Friends of Battersea Parish Church

Support the Friends of Battersea Parish Church and receive our quarterly newsletter with updates on restoration projects and secular events that support, and are supported by, the local community.

St Mary’s is the only Grade I listed church in the Borough of Wandsworth; it is also the only church in London whose graveyard lies quietly alongside the Thames. 

An inherently historic site and a place of worship since Saxon times, the current building dates from 1777. Georgian architect Joseph Dixon’s designs incorporate a river-fronting tetrastyle Doric pedimented porch and a tower with an octagonal wooden steeple. 

Step inside, and over 40 monuments are set round the ground floor and gallery above; these are teamed with four 20th century stained glass windows that commemorate local ‘celebrities’ JMW Turner, William Blake and botanist William Curtis of Chelsea Physic Garden fame, and American-born British military officer Benedict Arnold who is buried in the crypt.