Christ Church Spitalfields
Commercial Street
London
E1 6LY
T: 020 7377 2440
Visitor Information
Christ Church Spitalfields is open to the public on Sundays (1pm-4pm) and Tuesdays (11am-4pm). It is also open Monday to Friday between 11am-4pm if it is not being used as a venue. If you are travelling a long distance, please check in advance by calling (020) 7377 6793.
At the time, there were fears that ‘godless thousands’ outside the City of London had no adequate church provision, and that non-conformists – including large numbers of French Huguenot silk weavers – were moving into Spitalfields and bringing their non-conformist worshipping ways with them.
The Commission appointed to build the 50 new churches stipulated that the new buildings should have tall spires so that they would tower above the smaller, non-conformist chapels! The idea was to fund the work through taxes on coal coming into London, although monies ran low in about 1719 and building progressed fitfully.
One of the two surveyors employed by the first Commission, at an initial rate of £200 per year, was Nicholas Hawksmoor – a Nottinghamshire-born architect who had worked with Sir Christopher Wren since his late teens. Of the 12 churches completed (out of the projected 50), six were the work of Hawksmoor, and Christ Church was his masterpiece.
For the past 300 years Christ Church has remained a Christian centre of worship and today it has thriving congregations that meet on Sundays and throughout the week. John Wesley, founder of the Methodist movement, preached here towards the end of his life, and staff members have included the 18th century curate Samuel Henshall, who invented the modern corkscrew (and reputedly died owing £400 to his wine merchant).
The church has seen at least two large-scale alterations, the first in 1866 (directed by the architect Ewen Christian) which changed the entire look of the interior, and the second which began in the 1960s and was only recently completed – a restoration of the church to its original state, which it was initially estimated would cost £1 million and in fact cost £10 million. Since reopening in 2004, the church has been visited by more than 100,000 people.