The site of the church of St Peter has long been occupied by a parish church (there was one in the 12th century, if not earlier), but the existing building dates only from 1870.
Under the influence of Archbishop Chicheley, who had himself founded two colleges in imitation of Wykeham, and Thomas Bekynton, king's secretary and privy seal, and other Wyke - hamists, Henry VI., on the 11th of October 1440, founded, in imitation of Winchester College, "a college in the parish church of Eton by Windsor not far from our birthplace," called the King's College of the Blessed Mary of Eton by Windsor, as "a sort of first-fruits of his taking the government on himself."
The parish church of Greenwich, in Church Street, is dedicated to St Alphege, archbishop, who was martyred here by the Danes in 1012.
There are numerous modern churches and chapels, many of them very handsome; and the former parish church of St Nicholas remains, a Decorated structure containing a Norman font and a memorial to the great duke of Wellington.
The parish church of St Mary Magdalene was rebuilt, in 1726-1729, near the site of the old one dating from before the 12th century.
