From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia St Pancras New Church
St Pancras New Church
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 Day
Country United Kingdom
Denomination Anglican
Architecture
Architect(s) William and Henry William Inwood
Style Neoclassical
Clergy
Vicar(s) Rev. Paul Hawkins
Church,
St Pancras Parish Church sometimes referred to as St
Pancras New Church to distinguish it from St Pancras Old St Pancras New Church soon after completion
Church, is a 19th century Greek Revival church in Lon-
don, England.
well-to-do district of Bloomsbury. The building of St Pan-
cras church, was agreed in 1816; After a competition in-
Location volving thirty or so tenders, designs by the local architect
William Inwood in collaboration with his son, Henry Wil-
The church is on Euston Road, in the northern boundary
liam Inwood were accepted . The Duke of York laid the
of Bloomsbury. It was built as a new principal church for
foundation stone in 1819 and the church was consecrat-
the parish of St Pancras, which once stretched almost
ed in 1822. At a cost of £89,296, it was the most expen-
from Oxford Street to Highgate. The Old Church became
sive church to be built in London since the rebuilding of
a chapel of ease (and now has its own separate parish).
St Paul’s Cathedral.
During the 19th century many further churches were
The church is in the classical style, using the Ionic or-
built to serve the burgeoning population of the original
der. The west end follows the basic arrangement of por-
parish, and by 1890 it had been divided into 33 ecclesias-
tico, vestibule and tower established by James Gibbs at
tical parishes.
St Martin-in-the- Fields. The octagonal domed ceiling of
the vestibule is in imitation of the Tower of the Winds
History in Athens, and the tower above uses details from the
same structure. At the east end is an apse, flanked by the
The New Church was built primarily to serve the newly
church’s most original features: two tribunes designed in
built up areas close to Euston Road, especially parts of the
1
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia St Pancras New Church
imitation of the Erechtheum in Athens, with entablatures
supported by caryatids. Unlike those on the Erechtheum,
each holds a symbolic extinguished torch or or empty
jug, appropriate for their positions above the entrances
to the burial vault. The upper levels of the tribunes were
designed as vestries. Inside, the church has a flat ceiling
with an uninterrupted span of 60 ft., and galleries sup-
ported on cast-iron columns. The interior of the apse is
in the form of one half of a circular temple, with six
columns raised on a plinth. The church is built from
brick, faced with Portland stone with terracotta deco-
rations. The caryatids are also terracotta, constructed
around cast-iron columns. They were modelled by John
Charles Felix Rossi, R.A..(1762–1839).
At the time that the plans was accepted, Henry Wil-
liam Inwood was in Athens, where he made a study of
the Erechtheum; however the basic designs for St Pan-
cras must have been drawn up before he saw it.
The church’s crypt was used for burials between 1822
and 1854, when the practice was ended in all London
churches It served as an air-raid shelter in two world
wars, and is now used as an art gallery.[1]
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 in-
terior 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 flo-
ral 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.[2]
However because it is situated on Euston Road; one of
London’s busiest roads - it has become stained with pol-
lution 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 loca-
tion 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
• St Pancras new church, caryatid, north elevation
• St Pancras New Church caryatids, south elevation
• St Pancras New Church caryatids, south elevation References
• St Pancras New Church portico, April 2006 [1] "About the Crypt Gallery".
• St Pancras Rear View, December 2006 http://www.cryptgallery.org.uk/
about_crypt_gallery.htm. Retrieved 15 April 2011.
2
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia St Pancras New Church
• 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
• Official site
• Most recent Mystery Worshipper Report at the Ship
of Fools website
Coordinates: 51°31′37.76″N 00°07′48.29″W / 51.5271556°N
[2] Details from listed building database (478428) . 0.1300806°W / 51.5271556; -0.1300806
Images of England. English Heritage. accessed 22
January 2009
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Pancras_New_Church"
Categories: Buildings and structures completed in 1822, 19th-century church buildings, Church of England churches
in London, Churches in Camden, Grade I listed churches in London, Greek Revival buildings
This page was last modified on 21 July 2011 at 11:28. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-
ShareAlike License; additional terms may apply. See Terms of use for details. Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of
the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization.Contact us
Privacy policy About Wikipedia Disclaimers Mobile view
3