Stepney Churches: an historical account (Gordon Barnes 1967)

Gordon Barnes (1915-1985) was born near Harrow and lived and worked in London until his retirement in Worcestershire. By 1965 he was one of the foremost authorities on Victorian churches in London. He was a first rate photographer, using large format photographic equipment to record churches and their fixtures and fittings to a professional standard. He was a member of the Ecclesiological Society, and their Chairman from 1964 to 1965, and also became a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries in 1983. In the mid 1970s he was awarded Leverhulme Trust funding for 'Photographic Recording of the work of Nineteenth Century Architects'.

His 1967 Stepney Churches: an historical account is a valuable account of the Anglican presence in the East End of London.

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CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER OF THE CHURCHES OF STEPNEY WITH YEAR OF CONSECRATION

CHURCH	LOCATION	CONSECRATED	NOTE
St Dunstans & All Saints	Stepney Green	13th & 15C	Still standing and still functioning. Liberal anglo-catholic. It's website.
Holy Trinity	Minories	14thC	Converted from the chapel of a nunnery, Holy Trinity was in use as a church from the 16thC until the end of the 19thC. It survived as a parish hall until it was destroyed by bombing during World War II. Wiki entry.
St Mary Matfelon	Whitechapel	13thC & 1877	Last rebuilt in the 19th century, firebombed during the Blitz, leading to its demolition in 1952. Its nave's stone footprint forms the basis of Altab Ali Park.
St John at Wapping	Wapping	1617 & 1760	Built as a Chapel of Ease in 1615-17. The present remains date from 1756. Bombed during World War II. The tower remains. The tower was restored in 1964 by the London County Council and the remainder converted into flats in the 1990s. Wiki entry.
St Paul	Shadwell	1670 & 1820	Built 1656. Originally known as the Church of Sea Captains (it is believed that 75 sea captains are buried here). Rebuilt in 1669 as the Parish Church of Shadwell. Then demolished in 1817 and the present building, a Waterloo church designed by John Walters, was erected in 1821. It became a 'church plant' in 2005 when a team from Holy Trinity Brompton was invited "to Shadwell to minister with the existing members of St. Paul's in serving the local area". Being an HTB Plant St Paul's now stands in the charismatic and evangelical Anglican tradition. Parish web.
Christ Church	Spitalfields	1729	Built between 1714-1729 (Nicholas Hawksmoor). By 1960 derelict and unsafe. A local group staved off the threat of wholesale demolition of the empty building—proposed by the then Bishop of Stepney—and ensured that the roof was rebuilt with funds from the sale of the bombed out shell of St John's, Smith Square, now a concert hall. Now  part of the charismatic and evangelical Holy Trinity Brompton network. Parish web.
St George in the East	Cannon Street Road	1729	Built from 1714 to 1729. Hit by a Second World War bomb in May 1941. The original interior was destroyed by the fire, but the walls and distinctive "pepper-pot" towers stayed up. In 1964 a modern church interior was constructed inside the existing walls. Liberal anglo-catholic. Parish website.
St Anne	Limehouse	1730
St Philip	Newark Street	1823 & 1892
St James	Ratcliff	1838
St Peter	Cephas Street	1838
St Thomas	Arbour Square	1838
Holy Trinity	Tredegar Square	1839
St Mark	Goodman Fields	1839
All Saints	Buxton Street	1839
Christ Church	Watney Market	1841
St Mary (Wheler Chapel 1670)	Spital Square	1842
St Paul	Dock Street	1847
St Jude	Whitechapel	1848
St Mary	Cable Street	1850
St John the Evangelist	Halley Street	1853
St Paul	Bow Common	1858 & 1960
St Matthew	Pell Street	1859
St Stephen	Commercial Street	1861
St Peter	London Dock	1866
St John the Evangelist	Grove Street	1869
St Luke	Burdett Road	1869
St Matthew	Commercial Road	1871
St Benet	Mile End Road	1872
St Olave	Hanbury Street	1875
Christ Church	Jamaica Street	1877
St Anthony	Globe Road	1879
St Augustine	Settles Street	1879
St Faith	Shandy Street	1891

The above table is taken from Gordon Barnes' 1967 book: he notes "A total of 34 churches of which only 12 remain". Today, even fewer remain.