St Mary's Church, Battersea

Watercolour by G. Yates of the interior of St. Mary’s Church in Battersea, looking toward the east end.1826

The watercolour painting depicts the interior of St. Mary’s Church in Battersea, looking toward the east end. The composition features a symmetrical view down the central aisle, leading to a pulpit. Arched windows on both sides, illuminating the wooden pews lining the aisle. Notably, a pulpit stands to the right of centre in the foreground, just before the arched entry to the chancel. There are decorative elements, paired on each of the sides of the transept wall, on the walls such as coats of arm, memorials, stained glass,...

There is an inscription on the top of the watercolour, "Battersea" and one on the bottom " St Mary, Battersea (East End).

Grade I listed St Mary’s stands as Battersea’s oldest place of Christian worship, with roots tracing back to the Anglo-Saxon era, c.800 AD. The current Georgian building, completed in 1777 by architect Joseph Dixon, replaced earlier medieval structures and incorporates elements from its predecessors, including a 14th-century East window.

The church has long been a cultural and spiritual landmark. William Blake married here in 1782, and J.M.W. Turner painted the Thames from its vestry window. Its stained glass windows and monuments commemorate figures such as botanist William Curtis and American Revolutionary Benedict Arnold.

medium: material: watercolour

support: material: paper