Keep An Eye Out For London’s ‘Church Watchers’: ‘Beautiful Spaces And Interesting People’
Signs like this one across the city mark churches that are open for visitors. (Photo by Jillian Cheney)
LONDON — Central London on a weekday is bustling with construction, children, tourists and office workers moving between meetings and to and from breaks. The heart of the city keeps busy. But on these days, there are pockets of sanctuary and history to be found in would-be shuttered churches.
The Church Watchers — all of whom are volunteers — are responsible for maintaining the openings of these small sanctuaries throughout the week. And they take the job very seriously.
Their mission began with a 1994 proposition called The Templeman Report and a long-dormant charity.
READ: Majority Of Pastors Wary Of AI To Interpret Scripture, But Still Use Technology
Lord John Templeman, a London judge, proposed that 24 of 36 churches in the city should close and be moved to a “‘reserve list’” that would repurpose the buildings as “libraries, for music, or for business purposes.”
The Friends of the City Churches, originally established during World War II to advocate for the restoration of bombed churches in London, had been inactive for decades. But the report revived the group and set them to work.
According to Mary, who’s been a member of the FCC since that rebirth in 1994, the organization fought the report “very successfully,” and was a large part of the reason its propositions were never implemented.
Now 54 historic church buildings in London have been preserved, in part with the help of the FCC. The Church Watchers, a volunteer branch of the charity, regularly open 19 of these churches weekly for visitors. Many don’t have congregations of their own and aren’t regularly open for visitors.
Volunteers and visitors alike have their favorite churches, though some get more visitors because they’re larger, host more events or are stationed on more heavily trafficked roads.
St. Lawrence Jewry often hosts live music and school choirs, which makes it a popular spot.
Mary, who did not want to be identified by her full name, said her favorite is St. Benet Paul’s Wharf, which is “very much off the beaten track, and it’s falling down,” but it has a very romantic history due to its proximity to the Court of Arches.
“This is somewhere you might go to if you wanted a hasty wedding,” she said. “And they had 30,000 weddings there in 20 years in the 18th century. Consequently, you get lots of people in who say, ‘Oh, my great, great, great-grandparents were married here.’ We know why.”
On a Tuesday in July, I visited All Hallows London Wall and The Dutch Church, both of which have their own appeal.
All Hallows, though smaller and more antiquated, is a stalwart addition to the London Wall, which guarded the city during Roman rule around 200 AD. The current structure was built in 1767 and remains attached to a portion of the original wall.
And, as a fun insert that was pointed out by the Watchers, All Hallows is one of 26 churches home to sword rests, largely installed in the 18th and 19th centuries and which, as the name suggests, would provide the for men a place to rest the ceremonial sword during regular visits.
One of the tapestries on the wall of The Dutch Church. (Creative Commons photo)
The Dutch Church, which was completed in 1954 on the foundations of a church established in 1550 for Dutch Protestant refugees, is an architectural marvel, complete with detailed stained glass windows and intricate wall tapestries made by Dutch artist Hans van Norden.
It has a rich and complex place in history, as the country’s swings between Catholic and Protestant monarchs left things in turmoil, especially for immigrants. The stained glass windows tell this story, featuring figures like Mary Queen of Scots and Queen Anne.
As is evident from above, the first thing to expect as a visitor to one of these open churches — for those willing — is a thorough and fascinating history lesson. Historical knowledge isn’t a precursor to volunteering, but the Watchers at the very least have an interest in history and are excited both to learn and share what they know.
I was also treated to a very pleasant and engaging chat about subjects beyond the church itself, including the state of the modern church in the U.K. and the U.S. and London’s theater scene.
These things aren’t mandatory for a visit, of course, and the churches receive visitors who are there for a variety of reasons.
“A lot of people want to come in and just have a quiet prayer,” said Siân Edwards, a watcher.
She also recalled watching a church “that gets very few visitors,” but having a man come in who revealed over the course of their conversation that he was in the area for his wife’s funeral.
“We’re not pastoral, you know,” Edwards added, “but I kept thinking I was probably one of the few adults that he'd spoken to for a long time about something other than his wife’s passing.”
Of the four “watchers” I had the pleasure to meet, all were retired, and only one was a career historian. The others occupied professions “in numbers,” as a lawyer and as a dentist.
Of the approximately 900 members of the FCC, about 100 volunteer to be Church Watchers. As a group, they come from a wide variety of backgrounds, but are mostly retired and nonreligious. Above all, they share a love of London, its history and its buildings.
“A lot of our colleagues are people who either have worked in the city or live near the city,” Edwards said, “or just love being in beautiful spaces and around interesting people.”
They’re the beating heart of these churches, which are very much still alive and part of London today.
“My son says, ‘Mum, for an atheist, you do go into a lot of churches,’” Edwards said. “I say, ‘I'm an ambassador to London!’”
Check out the schedule for open churches throughout the week on the FCC website.
Jillian Cheney is Religion Unplugged’s Senior Culture Correspondent. She writes about film, TV, music, art, books and more.