Church Of St George

The Church of St George at Hanworth is a parish church of medieval origins that was substantially rebuilt in around 1812 by architect James Wyatt, and then further enlarged and remodelled in 1865 by S.S. Teulon in the Gothic Revival, Decorated style. The building comprises a nave, chancel, north chapel, north-east tower, and north and south porches. The walls are constructed in greensand ashlar and other materials, with Bath stone masonry details and tracery, and a polychrome slate roof.

The apsidal chancel features three arched windows set within moulded hoodmoulds with carved angel label stops, and displays carved eaves with trefoils and foliate supports. Buttresses with crocketed finials project from the walls. The east window consists of three lancet lights below a cinquefoil circle, flanked by two-light windows with cinquefoils. The south side contains an additional two-light window with trefoil or quatrefoil circles, and a blind lancet window.

The north-east tower is a five-stage structure supporting a broach spire with lancets on each side and a cruciform metal terminal. Arched and slatted belfry openings appear on each side below a cornice table. The north face contains a vestry door, above which sits a slate clock face within a gabled aedicule with angel brackets. The buttressed north-east corner features a door, while a diagonal buttress to the north-west corner is carried on a moulded bracket at first floor level; a flying buttress is attached to this and linked to a stone pinnacle. Adjoining the tower on the west side is a single-cell chapel with a steeply pitched slate roof and three lancet windows with cinquefoil circles set within moulded hoodmoulds with foliate label stops.

The nave consists of four bays divided by gabled buttresses, with moulded eaves brackets. The north and south gabled porches feature moulded arched openings enriched with dog-tooth ornament, carried on colonnettes with stiff-leaf capitals. Three windows appear on the south side and two on the north, each with tracery consisting of quatrefoils and trefoils over paired lancets. The west front is constructed of masonry rubble with diagonal buttresses and contains an arched window within a moulded hoodmould with carved head label stops. The window tracery comprises a circle with eight trefoils above two pairs of lancets surmounted with a lobed trefoil, and a round window in the gable head above featuring three interlocking circles.

The interior contains a hammerbeam roof with traceried enrichment above the collars, carried on angel-decorated corbels. A diagonally set pitch pine ceiling covers the chancel and nave. The nave retains a complete set of pews. A stone reredos with serpentine marble and felspar enrichment is present. The organ was made by Hill in 1888. A carved oak screen to the north chapel incorporates parts of a former chancel screen of 1914 by Wood and Ainslie. An octagonal oak pulpit of 1890 features carved reliefs. Wall tablets in the chancel commemorate Sir Thomas Chamber (died 1692) and Lady Catherine Burgess (died 1803); floor slabs in the chancel record the burials of Aubrey, 5th Duke of St Albans (died 1802) and Admiral Sir James Wallace (died 1803).

Stained glass panels in the north chapel include two late fifteenth-century angels, the arms of the Crosby family (late fifteenth-century) and the Killigrew family (1606). The south chancel window of 1866 depicts the Raising of Lazarus and the Raising of Jairus's daughter. Memorial stained glass of 1881 appears in the south windows of the nave. The west window of 1883 by Clayton and Bell shows scenes from the Life of Christ. A modern screen across the west end installed in 1993 incorporates panels including the arms of James I from 1625.

The church was first mentioned in 1293. Wyatt's rebuilding of around 1812 substantially reconstructed the building while reusing earlier materials. Teulon's work of 1865 added the chancel, porches and tower while retaining the existing walls and remodelling the rest of the structure.