About St George’s Bloomsbury
- A short history
- Staff at St George’s Bloomsbury
- A tour of St George’s Bloomsbury
   - Interior: alterations to Hawksmoor’s
     original design
   - Nave
   - Galleries and organ
   - East apse and furnishings
   - Undercroft
   - South front and steeple
   - North front
   - Further reading
- Restoration
- Family history research

The nave of St George’s Bloomsbury is an (approximate)
cube, lit by raised clerestory windows. The plasterwork flower
in the centre of the ceiling is the work of Isaac Mansfield who,
like many of the craftsmen working for Hawksmoor at St
George’s, regularly worked for the Office of Works. At the
centre of all but one of the proscenium arches is a keystone
embellished by a tongue of flame; this represents the Holy
Spirit on the day of Pentecost. There are seven such
keystones in total; as a group, these probably represent the
gifts of the Holy Spirit received at Confirmation. The keystone
above the east apse is different however; it is inscribed with
the Tetragrammaton (the name of God in Hebrew). This can
also be found inscribed towards the top of the reredos.

In the 1730s, the nave would have been filled with box pews,
positioned so that their inhabitants designed to allow would
face inwards (north/south) as in choir stalls or in the
collegiate manner. These were mostly replaced in the 19th
century with pews; some of these can be seen close to the
North gallery. As part of the recent restoration, the Victorian
pews were replaced with new bespoke oak benches
designed specifically for the space by Luke Hughes & Co. of
Drury Lane. These benches were us to use the space as
flexibly as possible; they stack!

To continue the tour, click here