Question of the week: London has hundreds of historic churches - are there any particular jewels you would recommend? "In 2012, Greenwich will be celebrating both the arrival of the London Olympics, and to 1000th anniversary of a bloody act which reverberated around Europe. Alfege was the 26th Archbishop of Canterbury when he was kidnapped by Danish pirates. The church that then stood at Greeenwich belonged to the Abbey of St Peter at Ghent, a church well known as the prime defender of Christianity against the pagan Vikings. However, that didn't save Alfege, who refused to allow his people to bankrupt themselves to ransom him, and on Easter Day 1012, they bludgeoned him with ox bones and the hafts of their axes. Eventually, out of compassion, one of the Danes killed him by a single blow to the head with his axe.
A shrine was erected on the exact site where Alfege was martyred, which was later enlarged to form the first church, and while worship has been continuous here, the building itself has been replaced three times - from shrine to first church in the 11th Century, in the early 13th century, and then in 1711/12.
The current church was built under the Parliamentary Act of 1711 which proposed that 50 new churches be built in the Cities of London and Westminster to provide places of worship for London's rapidly growing population.
Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, was commissioned to design 6 of the 12 churches that were actually built as a result of this act. St Alfeges was amongst his commissions, and is a light, airy, welcoming example of English Baroque architecture, as well as a busy parish church.
Henry VIII was was baptised here in 1491, but the church's real historic claim to fame is that Renaissance composer Thomas Tallis - the father of English church music - is buried here, so it is most apt that they have a thriving choir and a full schedule of recitals and concerts."
- Miss Alice
* Photo by stevcadman, used under Creative Commons, with thanks.
