Chelsea Old Church
Chelsea Old Church
Chelsea Old Church, also known as All Saints, stands at Old Church Street and Cheyne Walk in Chelsea, in the Diocese of London. The Grade I building is the parish church of All Saints, Chelsea Old Church.
- Location
- Chelsea, Greater London
- Country
- England
- County
- Greater London
- City / town
- Chelsea
- Address
- Old Church Street, Chelsea, Greater London, SW3 5DQ
- Postcode
- SW3 5DQ
- Built
- C12 origins; More Chapel early C16; rebuilt after 1941 bombing
- Architect
- Walter Godfrey (post-war reconstruction)
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- All Saints
- Diocese
- London
- Parish
- All Saints, Chelsea Old Church
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Reconstructed medieval parish church
- Materials
- Stone; south More Chapel of early C16 fabric
- Grid reference
- TQ 271 775
- Opening hours
- The church is open from 2pm to 4pm Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. There is a team of church guides for information on Sunday afternoons.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas
Overview
Historic England records that the church and tower were mostly destroyed by bombing. The south (More) Chapel is probably early sixteenth-century, with seventeenth-century and later work. The remainder has been restored in facsimile. The church contains a large number of early monuments salvaged from the destroyed building, and several small panels of sixteenth-century stained glass. Listing NGR is TQ 27100 77596.
Wikipedia notes a church here from the twelfth century. Sir Thomas More worshipped in the south chapel, which he rebuilt. After wartime destruction, Walter Godfrey reconstructed the church on its old foundations; the listing of 24 June 1954 followed the restoration of the surviving chapel. The rebuilt church was reconsecrated in the presence of Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother. Monuments include a memorial plaque to Henry James, who lived nearby on Cheyne Walk. To the west a small public garden holds a sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein.