5ml tube
The Church of St George, Bloomsbury
GV I Church. 1716-1731. By Nicholas Hawksmoor. Re-ordered 1781, restored 1870 by GE Street and 1972-4 by Lawrence King. Stone faced brick. Rectangular plan of six bays.
EXTERIOR: principal south facade with hexastyle Roman Corinthian portico on a podium approached by a broad flight of steps. Arched ground floor openings with segmental-headed openings above. To the west a tower (originally providing a conventional west entrance) with recessed arches on three sides, clock, tetrastyle portico to each facade of the belfry, surmounted by a stepped steeple terminating in a sculptured statue of George I in Roman attire. North facade, facing Little Russell Street, pedimented, two storeys of partly blind arcading on a podium with steps to entrances either side. Podium with five square-headed openings with massive keystones. First floor with Corinthian pilasters supporting entablature, second with Corinthian half-columns. Lunette in pediment.
INTERIOR: now north-south orientated. Paired Corinthian columns supporting an entablature and elliptical arch at the south end, behind which a panelled timber gallery and organ. Vestibule below. East wall with small apse (originally for the altar), the moulded and gilded ceiling decoration of pelican and scallop shell flanked by mitres and croziers with winged cherubs in clouds above by Isaac Mansfield. West wall with round-headed entrance to vestibule in the base of the tower and staircase to small round-headed gallery with wrought-iron balcony (originally for the gentry's servants). Current north chancel emphasised by double elliptical arches on entablatures with paired Corinthian columns. (Hawksmoor's design had galleries between these columns to emphasise the east-west orientation.) Original reredos - an aedicule with Corinthian columns and broken pediment. Five-sided, panelled and carved mahogany pulpit also original.
SUBSIDIARY FEATURES: attached cast-iron railings and gates to frontage. Flanking the steps, attached C19 lamps with Windsor lanterns surmounted by cast-iron models of the stepped steeple original design which included lions and unicorns at the base.
HISTORICAL NOTE: St George's was sanctioned by the Fifty New Churches Act of 1711 to relieve parishioners of the northern part of St Giles-in-the-Fields parish from having to cross the notorious Rookery district.The stepped steeple was inspired by Pliny's description of the Tomb of Mausolus at Halicarnassus.
Personal Note - I like to create CMs at churches with which I have a personal connection or memory. Being a choral singer, many of these may be to do with singing. Although I haven't performed at St George's, a good friend of mine directs the fantastic choir here and so I feel as though his church should get a recognitive CM, not least because the building itself is stunning.
To the Cache:
The cache is NOT at the published coordinates; solve the puzzle below to work out the finals.
N51 and W000 can be assumed. (First letter of location - A=1, B=2, C=3 etc.)
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro.co.uk
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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