Beauty on an Island
St Mary-le-Strand
The beauty that surrounds us can at times be forgotten by the rush, the pressure, the stress. Strandman went to Boots yesterday to pick up some medicine (nothing serious). The josstling masses, the distraction, the numbers of people staring at their feet. in their dreams, lost, working, home life jugling. And there it was - beauty on the Strand #2: St Mary - le- Strand Church.
It was designed by James Gibbs and completed in 1717, an Act of Parliament was passed for building 50 New Churches in the fast expanding suburbs of London. These were the so-called "Queen Ann Churches"; among them are Hawksmoor's Christ Church Spitalfields, St Anne's Limehouse, and St George's-in-the-East, Archer's St Paul's Depftord and James' St George's, Hanover Square. St Mary le Strand was quick to apply for a church to replace their demolished one and, as the site on the Strand was so prominent, the Commissioners for building the New Churches decided to make the Strand church the most lavish of the churches. Initially, it was intended that there should not be a spire but that a column celebrating the building of the New Churches should stand directly in front of the church.It stands to the North of Somerset House and South of Bush House, on what is now a traffic island. It is very noisy and despite this can be a sanctuary.
It is the official church of the Women's Royal Naval Service, and has a book of remembrance for members who have died in service.
http://www.stmarylestrand.org/
SM
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
|
petescully / Website (2.3.07 17:43) st.mary-in-the-way, as the cabbies and bus-drivers call it |
