Tag: T. C. Lewis

St Thomas, Agar Town: gone but not quite forgotten …

In 2019 I found myself helping out with the music at the lovely early nineteenth-century church of St Clement King Square in Islington (London) where – following rebuilding work in the 1950s – a second-hand organ was installed, taken from the newly redundant church of St Thomas Agar Town, near Kings Cross (London). Here is a little post about Agar Town and its church, all now long vanished.

Map (post 1820) showing the location of Elm Lodge before the development of Agar Town. [Source: getyourownblog.blogspot.com/2015/12/elm-lodge-agar-town.html]
Map of 1851 showing the location of Agar Town. [Source: Wikipedia article ‘Agar Town]
Map showing the site of Agar Town today/ [Source: streetmap.co.uk]

In 1816 William Agar (1767-1838), a lawyer from Lincoln’s Inn, acquired from the Ecclesiastical Commissioners a 21-year lease on land south of present-day Agar Grove and built there a mansion for himself; Elm Lodge. Extensions were applied to the lease in 1822 and again in 1839 (following Agar’s death) on behalf of his son, also named William (1814–1907).

Elm Lodge [Source: British History Online]
A view from the east (before 1845) towards the ruined Old St Pancras church with Elm Lodge to the north. [Source: The Kentish Town Panorama (1845). J. F. King (1781–1855)]

Agar’s son  began to issue his own 21-year building leases on small strips of his land  and thus developed the neighbourhood known as Agar Town, a shanty of hastily built housing and workshops. While Agar Town survived little more than 21 years, its reputation as a noted place of urban poverty remains.

Housing in Agar Town c.1855
Housing in Agar Town c.1854 [Source: ‘London Shadows’ (1854) George Godwin. (London: G. G. Routledge & Company)]

Time was when the wealthy owner of a large estate had lived here in his mansion; but after his departure the place became a very ’abomination of desolation’ […]  a dreary and unsavoury locality, abandoned to mountains of refuse from the metropolitan dust-bins, strewn with decaying vegetables and foul-smelling fragments of what once had been fish, or occupied by knackers’-yards and manure-making, bone-boiling, and soap-manufacturing works, and smoke-belching potteries and brick-kilns. At the broken doors of multilated houses canaries still sang, and dogs lay basking in the sun […] and from these dwellings came out wretched creatures in rags and dirt, and searched amid the far-extending refuse for the filthy treasure by the aid of which they eked out a miserable livelihood; whilst over the whole neighbourhood the gas-works poured forth their mephitic vapours, and the canal gave forth […] upon the surface of the water […] a thick scum of various and ominous hues. Such was Agar Town before the Midland Railway came into the midst of it.”

Image of Paradise Row, Agar Town.
Paradise Row in Agar Town c.1854 [Source: ‘London Shadows’ (1854) George Godwin. (London: G. G. Routledge & Company)]
A report in 1847 stated that about 5,000 people lived in Agar Town. There was no provision for sewerage or running water, and no proper roads.  With no school, church or chapel to serve the area – other than the Old Saint Pancras church, which was in the process of being restored – a temporary iron church was therefore erected in Agar Town, together with a Ragged School.

As the Agar’s – and their tenants’ – various 21-year leases expired or were abandoned the Church Commissioners steadily took back ownership of the site and began planning improvements. In 1860 construction began on the first permanent church on Elm Road in Agar Town  (to be dedicated to St Thomas) and a school, both designed by S. S. Teulon (1812–73).

However, within just a couple of years the Commissioners sold almost all of its Agar Town land to the Midland Railway “for a considerable sum” to accommodate the Midland Railway’s rapidly expanding infrastructure associated with the new St Pancras station. Within just two months of the sale Agar Town was cleared  – including its incomplete church and school site – all to be replaced with railway sidings; and the remaining Agar Town inhabitants moved to neighbouring districts like Kentish Town.

The second church: Elm Road/Wrotham Road

The  Church Commissioners used some of the money it earned from selling most of its Agar Town land to create on the remainder some new streets of substantial middle-class housing and to build another church of St Thomas – also by Teulon – at the junction of Elm Road and Wrotham Road, 1863-4. This church – damaged by aerial bombing in the Second World War – was demolished after 1953, the parish being absorbed into St Michael’s Camden Town. However, the church’s organ survived, being rebuilt at St Clement King Square, London EC1.

St Thomas Agar Town (1863–4), designed by S. S. Teilon, as shown on an undated commercial postcard.
St Thomas, Wrotham Road, NW1. [Source: “The story of Agar Town : the ecclesiastical parish of St. Thomas’, Camden Town” MORRELL, R. Conyers (London: the author, 1935)]
St Thomas, Wrotham Road, NW1. [Source: “The story of Agar Town : the ecclesiastical parish of St. Thomas’, Camden Town” MORRELL, R. Conyers (London: the author, 1935)]
Location of the second church of St Thomas, c1870
Church of St Thomas Agar Town (1953). [Source: London Metropolitan Archive. LCC Photograph Library]
Ground plan of St Thomas church (1863), Agar Town.[Source: http://www.british-history.ac.uk]

It is somewhat ironic that the railway infrastructure  that swept away Agar Town has itself now been swept away to be replaced by housing, and (high-tech) workplaces. Plus ça change … …

Picture of old gasometer and new housing.
Part od the newly (c.2010) redeveloped area of what was once Agar Town and then railway yards.

The pipe organ

The first organ in the church was a loan instrument by the firm of Gray and Davison (NPOR; DBOB). In 1868 a permanent instrument was provided by the firm of T. C. Lewis (Musical Standard, 28 March, 1868).

Musical Standard, 28 March 1868
St Thomas Agar Town, London (UK), specification of the organ by T. C. Lewis (1868)

The third organ in St Thomas Wrotham Road was installed in 1875 by the local firm of Henry Willis; a two-manual mechanical-action, hand-blown  instrument located in the south cnacel aisle (NPOR). It remained unaltered throughout its life there. (Morrell). At the demolition of the church the organ was moved to St Clement, King Square and rebuilt there.

St Thomas, NW1, the chancel.[Source: “The story of Agar Town : the ecclesiastical parish of St. Thomas’, Camden Town” MORRELL, R. Conyers (London: the author, 1935)]
St Thomas, NW1, organ in south chancel aisle. [Source: “The story of Agar Town : the ecclesiastical parish of St. Thomas’, Camden Town” MORRELL, R. Conyers (London: the author, 1935)]

References

 

 

St Mary Newington

The ancient parish of St Mary Newington is located in the London Borough of Southwark on the south bank of the River Thames about a mile from London Bridge. In its original form it was  geographically commensurate with the ancient manor of Walworth.

The present-day (2019) location of St Mary Newington church, London.
St Mary Newington Church, London (2018). [Source: BBC News https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-35123921%5D

The first known church was located at present-day Newington Butts – where the old churchyard still remains as a public park. Here the tern ‘Butts’ probably refers to the triangle of land between the roads, seen on old maps. We find the term used elsewhere in the area south of central London referring to odd corners of land.

St Mary’s churchyard, Newington Butts, London. 2018 [Source: Samantha Pdrrin @misssamperrin]
Close-uo detail of the previous and the present-day (2019) location of St Mary Newington church, indicating the locations of the adjacent Roman ‘streets’.

The old churchyard sits close by the junction of two major Roman-era roads leading into London: Stane Street, running  from the Sussex-coast port of Chichester to the City; and Watling Street, running from the Kent-coast ports of of Dover, Richborough, Lympne, and Reculver to Westminster. This junction is now better known as ‘Elephant and Castle’, so named after a tavern that once stood here.

While details of the parish clergy can be traced back as far as 1212 the earliest known mentions of the church building date only from the middle of the sixteenth century. In 1719 ir was described as being:

very small, built of Brick and Boulder […] a double Roof covered with Tile, and the Walls with a rough Cast; the Windows are of a modern Gothick; the Floor is paved with Stone [….] Here are three Iles [aisles], and the Roof is supported with wooden Pillars[…] This Church contains 43 Foot in Length, 54 in Breadth, 22 in Heighth, and the Tower (wherein are five Bells) 44 Foot but to the Top of the Turret near 60 Foot. (John Aubrey: History of Surrey)

Next to the church was a moated rectory.

Part of Rocque’s Map of 1755 showing Newington Butts. [Source: ‘Survey of London’ vol 25, p. 53]
A view of St Mary Newington rectory (1795). [Source: ‘Survey of London’, vol 25, p. 93]
A general view of Newington Butts (1792), looking south past St Mary’s church. [Source: ‘Survey of London’, vol 25, p. 92]
‘North east view of Newington Church’ (1750) after a painting by J-B. C. Chatelain (1710?-71?). [Source: https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk]
‘South west view of Newington Church’ (1750) after a painting by J-B. C. Chatelain (1710?-71?). [Source: https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk]

In the early eighteenth century major building work took place to shore-up the church’s crumbling walls. However, by 1779 the building was found to be in such a poor condition that it was entirely rebuilt and enlarged.

The old church being taken down. ‘The Church of St. Mary, Newington, London’ (n.d.). Watercolour by James Miller (fl.1773-91) [Source: Guy Peppiatt Fine Art]
Interior view of St Mary Newington in Southwark. Watercolour (1823) by C. Yates. [Source: https://collage.cityoflondon.gov.uk]
‘St. Mary Newington church, 1827’ [Source: ‘Survey of London’, vol. 25, p. 92]
The site of St Mary’s church and its rectory, Newington Butts, London in 1871. [Source: Ordnance Survey, LV (Lambeth St Mary; Southwark) Surveyed: 1871 Published: 1875]

In the early 1870s the decision was taken that this church too should be pulled down, in order to accommodate a road-widening scheme. The old churchyard was retained as a public space. A replacement parish church was put up further south along Stane Street, which by then – as now – was known as Kennington Park Road. Meanwhile back in the old St Mary’s churchyard a clock tower was put up to mark the site of the former church.

St Nary Newington. Froundplan 1877. Signed by the architect. [Source: Incorporated Church Building Society (ICBS), ref. 7677. http://images.lambethpalacelibrary.org.uk/%5D
St. Mary Newington, Surrey; James Fowler FRIBA. Architect, Lough. London, 1875
The clocktower in St Mary’s churchyard, Newington Butts, London. [Source: Charles W. Cushman http://webapp1.dlib.indiana.edu/cushman/ with permission]

The newly relocated St Mary Newington church was opened in 1876. It was built to the designs of James Fowler (1828–92) in the Early English style.  The roofs of the nave and chancel were of hammer beam construction, the height of the nave from floor to ridge was 70 feet, and its length 100 feet. The 3-manual organ was by the firm of T.C. Lewis.

Following aerial bomb damage during the Second World War Fowlers’s church was pulled down, leaving only a fragment of the west front and the tower. These now serve to frame the street side of a small courtyard in front of the current building.

St Mary Newington, London. West front, c.2000. [Source: Exploring Southwark http://www.exploringsouthwark.co.uk/%5D
St Mary Newington, London, seen from Kennington Park Road . c.2000
St Mary Newington, London, seen from Kennington Park Road,. through the old west door c.2000
St Mary Newington, London, looking through the old west door to the new church, seen from Kennington Park Road c.2000
St Mary Newington, London. Looking from the courtyard through the remnant of old west wall towards Kennington Park Road c.2000
St Mary Newington, London, detail above the old west door seen from Kennington Park Road c.2000

The latest church building and fittings (1957-8) were designed by Sir Arthur Llewellyn Smith (1903-78). The church is described as being in a stripped Neo-Classical style built with yellow stock bricks with Portland stone dressings and copper roof. The organ – by the firm of Henry Willis – is in a west gallery, with a detached console in the north transept. Stained glass windows are signed H. Powell. A practical connection with the parish’s long history is kept in the form of silver altar plate, which includes: two silver cups and a paten (1675), a silver flagon (1681), two silver covers (c.1727), and two silver salvers (1783).

St Mary Newington, London. Chancel, 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]
St Mary Newington, London. Interior looking west, 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]
St Mary Newington, London. Side chapel. 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]
St Mary Newington, London. President’s chair. 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]
St Mary Newington, London. The east end looking towards Kennington Park Road, 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]
St Mary Newington, London. North transept, and organ console, 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]
Some of the church plate at St Mary Newington, in 1955. [Source: ‘Survey of London’, vol. 25, p. 92]
St Mary Newington, London. South transept, font and pulpit, 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]
St Mary Newington, London. Nave, looking west, and organ gallery. 2018. [Source: ttps://londonchurchbuildings.com]

References

 

 

 

 

There’s pleasure in Vauxhall

St Peter’s, Vauxhall, London SE11

St Peter’s church (1864) on Kennington Lane in Vauxhall, south London, is a very nice unadulterated example of work by the English architect John Loughborough Pearson (1817–97). What a pleasure to discover it this week.

St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; the chancel
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; ground plan
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; the nave, looking east
John Loughborough Pearson (1817-97), c.1861. National Portrait Gallery London, with permission.
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; exterior, west end, c.2015
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; exterior, east end, c.2015
St Peter’s church, Vauxhall, London; exterior door detaii
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; exterior brickwork, c.2015

From the late seventeenth century and all through the eighteenth this place was the location of the celebrated New Spring Gardens or Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, a place of fantasy and fun on the south bank of the Thames for leisured Londoners. By the mid-nineteenth century the gardens were closed and the area was fast becoming a densely populated and semi-industrial working-class suburb with almost none of the gardens remaining, indeed the church is built on the south-west corner of the gardens’ site. The 1794 house next door to St Peter’s church is now the vicarage but it was originally the home of the widow of Jonathan Tyers II, a former owner of the Vauxhall Gardens.

Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, 1821
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, c 1761,
Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, mid eighteenth century
Chinese Pavillion, Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens, mid eighteenth-century
St Peter’s church (1864), Vauxhall, south London, seen across what is left of the Vauxhall Pleasure Gardens’ site today, a grassed open space, c.2015.

While the outside of this well-maintained church has some nice decorative flourishes here and there, the inside brims with finely wrought design such as the fine carving and decoration on the font and the elaborate carved capitals of the nave, the decoration of the chancel, and the lofty brick vaulting.

St Peter’s church, Vauxhall, London; a nave capital
St Peter’s church, Vauxhall, London; font.
St Peter’s church, Vauxhall, London; font cover
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; chancel decoration, c.2015
St Peter’s church, Vauxhall, London” chancel ironworlk
St Peter’s church, Vauxhall, London; brick vaulting

The organ (1870) by T.C. Lewis sits at the east end of the south aisle, next to the chancel. It was initially rented from Lewis as a temporary instrument but was eventually purchased outright by the parish in about 1873. It is rather too modest for the building and it is to be regretted that Lewis did not get the chance to provide this fine building with a more substantial permanent instrument. But as with all organs by Lewis the tone is lovely; each stop sounds remarkably fine in its own right, crisp and articulate, and yet is able to blend wonderfully well with its neighbours. Now, after almost 150 years of service the mechanism is rather tired and rackety, and at the time of writing an organ-restoration appeal is underway.

St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; organ by T. C. Lewis 1870, c.2015
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; organ by T. C. Lewis 1870, c.2015
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; organ by T. C. Lewis 1870, c.2015
St Peter’s church Vauxhall, south London, 1864; organ by T. C. Lewis 1870, c.2015