St Anne's Church, Kew

St Anne's Church, Kew
The Parish Church of St Anne, Kew Green
Location	Kew Green, Kew, Richmond TW9 3AA
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Website	www.saintanne-kew.org.uk
History
Founder(s)	Queen Anne
Dedication	12 May 1714
Administration
Parish	St Anne, Kew
Deanery	Richmond & Barnes
Archdeaconry	Wandsworth
Episcopal area	Kingston
Diocese	Southwark
Clergy
Bishop(s)	Christopher Chessun
Vicar(s)	Nigel Worn
Dean	Tim Marwood
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated	10 January 1950
Reference no.	1194022

St Anne's Church, Kew, is a parish church in Kew in the London Borough of Richmond upon Thames. The building, which dates from 1714, and is Grade II* listed, forms the central focus of Kew Green. The raised churchyard, which is on three sides of the church, has two Grade II* listed monuments – the tombs of the artists Johan Zoffany (died 1816) and Thomas Gainsborough (died 1788). The French Impressionist painter Camille Pissarro (1830–1903), who stayed in 1892 at 10 Kew Green, portrayed St Anne's in his painting Church at Kew (1892).

Services

On Sundays the church usually holds three morning services – a Said Eucharist in traditional language, Morning Prayer and a Sung Eucharist. An Evening Prayer is also held.

Communications

St Anne's Church produces a quarterly newsletter, Collect.

History

St Anne's Church in the snow

St Anne's Church and the Kew war memorial in the spring

The church's old baptismal font with the altar in the background. The font was replaced in 2014

Tomb of Johann Zoffany

East end of the church. The small domed building is the cenotaph of Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel

Originally built in 1714 on land given by Queen Anne, as a church within the parish of Kingston, St. Anne's Church has been extended several times since, as the settlement of Kew grew with royal patronage. In 1770, King George III undertook to pay for the first extension, designed by Joshua Kirby who, four years later, was buried in the churchyard. The church became a parish church in its own right in 1788. In 1805, a new south aisle, designed by Robert Browne, was added, along with a gallery for the royal family's own use. Under King William IV it was further extended in 1837 by Sir Jeffry Wyattville. A mausoleum designed by the architect Benjamin Ferrey was added in 1851 and an eastern extension in 1882. Further extensions occurred in 1902, 1979 and 1988. The interior of the roof was repainted in 2013. To mark the church's tercentenary in 2014, the baptismal font was replaced.

The present parish hall, which is at right angles to the church and incorporates the previous choir vestry, was built in 1978. Its design echoes the materials and forms of the church building.

A collection of funerary hatchments honouring deceased royal or noble parishioners is on display in front of the church's gallery, flanking a rare representation of Queen Anne's coat of arms. A hatchment commemorating George III's son, Ernest Augustus I of Hanover, was hung in the church in 1821. It is now in the collection of the Museum of Richmond.

Just outside the church walls, on the south side, is the Kew war memorial, in the form of a large stone cross, commemorating the local people who fell in the First and Second World Wars. Their names are listed not on the memorial, but in the church.

Events

Baptisms

• Francis Perceval Eliot, soldier, auditor and man of letters, 9 October 1755

Marriages

• Francis, Duke of Teck = Princess Mary Adelaide of Cambridge, 12 June 1866

Burials

• William Aiton, first keeper of the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew
• Franz Bauer, the Austrian microscopist and botanical artist, whose epitaph also pays tribute to his brother the botanical illustrator Ferdinand Bauer: "In the delineation of plants he [Franz] united the accuracy of a profound naturalist with the skill of the accomplished artist, to a degree which has been only equalled by his brother Ferdinand"
• George Engleheart, painter of portrait miniatures to the Court of King George III
• Thomas Gainsborough, English portrait and landscape painter
• Rev. Thomas Haverfield, chaplain to Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex
• Sir William Hooker, director of the Royal Gardens at Kew, and his son, English botanist and explorer Sir Joseph Hooker
• Joshua Kirby (1716–1774), 18th century painter known for his work on linear perspective
• Richard Levett, Lord Mayor of London and former owner of Kew Palace; and members of his family, including his grandson, Rev Abraham Blackborne and his wife, and Lincoln's Inn barrister Levett Blackborne, who sold Kew Palace to the Royal family
• John Patrick Micklethwait Brenan, British botanist
• Jeremiah Meyer, English miniature painter
• Johann Zoffany, German neoclassical painter active in England

Formerly buried at St Anne's

• Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge and his wife Princess Augusta of Hesse-Kassel were buried at the east end of the church in 1850 and 1889 respectively, but in 1930 their remains were exhumed and buried at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

See also

• The Barn Church, Kew
• St Luke's Church, Kew

External links

• Official website
• Local History Notes: St Anne's Church, Kew Green
• The Friends of St Anne's Church, Kew