St Luke's Church, Chelsea

Coordinates: 51°29′23″N 0°10′10″W / 51.4897°N 0.1694°W / 51.4897; -0.1694
Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.

Not to be confused with St Luke's Church, Redcliffe Gardens.
St Luke's Church, Chelsea
Archdeaconry of Middlesex
DeaneryChelsea
ParishChelsea St Luke and Christ Church
Clergy
RectorThe Revd Preb Brian Leathard
Assistant priest(s)The Revd Sam Hole
Curate(s)The Revd Samuel Rylands
Laity
Director of musicJeremy Summerly
Churchwarden(s)Greg Lim and Charles Combe
VergerSue Buchan

The Parish Church of St Luke, Chelsea, is an

Register of Historic Parks and Gardens.[3]

History

Cale Street on an 1869-80 Ordnance Survey map[4]

In the early 19th century Chelsea was in the process of expanding from a village to an area of London.[5] St Luke's was built as a new, more centrally located replacement for the existing parish church, now known as Chelsea Old Church, which until then was also known, though unofficially, as St Luke's. This was initially a chapel of ease to the new building following its opening.[6] The new church was the idea of the rector of Chelsea, the Hon. and Revd Gerald Wellesley, brother of the 1st Duke of Wellington, who held his office from 1805 to 1832, seeing the consecration of the church in 1824.[5]

In 1819 Savage's plans for the church were chosen from among more than forty submissions. Designed in imitation of the

Perpendicular style, although some of the detailing refers to earlier Gothic styles. Savage originally intended the tower to have an open spire, like that of Wren's St Dunstan-in-the-East, but this was forbidden by the Board of Works.[7] Summerson praises "an air of competence and consequence about the design which makes one respect its architect very much. The interior has real dignity and the fittings are carefully detailed".[9] Eastlake, writing in the 1870s, by which time Gothic Revival architects had developed a far better grasp of the historical styles, criticised the building for its "machine made look" and "the cold formality of its arrangement".[8][10]

St Lukes's was an ambitious building, costing £40,000 and designed to accommodate 2,500 people. With Sir John Soane's Holy Trinity Church, Marylebone, it was the most expensive Commissioner's church in terms of its total cost.[11]

The organ installed in the new church, with thirty-three sounding stops, was built by W. A. A. Nicholls but completed by Gray.[12] It was rebuilt, using the original case and many of the pipes, by John Compton in 1932.[5]

The interior of the church was originally arranged as a "preaching house" with a large

James Northcote
.

Originally sharing its parish with Chelsea Old Church, in 1839 a further church, Christ Church, just off Flood St nearby, was added as a chapel of ease. Between 1860 and 1986 Christ Church was a separate parish, but is now re-united with St Luke's as the parish of St Luke and Christ Church, Chelsea, though many aspects of parish business are done separately for the two churches.[13]

People associated

Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, were married on 10 March 1846, for the third time in the case of his father Baden Powell, a distinguished mathematician and theologian. Other marriages have included William Hewson the Victorian theological writer, in 1830,[5] John Prideaux Lightfoot, later Vice-Chancellor of the University of Oxford, in 1835,[15] and the parents of Harry Arthur Saintsbury in 1854.[16] The father of the authors Charles Kingsley and Henry Kingsley became the rector in 1836, when his sons were 18 and 6 respectively.[5] Other clergy serving the parish have included Derek Watson and Ross Hook as Rector and Hugh Otter-Barry as curate
.

The position of organist and choirmaster has been held by several notable musicians, often as a stepping-stone to cathedral positions. Two organists were composers who also wrote the tunes for hymns:

See, Amid the Winter Snow, and John Ireland.[5] Henry Forbes was another 19th-century composer who was organist. More recently Denis Vaughan and Jeremy Filsell
have been Directors of Music.

The

Francis Chantrey.[5] Two actors and actor-managers who were famous in their day are buried in the churchyard: William Blanchard, known for comic roles, and Daniel Egerton. Both died in 1835.[17] James Savage
, the architect of the church, is also buried there.

St Luke's also houses the memorial chapels of the

3rd Gurkha Rifles of the British Indian Army.[18] The screen panels decorated with regimental badges are in engraved glass by Josephine Harris.[19]

Gallery

  • The west front, facing Sydney St
    The west front, facing Sydney St
  • The nave, looking east towards the altar
    The nave, looking east towards the altar
  • Looking west down the nave
    Looking west down the nave
  • The west end and organ
    The west end and organ
  • The east window, with no human figures
    The east window, with no human figures

Film and television

See also

References

  1. ISBN 978-1-904965-08-4
  2. ^ Historic England. "Church of St Luke, Kensington and Chelsea (1265622)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 4 November 2012.
  3. ^ Historic England. "St Luke's Garden (1000834)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 6 November 2018.
  4. ^ Sheet 53, Ordnance Survey, 1869-1880.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i "St Luke's Church – A Brief History". Parish website. Retrieved 2 November 2012.
  6. ^ Patricia E.C. Croot, ed. (2004). "Religious history: The parish church". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 12: Chelsea. Institute of Historical Research. Retrieved 12 December 2012.
  7. ^ a b "The Late James Savage, Architect". The Civil Engineer and Architect's Journal. 15: 226–7. 1852. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  8. ^ a b Eastlake, Charles (1872). A History of the Gothic Revival. London: Longmans, Green & C0. p. 141. Retrieved 27 October 2012.
  9. ISBN 0712620958
  10. ^ Eastlake's rather harsh comments are discussed by Summerson in his description.
  11. ISBN 0715302272
    , 9780715302279
  12. ^ Hopkins, Edward John, & Edward Francis Rimbault, The Organ: its history and construction (R. Cocks, 1870), p. 481
  13. ^ Christ Church on the parish website
  14. ^ London Metropolitan Archives; London, England; London Church of England Parish Registers; Reference Number: P74/LUK/168.
  15. ^ The Christian remembrancer (1835), p. 513
  16. ^ The Gentleman's magazine and historical review, vol. 196, p. 386
  17. ISBN 1108028071
    , 9781108028073
  18. ^ St Luke's website. Website of the Indian Military Historical Society
  19. ^ Powers, Alan (17 November 2020). "Josephine Harris, leading figure in the world of glass engraving – obituary". The Telegraph. Retrieved 26 January 2021.

External links

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