Beautiful Eton # 1 - Parish Church Tower

I've been taking a lot of photographs of Eton recently. In the mornings, when I take our Internet shopping orders to the post office before opening the shop, the light has been lovely. I thought I would share a few high lights of our high street. Starting with the Church. Or a little bit of it anyway.

The foundation stone of the present neo-Gothic building was laid on October 21st 1852, by Prince Albert. The church tower shown in the photo, was apparently built in 1954 to replace an earlier spire. The magnificent spire having been removed in the 1940s after a series of cycles of damage and repairs. Looking at the tower over the roof tops, the church is assumed to be much smaller than it actually is. Looking from ground level, where you can see the building itself reveals it to b about 2/3 of the size of the college chapel. Far larger than perhaps was ever necessary for a town the size of Eton.

The nave is now the Eton College Sanatorium, and the tower provides accommodation for staff. The ground floor of what was the Sanctuary and Cancel is now the town's GP surgery, and above this is the present church of St John the Evangelist. What a fantastic example of a building being adapted to suit the needs of the town's people.