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We offer daily services and a creative programme of talks, events and concerts. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
Come and celebrate the hope and light that Christmas brings each winter
St James’s hosts inclusive services and a cultural programme. We seek to be a welcoming space for people to reflect, create and debate.
St James’s is a place to explore, reflect, pray, and support all who are in need. We are a Church of England parish in the Anglican Communion. This is a place for everyone who’s wondering about life’s big questions and striving for a better world.
We host a year-round creative programme encompassing music, visual art and spoken word, drawing on St James’s rich cultural history including artists, writers and musicians Mary Beale, Mary Delany, William Blake, Ottobah Cugoano and Leopold Stokowski.
We try to put our faith into action by educating ourselves and speaking out on issues of injustice, especially concerning refugees, asylum, earth and racial justice, and LGBTQ+ issues.
We aspire to be a home where everyone can belong. We’re known locally and globally for our unique history and beauty, as well as faith in action, creativity and the arts, and a commitment to social and environmental justice.
We strive to be a Eucharist-centred, diverse and inclusive Christian community promoting life in abundance, wellbeing and dignity for all.
St James’s Piccadilly has been at the heart of its community since 1684. We invite you to play your part in securing this historic place for generations to come.
It costs us £3,500 per day to enable us to keep our doors open to all who need us
Your donation will help us restore our garden in Piccadilly as part of The Wren Project, making it possible for us to welcome over 300,000 people from all faiths and walks of life seeking tranquillity and inspiration each year.
St James's Church 197 Piccadilly London W1J 9LL
Directions on Google Maps
‘God Almighty first planted a garden. And indeed, it is the purest of human pleasures.’ – Francis Bacon 1909-1992
The Southwood Garden at St James’s is tucked between Jermyn Street and Piccadilly. It provides a place of quiet and respite in the heart of London’s West End.
Achieving a Green Flag Award in 2022, the garden is open throughout the year from 8am to 6.30pm (10am to 5.30 pm on Bank Holidays). You are always welcome to visit.
Local residents, the Church community, office workers and tourists come to the garden for its peace and sanctuary. It is rare spot located away from the busy street, where visitors can meet friends and enjoy lunch from the food market in the Church’s courtyard.
The Church is keen to encourage biodiversity and sees its garden as a vital habitat for wildlife. The Southwood Garden is made up of paving, lawns and flower beds containing a mix of evergreen and deciduous shrubs, perennials, spring bulbs and mature trees. On a warm day, bees arrive to enjoy the pollinator-friendly planting. The soil is riddled with juicy worms for the resident blackbirds and each March a pair of mallard ducks set up home. Lucky visitors can spot their ducklings paddling in the fountain.
For over 200 years, this plot to the West of the Church, was used as a burial ground for the parish. After the war of 1939–45 Viscount Southwood provided money for the ‘green’ churchyard to be made into a garden of remembrance ‘to commemorate the courage and fortitude of the people of London’.
The garden was opened in 1946 by Queen Mary, and contains a memorial, designed by Alfred F Hardiman, to Viscount Southwood (1873–1946) and his wife (1865– 1951); there is a statue of Peace also designed by Hardiman, standing in the garden.
‘Occasionally the garden is closed for private events or maintenance work.
Our gardener Catherine Tidnam comments:
‘I love the fact that the Southwood Garden is used by different people, for different things – lunch breaks, business meetings, events or just a moment’s peace and quiet. My interest in horticulture is simple – how can you use it to lift people’s spirits, create a sense of place and give visitors the opportunity to engage in the natural world in the heart of the city. The garden is filled with shade and drought tolerant plants, which express this woodland-edge environment.’
St James’s garden flies the flag for good quality green space
These autumn leaves have fallen from the London Plane trees, planted in the 19th century, that surround the garden. They start falling at the end of the summer with the last few coming down in December. This year’s dry autumn has made them redder.
Leaf fall is triggered by the shorter and cooler days of autumn. The cells connecting the leaves to the stem weaken and the leaves fall or are blown off by the wind.
St James’s uses as many of the leaves as possible for leaf mould or ‘black gold’ as gardeners like to call it.
Office workers and tourists come to the garden for its peace and sanctuary.
Easter Dawn
Enquire today about hiring the Southwood Garden
