St George's German Lutheran Church - Alie Street, London, UK
N 51° 30.843 W 000° 04.223
30U E 703270 N 5711061
This Church, St George's German Lutheran Church, is on the north side of Alie Street close to the junction with Leman Street. The church is now in the ownership of the Historic Chapels Trust.
Waymark Code: WMGXKV
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 04/21/2013
Views: 4
The church is Grade II* listed and the
entry at the English Heritage website [visit
link] tells us:
"German Lutheran Church. 1762-3,
founded by Dederich Beckmann, a wealthy sugar boiler; panel of donors dated 1766
on front. Stock brick with slate roof Church a single cell of four bays with
balcony on three sides supported on round timber columns, the stairs to which
are either side of committee room. Two-storey, one bay vestry at side. Facade
symmetrical with doors either side of Venetian window to ground floor and
windows either side of Diocletian window above; pediment over.
Interior retains complete and
original set of pews to ground floor and balconies (a remarkable survival), with
high double-decker central pulpit with sounding board set behind altar rails and
under coat of arms of George III and two commandment boards (in German) - all
original features. At rear boards commemorate donors to the church. Committee
room with simple panelling set between balcony stairs with turned baluster
open-string stairs, and with painted glass window. The side windows (three per
side) with early C19 coloured margin-light glazing; stained glass to windows
either side of pulpit. The whole interior a remarkable and complete survival of
high-quality traditional craftsmanship. The two room vestry is also of great
interest. It is of brown brick with red brick dressings and gauged brick heads.
The interior is fully panelled, with cornices and fireplaces. A dog-leg stair
leads to the upper room, which has two sliding windows which open by a system of
grooves and catches rather than counterweights and
sashes."
The church can be visited by
prior arrangement with the key holder at the Historic Chapels Trust. Click here
for visitor information.
The Historic Chapels Trust [visit
link] has historic and architectural information:
"St George's dates from
1762–3 and is now the oldest German church in Britain. It served as a religious
centre for generations of German immigrants who worked in the East End sugar
refineries and in the meat and baking trades right up until the First World War.
The around Aldgate was known as 'Little Germany' due to the large number of
German immigrants settled here.
Inside, the church retains a remarkable and mostly original series of
furnishings. These include a complete set of ground floor and gallery pews and a
magnificent, high, central double-decker pulpit and sounding board. At the ‘east
end’ hangs the coat-of-arms of King George III (pre-1801) and two carved timber
commandment boards in German. The Royal Arms, once enjoined to be erected in all
Anglican churches, and adopted by others as a mark of loyalty, recall a
connection with the Duchess of Kent, mother of Queen Victoria, who was patron of
the adjacent German and English schools from 1819. There are 18th and
l9th-century memorials, stained glass of great interest and a fine German
Walcker organ.
During the Nazi period in Germany St George's pastor, Julius Rieger, set
up a relief centre for Jewish refugees from Germany who were provided with
references to travel to England.
The leading theologian and anti-Nazi activist Dietrich Bonhoeffer was
also associated with the work of St George’s when Bonhoeffer was pastor at the
nearby St Paul’s church from 1933 to 1935. The former congregation marked the
centenary of Bonhoeffer’s birth with a special service in 2006."