St Anne's Church, Kew

St Anne's Church, Kew
The Parish Church of St Anne, Kew
St Anne's and Kew War Memorial in spring
St Anne's Church, Kew
51°29′02″N 0°17′16″W / 51.4838°N 0.2879°W / 51.4838; -0.2879
TQ 18982 77484
LocationKew Green, Kew, Richmond TW9 3AA
CountryEngland
DenominationChurch of England
Websitesaintanne-kew.org.uk/kew-green
History
Founded1714
FounderQueen Anne
Dedication12 May 1714
Architecture
Years built
18/19/20c
Administration
DioceseSouthwark
ArchdeaconryWandsworth
DeaneryRichmond & Barnes
ParishSt Anne, Kew
Clergy
BishopRt Revd Christopher Chessun
VicarRevd Canon Dr Giles Fraser
Listed Building – Grade II*
Official name
Parish Church of St Anne
Designated10 January 1950
Reference no.1194022
Arms of Queen Anne

St Anne's Church, Kew is a parish church located in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames (historically in Surrey), adjacent to the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew. The neo-classical building, which dates from 1714 and is Grade II* listed, forms the central focus of Kew Green. Its raised churchyard, which is on three sides of the church, has two Grade II* listed monuments – the tombs of the artists Thomas Gainsborough (1727–1788) and Johan Zoffany (1733–1810).

French Impressionist Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), a frequent visitor to England, was resident at 10 Kew Green when painting St Anne's as Church at Kew (1892).

Services

On Sundays St Anne's Church holds a traditional Said Eucharist, a Sung Eucharist and (on the first Sunday of the month) Choral Evensong.

Music

St Anne's Church houses a 19th-century pipe organ and is a venue for concerts, including those of the local orchestra, Kew Sinfonia.

History

Founded in 1714 as a chapel within the parish of Kingston on ancient royal manorial land dedicated by Queen Anne, St Anne's Church has been extended several times since:

St Anne's present parish hall, at right angles to the church and incorporating the previous choir vestry, was built in 1978. Its design echoes the materials and forms of the original church building.

Features and ornaments

A collection of funerary hatchments honouring deceased royal or noble parishioners is on display in front of the church gallery, flanking a rare representation of Queen Anne's coat of arms. A hatchment commemorating George III's son, King Ernest Augustus of Hanover, was hung at St Anne's in 1851 and is now in the Museum of Richmond's collection. Inside the church are fine memorials, including those to the families of Sir William Jackson Hooker and Sir Richard Levett, beneath the tower which is inscribed: "Within this vault lie the remains of Sir Richard Levett, Knight, of Kew. Also of Lady Mary Levett, his wife, who died October 15th, 1722".

Just outside the church walls on its south side, is the Kew War Memorial, in the form of a large stone cross, commemorating the local soldiers who fell in the First and Second World Wars. Their names are listed not on the memorial but inside the church on a monument by William Sharpington.

Parish events

Baptisms

Marriages

Burials

Formerly buried at St Anne's

Notable clergy and officers

Canon Giles Fraser is the parish's vicar; he took up his post in 2022. Former churchwardens of St Anne's include Anthony Saxton (1934–2015).

Church exterior

Church interior

Tombs and gravestones

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Cummings, Rosie (August 2007). "St Anne's Church. Kew Green, Kew. London Borough of Richmond: an archaeological watching brief" (PDF). Compass Archaeology. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  2. ↑ Historic England (10 January 1950). "Parish Church of St Anne (1194022)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  3. 1 2 3 4 "The History <of St Anne's Church, Kew". St Anne's Church, Kew. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  4. 1 2 Historic England (10 January 1950). "Churchyard of Church of St Anne, to South of Church (1065407)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 August 2020.
  5. 1 2 Historic England (25 June 1983). "Churchyard of Church of St Anne, to East of Church (1357735)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 24 September 2016.
  6. ↑ Richardson, David. "Pissarro's home on Kew Green". London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Archived from the original on 17 October 2013. Retrieved 30 January 2016.
  7. ↑ "Church at Kew". Camille Pissarro. WikiArt. Retrieved 29 March 2015.
  8. ↑ "Worship". St Anne's Church, Kew. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  9. ↑ www.npor.org.uk
  10. ↑ "Concerts and Events at St. Anne's". St Anne's Church, Kew. Retrieved 5 July 2020.
  11. ↑ "Kew Sinfonia". Retrieved 14 July 2017.
  12. ↑ www.surreygraveyards.org.uk
  13. 1 2 3 4 Cherry, Bridget; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1983). The Buildings of England – London 2: South. London: Penguin Books. p. 503. ISBN 0-14-0710-47-7.
  14. ↑ "The Font". St Anne's Church, Kew. March 2014. Retrieved 17 July 2017.
  15. ↑ "Hatchment from St Anne's Church, Kew, 1821". Highlights of the Collection. Museum of Richmond. Retrieved 29 February 2024.
  16. ↑ "Kew Church Monuments". The Second Website of Bob Speel. Retrieved 1 March 2024.
  17. ↑ Memoriae Flagranti, A Funeral Poem to the Memory of the Honourable Sir Richard Levett, Kt., by E. Settle, City Poet, 1711, Literary Anecdotes of the Eighteenth Century, John Nichols, Nichols Son & Bentley, London, 1814
  18. 1 2 Mollett, Marian (2015). "Remembering the Men of Kew" (PDF). Richmond History: Journal of the Richmond Local History Society. 36: 10–23. ISSN 0263-0958. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  19. ↑ Craven, Stephen (29 November 2012). "War Memorial on Kew Green". Geograph Britain and Ireland. Retrieved 5 June 2015.
  20. ↑ www.burkespeerage.com
  21. ↑ Weir, Alison (1996). Britain's Royal Families: The Complete Genealogy (revised edition). Pimlico, London: Random House. ISBN 978-071267448-5.
  22. ↑ "Wedding Bells" (PDF). Journal of the Kew Guild. 2: 463. 1910 – via Kew Guild.
  23. 1 2 3 4 5 "St Anne's Church, Kew Green" (PDF). Local History Notes from Richmond Libraries' Local Studies Collection. London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. Retrieved 1 July 2015.
  24. ↑ Pagnamenta, Frank. "Royal Gardeners at Kew – The Aitons". Richmond Local History Society.
  25. ↑ "Aiton, William (1731–1793), horticulturist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/260. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  26. ↑ "Aiton, William Townsend (1766–1849), horticulturist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/262. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  27. ↑ "Aiton, William (1731–1793), horticulturist". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/260. Retrieved 12 May 2023.
  28. ↑ Verdcourt, Bernard (1987). "John Patrick Micklethwait Brenan". Kew Bulletin. 42 (2): 286–29. JSTOR 4109685.
  29. ↑ www.exploringsurreyspast.org.uk
  30. ↑ "Restoration of Thomas Gainsborough's tomb". Richmond Guardian. London. 7 March 2011. Archived from the original on 18 January 2012. Retrieved 1 December 2011.
  31. ↑ "The Restoration of the Tomb of Sir Thomas Gainsborough". Minerva Conservation. 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2023.
  32. ↑ Dunbar, Janet. A Prospect of Richmond (1977 ed.). George Harrap. pp. 199–209.
  33. ↑ Whittingham, Selby (November 2009). "Haverfield". Brentford High Street Project.
  34. ↑ www.rct.uk
  35. ↑ www.royalacademy.org.uk
  36. ↑ Howard, Joseph Jackson. Miscellanea Genealogica et Heraldica, Vol. II, Hamilton, Adams, and Co., London, 1876, p. 13.
  37. ↑ Lysons, Daniel (1796). "Appendix: Corrections to volume 1, Burials in the Kew Church". The Environs of London: Counties of Herts, Essex & Kent. London: Institute of Historical Research. p. 459. Retrieved 14 December 2012.
  38. ↑ "Biography of Sir Richard Levett (1629−1711), and his family". Manuscripts and Special Collections. University of Nottingham. Retrieved 8 December 2013.
  39. ↑ www.kew.org
  40. ↑ Knowles, Rachel (8 April 2013). "Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge". Regency History. Retrieved 22 December 2025.
  41. ↑ www.gov.uk
  42. ↑ www.richmondandbarnesdeanery.org

Further reading