St Giles-in-the-Fields

The West End


Built in what used to be countryside between the City of London and Westminster, St Giles-in-the-Fields isn’t much to look at but its history is a chronicle of London’s most miserable inhabitants. The current structure (1733) is the third to stand on the site of an original chapel built in the 12th century to serve as a hospital for sufferers of Hansen's disease (leprosy).

Until 1547, when the hospital closed, prisoners on their way to be executed at the Tyburn Tree stopped at the church gate and sipped a large cup of soporific ale – their last refreshment – from St Giles’s Bowl. From 1650, the prisoners were buried in the church grounds. It was also within the boundaries of St Giles that the Great Plague of 1665 took hold.

In Victorian times, it was London’s worst slum, often mentioned in Dickens' novels. Today the drug users who hang out around the area make it feel like things haven’t changed much.

An interesting relic in the church (north side) is the plain white pulpit that was used for 40 years by John Wesley, the founder of Methodism.


Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

Nearby The West End attractions

1. Phoenix Garden

0.05 MILES

A tiny patch of wilderness in the heart of London’s theatreland, Phoenix Garden is at charming odds with its surrounds. Dotted with small ponds, thick…

2. Soho Square

0.17 MILES

At Soho’s northern end, this leafy square is the area’s back garden. It was laid out in 1681, and originally named King’s Square; a statue of Charles II…

3. Soho

0.19 MILES

In a district that was once pastureland, the name Soho is thought to have evolved from a hunting cry. While the centre of London nightlife has shifted…

4. St George’s Bloomsbury

0.21 MILES

One of a half-dozen designed by Nicholas Hawksmoor, this superbly restored church (1730) is distinguished by its classical portico of Corinthian capitals…

5. British Museum

0.26 MILES

With almost six million visitors trooping through its doors annually, the British Museum in Bloomsbury, one of the oldest and finest museums in the world,…

6. Bedford Square

0.27 MILES

Lovely Bedford Sq is the only completely Georgian square still surviving in Bloomsbury.

7. Covent Garden Piazza

0.31 MILES

London’s wholesale fruit-and-vegetable market until 1974 is now mostly the preserve of visitors, who flock here to shop among the quaint Italian-style…

8. New London Architecture

0.33 MILES

A large, constantly updated 1:2000-scale model of the capital highlights planned and new buildings, as well as various neighbourhood regeneration…