St Anne's Limehouse
Historic site · Limehouse, England
St Anne's Limehouse is a Nicholas Hawksmoor church on Three Colt Street, completed in 1727 and consecrated in 1730. It flies the White Ensign 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, and the tower carries a golden ball on its flagpole which Trinity House adopted as a navigation mark for shipping on the Thames. It is Grade I, NHLE 1357808, listed on 29 December 1950 as 'Church of St Anne', and stands in the St Annes Church conservation area. It is an active Anglican parish church, and no source states its opening hours, so none are given here.
History
Edward Strong the Younger built the church to Hawksmoor's design. Queen Anne, holding that a church so close to the river would be a convenient place of registry for sea captains, granted it the right to display the White Ensign. A stone pyramid of about 1730 stands in the churchyard, inscribed 'The wisdom of Solomon', and is Grade II in its own right, NHLE 1031537, as 'Pyramid monument approximately 25 metres north west of St Anne's Limehouse parish church'. The church was gutted by fire on Good Friday 1850 and restored between 1851 and 1854 by Philip Hardwick; the 1741 Richard Bridge organ was lost in that fire, and its replacement by Gray and Davison won first prize at the Great Exhibition of 1851. The churchyard walls, railings, gates and gate piers are Grade II, NHLE 1065235.
Visit
Three Colt Street, Limehouse, London E14 7HP