St George's Church, Beckenham
| St George, Beckenham | |
|---|---|
| Beckenham Parish Church | |
St George's Church, Beckenham
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| 51°24′33″N 0°01′29″W / 51.4092°N 0.0247°WCoordinates: 51°24′33″N 0°01′29″W / 51.4092°N 0.0247°W | |
| Location | High Street, Beckenham, Kent, BR3 1AX |
| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Churchmanship | Affirming Catholic |
| Website | www |
| Architecture | |
| Architect(s) | W. Gibbs Bartleet |
| Style | Victorian |
| Years built | 12th century (rebuilt 1885-1887) |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Beckenham |
| Deanery | Beckenham |
| Archdeaconry | Bromley and Bexley |
| Diocese | Rochester |
| Clergy | |
| Rector | Fr Jeremy Blunden |
| Priest(s) | Revd Dr Maggie Wilkinson |
| Assistant priest(s) | Revd Margaret Tremeer |
| Curate(s) | Revd Tina Kelsey |
| Laity | |
| Reader(s) | Joan Conway June Mackenzie |
| Treasurer | Jeremy Byers |
| Churchwarden(s) | Nick Startup and Jane Davies |
| Flower guild | Heather Lloyd |
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Listed Building – Grade II*
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| Designated | 28 May 1954 |
| Reference no. | 1054025 |
St George's Church, Beckenham is the Church of England parish church of Beckenham, Kent (now in the London Borough of Bromley). It is Grade II* listed.
St George's Church is the principal parish church, and is in the centre of Beckenham. It has been extensively rebuilt, but has a 13th-century lychgate that is said to be the oldest in England.
The church was originally built in the twelfth century and survived as a humble medieval church until it was rebuilt between 1885 and 1887 as a “confident town church” by local architect W. Gibbs Bartleet in ragstone with ashlar dressing. The pinnacled southwest tower is the focal point of the High Street and was completed in 1902–1903. The church sustained damage in the Second World War as a result of two V-1 flying bombs, on 2 July and 27 July 1944. The modern stained glass was created between 1963–1966 by Thomas Freeth.
The church is built in the Decorated style of the early 14th century. The most prominent feature is the tower, built in four stages with angle buttresses and terminating in an embattled parapet with pinnacles at the corners and also in the middle of each side.
Across the W end of the nave is a narthex with a gabled head in the centre. In the west wall of the nave is a very large window filled with a circle of intricate flowing tracery. The nave has a clerestory with pairs of two light windows in each bay with flowing tracery while the lean-to aisles have three-light windows with varied Decorated tracery. The transepts have large windows with a transom: each has a different design in the tracery but in both cases based on a circle. At the east end the chancel has a low parapet pierced with trefoils, a five-sided apse and crocketed pinnacles at the angles of the apse. The roof over the nave has hammerbeams and that over the chancel is a keel shape.
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