St Anne's Church, Wandsworth

St Ann's Hill, Wandsworth, London SW18 2RS

St Anne's church is located on St Ann's Hill in Wandsworth.   Built between 1820-22 to the design of Robert Smirke, who also designed the British Museum, it is a Grade II* listed building in a Greek Revival style.   In 1818 an Act of Parliament was passed to set up a Commission for “promoting the building of churches and chapels in populous parishes”, the so-called Commissioners churches.  The first of these churches were also termed Waterloo churches because they were looked upon as national monuments built in thanksgiving for the victory over Napoleon at Waterloo. St Anne’s was the fifth Waterloo church, initially a Chapel of Ease for All Saints, Wandsworth parish, until becoming a parish in its own right in 1850.  Although the building was completed structurally in 1822, it remained unconsecrated until 1824 because of a dispute between the Bishop of Winchester (the then diocese) and the parish over whether the churchyard should be enclosed by a wall or a fence.  The churchyard remains unconsecrated to this day and thus never became a graveyard.  The original name of St Ann, from the hill on which it stands, was later changed in 1847 to St Anne's-in-the-Fields.

How to get to the venue

The church is at the northern end St Ann's Hill (note the spelling difference), which starts in the south-east corner of the Wandsworth one-way system at the junction with the A3. Wandsworth Town rail station is 10-15 minutes away on foot and there are numerous bus routes (including the 39 & 156) that stop nearby.