Church Of St George The Martyr

Church of St George the Martyr, Borough High Street, Southwark

A church built between 1734 and 1736, designed by John Price. The interior was altered in 1807–8 by William Hedger, the ceiling was replaced in 1897 by Basil Champneys, and the building was restored in 1951–2 by T. F. Ford.

The church is built of red brick with Portland stone dressings, featuring a copper roof over the nave and a slate roof over the chancel. It has a rectangular plan with a west tower of two main stages with half stages between them.

The exterior is two storeys tall. The north and south elevations are divided into a single-bay narthex and five-bay nave, with the chancel extending a further bay beyond. The west entrance front features a central section under a segmental pediment supported on giant Ionic columns, with angels in the tympanum above the cornice. An inner round arch on flat pilasters frames a square-headed doorway with moulded architrave, reached by a flight of eight steps curving to the sides. Paired raised and fielded panelled doors are topped by a lunette with a bracketed sill. The outer sections contain ground-floor doorways with architrave, pulvinated frieze, and console-bracketed cornices, each surmounted by a round-arched window with apron, eared architrave, and a keystone appearing to support the cornice and balustraded parapet above. Cresset finials sit at the corners of the parapet and above the pediment. A plain stone string course between floors continues around the side elevations. Stone quoins and plinth define the building.

The north and south elevations have stone quoins separating the narthex from the nave. Six smaller ground-floor windows with elliptical heads in stone architraves are placed on each side, with six gallery windows above matching those on the west front. A balustraded parapet continues around from the west front over the narthex, with plain brick parapets over the nave.

The tower is Portland stone, surmounted by a spire. The lowest stage is square with a single round-arched opening to each face, a modillion cornice, and urn finials. An octagonal half stage above has a small pediment on brackets over a clock on each main face. The next stage is octagonal and Ionic, defined by half columns at the angles with round-arched openings on alternating faces. Above this sits a shallow stage with round openings having architraves in the form of cartouches. The polygonal spire has three diminishing oval openings on alternating faces, surmounted by a ball and weather vane.

The east elevation features a pedimented centre breaking forward with a lunette in the tympanum. A Palladian window with Ionic pilasters, pulvinated frieze, and cornice contains a plain arch to the centre, above which is a garlanded cartouche. Recessed single-storey side sections have panelled doors in moulded architraves and blind segmental-headed windows above in similar architraves. Similar windows appear on the south face of the chancel.

The interior contains a gallery on three sides of the nave, supported on square posts with enriched brackets. Paired fluted Ionic columns support the gallery at the west end, where Stuart Royal Arms are displayed. Open string stairs to the gallery feature a moulded rail with a pair of turned balusters per tread. Stairs at the east end also have turned balusters and panelled walls.

The ceiling features an Italianate central composition with cherubs breaking through a clouded sky, with texts on ribbons within a foliate border. An egg and dart cornice encircles the ceiling, and a deep plaster frieze below displays the arms of livery companies with angels and swags on a leafy ground.

The three-bay chancel has a coved barrel vault with an enriched keystone to the arch. A wrought-iron communion rail fronts the chancel. A tall pulpit rests on four Ionic columns with fluted engaged columns at the angles, with a curved stair featuring shaped tread ends, a ramped rail, and stick balusters. An octagonal grey marble font stands in the chancel. A lead cistern dated 1738 serves as an arms chest. Many minor tablets from the 18th and 19th centuries are present throughout.

The undercroft has a barrel vault. Ground-floor rooms flank the chancel and occupy the south side of the entrance. The entrance porch has a groin vault.

Subsidiary features include a brick wall attached to the south-east with a pair of square stone-dressed gate piers.