Project 300 – Securing the Legacy

A Grade II* listed church at the heart of Holborn for over 300 years — now embarking on an ambitious restoration project supported by the National Lottery Heritage Fund.

The Project

The Grade II* listed church of St George the Martyr Queen Square has been at the heart of Holborn for more than 300 years. Built as a chapel of ease for St Andrew's Holborn Circus in 1706, the church has a fascinating history and is associated with figures who greatly impacted the literary, medical and social landscape of the country — including Revd William Stukeley, antiquarian and rector from 1747-1765, who made some of the earliest maps of Stonehenge; Florence Lees Craven, pioneer of district nursing; and William Brockedon, painter, writer and inventor whose works hang in the National Portrait Gallery, the V&A and the Uffizi.The proximity of two major specialist hospitals, Great Ormond Street Hospital for Children and the National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery, makes the church an ideal refuge for pastoral support and quiet contemplation for people often facing some of the greatest challenges of their lives.However, over 300 years of continuous use, wear and tear have taken a toll on this architectural gem. From restoration of its unique Hawksmoor ceiling and columns to window replacement, tower repairs and full redecoration, St George the Martyr requires extensive capital work to safeguard the church, remove it from the Heritage at Risk Register, improve its facilities, and engage more people with its history and heritage.In December 2024, we were awarded a £380,000 development grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund. Using money raised by National Lottery players, the Fund supports projects that connect people and communities with the UK's heritage.Proposed WorksSGTM is proud to be working with a range of specialist consultants — including Roger Mears Architects, Headland Design, Back Row, Azure Oxford, Leah Harrison Bailey Limited and Oculus Management — and local organisations, to carry out this ambitious project. The proposed works are set to make a lasting impact by:• delivering urgent repair and conservation works to preserve this historically significant church, including its important Hawksmoor ceiling, and enable its removal from the Heritage at Risk Register• transforming underutilised spaces to further develop the church as welcoming, active and inclusive• delivering sustainability by renewing heating, lighting and AV systems, increasing its impact culturally, commercially and for the community• animating the church as a resource for local residents and workforce, users of local health institutions and visitors to the area• sharing the church's wonderful history and the untold stories of the fascinating people associated with itRepairs and ConservationThe Church Conservation Management Plan describes the interior of SGTM as of exceptional architectural interest. The project will repair and conserve key elements of this interior, addressing deteriorating fabric, outdated services, environmental inefficiencies, limited internal facilities and ancillary space, and pressures arising from the growth of the congregation and local community.Building ConditionThe project will address the serious structural deterioration that has taken place over time and carry out much needed decoration.The Ceiling"Hawksmoor's interventions… have exceptional significance by virtue of their architectural quality and their rarity, comparable to only four surviving complete church interiors by Hawksmoor…" — Alan Baxter Associates (2004)The most significant aspect of the church is the magnificent plaster ceiling, introduced during the 1718 "beautification" under the influence of Nicholas Hawksmoor and the Commission for Fifty New Churches. The church was included on the Historic England Heritage at Risk Register in 2018 following its partial collapse.Animating the Church for EveryoneThe project is also giving us the chance to further animate the church and develop it as a resource for local residents, students and workers, users of local health institutions, and visitors to the area. SGTM wants to welcome everyone, of any faith or none, who lives, works, studies or passes through the area.Sharing the Church's Wonderful HistoryThe church has a fascinating history and is associated with a range of figures who have changed the architectural, literary, medical and social landscape of the country. The project will enable us to engage and excite a wider range of people in the church's wonderful heritage — read more in Our History below.Current Progress and Next StepsIn this development phase of the project, which runs to Spring 2027, we'll work with architects, surveyors and community consultants to plan the conservation work, design new facilities, develop our community activities and events programming, and develop a business plan.These designs and plans will form the basis of our £3.5m Delivery Phase Grant Application to the Heritage Fund. If approved, we'll move to the Delivery Phase in Autumn 2027, with work completing in Winter 2029/30.

How to Help

We have secured the majority of the funds required for the development stage — the total cost of which is £613,889 — from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, the church's own limited reserves and the London Diocesan Fund, leaving a shortfall of £92,000.We hope you will consider making a donation towards this project, helping us to save this magnificent church, secure its future, and engage larger and more diverse audiences in its fascinating history and heritage. A donation of any size will take us one step further to realising our transformative project.How do I give?You can give online by simple BACS payment. To set this up, please email [email protected] for the account details, stating that you want to donate specifically to Project 300.If you are a UK taxpayer, you can enable us to claim Gift Aid on your donation by giving through ChurchSuite Donate.

Our History

The whole of England is divided into parishes, making a map of the country look rather like a patchwork quilt of spiritual care by the Church of England. One such "patch" is the parish of Saint George the Martyr, Queen Square, established in 1723, situated at the very heart of the bustling global crossroads that is London.Before the late seventeenth century, the area now covered by St George the Martyr, Queen Square was still rural. Built in 1706, St George's began life as a chapel-of-ease for the inhabitants of the new houses on Queen Square, which lay some way from the old parish church of St Andrew's, Holborn Circus. As London expanded rapidly, the 1711 Commission for Building Fifty New Churches made the chapel a new parish church in 1723. They upgraded and expanded the building, including a magnificent ceiling by Nicholas Hawksmoor, and gave the church responsibilities for education and poor relief in the area. A site was also acquired for a burial ground, now known as St George's Gardens.The church has a fascinating history and is associated with a range of figures who have changed the architectural, literary, medical and social landscape of the country. Our research into this history is ongoing, but here are some aspects we know already. We owe special thanks to Maresha Mead, parishioner and volunteer historian, for all her research to date.ArchitectureSt George's has been remodelled several times. Changes were made to the church in 1721 by Nicholas Hawksmoor, Baroque English architect and apprentice to Sir Christopher Wren, to make the building more suitable for use as a parish church, with responsibilities for births, marriages, care for the poor and funerals. As well as a ceiling employing the classical circle in a square motif, signifying eternity within the four corners of the earth, this renovation added a font, a reredos with the Ten Commandments, pillars and all-round gallery seating to ensure the whole community could see the worship. A Crang and Hancock organ was added in 1776.A later Victorian remodelling by architect Samuel Sanders Teulon introduced a 'muscular gothic' style, probably intended to connect the neo-classical building — whose style had come to connote impersonality and dehumanising regularity — back to the more person-centred, craft-centred and socially equal world of the early Middle Ages. This was, at any rate, the architectural thesis of John Ruskin, who taught at the Working Men's College, and of William Morris, who had a house and shop featuring fairly-waged, artisanal homewares at 26 Queen Square.WW2 left the church in a state of disrepair, with broken windows, rotten timbers and an unsafe roof, and the building was condemned as unfit by the Diocese. A campaign in time for the 250th Anniversary of the parish in 1956 raised money from St George's congregations around the world to make the building habitable and safe again. The stained-glass window of St George, the Roman soldier martyred for his faith in 303, dates from this renovation, signifying courage, endurance and peace in the midst of conflict.MedicineThe best-known rector of St George the Martyr was the Revd William Stukeley, who led the church from 1747 until his death in 1765. He had a wide-ranging and enquiring mind, and had been a medical practitioner before taking Holy Orders at the age of 42. Turning his expertise in anatomy towards the unpeeling of the layers of history in archaeological sites, he became fascinated by the stones of Stonehenge and Avebury, believing them to be the remnants of pre-Christian Druidic religion — an idea that also inspired the poet William Blake. Stukeley's careful maps of Stonehenge, detailed in his 1740 book Stonehenge: A Temple Restor'd to the British Druids, are still useful to archaeologists today because they record the site before it was disturbed by later digging.Florence Craven Lees pioneered district nursing in London — nursing care provided at home or in convalescent homes. She was friends with Florence Nightingale, served in the Franco-Prussian War, and eventually wrote Guide to District Nurses and Home Nursing (1889), which became the central manual for all London nurses. She was awarded numerous medals for her work, and became famous before marrying Rev. Dacre Craven, rector of St George's, in 1879.The John Back Ward in the National Hospital for Neurology is named in honour of this former rector, who was a generous supporter of the hospital.Literature and ArtsWilliam Cowper (1731–1800), the poet and hymn-writer, worshipped at St George's in his younger years as he trained for the bar.William Brockedon, painter, writer and inventor, was often made uncomfortable by mountain weather, and invested in Mackintosh's new water-proofing system, using the rubber technology to invent more air-tight seals for chemical flasks. His dissatisfaction with the quality of pencils available for his sketches led him to invent a new kind of artificial compressed lead — graphite — still in use today. Unexpectedly, this also led to the first accurate pill-compressing machine, which required no extra binders or fillers to interfere with the medicine's effect — a discovery for which he is remembered in the Science Museum today. He was one of very few people to be a member simultaneously of the Royal Academy, the Royal Geographical Society and the Royal Society, and his portraits of mid-Victorian artists, explorers, writers and scientists can still be seen at the National Portrait Gallery.John Leech, caricaturist for Punch, lived in Great Ormond Street and attended the church. He illustrated the first edition of Dickens' A Christmas Carol.Four months after they met, Sylvia Plath and Ted Hughes — two of the most acclaimed poets of the 20th century — married on 16th June 1956 in the church. Ted Hughes immortalised the day in his poem 'A Pink Wool Knitted Dress'. The couple lived nearby in Rugby Street.Social ReformSt George's is sometimes called "The Sweeps' Church". This name derives from the benefaction of Captain James South, who in 1834 bequeathed £1,000 to the rector and church wardens to apply the interest to providing "a Christmas dinner for one hundred poor boys" apprenticed to chimneysweeps in the Cities of London and Westminster. Each Christmas the sweeps' boys came to the church and, after the service, had their dinner. The terms of the will provided that each should receive half a pound of roast or boiled beef, half a loaf of bread, half a pound of potatoes, half a pint of ale or porter, half a pound of plum pudding and a new shilling.