St Martin-in-the-Fields

The West End

LoginSave

This parish church to the Royal Family is a delightful fusion of neoclassical and baroque styles. It was designed by architect James Gibbs, completed in 1726 and served as a model for many wooden churches in New England, USA. The church is well known for its excellent classical music concerts, many by candlelight (£9 to £32), and its links to the Chinese community (with services in English, Mandarin and Cantonese).

The wonderful Cafe in the Crypt hosts two-hour jazz evenings (£8 to £15; £3.50 standing tickets if concert sold out) at 8pm on Wednesday; there are also free lunchtime concerts at 1pm on Monday, Tuesday and Friday. The shop offers brass rubbing, an activity adored by the Victorians, in which paper is placed over a brass etching and coloured over with a wax crayon so you can take your own copy away (from £4.50).

In 2006, refurbishment excavations unearthed a 1.5-tonne limestone Roman sarcophagus from about 410 CE in the churchyard – a significant find, as this area was far outside the bounds of Roman Londinium.

Transportation

  • underground: Charing Cross

Lonely Planet's must-see attractions

  • The Long Walk, the pathway leading to Windsor Castle is 2 1/2 miles long.

    Windsor Castle

    20.69 MILES

    The world’s largest and oldest continuously occupied fortress, Windsor Castle is a majestic vision of battlements and towers. Used for state occasions, it…

  • Westminster Abbey.

    Westminster Abbey

    0.63 MILES

    A splendid mixture of architectural styles, Westminster Abbey is considered the finest example of Early English Gothic. It's not merely a beautiful place…

  • JUNE 18, 2017: Visitors seated on the shore of Serpentine Lake in Hyde Park.

    Hyde Park

    1.66 MILES

    One of London’s best parks, Hyde Park spreads itself over 142 hectares of neat gardens, wild expanses of overgrown grass and glorious trees. As well as…

  • Images of families enjoying the museum on the first day of opening, abiding by social distancing/Covid-19 regulations. General shots for external Comms which show people enjoying our museum safely. Making of The Modern World Gallery, Science Museum, London, August 2020.

    Science Museum

    2.2 MILES

    The Science Museum will mesmerize with its interactive and educational exhibits covering everything from early technology to space travel. Take the family…

  • Tate Modern museum on the southern bank of the River Thames.

    Tate Modern

    1.19 MILES

    One of London's most amazing attractions, Tate Modern is an outstanding modern- and contemporary-art gallery housed in the creatively revamped Bankside…

  • Evening Big Ben

    Houses of Parliament

    0.64 MILES

    Both the elected House of Commons and the House of Lords, who are appointed or hereditary, sit in the sumptuous Houses of Parliament, officially called…

  • Buckingham Palace in London, United Kingdom.

    Buckingham Palace

    0.89 MILES

    Built in 1703 for the Duke of Buckingham, Buckingham Palace replaced St James's Palace as the monarch's official London residence in 1837. Queen Elizabeth…

  • August 2017: Palm garden at a greenhouse in Kew Royal Botanic Gardens.

    Kew Gardens

    8.14 MILES

    Where else in London can you size up an 18th-century 10-storey Chinese pagoda and a Japanese gateway while finding yourself among one of the world’s most…

View more attractions

Nearby The West End attractions

1. National Portrait Gallery

0.06 MILES

What makes the National Portrait Gallery so compelling is its familiarity; in many cases, you will have heard of the subject (royals, scientists,…

2. National Gallery

0.07 MILES

With more than 2300 European masterpieces in its collection, this is one of the world's great galleries, with seminal works from the 13th to the mid-20th…

3. Trafalgar Square

0.07 MILES

Opened to the public in 1844, Trafalgar Sq is the true centre of London, where rallies and marches take place, tens of thousands of revellers usher in the…

4. Benjamin Franklin House

0.11 MILES

This modest house southeast of Trafalgar Sq is where American statesman Benjamin Franklin lived from 1757 to 1775 as he tried to broker peace with Britain…

5. The Strand

0.15 MILES

In the late 12th century, nobles built houses of stone with gardens along the 'shore' (ie strand) of the Thames. The Strand linked Westminster, the seat…

6. Leicester Square

0.18 MILES

Surrounded by cinemas that host regular film premieres (if you're there at the right time, there will be crowds by the red carpet), Leicester Sq is a…

7. St Paul’s Church

0.24 MILES

When the Earl of Bedford commissioned Inigo Jones to design Covent Garden Piazza, he asked for a simple church 'not much better than a barn'; the…

8. Admiralty Citadel

0.24 MILES

The ivy-covered concrete Admiralty Citadel is a heavily fortified, bomb-proof command and control fortress built for the Royal Navy in 1941 to prepare for…

  • placement: superzone
  • path: Destinations/POIs/superzone
  • possible size: [970, 250], [970, 90], [728, 90], [1, 1],
  • targeting: 
    {
  "url": "england/london/the-west-end/attractions/st-martin-in-the-fields/a/poi-sig/370717/1321927",
  "destination": "The-West-End",
  "continent": "Europe",
  "country": "England",
  "city": "London",
  "neighborhood": "The-West-End",
  "position": "superzone"
}