ST ALFEGE Church recently celebrated the thousandth anniversary of the martyrdom of its patron saint, Alfege. The current church is the third to occupy the site since Alfege's murder at the hands of Vikings a millennium ago. The church was built early in the 18th century, designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor and funded by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches.
On the north and south sides of the church are entrances into the crypt (above). It was used for the interment of bodies in family vaults between the 1750 and 1859.
The St Alfege Church crypt is the final resting place for famous names from Greenwich history such as General Wolfe and John Julius Angerstein. Bodies including that of Thomas Tallis are buried below the crypt, from the church's previous incarnation.
The church has in the past opened the crypt as part of Open House weekend so look out for opportunities to visit this year.
The current church will have its 300th anniversary in 2018, and restoring the crypt to make it more accessible is one of the aims of the St Alfege Restoration project.
Wow this is an amazing hidden secret – they should charge entry and make an attraction out of this – i would love to go and see that.
Many years ago (Far too many) it could be hired out for private parties etc. I can remember, only just in some cases, some great disco’s with my amateur football team and a few 21st birthday bashes………where did the time go
I remember, or not, rave style parties called The Crypt many moons ago. They were really jolly good :0) We still talk about them now. Can we do it again?? please??
Brilliant!
Would love to see this opened up to the public occasionally and more than happy to pay for the privelege too.
In the meanwhile at least we have a few some fantastic undercrofts we can use as venues, such as Oliviers jazz place and Davy’s Wine Vaults function room.