Charles Church was situated in Vennel Street before the Second World War. It was reputedly one of the last Gothic churches to be built, before the style disappeared.
The Church is now in the centre of the Charles Cross roundabout, preserved as a monument to those civilians who died in Plymouth during the Second World War.
Charles Church was destroyed during the night of March 20th/21st 1941 and consequently nothing remains of the interior. The Council’s Reconstruction Committee resolved on June 15th 1953 that the Council should acquire and demolish the Church. Despite continued cries for it to be demolished, it has been retained and on Saturday November 1st 1958 the Reverend J Allen James, vicar of Charles with St Luke, dedicated it as a fitting memorial to Plymouth’s 1,200 civilian dead in the Second World War.
The remains of those buried in the churchyard that surrounded Charles Church have been re-interred at Efford Cemetery.
Jofreebird's Plymouth DP 