The church is a Grade I listed building and the entry at the English Heritage website [visit link] tells us:
1711-14 by Nicholas Hawksmoor. One of the 1st of the "Fifty New Churches" arising from the Act of 1711. Masons were Edward Strong (who had worked for Wren on St Paul's Cathedral) and Edward Tufnell. Steeple 1730 by John James, rebuilt 1813. Cruciform church with West tower. Portland stone ashlar. Doric entablature all the way round, supported on pilasters defining bays. Moderately low pitched roof now copper covered. Pediment at East end with urn finials at either side. Doric entablature beneath broken by high, round arch. Centre of East end recessed, producing portico distyle in antis, with steps up to it but no entrance. Wide, segment-headed 1st floor window supports, modified entablature with 2 pilasters rising thence to archivolt. Flat pilasters define back wall of portico. Flanking windows round arched. Low, flat-arched windows below. Along sides round headed 1st floor windows, in round arches recesses, have aprons below with guttae. Square ground floor windows in square recesses. In transept ends 3 round arched doors with plain architraves and impost blocks. Paved terrace in front of them reaching to gabled crypt entrances. 3 nave windows at either side of transepts. Square west tower of 4 stages. Ground floor blank with shallow niches and projecting angle pilasters. Low 2nd stage has oculus with one keystone, and low, round angle buttresses. Taller, Ionic 3rd stage with paired angle pilasters. Above this octagonal stage with clock faces and urns at angles. Tall, Corinthian drum, with oculus above round arch in each of 8 faces, supports dome with stone spike, ball and vane finial. West entrance in tower has shouldered architrave, triple keystone, alternating block sides, cornice and pediment. Flanking round headed windows, in round arched recesses, with Gibbs surround. Interior almost completely remodelled after war damage. West organ gallery and side galleries renewed. Ceiling plaster work with oval raised border also renewed. Corinthian columns of reredos remain. East wall repainted in imitation of coffered apse. Restoration by Albert Richardson in 1950's. Original staircases remain in transepts. C17 baluster font on North-west end.
The church's website [visit link] tells the history of the current church:
At about 4.00am on 29 November 1710, as a result of a severe storm, the roof of the church collapsed, one of the supporting piers having been weakened by the numerous excavations undertaken for burial purposes; the tower, however, remained undamaged.
The parishioners petitioned Parliament for £6,000 towards the rebuilding of the church. As a result it was expressly provided in the New Churches in London and Westminster Act of 1711 that one of the 50 new churches proposed to be built in the Cities of London and Westminster and their suburbs should be in the parish of Greenwich. All this building was to be financed by a continuation of the Coal Tax, which had been raised to pay for the rebuilding of London after the Great Fire of 1666.
Nicholas Hawksmoor, a pupil of Sir Christopher Wren, and the Clerk of the Works at Greenwich Hospital for 40 years, was commissioned to design the new church. English Baroque style was practically the creation of the Office of Works in the years after the Restoration; and the building of the new churches gave Hawksmoor his greatest opportunity. The Commissioners gave the architect a free hand, which enabled him to express his ideas about the management of space.
In the interior of St Alfege church, the length is one and one-third times its breadth, and its height is roughly one half of the breadth. The galleries divide the interior and create aisles; they also punctuate, as it were, the space and increase the effectiveness of the whole design.
The Church itself was erected between 1712 and 1714 but consecration was delayed until 29 September 1718. The delay was partly due to the fact that the parishioners took exception to the Church Commissioners' direction that a ‘seat of distinction’ should be provided for the use of the Royal Family. However, after a lapse of six months, the parishioners ‘became convinced of their error, and were under the necessity of petitioning the Archbishop of Canterbury, and others the Commissioners, requesting, with the most profound humility, that they would be pleased to proceed with the building, and every impediment to the erection of a seat should be removed’ (from An Account of the Legacies, Gifts, Rents, Fees etc appertaining to the Church and Poor of the Parish of St Alphege [sic] Greenwich by John Kimbell, September 1816). The Royal Pew was installed in the West gallery.
Hawksmoor's design included a tower but Queen Anne's Commissioners were running short of money, and several petitions by the parishioners were necessary before the Commissioners reluctantly agreed to the economic recasing of the old tower to the design of John James of Greenwich. The tower was completed in 1730; Hawksmoor transferred his design for the tower to St Anne's, Limehouse.
Chancel
The elaborate columns and cornices are the original Hawksmoor design. The main pilasters at the east end and the apse were originally painted by Sir James Thornhill who was also responsible for the work on the more famous Painted Hall of the neighbouring Royal Naval College.
Ceiling
One of the glories of the Hawksmoor design was the oval ceiling which was suspended from the tie-beams without additional support from the floor. At the time of its construction it was the largest unsupported ceiling in Europe.
Woodwork
The design and carving of the pulpit and the Corinthian capitals on these pillars are attributed to Grinling Gibbons.
Wrought-iron work
The wrought-iron work of the altar rails and of the gallery rails to the north and south of the altar are original. The designs are attributed to Jean Tijou who Hawksmoor had met in connection with the great gates and screen for St Paul's Cathedral; unfortunately, the name of the smith who actually executed the work is unknown.
Benefaction Boards
The Benefaction Boards north and south of the chancel on the east wall were first installed in the medieval church in 1707, three years before the fatal storm of 1710. They were transferred to the present church in 1718 and were hung on the staircases to the galleries. Their siting ensured their preservation in 1941. They can almost be said to sum up in themselves the post-Reformation history of the church. The first entry on the south board records the establishment of Queen Elizabeth's College by William Lambard; this was the first public charity to be founded in England after the Reformation. The College was rebuilt in 1817 and still stands on the original site opposite the subsequently erected railway station. In 1613 is recorded the foundation of Trinity Hospital by the Rt Hon Henry Howard, Earl of Northampton. The Hospital still flourishes on the riverfront just east of the Royal Naval College and provides for a Warden and over fifty residents. The name of John Roan appears in 1643 when he bequeathed his estate to teach and clothe poor boys; his school was rebuilt in 1926 on a site at the top of Maze Hill overlooking Greenwich Park. The foundation of the Royal Hospital by King William III and Queen Mary is recorded in 1694. On the opposite board, the most notable entries are those in the years 1809/1815 when the Jubilee Almshouses were founded and endowed to commemorate the fiftieth year of the reign of King George III. These Almshouses in Greenwich High Road were rebuilt in 1974
The church's website [visit link] tells of the history of St Alfege:
In the 11th century, the abduction and murder of an archbishop was an act of almost unbelievable wickedness, and Alfege's martyrdom at Greenwich in 1012 attracted horrified attention all over Christendom. The impact on the Continent was the greater because at that time Greenwich belonged to the Abbey of St Peter at Ghent, a church well known as the prime defender of Christianity against the pagan Vikings.
Born in about 954 AD, a young man named Alfege gave up his family's wealth in order to live as a hermit at Deerhurst in Gloucestershire, where he attracted a following and became Abbott of a community at Bath. In 984 he was appointed Bishop of Winchester, as a result of a vision sent to St Dunstan. At Winchester he was noted for restoring the church and the organ, which became ‘another wonder of the world’ according to ancient sources. In 1006 he became the 29th Archbishop of Canterbury, by which time he was known and loved for his gentleness, his knowledge of the scriptures and his courage in going among Norsemen to convert them.
At this time, the Kent coast was subject to raids from Danish pirates, and in 1011 they laid siege to the City of Canterbury. Alfege, betrayed by one of his own monks, was captured and taken by ship round the Kent coast and up the River Thames to Greenwich. There he was held for six months and a ransom of £3,000 was demanded. Knowing that his people would be unable to afford this huge sum, Alfege refused to let them pay, and the captors carried out their threat to kill him. At a feast on Easter Day they bludgeoned him with ox bones and the hafts of their axes until one of the Danes, out of compassion, killed him by a single blow to the head with his axe.
Then, a miracle was reported - a wooden Danish oar dipped in Alfege's blood had sprouted. As a result, his body was taken to St Paul's Cathedral in the City of London. Eleven years later, on 15 June 1023, the body was moved by King Canute to Canterbury Cathedral and placed beneath the north side of the high altar; a memorial slab now marks the spot where his tomb was. The anniversary of his martyrdom (St Alfege's Day) is 19 April.
In 1078 Alfege was canonized; two churchmen, Archbishop Lanfranc and St Anselm agreed that sainthood had been achieved in the cause of divine justice. Possibly, they remembered his last known words; to the Danish cries of "Give us gold", he had replied, "The gold I give you is the Word of God". St Anselm said of him,
"He who dies for Justice dies for God"
These words are engraved on a slab, marking the place where he was martyred, in front of the sanctuary of St Alfege Church.
19 April 2012 will be the millennium of the martyrdom of St Alfege, and there will be celebrations around the country at the many churches dedicated to him. At this church, which is so closely tied to his death, there will a pilgrimage from Southwark to Greenwich followed by a special service conducted by the Archbishop of Canterbury.
A Bing bird's eye view of the church can be seen here.