Tag: pipe organ

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

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.

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

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.

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. [page3/3]
Programme for an organ-recital by George Thalben-Ball, St Augustine’s church Highgate, London on 25 October 1975. [page1/3]
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. [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).

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 A. Rope in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK). (Source: Paul Bell, 2012)
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)
High altar in the church of St Augustine of Canterbury, Highgate, London (UK), by Adrian Gilbert Scott, and J. Linthout.
Stained glass by Margaret A. Rope in the church of St 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

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
St Joan of Arc church in Highbury, London (n.d.) from a parsih publication of 2013

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 main entrance c.1950 to first church of St Joan of Arc in Kelross Road, London N5
The interior c.1950 of the 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
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 piston setter 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
Builder’s plate on the organ 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 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.

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
Map c.1750 showing location of St Mary’s Willesden

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.

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 see from the west c.2015, showing the south aisle added late c19
The church of St Mary Willesden seen from the east (Neasden Lane) c.2015,
The church of St Mary’s church Willesden, c.1807 seen from the west (Brent Archives Collection),

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

Nave, chancel, and nineteenth-century north aisle at St Mary’s church Willsesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
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 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. ©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
Fourteenth-century south-porch door at St Mary’s church Willsesden. ©Andrew Pink 2016
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. ©Willesden PCC, 2000

From the late-1400s until the English Reformation period (c.1530 onwards) Willesden church appears in the records as one of a number of well-known pilgrimage destinations for those seeking succour of the Virgin Mary by faithfully journeying to and praying before her image, which – at Willesden – was placed in the chancel of the church.

Contrary to the rather fanciful stories about Willesden as a pilgrimage destination that have circulated since the nineteenth century, there is no reliable evidence of there having been: – a curative holy well; – appearances of the Virgin; – miracles, – holy relics; – any description of a shrine. 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 Christian place of worship.

Within the church today there is no architectural evidence to indicate the church’s history as a place of pilgrimage, indeed the building seems typical of so many formerly rural Middlesex churches of this age.

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
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. 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 of Margaret Roberts (1505). Image ©Andrew Pink 2016

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 pilgrimage destinations 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)
Funeral effigy of Elizabeth of York (1465-1503) Westminster Abbey Museum © Dean and Chapter of Westminster
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. Source: London Churches in Photographs https://londonchurchbuildings.com
St Mary’s Chapel, West Twyford, now incorporated into a later church building, c.1958. Source: London Churches in Photographs https://londonchurchbuildings.com
Location of St Mary’s West Twyford and St Mary’s Willesden
James Peller Malcolm (1767-1815). The chapel and manor house at West Twvford (c.1800). Source: Collage https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk

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 Marian devotion at Willesden at the time of the statue’s demise, nor is there (so far) any record of a revival of  Willesden as a pilgrimage destination during the Catholic restoration that took place during the 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 Marian pilgrimage traditions 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 iin 1983 n a purpose–built west gallery. 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