Pulling up a Pew
The Churches Conservation Trust was delighted to recently welcome Apollo, one of the world’s longest running and most respected visual arts magazines, to the charming Tudor church of St George’s Church in Esher, Surrey.
Published in Apollo’s March 2026 edition, we are pleased to share with our audiences an extract from their article, which delves into the history of the Chamber Pew that St George’s houses, designed by John Vanbrugh, and which “must have been sat in by more members of the royal family than any small parish church apart perhaps from Sandringham”.
How Vanbrugh built a classical folly in a Tudor church, by Charles Saumarez Smith:
"… St George’s replaced an earlier, medieval building in around 1540, making it one of the first churches to be constructed after the Reformation. Its small, barnlike appearance does little to prepare the visitor for Vanbrugh’s addition nearly two centuries later: as seen from the main interior, a faintly surreal, pedimented Corinthian temple facade that looks like it belongs to the folly of a large estate, or to the royal box in a theatre. The inside of this raised ‘chamber pew’, a brick structure tacked onto the south side of the church, is accessed via a separate entrance outside, with stairs leading up to a warren of box pews. The lucky occupants of the front section of the chamber had more legroom, a view through the columned opening into the nave, and the benefit of a fireplace on either side. How had this curious addition to a small church in Surrey come about?"
"… Instead of having a family chapel as part of the new wing at Claremont, the couple (the Duke of Newcastle and his wife, Henrietta, known as Harriet) travelled by carriage to church to St George’s, a couple of miles away. At a certain point, deciding they needed a private area for themselves and their retinue, they fixed on constructing some kind of side chapel. In 1716, Vanbrugh wrote in a letter to the Duke of Newcastle that he had ‘drawn a Design out for a Seat in Esher Church, which I hope will do’."
"… There was a delay in implementing the addition, because it was only in August 1724 that the Duke was granted a faculty to build a gallery pew and porch to the south of the church and, in April 1725, that the vestry agreed that ‘the Duke of Newcastle may beautify the Church according to his Grace’s pleasure’. The pew’s triangular pediment and the detailing of the columns are more conventionally classical than was normal for Vanbrugh, demonstrating that, late in his career, he was willing and able to design in a Palladian way if required, as demonstrated by the nearly contemporary Temple of the Four Winds (1724) at Castle Howard.
It is assumed that the fine triple-deck pulpit that stands in the main body of the church immediately in front of the Newcastle Pew was constructed at the same time; meaning that, even if the pew’s occupants could not see much of the service, they could at least see the sermon being given, and hear it clearly. The fine carved wooden reredos is in the same style as the pulpit, so it is likely that they would have all be done at the same time…"
Date written: 8th April 2026
