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The quiet chimes of Earlsfield

St Andrew’s Church, Garratt Lane, Earlsfield, London SW18 4SR

The location of St Andrew's church, Earlsfield, London, UK
The location of St Andrew’s church, Earlsfield, London, UK

Today Earslfield is largely a late nineteenth-century south-west London suburb, although the area has an interesting history dating back much further, and which I have discussed in my article ‘On the Wandle‘.

The church of St Andrew, Earlsfield, was built in two stages between 1888 and 1902. Its two-acre site was given by Magdalen College Oxford, then rapidly developing large tracts of land in the area. Despite the elite landlord the population of the area was then charecterised as “Very poor working class, hawkers and coster-mongers, with a proportion of artisans, railway servants, and a  considerable number of people whose incomes are only sufficient for their own necessities”.

 

Details from a drawing by E W. Mountford, architect, of the proposed church of St Andrew Earlsfield, with newspaper cutting, c.1889. London Metropolitan Archive P95/AND1/063
Drawing by E W. Mountford, architect, of the proposed church of St Andrew Earlsfield, with newspaper cutting, c.1889. London Metropolitan Archive P95/AND1/063
Design for St Andrew Earlsfiled, architect E. W. Mountford. ‘Building News’ 20 November 1891
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK; site plan c. 2016.

The architect for the new church was Edward William Mountford (1855–1908), who undertook a number of church-building commissions in his early career. But he is perhaps best remebered for designing major civic buildings, such as the Sheffield Town Hall (1890) and London’s  Central Criminal Court, ‘the Old Bailey’ (1902).

 

New Sessions House, ‘Old Bailey’, London (1906), architect E.W. Mountford.
Sheffield Town Hall (1897), architect E.W. Mountford.

At the time of its construction, the church was described in a newspaper report as follows:

— NEW CHURCH OF ST. ANDREW, GARRATT LANE, WANDSWORTH —
          The buidling is about to be commenced upon a site presetned by Magdalen College [Oxford], close to Earlsfield Station upon the L. &. S. W. Railway, where a new district has recently been formed, with a population of some thousands, mostly of the working classes.
          The church is necessarily very plain, funds being exceedingly limited. The walls are of brick, faced principally with red: the roofs, covered with Brosely tiles, are internally of tie-beam construction, coiled at the collar. The stone is Doulting, the floor of woood blocks.
          On plan, the church consists of nave, 91 ft. by 30 ft.,  with side aisles and transepts, the chancel being 40ft. by 25 ft., also with north and south aisles, the latter forming [a] side chapel. Seating accomodation for 780 is provided. The choir vestry is large, and will be used as a parisg room. The cost will not exceed 6,500l.  The architect is Mr. E. W. Mountford.

 

St Andrew, Earlsfield, London, UK. West front, detail.
St Andrew Earlsfield c. 1915.Source: Wandworth Libraries and Archives
St Andrew Earlsfield c. 1915.Source: Wandworth Libraries and Archives
St Andrew Earlsfield, c.1900; view along Garratt Lane looking towards Earlsfield Station. Source: Wandsworth Libraries and Archives.
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK c.2015
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, south side looking west, 2016.

Within the church itself there are a number of interesting decorative features and furnishings, described in 1981 by Bridget Cherry and Martin Pevsner in The Buildings of England, as follows (with some additions):
— Altar front, oak with five painted panels depicting saints but with contemporary heads, said to be portraits of those associated with the building of the church
— Chancel steps – white marble and pavement marble.
— Chancel arcade of brick on square stone piers with shafts at the angles, that to west partly in red brick, some with figure or grotesque stops, one said to be the Architect.
— Chancel floor – Rouge Royal and Black from Belgian Quarries.
— Chancel screen, in slender wrought iron, set on brick plinth, installed 1920’s from church of St. Mary, Trinity Road.

 

St Andrew Earlsfield, the font, c 2016. Source ‘https://londonchurchbuildings.coms’, accessed 6/8/17.
St Andrew Earlsfield, looking east, c 2016. Source ‘https://londonchurchbuildings.coms’, accessed 6/8/17.
St Andrew’s church, Earlsfiled, London UK. Clock.

— Doors – oak
— Clock. The large external clock overhanging the west front in an iron frame with filigree decoration, is to Mountford’s design and was installed in 1911: “To the glory of God and in loving memory of his late Majesty King Edward VII. The clock on this church was erected by the residents of Earlsfield, 8th February 1911.” The clock – iluminated at night –  is now maintained by the local authority; its chimes have been disconnected.
— Font, resited in south transept, terracotta with blue stone shafts, Doulton & Co., by G. Tinworth, with counterbalanced oak lid. Octagonal, with four scenes depicting Finding of Moses, Hannah bringing Samuel to Eli, The Saviour in the Manger and The Saviour blessing little children.
— Glass; windows depict British saints, east window by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
— Lectern, freestanding in brass, made by Starke Gardner & Co. designed by Mountford.
— Nave arcade in five bays, deep red brick arches on stone drum piers.

 

St Andrew’s church Earlsfield, London UK, north aisle screen, as in 2017.
St Andrew Earlsfield, eample of nave light fittings, c 2016. Source ‘https://londonchurchbuildings.coms’, accessed 6/8/17.
St Andrew Earlsfield, the font, c 2016. Source ‘https://londonchurchbuildings.coms’, accessed 6/8/17.

— North screen, timber, installed 1935.
— Pendant light fittings, that over pulpit not modified.
— Pews, moveable oak benches, those from western two bays removed.
— Pulpit, a low octagonal stone drum with pierced oak upper tier reached by stone steps.
— Reredos, behind curtain, a painted triptych of the Transfiguration and flanking angels.

 

St Andrew Earlsfield, chancel, sedilla and piscina, c 2016. Source ‘https://londonchurchbuildings.coms’, accessed 6/8/17.
St Andrew Earlsfield, south aisle looking east, chapel, c 2016. Source ‘https://londonchurchbuildings.coms’, accessed 6/8/17.
St Andrew Earlsfield, south aisle looking east, chapel screen, c 2016. Source ‘https://londonchurchbuildings.coms’, accessed 6/8/17.

— Sedilia in two bays with attached piscina and aumbry under cusped stone arches with dragon stops.
— South aisle window by M.Travers.
— South chapel; east window in form of St.Andrew’s cross depicitng head of the saint, set in stone rose with small circular lights, under cusped stone arch.
— Tiles – Minton.
— Vestry retains simple fireplace, choir vestry lined with cupboards, doors and cupboards with reeded architraves.

The Organ

 

St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK; seen from the chancel, 2017.
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK, 2017.
St Andrew Earlsfield, London, UK; the chancel, 2017.

The present pipe organ is by Harrison and Harrison of Durham and was installed in 1921. It replaced an existing organ that was ‘on hire’, but from whom is not currently known. The history of the instrument can be traced in parish records to be found in the London Metropolitan Archive.

According to the ‘faculty’ document the cost of the organ was estimated at £2530, and £1325 was paid in advance with the balance to be met by a public subscription, less a £600-grant made by the Carnegie Trust referred to in the Diocesan faculty document. This would appear to mean that the organ fund stood at £1925 and left the parish with a bill of just about £600,

 

St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK. peadl board, as in 2017.
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK. Watkins and Watson on/off switch at the console, for the blowing machjinery, as in 2017.
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK; builder’s plate.

Indeed, the builder’s specification of 3 June 1919 describes a large three-manual organ, but by 6 September 1919 the specification was already savagely trimmed to just nine stops, with the rest of the instrument being left ‘prepared for’, at a lower cost of £1200, plus £125 for biowing plant by Watkins and Watson (previously agreed, 30 May 1919). This in total is the £1325 referred to in the faculty document. This suggests that either the Carnegie money was not forthcoming or it was used for other things. Possibly it was used to meet the separate (and unforeseen?) costs of having to”remove the present Organ” and having “to erect a Power house upon part of the Vicarage garden, connected by a Wind trunk to the organ through the Church wall.” (LMA DS/F/1921/10/3).

 

St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK. Console, left-hand side in 2017.
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK. Console, right-hand side in 2017.
St Andrew Earlsfield, London UK, the organ (1921) by Harrison & Harrison of Durham, UK. Console, right-hand side in 2017.

Presently, the organ is well maintained, and the nine stops that exist are most attractive in sound. In such a woefully incomplete state many would think that this instrument is barely suited even to the most basic hymn accompaniment. And yet for nearly 100 years the parish liturgy seems to have carried on quite happily with the organ arranged just as it is.

References

  • ‘Earlsfield: St Andrew‘, Find A Church: Diocese of Southwark. Online resource, accessed 12 July 2017.
  • ‘Edward William Mountford‘, Wikipedia. Online resource, accessed 12 July 2017.
  • ‘St Andrew, 571 Garratt Lane‘, National Pipe Organ Register. Online resource, accessed 12 jluly 2017.
  • ‘St Andrew Earlsfield’, The Buildings of England: London 2: South by B. Cherry and N. Pevsner (Harmondsworth, Penguin: 1983) pp. 701-02
  • ‘St Andrew, Garratt Lane, Earlsfield’, London Churches in Photographs. Online resource accessed 6 August 2017.
  • ‘St Andrew, Earlsfield: Garratt Lane, Wandsworth. ‘P95/AND1’, London Metropolitan Archive. [Records deposited by the Vicar in the London County Record Office, 27 February 1957. Further records deposited by the Vicar in the Greater London Record Office, 9 July 1987. Acc/2472 Ac/57/012].

One of the best furnished churches in London

St Augustine of Canterbury, Langdon Park Road, London N6 5QG

“One of the best furnished churches in London”, said the Poet Laureate Sir John Betjeman (1906–84) about the north-London Anglican church of St. Augustine of Canterbury. The church is a Grade-II-listed building that faces the Archway Road, just north of the distinctive bridge spanning that road – created in 1813 by John Nash (1752-1835) – and from which the name of the road and the surrounding district is derived.

Bridge (1813) over the Archway Road, designed by John Nash. as seen before its replacement in 1897.
Bridge (1897-1900) over the Archway Road, by Sir Alexander Binnie.
St Augustine of Canterbury church, Archway Road, seen from the Archway bridge, looking north, 2006.
Junction of Highgate Hill and Archway Road (John Hill, 1770-1850)
Location of St Augustine-of-Canterbury church, Highgate,London N6 5QG

The church as we see it today was created in several stages during the late 19th and early 20th centuries by three architects: John Dando Sedding (1838–91), Henry Wilson (1864–1934), J. Harold Gibbons (1878-1958). It is a distinctive mix of late Victorian Gothic and early twentieth-century Arts and Craft styles.

The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, the ground plan, as envisaged (1914) by the architect J. Henry Gibbons. (Source: Paul Bell, 2012).
West-front Calvary, the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK)
The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, the selected design by J. D. Sedding. (Source: Sanders, 1975).
The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, the completed west front c.1975. (Source: Sanders, 1975).
The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, the selected design by J. D. Sedding. (Source: Sanders, 1975).
The church of St Augustine of Canterbry, Highgate, Lolndon. Unbuilt design proposal by James Brooks. (The Building News, 13 February 1888)
The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, the interior c.1975. (Source: Sanders, 1975).
John Dando Sedding (1838-91), 1882, by H. S. Mendelssohn (1847-1908).
Church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London. The west front as seen in 2016.
The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, the ground plan, as envisaged (c1887) by the architect J. D Sedding. (Source: Paul Bell, 2012).

The foundation stone of the new church was laid in 1887 and the part-finished buidling was consecrated in 1888, the next stage of work being undertaken by Henry Wilson, one of Sedding’s pupils. However, the west front was not completed until Easter 1914, the work of J. Harold Gibbons. The west front is adorned with a life-size stone Calvary, which led to a noisy Protestant demonstration seeking to stop the dedication of the church later that same year; 20 June 1914.

The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, a view of the nave detroyed by fire. (Source: Paul Bell, 2012).
The church of St Augustine of Canterbury, a view of the nave detroyed by fire. (Source: Paul Bell, 2012).

A disastrous fire on the night of 11 January 1924 entirely destroyed the nave and required a major programme of rebuilding, which was undettaken by J. Harold Gibbons. It was at this time he added the 2-bay  organ gallery on the south side of the chancel, and a new Sacristy.

The current pipe organ dates from 1925-6, and was built by the London firm of A. Hunter and Sons of Clapham (London UK). The atractive case – designed by J. H. Gibbons – dominates the south side of the chancel. Although the instrument has remained incomplete for lack of funds it serves well, and sounds impressive in the generous acoustic.

Console of the organ by A. Hunter and Sons (1924) in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London N6. (Source: National Pipe Organ Register)
Programme for an organ-recital by George Thalben-Ball, St Augustine’s church Highgate, London on 25 October 1975. [page1/3]
Programme for an organ-recital by George Thalben-Ball, St Augustine’s church Highgate, London on 25 October 1975. [page3/3]
Organ case by J. H. Gibbons in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London N6. (Source: London Churches in Photographs)
Musicians gallery with organ case by J. H. Gibbons in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London N6. (Source: London Churches in Photographs)
Programme for an organ-recital by George Thalben-Ball, St Augustine’s church Highgate, London on 25 October 1975. [page2/3]

The church contains some fine fittings, artworks and stained glass by – among others – Henry Farmer (fl. early c20), Lawrence King (1907-81), J. Linthout & Co. (Bruges), Margaret A. Rope (1882–1953), Adrian Gilbert Scott (1882–1963), Christopher Whall (1849–1924),  Nathaniel Westlake (1833–1921).

Stained glass by Margaret A. Rope in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: Paul Bell, 2012)
Stained glass by Margaret A. Rope in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: Paul Bell, 2012)
High altar in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK), by Adrian Gilbert Scott, and J. Linthout.
Lady Chapel in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK); metalwork grill designed by Henry Wilson depicting a tree of life and seven stars.
Stained glass by Margaret Rope in the church Of St Stained glass by Margaret A. Rope in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: Paul Bell, 2012)Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: Paul Bell, 2012)

In 1930 Gibbons completed the Lady Chapel, with a decorative scheme by Nathaniel Westlake, Henry Wilson, and Christopher Whall.

The Lady Chapel, 2002, in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: John Salmon, Wikimedia)
The Lady Chapel, 2002, in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: London Churches in Photographs)
The Lady Chapel, in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: Paul Bell. 2012)

On 13 October 1957 St. Augustine’s was the venue for the first liturgical performance of the “Twentieth-century Folk Mass” by Rev. Geoffrey Beaumont CR (1904–71), a product of the once influential Twentieth-century Church Light Music Group. According to Beaumont, the composition was the result of a chance conversation with a priest-colleague in London’s then impoverished East End who was deeply concerned that church music was utterly foreign to the majority of people.

From the first litrgical performance of Geoffrey Beaumont's "A Twentieth-century Folk Mass" Celebrant: Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald. (Source: Church Times Archive).
From the first litrgical performance of Geoffrey Beaumont’s “A Twentieth-century Folk Mass” Celebrant: Rev. Gerald Fitzgerald. (Source: Church Times Archive).

That first liturgical performance of Beaumont’s mass-setting was broadcast live by the BBC and caused quite a stir at the time. The Daily Express declared that “this disturbing racket . . . was one of the most incongruous things ever seen on TV”, while the Musical Times  dismissed it as music suited to the fetid atmosphere of a night club or cabaret.

This recording (below) was made by the original performers in the run up to the performance at St. Augustine’s: Cantor, John Alldis;  Musicians/singers, The Peter Knight Orchestra and Singers; Conductor, Peter Knight;  Organist, William Davis.

References

Joan of Arc: a first for London

St Joan of Arc’s Church, 60 Highbury Park. London N5 2XH

St Joan of Arc church in Highbury, London (n.d.) from a parsih publication of 2013
The location of St Joan of Arc church in Highbury, London
The nave in the church of St Joan of Arc (c.2000), Highbury, London

The Catholic parish of St Joan of Arc in north London (UK) achieved a certain prominence during the 1990s when it was the local church of choice for the former British Labour Party leader and later Prime Minister Tony Blair and his family. However, the parish has two rather more interesting claims on posterity.

Firstly, ths buidling is the immediate succesor of the first Catholic church anywhere in the world dedicated to St Joan of Arc. From 1918 local Highbury Catholics had worshipped in the chapel of a convent of Discalced Carmelite nuns but increasing numbers of worshippers required the provision of a separate church.

The interior c.1950 of the first church of St Joan of Arc in Kelross Road, London N5
The main entrance c.1950 to first church of St Joan of Arc in Kelross Road, London N5

This new church was opened on 13 October 1920 just five monrths after Joan’s canonisation (16 May 1920). When the Carmelites left Highbury in 1953 the convent site was used for a new and much larger church designed by Stanley Kerr Bate (b.1906–?), which opened on 23 September 1962.

The church of St Joan of Arc church in Highbury, London; detail of west fron and tower c.1990
The church of St Joan of Arc church in Highbury, London; detail of west fron and tower, c.1990

Secondly, the new church tower was the first in England to be provided with a radioactive lightning rod. (Taking Stock). The idea behind this device –  Early Streamer Emission theory – was that a small quantity of radioactive isotopes at the tip of the rod greatly increased the lightning capture area. The theory has since been discredited. Worriyingly, with such devices there is always a risk that the effects of weathering and poor maintenance allows radioactive material to be released in an uncontolled way into the environment. I have no idea if this dubious device is still in place on the tower at St Joan’s.

Detail of the organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1963) in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017
Builder’s plate on the organ in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017
Detail of the organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1963) in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017
The pedal division of the organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1963) in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017
The choir gallery in the church of St Joan of arc, Highbury, London, 2017
The console of the organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1963) in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017
Detail of the organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1963) in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017
The console of the organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1963) in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017.
The piston setter of the organ by J. W. Walker and Sons (1963) in the church of St Joan of Arc, Highbury, London, 2017

The very nice neo-baroque pipe organ (1963) is by J. W. Walker and Sons Ltd, and is divided either side of the front wall of a spacious choir gallery at the west end of the nave. The largest pedal pipes are in a separate case on the gallery.

References

Piecing together Our Lady of Willesden

St Mary’s Church, Neasden Lane, London NW10 2TS

Willesden is an ancient settlement dating back to at least Anglo-Saxon times. It lies approximately five miles north-west of Charing Cross as the crow flies, a little way west from the main A5 road (the Roman ‘Watling Street’) that runs from the capital and on past Willesden. Until the coming of the railway in the 1870s the area remained largely rural and sparsely populated; around 300 residents in 1086 and only 751 in 1801. (British History Online). The area is now densely built up and largely residential with an ethnically diverse population. A crisis food-bank run by the Trussle Trust operates next door to the church, a reflection of the area’s many deep pockets of deprivation.

Map c.1750 showing location of St Mary’s Willesden
The location of the church of St Mary Willesden, 5.9 miles north west from Charing Cross,
The Tussle Trust logo http://www.trusselltrust.org

According to the UK National Archives the story of the parish dates back to at least 937 when Aethelstan (c.894-939) the first king of England defeated the Danes at the battle of Brunanburh (Bamburgh, Northumberland). As a thank-offering Aethelstan gave the royal manors of Willesden-cum-Neasden to St Paul’s Cathedral, whose clergy (Dean and Chapter) still nominate the parish priest at Willesden.

The church of St Mary’s church Willesden, c.1807 seen from the west (Brent Archives Collection),
The church of St Mary Willesden see from the west c.2015, showing the south aisle added late c19
Plan of St Mary’s Church, Willesden, from ‘An Inventory of the Historical Monuments in Middlesex (London: His Majesty’s Stationery Office, 1937)
The church of St Mary Willesden seen from the east (Neasden Lane) c.2015,

The present-day church building seems to date from the thirteenth century with additions made in the fourteenth, fifteenth, sixteenth and nineteenth centuries.

St Mary’s Willesden, the nave looking towards the chancel and St Katharine’s chapel, c.2010 ©Bob Speel; http://www.speel.me.uk.
Nave, chancel, south aisle and St Katherine’s chapel at St Mary’s church Willsesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
Nave, chancel, and nineteenth-century north aisle at St Mary’s church Willsesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
Nave, chancel, and south aisle, showing the south-porch entrance and baptistry, at St Mary’s church Willsesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016

Notable fittings are the Purbeck-marble font c.1150, the fourteenth-century inner door to the south porch, fourteenth-century nave arcades, some sixteenth-century altar plate, pre- and post-Reformation memorial brasses and a striking ‘Black Madonna’ image of the Virgin Mary (1972) created by the English sculptor Catharni Stern (1925-2015).

‘Black Virgin’ statue, 1972, by Catharini Stern (1925-2015) in the St Katherine’s chapel, St Mary’s church, Willesden. ©Willesden PCC, 2000
Font c.1150, church of St Mary Willesden, London. ©Andrew Pink 2016
‘Black Virgin’ statue, 1972, by Catharini Stern (1925-2015) in the St Katherine’s chapel, St Mary’s church, Willesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
Fourteenth-century south-porch door at St Mary’s church Willsesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
‘Black Virgin’ statue, 1972, by Catharini Stern (1925-2015) in the St Katherine’s chapel, St Mary’s church, Willesden. ©Willesden PCC, 2000

From the late-1400s until the English Reformation period (c.1530 onwards) Willesden church was one of a number of well-known pilgrimage destinations for those seeking succour of the Virgin Mary through prayer before her image, which – at Willesden – was placed in the chancel of the church.

Contrary to the fanciful stories about this shrine that have circulated since the nineteenth century, there is no reliable evidence of: – a curative holy well; – appearances of the Virgin; – miracles, – holy relics; – any description of the shrine itself.  While the relatively few primary sources we have are reliable and clear on the place of Willesden in the devotional life of England, it is entirely unclear how the particular tradition of Marian pilgrimage arose at Willesden, given that images of Our Lady then would have been ubiquitous in every place of worship.

Within the church today there is no architectural evidence to indicate the presence of a medieval shrine, indeed the building seems typical of so many formerly rural Middlesex churches of this age.

St Mary’s Church, Willesden. Memorial brass to Bartholomew Willesden c.1492, and his wife Margaret. Originally part of a much larger memorial (Gb BL Landowe MS 874 f 78b). Image ©Andrew Pink 2017
St Mary’s Church, Willesden. Memorial brass of Margaret Roberts (1505). Image ©Andrew Pink 2016
St Mary’s Church, Willesden. A memorial brass, thought to be of Frances Welles (1560). Behind her kneel two boys and four girls. Image ©Andrew Pink 2016
St Mary’s Church, Willesden. Memorial brass to Edmund Roberts(1585) The shields: left, the arms of the Roberts/Patenson families; centre, the arms of the Roberts family; right, the arms of the Roberts/Welles. Edmund’s first wife (right) Fraunces Welles. Behind her are her two sons and four daughters. Edmund’s second wife (left) is Fayth Patenson. Standing behind are her two sons and one daughter.©Andrew Pink 2017

The earliest reliable mention of devotions to Our Lady of Willesden dates from 1502 when Queen Elizabeth (1466–1503), wife of Henry VII (1457–1509), sent money to Willesden and other Marian shrines across England, perhaps to solicit prayers for the impending birth of her seventh child. Also, in February 1503, shortly after the Queen’s death, an allowance of money was paid:

to a man that went on pilgremage to our lady of Willesden by the quenes commaundement. (Valentine, 8)

Anonymous portrait of Elizabeth of York (1465-1503)
Anonymous portrait c.1505 of Henry VII (1457–1509),

Legal records provide more evidence. In 1509 Elizabeth Sampson of Aldermanbury (London) was accused of insulting the statue of Our Lady of Willesden. In 1521  William Dorset of King’s Langley (Hertfordshire) was accused of stopping his wife from making a pilgrimage to Our Lady of Willesden on the grounds that it was a waste of money (Valentine, 9)

Memorail brass of William Litchfield (d.1517) in St Mary's church Willesden. ©Andrew Pink 2017
Memorail brass of William Litchfield (d.1517) in St Mary’s church Willesden. ©Andrew Pink 2017

In 1517 William Litchfield (var. Lychfeld, Lichfield &c), Vicar of Willesden and Chancellor of St Paul’s Cathedral died and was buried in the chancel of Willesden church before the image of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Litchfield also gave to the church a gilt chalice, ‘the same to remain to the use of the said Church and the honour of the Blessed Virgin for ever.’ (Wadsworth et al, 12) and this chalice is still in regular use. Litchfield’s memorial brass can be seen in the floor of the chancel.

In 1525 the two youngest daughters of the catholic saint Sir Thomas More (1478–1535) – Elizabeth and  Cecily – were married at Willesden, in a chapel (‘oratorio’) at the house of the MP Sir Giles Alington (1499-1586), Alington was the second husband (m.1524) of More’s step-daughter Alice Elrington (nee Middleton, d. before 1564). The house and chapel were 2.5 miles from Willesden church at West Twyford;  property that came to Alington on his martiage to Alice, it having been the property of Alice’s first husband Thomas  Elrington (d.1523). (Places in Brent, 1)

St Mary’s Chapel, West Twyford, London, now incorporated into a later church building, c.1958
View of St Mary and the Manor House at Twyford (c.1800) i “Lysons’ Environs of London”.
James Peller Malcolm (1767-1815). The chapel and manor house at West Twvford (c.1800).
St Mary’s Chapel, West Twyford, now incorporated into a later church building, c.1958
Location of St Mary’s West Twyford and St Mary’s Willesden

Thomas More made reference to the shrine at Willesden in his Dialogue concerning heresies (1528/9). Later, in An Answer to Thomas More’s Dialogue (1531), the avowedly Protestant William Tyndale (c. 1494–1536) complained of those who endlessly repeat:

Our lady of Walsingham pray for me; Our Lady of Ipswich, pray for me; Our Lady of Wilsdon, pray for me. (Valentine 13)

Sit Thomas More (Hans Holbein, the younger)
‘Thomas More and Family’ painted c.1590 by Rowland Lockey (c.1565–1616) after an original c.1527 by Hans Holbein the younger, now lost..
Wiliam Tyndale (1494-1536)

During 1527 the reform-minded priest Thomas Bilney (c.1495–1531) was arraigned for preaching against pilgrimages, even doing so in Willesden church itself in Whitsun week that year.

'Priests pulling Bilney out of the pulpit, Saint Georges churche in Ipswich', in John Foxe (1653) 'Actes and Monuments (Book of Martyrs)'.
‘Priests pulling Bilney out of the pulpit, Saint Georges churche in Ipswich’, in John Foxe (1653) ‘Actes and Monuments (Book of Martyrs)’.

You do not well to goo on pilgremage to our Lady of Walsinghan, Ipswiche, or Wyllesdon, or to any other place and there to offer for they be nothing but stocke and stones, therefore it were better to tary at home and pray to God there. (Valentine, 11)

Thomas More later stated that the character of his Protestant interlocutor in the Dialogue concerning heresies was actually based on Thomas Bilney.

More’s biographer Thomas Stapleton (1535-98) says that More regularly made pilgrimages on foot to shrines up to seven miles from London, thus encompassing Willesden. One such pilgrimage to Willesden was during the first week of April 1534, with More staying at the home of Giles and Alice Alington just days before his final arrest and eventual execution/martyrdom. (Mitjans, 67)

Pewter pilgrim badge of Our Lady of Willesden. Design of the Virgin and Child within a crescent moon, 1466-1500. Museum of London 001349
Pewter pilgrim badge, Our Lady of Willesden; the Virgin and Child within a crescent moon, 1466-1500. Museum of London 001349

In recent times a distinctive design of medieval pilgrim badge often found in the London area – although not in Willesden – has been attributed to the shrine of Our Lady of Willesden. (Spencer)

The end came for Our Lady of Willesden in the autumn of 1538 when:

all the notable Images unto the whiche were made anie speciall Pilgrimages and Offerynges were utterly taken awaye as the Images of Walsingham, Ypswiche, Worcester, the ladie of Wilsdon with many other.  (Edward Hall, d. 1547, cited in Valentine, 15)

There is no record of the value of any items associated with the shrine at the time of its demise, nor is there any record of a revival of the Willesden shrine during the Catholic restoration that took place in the brief reign (1553-8) of Queen  Mary Tudor. Even so, as late as 1563, in the Second Book of Homilies, a newly reformed Church of England was still inclined to warn against idolatrous invocations to: our Lady of Walsingham, our Lady of Ipswich, our Lady of Wilsdon and such other. (Valentine, 15)

Today, all that remains to connect the medieval shrine directly with the present day are the prominent modern statue of Our Lady and the chalice of 1517. But who knows what still waits to be discovered in the archives or under the ground?

The church is well worth a visit if you are ever in the area. The building is open during the day (check parish website) and the people are very friendly. And despite its location on a busy main road, as you walk up the little lane to the church entrance with its vast burial ground beyond, it is not hard briefly to forget the gritty urban location.

Pipe organ in the west gallery, St Mary’s Willesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
Pipe organ in the west gallery, St Mary’s Willesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
Pipe organ in the west gallery, St Mary’s Willesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016

The rather fine pipe-organ is the work of J. W. Walker and Sons, and is a two-manual mechanical-action instrument installed in a newly built west gallery in 1983. One third of the cost of the new instrument was met by a generous donation from John Roberts of Virginia, USA, whose antecedents had once lived in Willesden.

References

  • Diane K. Bolton, et al, ‘Willesden‘, in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 7, Acton, Chiswick, Ealing and Brentford, West Twyford, Willesden, ed. T. F. T. Baker and C. R. Elrington (London, 1982). British History Online. Onoline resource, accessed 1 April 2017
    NB the references to the shrine are not up to date and thus not reliable.
  • Bindoff, S. T. (ed.). ‘Alington, Giles (1499-1586)‘, in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1509-1558. (London: History of Parliament Trust, 1982). Online resource, accessed 1 April 2017.
    This item also details the marriage of Alice Middleton to Thomas Elrington of Willesden.
  • [Brent Council] Places in Brent: Twyford and Park Royal. Information leaflet. Online resource, accessed 19 April 2017.
  • Daniel Lysons, The Environs of London: Volume 3, County of Middlesex (London, 1795), British History Online. Online resource, accessed 1 April 2017
  • Frank Mitjams (2008) ‘Thomas More’s Veneration of Images, Praying to Saints and Going on Pilgrimages‘, Thomas More Studies 3, 64-69. Online resource accessed 1 April 2017,
  • St Mary’s Willesden: the pipe organ (National Pipe Organ Register). Onine reosurces, accessed 1 April 2017,
  • Parish information (Diocese of London website). Online resource, accessed 1 April 2017
  • Brian Spencer. Pilgrim Souvenirs and Secular Badges. Series: ‘Medieval finds from excavations in London’, vol. 7. (Woodbridge: Boydell Press with Museum of London, 2010)
  • Kenneth J. Valentine. Our Lady of Willesdon (London: Willesden Local History Society, 1988; 2nd ed. 2005)
  • Cliff Wadsworh et al. 1000 Years of St. Mary, Willesden (London: Willesden Local History Society, 2006)
  • [Wikipedia] Catharni Stern. Online resource, accessed 1 April 2017
  • Willeseden Local History Society (Society website), Online resource, accessed 1 April 2017

An old thing in Aldgate

St Botolph’s Church, Aldgate High Street, London EC3N 1AB

Last Saturday, at St Botolph’s-without-Aldgate church in central London, I attended the Annual General Meeting of the Organ Club. The church building is home to what is considered to be  England’s oldest parish-church pipe organ still in its original position with most of its original insides still present.

Church of St Botolph-without-Aldgate, London (1741-4), c.2015
Church of St Botolph-without-Aldgate, London (1741-4), c.2015

The church building is named after an East Anglian saint who died in 680 and it is located at the site of a former entrance gate to the City of London, the Aldgate (removed 1761). A church building here was already in existence here by 1115. It was substantially rebuilt during the sixteenth century and survived the Great Fire of London (1665).

Church of St Botolph-without-Aldgate, London (pre-1741)
The City of London’s Aldgate, c.1609

The present church building dates from 1741-45 and was built to the designs of John Dance the Elder (1695–1768) who re-aligned the building from its former east-west axis to a north-south one.

The church of St. Botolph-without-Aldgate, c.1850
Church of St Botolph-without-Aldgate, London (1741-4); interior looking west (c.2000)

The area covered by the parish of St Botolph straddles an administrative border that separates the City of London from the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.

The location of the parish of St Botolph-without-Aldgate, shown on the 1741-5 map of London by John Rocque
Present-day location of the church of St Botolph-without-Aldgate c.2017
Parish of St Botolph Aldgate, outlined in red, on the1741-5 map of London by John Rocque

From the later seventeenth century the parish came to be characterised by poverty, disease and poor housing with only a minority of wealthier inhabitants and was in receipt of substantial poor relief and a high level of charitable giving. As the City of London has developed so the resident population of the parish has dwindled significantly and now the parish is dominated by office blocks and riven by busy roads, but even so the church itself retains an air of calm within.

Church of St Botolph-without-Aldgate, London (1741-4); interior looking east (c.2000)
The keyboards of the organ in St Botolph-without-Aldgate, London, c.2010

The present-day pipe organ was first installed in the sixteenth-century building in about 1704 by the organ builder Renatus Harris (c.1652-1724). It was transferred into the replacement building in the 1740s by the organ builder John Byfield (1694-1751) and in 2005 it was faithfully restored by the firm of Goetze and Gwynn.

YouTube Video: William Boyce 'Voluntary No. 4' from Ten Voluntaries for Organ or Harpischord (London: Thompson, c.1785) performed by Robert Woolley at St Botolph's Aldgate (June 2011)

References and further reading

Gilbert Blount in Bow

Our Lady & St Catherine of Siena, London E3 2SG

Present-day Bow (pr. boh) is a densely populated area of inner London on the west bank of the River Lea just east of the City. From at least the early Middle Ages it was known as Stratford-at-Bow – ‘Bow’ apparently a reference to the elegance of its arched bridge – to distinguish it from Stratford Langthorne on the opposite bank of the River Lea. These days the two places are simply known as Bow and Stratford respectively.

Bow Bridge during demolition works in 1835
An early nineteenth-century map, showing Bow and the many arms of the adjacent River Lea.
Bow Road, looking east c.1793.
Church of Our Lady & St Catherine of Sienna (1870), Bow, London E3

As a result of Bow’s proximity not only to the River Lea and its ready supply of water power and water transport but also to the London docks the area has traditionally relied on industrial production and trade of goods: flour mills, slaughter houses, tanneries, dye factories, and – in the eighteenth century –  fine porcelain. The Bow China Works was one of the earliest centres outside China successfully to produce porcelain-style goods and as a result was sometimes referred to as ‘New Canton’.

Figurine of a lady falconer (Bow Porcelain Factory c.1755)
Bow porcelain teapot, c.1758
Watercolour, “taken from behind ye China House at Bow” by Jeffryes Hammett O’Neale (fl. c.1754-1768),
Charles Booth's Poverty Map of Bow (1888-9)
Charles Booth’s Poverty Map of Bow (1888-9)

By the late nineteenth century and into the twentieth the area was a by-word for insalubriousness although the social reformer Charles Booth (1840-1916) typified the area’s population as covering a range of of living conditions from “Poor” to “Fairly comfortable”.

Gilbert Robert Blount (1819-76)
Gilbert Robert Blount (1819-76)

Bow’s Catholic church of Our Lady and St Catherine of Siena was designed by Gilbert Robert Blount (1819–76) and opened in 1870 to serve a newly created parish. This new parish was established by a community of Dominican nuns who had previously run (1865-7) the St Mary’s School and Orphanage in Walthamstow, not so far away in north-east London. The Dominicans left Bow in the 1920s (moving to Stone in Staffordshire, where they remain), and the Archdiocese of Westminster became directly responsible for running the parish and its schools.

In addition to the church, Blount’s architectural scheme included a convent connected to the church and school buildings. These buidlings remain to this day. Some are used as the presbytery, parish halls and social facilities while others are home to small and medium-sized enterprises.

Church of Our Lady and; St Catherine of Siena (1870), Bow, London E3 c.1900
Church of Our Lady and St Catherine of Siena (1870), Bow, London E3
Church of Our Lady and St Catherine of Siena (1870), Bow, London E3 c.2000
Church of Our Lady and; St Catherine of Siena (1870), Bow, London E3 c.2000
Church of Our Lady and; St Catherine of Siena (1870), Bow, London E3 c.2000

According to the National Pipe Organ Register, in 1911 the church possessed a pipe organ by the firm of Bishop and Sons. It must be assumed that this organ was destroyed along with the nave by enemy bombing in the Second World War. The nave was rebuilt after the war and the present west-gallery organ is reputed to have come from one of the chapels in Holloway Prison, north London, supplied by the London firm of Hill, Norman and Beard Ltd (HNB). Since there is no builder’s plate on the instrument it is unclear if HNB made the instrument or merely moved it.

Swell- and pearl-organ stops. Our Lady and St Catherine of Sienna Catholic church London E3, pipe organ by Hill, Norman and Beard.
Organ front. Our Lady and St Catherine of Sienna Catholic church London E3, pipe organ by Hill, Norman and Beard.
Pipe-shade detail. Our Lady and St Catherine of Sienna Catholic church London E3, pipe organ by Hill, Norman and Beard.
Great-organ stops. Our Lady and St Catherine of Sienna Catholic church London E3, pipe organ by Hill, Norman and Beard.
Pedal board. Our Lady and St Catherine of Sienna Catholic church London E3, pipe organ by Hill, Norman and Beard.
Console.. Our Lady and St Catherine of Sienna Catholic church London E3, pipe organ by Hill, Norman and Beard.

The organ is unassuming and gentle in tone, perhaps not best suited for supporting a sung liturgy even in this modest-sized church, but it is in very good playing condition with a light, responsive mechanical action.

Sir John Soane in Walworth

St Peter’s Church, London SE17 2HH

Walworth (Saxon: Wealawyr, 1006) and Newington (Niwetun, 1212) were once separate hamlets along the road leading south from London Bridge. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries the area was noted for its public gardens and commercial small-holdings, especially those cultivating fruit and flowers. The population of the district was – surprisingly – very little affected by its proximity to London until the early nineteenth century,

Map (2017) showing the location of St Peter’s Walworth
John Fairburn’s 1802 Map of London, showing Wllworth
Location of St Peter’s Walworth, London SE17

Late eighteenth-century and early nineteenth-century maps depict Walworth as a pleasant country neighbourhood with a few newly-formed roads stretching across the gardens and fields. However, the formation of these new roads after 1754 brought an impetus to build well-to-do housing, and in 1808 the Walworth Road was described as being lined with elegant mansions. Between 1800 and 1820  the population of Newington increased from 14,847 to 44,526, although as late as 1853 when the author Harriet Beecher Stowe (1811–96) lived there she found it a “charming retreat” with a view from the windows of sheep and lambs grazing in a meadow.

Richard Cuming ‘A view at Walworth’ (1779)
John Smith House at 144-152 Walworth Rd, c.2015
New Kent Road, Walworth, c.1905

But steadily throughout nineteenth century many of the area’s genteel Georgian-/Regency-era houses were pulled down and replaced by dense blocks of dwellings and three-storey terraced houses. By the end of the centiry the whole area was closely packed with streets of working-class houses, shops and industry.

Amelia Street, Walworth c.1978
Villa Street, Walworth, c.19o7

Large-scale post-war public-sector regeneration of housing resulted in the demolition of much of the earlier developments, replacing them with modernist estates of public housing, which in turn are now being replaced by estates of new private sector housing.

Aylesbury Estate, c.1997
A promotional image for ‘Elephant Park” (under construction 2017), which replaces the former public housing once provided by the Aylesbury Estate

In 1820, faced with a rapidly expanding population, the authorities sanctioned the creation of St Peter’s church (opened 1825) to the design of Sir John Soane (1753–1837), his first church, and it remains his most complete surviving church building. The  parish is a thriving community and the building stands in excellent condition.

St Peter’s Walworth (1825), c.2014
St Peter’s Church, Liverpool Gardens, Walworth, c.1905
St Peter’s Walworth (1825), c.2014
St Peter’s Walworth (1825) c.2014
St Peter’s Walworth, church plate, c.1952
St Peter’s Walworth, (1825) c.2015
St Peter’s Walworth (1825), staircase to west gallery, c.2014

The west-gallery pipe-organ facade and gilded pipes belong to the first instrument (1824/5) installed in the west gallery, made by the London firm of Henry Cephas (H. C.) Lincoln (fl.1810-55). The original organ no longer exists. The current instrument by the firm of Harrison of Durham was moved here in 2010 from the chapel of Whitelands College, Putney, where it had first been installed, in 1949.

St Peter’s Walworth (1824), pipe organ, facade by H. C. Lincoln (1824), in 2017
St Peter’s Walworth (1824), pipe organ, console, in 2017
St Peter’s Walworth (1824), pipe organ, pedals, in 2017
St Peter’s Walworth (1824), pipe organ, Great organ, in 2017
St Peter’s Walworth (1824), pipe organ console in 2017.
St Peter’s Walworth (1824), pipe organ Swell and Pedal stops, in 2017
St Peter’s Walworth (1824), pipe organ, builder’s plate, in 2017