Tag Archives: St Anne’s Limehouse

1600s, 1700s, Architects, Churches, Freemasonry

Nicholas Hawksmoor

1661-1736

Hawksmoor was an architect who began to work for Christopher Wren at 1680. He helped Wren with several City churches including St Paul’s cathedral.

In 1711 he was commissioned to help build around 50 churches in Greater London. Within the City his only church was St Mary Woolnoth which was completed in 1724 . Other churches included St. George-in-the-East, Wapping (1729), Christ Church, Spitalfields (1729) and St. Anne in Limehouse (1730) where you may find a Pyramid in the churchyard.

1700s, Churches, Fiction, Freemasonry

Limehouse Pyramid

In the churchyard of St Anne’s Church in Limehouse, north-west of the church itself is a tall pyramid.

In the stories of Sax Rohmer this was the entrance to Dr Fu-Manchu’s opium den!

The pyramid was built by Nicholas Hawksmoor who was also the architect of the church itself.

Its purpose is unclear though Hawksmoor often incorporated pyramids in his designs and it might originally to have been intended to be part of the church roof or tower.

It does have an inscription “The Wisdom of Solomon”. This may be because Solomon’s temple features in the mysticism and ritual of Freemasonry and Hawksmoor was an early freemason.

The Pyramid features in my Docklands North Bank walk