Religious Landmarks

Greenwich has several religious landmarks dotted across the Royal Borough. All feature outstanding architecture and an abundance of history.

St Alfege Church is the Anglican parish church at the centre of Greenwich. There has been a church here for over a thousand years, dedicated to the memory of Alfege, the Archbishop of Canterbury who was martyred on this site in year 1012. The present church (which replaced an earlier medieval building) is nearly 300 years old. It was designed by Nicholas Hawskmoor, Sir Christopher Wren’s famous pupil, and is one of the churches built under the Fifty Churches act of 1711. The interior contains many fine examples of 18th century craftsmanship and design.

The Chapel of St Peter and St Paul is part of the Old Royal Naval College on the riverfront in Greenwich. There have been many chapels on this site. The resident Tudor monarchs would have worshipped at the original Chapel Royal, part of the Palace of Placentia. Archaeological digs have unearthed many artefacts from the site of the old Chapel which are now on display in the Visitor Centre. The Royal Hospital Chapel was built by English architect Thomas Ripley (1682-1758) following designs by Sir Christopher Wren, for the use of the staff and pensioners of the Royal Hospital. In 1779 the Chapel was gutted by fire, but was rebuilt by British architect and neoclassical artist James ‘Athenian’ Stuart (1713-1788) with nautical motifs designed to make the Naval Pensioners feel at home. This is the stunning chapel that remains today - a peaceful place to visit and still an active place of worship which also holds regular lunchtime recitals by the talented students of the nearby Trinity Laban Conservatoire of Music & Dance. 

St Georges Garrison is a ruined church in nearby Woolwich. Designed by Thomas H Wyatt in an Italian-Romanesque style, the church was built in 1862-63 as a place of worship for the Royal Artillery garrison in Woolwich. The church was hit by a V-1 flying bomb in 1944 and largely destroyed by fire. Today, you can visit St George’s to see the ruins with its stunning mosaics and new canopy roof, learn about the building’s history, the relationship to the Royal Artillery and discover the generations of war heroes that it commemorates.