St. Leonard's Church, Shoreditch, London

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The Church is one of the two buildings that we know has a personal connection to Dr. James Parkinson.  Dr. Parkinson was baptized at St. Leonard's Church where his parents were parishioners.  He later got married at the church and his children were baptized there.  Dr. Parkinson was also buried along side his father's grave after he died in the grounds surrounding the church. However, since during the World War II, a fairly large part of the garden around the church was destroyed,  we no longer know where his grave site is.   

 

Here is how the church's website describes the church:

The present Church was designed by George Dance the Elder, the favorite pupil of Christopher Wren  and is a successful declaration of the pupil’s ability. It opened in August 1740.

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The plain Tuscan portico is surmounted by a square clock-tower and belfry. These then support the stone octagon of the gallery with its fluted cupola. This is raised on Corinthian columns topped by a gallery reflective of the lower one. Above them rises the elegant obelisk. It is one of the most important architectural structures in England.

 

However, this new church caused a scandal when first opened. It was very unlike the chunky and ornate Hawksmoor style so popular in the late Baroque period. The slender columns and subtle colonnades, and bright windows were an innovation that was hard to accept as a church. One of the worst insults received was that it is a ‘feminine’ church.

 

The Roman dimensions of the East window and its gentle Tuscan arcades show an Italian influence. Luckily tastes have changed and now it is seen as a national treasure. It is, with its Clerk’s House, the oldest building in Shoreditch.

 

In 1870, the Victorians led by Butterfield vandalised it, stripping out the galleries and bricking up the ground floor windows. The faculty of that year has Butterfield stating that the galleries are “inconvenient and little used”

 

He built a raised chancel for a robed choir and moved the central pulpit to a side position. Then he rebuilt the sanctuary table to make a large altar.

 

He had changed a Georgian preaching church into a Victorian sacramental church. He did not realise ,though, that they had dangerously compromised the structural integrity of the building. Twentieth century war damage hastened its problems. It was apparent by 1990 that the building was becoming unsafe, so eventually it was closed for nearly two years to be rebuilt nearer to its original form.

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The pictures above were taken during one of our visits to the church by Casey Wigotow