St James' Church, Islington
| St James' Church, Islington | |
|---|---|
Hackney | |
| Deanery | Islington |
| Parish | Islington St James with St Peter |
| Clergy | |
| Bishop(s) | Right Revd Joanne Grenfell |
| Vicar(s) | Fr John Burniston |
| Laity | |
| Churchwarden(s) | Hilary Roden and Isabel Nisbet |
St James' Church, Islington, is a parish church in the inner London borough of Islington. It is located on Prebend Street between Essex Road and the New North Road. The parish is bounded by Essex Road between the New North Road and Upper Street, Upper Street to The Angel, Islington, City Road to Wharf Road, Wharf Road to the Regent's Canal, and the Regent's Canal to the New North Road.
History
The Clothworkers' Company of the City of London built St James' Church, Islington to serve the surrounding Packington housing estate. The church was consecrated in 1875 and the surrounding estate had been built by around 1850. The land on which the church and the rest of the estate were built originally belonged to St Paul's Cathedral (hence St Paul's Street, Mary Street, Bishop's Street, Canon Street, Prebend Street and so on) but these 'prebends' were stripped from the cathedral at the time of the Reformation and were sold to the Clothworkers' Company, which shortly afterwards were bequeathed an additional 60 acres of land by Dame Ann Packington on her death in 1563,[1] which had been used for archery practice. The Clothworkers paid £8,400 for the construction of the church, Lady Burdett-Coutts paid for a set of bells and individual members of the Clothworkers paid for the stained glass including members of the Heysham Wood family. The full name for the church is St James' with St Peter and St Philip, Islington as the parish includes that of the former St Phillip's the Evangelist, Arlington Square, which was consecrated in 1857 but which was demolished in 1954 after a falling congregation made it redundant[2] and that of St Peter which was located in Devonia Road but which was closed in 1981[3]
The church was built as the successor to Lambe's Chapel, formerly St James in the Wall, in Monkswell Street in the
The church was designed by the Clothworkers' Company's architect,
On 14 December 2018 the church was used to film a short sequel to
On 16 December 2018 the church was visited by a 'mystery worshipper' from the Ship of Fools website who gave the church a broadly positive write-up,[8] rating the sermon 8/10 and the likelihood of a making a return visit 7/10.
Present day
Today the Islington Proms organisation[9] holds an annual series of mainly classical concerts exclusively at St James' Church, Islington.
On Mondays the church provides a soup and sandwich lunch for members of the street community in its church hall.
The church is in the Islington deanery in the archdeaconery of Hackney in the Stepney area of the Diocese of London.[10]
The congregation of St James' Church, Islington is extremely diverse, reflecting the community in which it is based. A part of the
Gallery
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Church from the south-west -
Church from the west -
West entrance -
Coat of arms of Clothworkers Company over the entrance -
East window of St James's Church -
West window of St James's Church -
Effigy of William Lambe in St James' Church -
Saint James the Greater, the church's patron, on a window in the church -
Nave of church looking east -
Nave of church looking west -
Organ -
Pulpit -
Altar and chancel -
Capital in the church
References
- ^ "Timeline". Clothworkers Company. 11 May 1941. Retrieved 27 November 2017.
- ^ The Squares of Islington, Part II: Islington Parish, by Mary Cosh, Islington Archaeology & History Society, 1993
- ^ St James' Church, Islington - A History, by Peter Baugh
- ^ a b c d pp. 655-656, 'The buildings of England - London 4: north', Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner
- ^ The London Encyclopaedia, edited by Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert
- ^ "Clothworkers Company - Timeline". Clothworkers.co.uk. Retrieved 8 June 2014.
- ^ "Watercolour of bust of William Lambe".
- ^ /https://shipoffools.com/mystery-worshipper/st-james-islington-london
- ^ https://www.islingtonproms.com/
- ^ "Directory". Diocese of London. 4 March 2015. Retrieved 27 November 2017.