Church Of St Mary Rotherhithe

The Church of St Mary in Rotherhithe is a red-brick church, largely rebuilt in 1714 on the site of a medieval predecessor. The tower was added in 1747, the spire rebuilt in 1861, and the interior restored in 1876. The tower was designed by L Dowbiggin, and the interior was redesigned by William Butterfield. The church is constructed of yellow brick with red brick and white stone dressings. The main body is two storeys and five bays, with doorways at either end of the south side (the right-hand doorway now blocked), framed by segmental-headed stone architraves with angel-head keystones and cornices resting on scrolled console brackets. The ground-floor windows are short and segmental-headed, with stone architraves and keystones and rubbed red brick surrounds. The tall first-floor windows also have segmental-headed arches. The three-story tower has a doorway on the south side with a stone Gibbs surround and cornice. The ground and first floors of the tower are similar to the main church, topped by a frieze and cornice. Above the first floor, there are tall windows with clocks below round-arched, louvred bell openings. A balustraded parapet leads up to a circular Corinthian lantern stage and an obelisk spire. Large round-arched windows are found at the east end, with the central bay projecting and featuring a pediment.

Inside, the church features a coved nave of three unequal bays, with two giant Ionic columns on each side leading to aisles with flat ceilings. A segmental arch leads to the sanctuary, which contains 18th-century panelling and a reredos with fluted Corinthian columns. There's also a later 19th-century painted scheme by Florence T Nicholson. A west gallery with triglyph motifs is supported by slender wrought-iron columns with curled capitals. The organ, housed in its original case with a Doric entablature and rococo ornament, was built by John Byfield in 1764. Memorials include a 1625 monument to Captain Anthony Wood, featuring a relief of a three-masted ship, and a rococo cartouche monument to Joseph Wade, King’s Carver, dated 1743.