=218}
- ^ "About the Crypt Gallery". http://www.cryptgallery.org.uk/about_crypt_gallery.htm. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
- ^ Details from listed building database (478428) . Images of England. English Heritage. accessed 22 January 2009
- St. Pancras Church, Survey of London: volume 24: The parish of St Pancras part 4: King’s Cross Neighbourhood (1952), pp. 1–9.
- Richardson, John (1991). Camden Town and Primrose Hill Past. ISBN 0948667125.
- Summerson, John (1988). Georgian London. ISBN 0712620958.
External links
Bloomsbury Buildings Barbadian H.C. · Brunswick Centre · Church of Christ the King · Connaught Hall · Hotel Russell · The Lamb · Montagu House · Senate House · St. George's · St George the Martyr Holborn · St Pancras New Church · UCL Main Building
Squares and parks Roads Gower Street · Great Russell Street · Guilford Street · Gray's Inn Road · Lamb's Conduit Street · Malet Street · Museum Street · Southampton Row · Woburn PlaceHistory Coordinates: 51°31′37.76″N 00°07′48.29″W / 51.5271556°N 0.1300806°W
Categories:- Religious buildings completed in 1822
- 19th-century Church of England church buildings
- Church of England churches in London
- Churches in Camden
- Grade I listed churches in London
- Greek Revival buildings
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