Professor Neil Jackson RIBA FSA will lead a guided visit to St Peter’s Church, Vauxhall, and St James-the-Less, Pimlico.

St Peter, London SE11 5HY. Grade II*. 1863-4 and John Loughborough Pearson’s first major town church – a pioneering building, solving the Victorian problem of providing a grand church for a poor area using limited means. The simple, clean, brick exterior contrasts with a noble vaulted interior which has scarcely any physical division between nave and chancel, and an amazingly complete set of fittings, including Clayton & Bell murals and stained glass.

St James the Less, London SW1V 2PS. Grade I. One of George Edmund Street ‘s very finest churches, built in 1858-61 and a gloriously exuberant display of polychrome brickwork. It is imbued with continental influences, something that Professor Jackson has carefully unpicked. Built for a desperately poor area, its symbolism, didactic carvings and linkage to school buildings aimed, like St Peter’s, at bringing the Church to a desperately poor populace. The bare brick interior is stunning both architecturally and for its fittings.

Meet at 6 PM, 26th June, at St Peter’s Church, Vauxhall, close to Vauxhall Tube and rail stations.  After visiting St Peter’s, we will walk over to Pimlico. Cost: £10.00.

To make a booking, please send a cheque made payable to The Ecclesiological Society and your details to:

Jonathan McCafferty, 16 Kirton Close, Chiswick, London W4 5UU    Tel: 0208 994 2786

email: visits@ecclsoc.org

(Photo by Geoff Brandwood.)