I voted for Charn, but, I am not certain. If this is just another scene in London I would not be opposed but, the amount of scenes in London kind of worries me since I usually assume that for the amount of scenes they will have to take out scenes out of Charn, Narnia, or the Wood Between the Worlds unless they want it to be a really long movie. They might cut the creation scene to be shorter or take out one of my favorite scenes just to keep adding these extra scenes. 

Overall, I would not be opposed to Digory praying for his mother or thanking God after his mum is healed as a scene, I just overly worry about extra scenes.

I don't think, from the photo, that it looks like the ruins of Charn at all; it looks like the interior of a medieval English church, of which there are quite a number in this country, funnily enough.  

Of course any scenes filmed there can be digitally modified afterwards to make it look dark and ruined and scary. But Charn also needs to look other-worldly — and I'd say that even if Jadis wasn't dressed like a character in a low budget sci-fi movie. I'm not quite convinced that this is the right location for it.

On the other hand, I can't think of much else it could be in the context of this particular story — unless, as Fantasia suggests, they're going to show Digory praying for his mother. But then Lewis stated at least once that he wanted the Narnia books to take Christianity out of those solemn settings of stained glass and hushed voices and so on. So I can't see that idea fitting with the story either.

In short, I haven't voted, because there isn't an option for "I really don't know"!!  

It's a lovely old church, but if it's not going to be immediately recognised as used in other productions, it would need to be a very small amount of time, or some different angles or parts of the church, for instance the undercroft/crypt (if there is one ). I don't think it will be Charn, but a part of the London scenes, as it's in the old City (the square mile), just a short walk north of St Pauls.

(In fact, if you walk north up St Martins Le Grand, you'll pass Gresham Street, but the buildings I've seen on that one are too modern to include it as an easter egg)

I could see it being used for ‘the hall of images’ in Charn. It also reminds me a lot of the outdoor architecture (the ruins) in Pauline Baynes pictures, so with a bit of dressing and VFX, I could see this even looking like outdoor Charn.

wouldn’t surprise me though if they visit a Cathedral in the course of Jadis rampage  - it may even be reminiscent to her of something she recognises from Charn.

I will say that one point for Charn, the church is closed to the public from the 9th to the 18th. If it was just Digory praying for his mother, I would think that'd take less than a day. It'll be interesting to see what it turns out to be.

Posted by: @courtenay

In short, I haven't voted, because there isn't an option for "I really don't know"!!

Sorry.  

Hmm... at this point I am undecided.  I am leaning toward the idea that it is a Charn scene at the moment, but is it entirely fitting with the costuming of Jadis?  I'm not too sure... The possibility of a scene where Digory is praying for his mother or thanking God for her recovery I find interesting too, but as @courtenay pointed out, that doesn't seem entirely fitting with what Lewis was doing in the Narnia books and too much religious imagery.  Therefore, I will refrain from voting, until I have a little more clue as to the nature of this scene - hopefully not a clear giveaway though!  

Posted by: @fantasia

I see in the news comments @icarus and @impending-doom believe the church will perhaps feature in Charn. And several other commenters think the same thing.

For for what it's worth I said that I would have been certain it's for Charn, if it weren't for Jadis costume. 

On its own, I do think the location is a good fit for the hall in Charn... Big oak doors, stone columns, lots of arches, the incredibly aged and weathered look of it all. I think it's unfair to say it looks just like any other old church in the UK, because this one is even older still, and a lot grander than most of a comparable age, and it definitely shows. 

That said, Jadis' costume clearly has both Sci-Fi and Roman design inspirations, and this is neither.

Also, the somewhat dirty and grimey aesthetic they seem to be shooting the real world scenes in Bradford and Manchester, with lots of Browns in the colour palette, would also match this vibe as well.

However, the potentially longer set-up time here does suggests either  greater degree of set preparation (at St James's Park they just rocked up on the Saturday and started shooting straight away) or an extensive amount of scenes - both of which suggest the Hall of Charn over a Church.

Also we haven't seen any photos online yet of extras in period costumes milling around outside, so potentially there isn't a big congregation present. 

I think though the main reason that most people are eager for this to be Charn however, is that it would signify a much more book accurate depiction of the scene than many are expecting... I think most people are expecting Charn to look like a disco infused version of the Planet Krypton, therefore a nice bit of dusty and dirty medieval stonework would be a slight relief. 

On the one hand, I want the scene to be on Earth because, like Courtenay, I feel the church's interior looks too English, even too Anglican, to work well as the hall of images or, really, anywhere else in Charn.

On the other hand, I want the scene to be in Charn because, like Eustace, I'm tired of hearing about new scenes in England and I want to hear that the movie is filming scenes that are actually from the book. The closest we've gotten is Jadis charging on a horse through London and even that's kind of different from the book. 

My guess is it will be used in one of the London scenes, likely Digory praying for his mother.  HOWEVER, if it is used in Charn, I believe it will be digitally enhanced/tweaked.  I can see the Charn sequences using some of the architecture as inspiration.  And maybe the closeups of Digory and Polly interacting with Jadis will be filmed in the church, but the backgrounds will be altered.  I'm sure most of the Christian iconography would be replaced with something else if it is indeed Charn.

I think Courtney and coracle have answered my first question, which was, "is this church an Iconic London Landmark" with "no but it is English".

I'm a couple grains of salt closer to anticipating this to be something in our world but it would be a lovely Hall of Images.

The descriptions of Charn in the book are somewhat vague.  We are told that it is made out of stones, looks ancient and has lots of pillars, but is is hard to determine whether it is other worldly or familiar:

...They were standing on a flat paved surface and buildings rose all around them. There was no roof overhead; they were in a sort of courtyard. The sky was extraordinarily dark—a blue that was almost black. 

…

The walls rose very high all round that courtyard. They had many great windows in them, windows without glass, through which you saw nothing but black darkness. Lower down there were great pillared arches, yawning blackly like the mouths of railway tunnels. It was rather cold.

The stone of which everything was built seemed to be red, but that might only be because of the curious light. It was obviously very old. Many of the flat stones that paved the courtyard had cracks across them. None of them fitted closely together and the sharp corners were all worn off. One of the arched doorways was half filled up with rubble.

…

They did this and went quietly up to one of the big arched doorways which led into the inside of the building. And when they stood on the threshold and could look in, they saw it was not so dark inside as they had thought at first. It led into a vast, shadowy hall which appeared to be empty; but on the far side there was a row of pillars with arches between them and through those arches there streamed in some more of the same tired-looking light.

…

When they had reached the other side they came out through the arches and found themselves in another and larger courtyard.

“That doesn’t look very safe,” said Polly, pointing at a place where the wall bulged outward and looked as if it were ready to fall over into the courtyard. In one place a pillar was missing between two arches and the bit that came down to where the top of the pillar ought to have been hung there with nothing to support it. Clearly, the place had been deserted for hundreds, perhaps thousands, of years.

…

They went on out of that courtyard into another doorway, and up a great flight of steps and through vast rooms that opened out of one another till you were dizzy with the mere size of the place. Every now and then they thought they were going to get out into the open and see what sort of country lay around the enormous palace. But each time they only got into another courtyard. They must have been magnificent places when people were still living there. In one there had once been a fountain. A great stone monster with wide-spread wings stood with its mouth open and you could still see a bit of piping at the back of its mouth, out of which the water used to pour. Under it was a wide stone basin to hold the water; but it was as dry as a bone. In other places there were the dry sticks of some sort of climbing plant which had wound itself round the pillars and helped to pull some of them down. But it had died long ago. And there were no ants or spiders or any of the other living things you expect to see in a ruin; and where the dry earth showed between the broken flagstones there was no grass or moss.

Based on the description, 'St. Bartholomew the Great -- Anglican church' could fit this description (I think it depends more on how our minds fill the gaps in Lewis' description rather than based on anything he says in the book).

The hall of images does not receive much more description (I assume it is much the same, except it is more 'royal' looking ruins based on what little Lewis says about the room itself):

If you were interested in clothes at all, you could hardly help going in to see them closer. And the blaze of their colors made this room look, not exactly cheerful, but at any rate rich and majestic after all the dust and emptiness of the others. It had more windows, too, and was a good deal lighter.

Based the number of days that they are filming there, I would guess 'The Hall of Images' is a likely candidate for the location.

Edit: Also looking at the image under the title "Medieval Priory" - I can imaging all these pews filled with motionless figures, just add a pillar with a bell in the middle:  St Bartholomew the Great - Medieval Priory image

I'm still very much on the fence about this, as I agree it could look like what some readers picture Charn to be like — as @DavidD says, we're not given a lot of very specific detail in the book. Lewis creates a marvellously eerie atmosphere in those chapters, but he doesn't describe the ruins as looking like medieval English buildings, or like something Roman or Byzantine, or like ancient Persia or India, or like something never seen in our own world. So I agree, whether or not St Bartholomew's "looks like Charn" is more down to each person's individual imagination.

When I said it didn't look like Charn to me, just like a medieval English church, of which there are still quite a few remaining, I wasn't meaning to suggest it looked "just like any old church" — simply that I've visited enough ancient churches in this country that I think instantly of them, not of Charn, when I see those photos of St Bartholomew's! It's obviously hugely impressive, but it doesn't look exotic to me, let alone scary. But with a bit of set-dressing and digital alteration, I'm sure they could make it look still imposing but a lot less churchy and a lot more creepy.

I think the main reason for my hesitation on this question, along with the fact that Jadis's costume is decidedly NOT medieval-looking, is that from what we've seen so far, almost nothing in this film is going to be done "by the book". It may be the same basic plot — it had better be — but all the sets and costumes and other aesthetic aspects that we've glimpsed are completely different from anything that a reader of the book would expect to see in a movie version. So for Charn to be based on a medieval English church interior... yeah, if everything else in this production was being done according to the book, I'd say it's a high probability that this is Charn. Whereas with what we've seen so far, I'd be extremely surprised to find Charn being done in a "traditional" kind of way!

And yet I can't think of anything else they would be using these church interiors for, especially as they're taking more than a day or two to film there. But I'm still not entirely convinced. So I will just remain on the fence and see what it turns out to be when we see the finished product at last...

The filmmakers may be flying a drone, or drones, through it filming. You wouldn't want people in those shots.

Posted by: @courtenay

When I said it didn't look like Charn to me, just like a medieval English church, of which there are still quite a few remaining, I wasn't meaning to suggest it looked "just like any old church" — simply that I've visited enough ancient churches in this country that I think instantly of them, not of Charn, when I see those photos of St Bartholomew's!

Oops - sorry, I misunderstood.  I did not mean to misrepresent you.