St Mary Abbots, Kensington

St Mary Abbots stands at the corner of Kensington High Street and Kensington Church Street in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. The present building dates from 1872 and was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in a mix of neo-Gothic and early-English styles. Its 85-metre spire is the tallest in London and forms a landmark above the busy junction. The church occupies a site that has held places of worship since the early 12th century. Its railings and fabric are recognised at Grade II* on the National Heritage List for England. The church has survived fires, bomb damage in 1944 and later restorations. The church’s history reaches back to Norman times when the de Vere family gave land to the Benedictine Abbey of St Mary at Abingdon. In 1262 the abbey founded the first Kensington church dedicated to St Mary, giving the building its unusual name. By the late 17th century the medieval church had been replaced by a Renaissance design to suit the fashionable court at Kensington Palace. In the 19th century the vicar John Sinclair led a campaign for a grand new church, choosing Scott as architect. The present interior still contains funeral monuments from the 17th century onwards. Visitors enter through the south door to find a spacious nave and chancel under a high vaulted ceiling. The west front shows a tall window and carved tympanum modelled on Dunblane Cathedral. The north transept holds a window commemorating Sir Isaac Newton. Victorian pews bear burn marks from the 1944 bombing and later repair patches. Outside, the churchyard merges with the playground of the adjacent primary school, founded in 1707. The spire is lit at night to highlight its details, and the bells in the tower include five cast in 1772 and five from 1879.