This is a gem of a church, designed by Hawksmoor - England's most famous Baroque architect -  in 1711, when it was decided to build a new church to split the old parish of St. Giles in the Fields into two parishes. It turned out to be Hawkmoor's sixth and final London church.

The building has two notable architectural features. Firstly, it is situated on a north/south axis, rather than the tradition east/west one. This was because at the time of building, the plot of land bought for the church was very restricted by buildings on all sides, so there was little choice available in terms of the size and shape of footprint. The other is the remarkable stepped tower designed by Hawksmoor. It is based on Pliny the Elder's description of the Mausoleum at Halicarnassus, and is decorated with a statue of King George I, with fighting lions and unicorns representing the Jacobite uprising.

The church features in the work of two famous London artists: the painter William Hogarth and the writer Charles Dickens. Hogarth depicts the tower in his engraving Gin Lane, an image depicting the evils of gin in 18th century London, while Dickens sets The Bloomsbury Christening in St George's. Other notable historical events include the baptism of writer Anthony Trollope, the funeral of the suffragette Emily Davison (who killed herself in protest under the hooves of the King's horse at the 1913 Derby) and a requiem for the dead of the Abyssinian War attended by Emperor Haile Selassie of Ethiopia in 1937. 

Saint George's Church

Bloomsbury Way, London WC1A 2SA