Favorite Fotos: London churches, etc.

Living in London will make a church-goer out of anyone—for one reason or another. I'm living proof. There are just so many beautiful, historical, fascinating and acoustically fine church buildings in London (and in all of the UK, for that matter) that you just can't help but get interested in them, no matter your normal religious persuasion, or absence thereof.

The imposing structure on the right is the grand-daddy of them all, Westminster Abbey, justifiably on everyone's London must-see list. But there are literally hundreds of other fine church buildings in the city, and you could do worse than start your tour of them with the cheerfully-colored Westminster Cathedral on the left. You can climb its tower and get great views for £3.

Here are some other beautiful churches I saw on my London rambles, starting with one in my backyard (practically), St. Luke's on Redcliffe Gardens, shown at the left and below. There's a school operated by the church, too, so I was often treated to the sight of cute English kids in the playground as I walked by. As you probably can tell from the photos, the church is right in the middle of a fairly quiet residential neighborhood, through which I walked almost daily to work. And I could have snapped shots of at least 3 or 4 other impressive churches had I varied my route minutely.

(As an extra treat in the photo below, be sure to note the wonderful plane trees—this shot was obviously taken late in my stay.)


Venturing further afield, to a section of London crammed full of many more tourist-worthy buildings than my little neighborhood, you'll find some more famous, and quite lovely, churches, like St. Mary-le-Bow on Cheapside at the right, and St. Martin in the Fields (no actual fields any longer in evidence, just Trafalgar Square) at the left.

Near the Inns of Court and the City, right on the busy Strand, you'll find the imposing structure, with the equally imposing name of St. Dunstan-in-the-West, shown below, in as good a panoramic shot as I could get, with the top half in bright sunlight and the bottom in the deep shade that envelopes most of London at street level, especially when the sun stays low on its winter course.


And, on the right, there's a close-up of the large clock which is one of St. Dunstan's claims to fame.

Most of the churches I've shown so far are still being used as churches (while many church buildings in the UK have been turned to other uses) and have been well-maintained, at least to the untrained tourist eye. An interesting contrast comes from Christchurch Greyfriars, which did not have its bomb damage repaired after World War II (on the left). Its tower (designed by the ubiquitous Christopher Wren, a name you must know if you do any church tourist-ing in London) is still quite lovely, but the rest of the church grounds have been made into a garden.

All Saints, on Margaret Street, gives you a different look, with its interesting exterior patterns, particularly in the low light of a winter afternoon.


The fading light also made for easily dramatic photos of St. Pancras near the station of the same name and the British Library....


.... and St. Clement Danes, on the Strand.

Whereas most, if not all, of the churches in this post are Church of England, there are other denominations that worship in London, like the Methodists, whose Central Hall is a very handsome (and massive) building in Westminster:


Of course, given London's extreme multicultural makeup, there are other religions a lot further afield from C of E than the Methodists. Here is a glimpse of the tower of the London Central Mosque, near Regent's Park, peeking over the leafless trees of late autumn.


I'll close by returning to a very traditional London church landmark, Southwark Cathedral, which is a most impressive edifice, both architecturally and historically.