St George's Garrison Church, Woolwich

The restored ruin with its canopied roof, its blue, red and yellow brick walls, its mosaics and a memorial garden is open to the public on Sundays.

The Wyatt brothers designed a church in the Early Christian/Lombardic Romanesque style with Byzantine influences in the interior.

The church however was no longer needed, as the smaller chapel of St Michael and All Angels at the Royal Military Academy proved to be a suitable replacement.

In 1970 the upper parts of the walls were demolished and a corrugated canopy roof was erected to cover the remainder of the apse.

In 1973 the building was listed for its architectural merits, especially its polychromatic Victorian brick, as well as being part of an historic military ensemble and for demonstrating the impact of an aerial assault, reflected in its ruinous state.

[6] Shortly afterwards the Heritage Lottery Fund awarded a grant of just under £400,000, towards the total cost of £800,000, for much needed conservation work, including the building of a larger canopy roof over the east end of the church.

The narthex at the west end was inspired by Romanesque churches in Northern Italy and consists of three porches with Bath stone columns and carved capitals.

In the chancel various architectural details, mosaics (see below) and commemorative plaques are present, as well as the original altar and the lower part of the pulpit.

The best-preserved panels show ancient Christian symbols such as vines with grapes, a peacock and a phoenix rising from the flames.

One of the columns supporting the arch that separates the chancel and the nave also bears the names of men killed in military conflict up till the Second World War.

On the south and north aisle walls, copper plaques are attached with the names of Royal Artillery men killed in action or of natural causes after World War II.

Included are the names of the victims of the IRA-bombing of the King's Arms in 1974, and fusilier Lee Rigby, who was murdered by Islamic terrorists in Woolwich in 2013.

Church interior in The Illustrated London News , 1863?
Single capital