A church building, church house, or simply church, is a building used for Christian worship services and other Christian religious activities. The term is used to refer to the physical buildings where Christians worship and also to refer to the community of Christians. Sometimes it is used as an analogy for the buildings of other religions. In traditional Christian architecture the plan view of a church often forms a Christian cross; the center aisle and seating representing the vertical beam with the bema and altar forming the horizontal. Towers or domes may inspire contemplation of the heavens. Modern churches have a variety of architectural styles and layouts. Some buildings designed for other purposes have been converted to churches, while many original church buildings have been put to other uses.
A synagogue is a Jewish house of worship. Synagogues have a place for prayer and may also have rooms for study, a social hall, and offices. Some have a separate room for Torah study, called the בית מדרש beth midrash, lit. "house of study".
Stratford is a district in the East End of London, England, located in the ceremonial county of Greater London. Situated 6 miles (10 km) east-northeast of Charing Cross, Stratford is part of the Lower Lea Valley and includes the localities of Maryland, East Village, Mill Meads, Stratford City and Forest Gate. Historically an agrarian settlement, Stratford was transformed into an industrial suburb, forming part of the metropolitan conurbation of London after the introduction of the railway in 1839. It formed part of the County Borough of West Ham, which became the western half of the London Borough of Newham local authority area in 1965.
The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the same act. The name Newham reflects its creation and combines the compass points of the old borough names. Situated on the borders of inner and outer East London, Newham has a population of 353,134, which is the third highest of the London boroughs and also makes it the 20th most populous district in England.
Cartmel Priory church serves as the parish church of Cartmel, Cumbria, England.
The architecture of cathedrals and great churches is characterised by the buildings' large scale and follows one of several branching traditions of form, function and style that derive ultimately from the Early Christian architectural traditions established in Late Antiquity during the Christianization of the Roman Empire.
Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by-Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
The Metropolitan Cathedral Church of St George, usually known as St George's Cathedral, Southwark is the cathedral of the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Southwark, south London and is the seat of the Archbishop of Southwark.
Bow is an area of East London within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is primarily a built-up and mostly residential area and is 4.6 miles (7.4 km) east of Charing Cross.
The Church of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas is the Anglican parish church of Liverpool. The site is said to have been a place of worship since at least the 1250s. The church is situated close to the River Mersey near the Pier Head. The Chapel of St Nicholas was built on the site of St Mary del Quay, which in 1355 was determined to be too small for the growing borough of Liverpool. It is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II listed building, and is an active parish church in the diocese of Liverpool, the archdeaconry of Liverpool and the deanery of Liverpool North. It is part of the Greater Churches Group. The church was once the tallest building in Liverpool at 53 metres from 1813–1868 when surpassed by the Welsh Presbyterian Church in Toxteth.
In Christianity, a collegiate church is a church where the daily office of worship is maintained by a college of canons: a non-monastic or "secular" community of clergy, organised as a self-governing corporate body, which may be presided over by a dean or provost. In its governance and religious observance a collegiate church is similar to a cathedral, although a collegiate church is not the seat of a bishop and has no diocesan responsibilities. Collegiate churches were often supported by extensive lands held by the church, or by tithe income from appropriated benefices. They commonly provide distinct spaces for congregational worship and for the choir offices of their clerical community.
The Cathedral Church of Our Lady and St Philip Howard is a Roman Catholic cathedral in Arundel, West Sussex, England. Dedicated in 1873 as the Catholic parish church of Arundel, it became a cathedral at the foundation of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton in 1965. It now serves as the seat of the Bishop of Arundel and Brighton.
Old Ford is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets that is named after the natural ford which provided a crossing of the River Lea.
Bow Church is the parish church of St Mary and Holy Trinity, Stratford, Bow. It is located on a central reservation site in Bow Road, in Bow, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. There has been a church on the same site for approximately 700 years. The church was bombed in the Second World War, and the bell tower was reconstructed just after the war.
Custom House is an area in the Silvertown region of the London Borough of Newham in east London, England.
The Orange Tree Theatre is a 180-seat theatre at 1 Clarence Street, Richmond in south-west London, which was built specifically as a theatre in the round. It is housed within a disused 1867 primary school, built in Victorian Gothic style.
St. Anne Catholic Community is a Roman Catholic parish of the Archdiocese of Chicago located in suburban Barrington, Illinois approximately thirty-two miles northwest of Chicago. Originally dedicated in 1884, St. Anne is the only Catholic parish in the Barrington area.
St Francis's Church, Salisbury is an evangelical, charismatic Church of England parish church in Salisbury, Wiltshire, England, a member of the New Wine Network of churches. The church stands in the north of Salisbury, on the A345 Castle Road. Some two hundred people attend its main services.
Church reordering refers to the rearrangement and adaption of churches to accommodate changes in religious practice. More recently it has been used to describe the introduction of secular uses in under-used places of worship, while retaining their primary purpose as places of worship.
Roman Road, is a road in East London, England, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets entirely on the B119 on the B roads network, and lies on the old Roman road in the Roman Empire called the Pye Road running from the capital of the Iceni at Venta Icenorum to Londinium and today hosts a street market. Beginning in Old Ford at its eastern end, it passes into Globe Town and then enters into Bethnal Green to its western end.
Pevsner Architectural Guides, London: East vol 5, ed Bridget Cherry, Yale University Press 2005
Architectural Voices: Listening to Old Buildings, David Littlefield and Saskia Lewis, John Wiley Publishers 2007
