The Tower

St Anne's Tower
St Anne's Church was consecrated by Henry Compton, Bishop of London on 21 March 1686. The architect was either Sir Christopher Wren or Mr William Talman or, possibly, both. Building began in 1677 on this plot in Soho Fields of a church of Basilican plan about 80 feet long and sixty four feet wide. The church was destroyed by a bomb in September 1940. The tower, however, survived.

The tower visible today is not the original building. The tower built with the original church was seventy feet high and was not completed with a timber spire until 1718, when John Meard, a local carpenter, produced plans for a spire.

By 1800 the tower had become unstable and rebuilding was necessary. The Vestry appointed a "Tower Rebuilding Committee" to manage the task which reported to the Rector at the Annual Vestry Meeting that during the previous year the Rebuilding Committee had held 41 meetings, "and all to no avail"! The Vestry instructed Mr S P Cockerell, Architect, to draw up plans for a replacement tower. The old tower was demolished down to ground floor level and in 1801 the brickwork of the new tower was complete.

By March 1803 the Portland stonework to the bellchamber was in place and the copper cupola finished that May. The original clock bell was cast by Mears & Stainbank of Whitechapel in 1691 and weighing about 1 ton was rehung in the new tower. This is the bell on which the Parish clock strikes.

The ground floor room of the tower is the original vestry room where the public affairs of the Parish of Soho were directed. It was used in this century as a clergy vestry. There is an empty brick vault under the floor some fourteen feet deep. Miss Dorothy L Sayers, former Churchwarden of this Parish and well known novelist and theologian is under the floor.

The first floor room was used for the storage of the Parish records which are now housed by the Archives Department of Westminster City Council. There is some interesting graffiti in this room.

The second floor room houses the Parish clock – a double three-legged gravity escapement installed by Gillett & Johnston (still in existence) in 1884. The clock cost £208 10s 0d and was guaranteed to run within a limit of plus or minus two seconds a week. It still runs within these limits! It was restored in 1979 by Soho clockmaker Michael McCoy to mark the Queen's Silver Jubilee. The clock is wound twice a week and strikes the hours.

The upper floors of the tower are still not easily or safely accessible and contain the enclosed bell chamber with further small enclosed rooms up to the clock dials. Because of the rather peculiar design of the tower it is not possible to see out fom the upper levels of the tower.

The tower was derelict after the bombing though it was used as a chapel for a while in the 1950s. In 1979 it was partly restored by the Soho Society and in 1991 as part of the redevelopment of the whole church site the tower was completely renovated at a cost of some £150,000. The tower is listed Grade II.

The Tower is open on the 'Open House' weekends in London.