En route to Claremont, I stopped at St. George’s, Esher, the small, curiously rustic, old village church, where Thomas Pelham-Holles apparently asked Vanbrugh to install a family pew – not just any old pew, but a private side chapel from which the Duke would have found it hard to see anything except the Vicar in his fine double-decker pulpit. You might have thought that he could have afforded to build a new church.
The church – charming and very unusual:-
The Newcastle Pew from outside:-
The interior of the church:-
And the Newcastle Pew, very correct in its architecture and so not very obviously Vanbrugh. Maybe he was becoming more correct in his old age:-
| Charles | Saumarez | Smith | 
Hi Charles, I spent a year of my childhood school life in St George’s Church, Esher, aged 6 – 7! We were the ‘bulge’ generation and Esher Primary School didn’t have room for us all. Happy memories of play-time in the graveyard. Did you see the amazing relief sculptures of Princess Charlotte? Best, Vivien Vivien Lovell Hon FRIBA FRSA Director Modus Operandi 2 Bleeding Heart Yard London EC1N 8SJ
07951 017677 http://www.modusoperandi-art.comhttp://www.modusoperandi-art.com
What a treat ! Such a beautiful space. And, yes, I did see the relief sculptures too. Charles