St Augustine's, Kilburn

Saint Augustine's, Kilburn, is a Church of England church in the area of Kilburn,^[1] in North London, England. Because of its large size and ornate architecture, it is sometimes affectionately referred to as "the Cathedral of North London",^[2] although the church is not a cathedral in any official sense.

History

St Augustine's was founded by Richard Carr Kirkpatrick in the Anglo-Catholic tradition in 1870. By 1871, a foundation stone had been laid and the original "iron church" was subsequently replaced by a much more ambitious building, a Gothic Revival church designed by John Loughborough Pearson. It is listed as a Grade I building by Historic England.^[3]

Architecture

Pearson's plans called for a red brick structure, vaulted ceilings, and extensive interior stone sculpture in a style reminiscent of 13th-century

• 
  The nave (looking east)
• 
  The rood screen
• 
  The nave (looking west)
• 
  The sanctuary

Today

The church stands prominently to the south of Kilburn and the north of Maida Vale. It has two schools, St Augustine's Primary School and St Augustine's High School.

Congregational history

Richard Carr Kirkpatrick served as parish priest at Saint Augustine, Kilburn, from 1870 to 1907. He formed the church after his parish at St Mary's, Kilburn, where he served as curate, received an evangelical vicar unsympathetic to the Anglo-Catholic movement (also referred to as the Oxford Movement, "Tractarians" or disparagingly as "Puseyites" after one of the founders of the movement, Edward Bouverie Pusey). Kirkpatick clothed Emily Ayckbowm as the founding sister of the Community of the Sisters of the Church here in 1870.^[7] Kirkpatrick was followed in the vicarage by:

• Philip Leary, 1907–1930
• William Percy Theodore Atkinson, 1930–1954
• Harold Riley, 1955–1975
• Claude Eric Hampson, 1975–1977
• Raymond John Avent, 1977–1987
• Paul Tudor Rivers, 1987–1994
• Anthony H. Yates, 1995–2011
• Colin J. Amos, 2012–present

In popular culture

The interior of St Augustine's Church was used in the filming of Young Sherlock Holmes (1985), for the church of the Reverend Duncan Nesbitt (played by Donald Eccles). In the scene, Nesbitt is hit by a poison dart, and begins hallucinating about one of the stained glass figures (a knight) coming alive and trying to kill him. This knight is noted for being the first fully photorealistic CGI-animated character in any feature film.^[8][9]

Gallery

• 
  West rose window
• 
  Western arcade
• 
  The font
• 
  Pulpit
• 
  Statues on the Rood Screen
• 
  The Rood flanked by Saints Mary and John
• 
  Painting north-west, Christ among the Doctors
• 
  The sanctuary pavement
• 
  Throne in the sanctuary
• 
  Chapel of St Michael
• 
  Altar in the Lady Chapel

See also

• List of new ecclesiastical buildings by J. L. Pearson

References