St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park

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Coordinates: 51°29′46″N 0°15′17″W / 51.4961°N 0.2548°W / 51.4961; -0.2548
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St Michael and All Angels
The Parish Church of St Michael and All Angels
Middlesex
DeaneryHounslow
ParishSt Michael and All Angels Bedford Park
Clergy
Vicar(s)Fr Kevin Morris
Laity
Reader(s)Anne Mower
Jane Trigle
Director of musicJonathan Dods[1]
Churchwarden(s)Nicola Chater and Dinah Garrett
Listed Building – Grade II*
Designated11 July 1951
Reference no.1079622

St Michael and All Angels is a

British Queen Anne Revival style and as Perpendicular Gothic style modified with English domestic features. Its services are Anglo-Catholic
.

History

Construction

Further information: Architecture of Bedford Park
Norman Shaw's design for St Michael and All Angels, drawn by Maurice Bingham Adams
for Building News, 1879

St Michael and All Angels began as a temporary building on Chiswick High Road opposite Chiswick Lane, some distance from its present site, in 1876. The present church at the corner of Turnham Green Terrace and Bath Road, near

G. E. Street at the time,[3] Shaw decided to use a similar style for the church.[2]
The red bricks, as used for Bedford Park houses, were made locally.

The architectural writer James Stevens Curl describes the style as "

Anglo-Catholic form of service used in the church. The poet and writer on English architecture John Betjeman called it "a very lovely church and a fine example of Norman Shaw's work."[2] In 1887 Shaw's vision for an additional North aisle was realised by the church's first churchwarden, the architect Maurice Bingham Adams. At the same time he added the church hall on the north side, its red brick harmonising with the church, the font, and the pulpit. Adams added the Chapel of All Souls in a more Gothic style than the rest of the church in 1909.[3][6]

Promotion

lithograph by Frederick Hamilton Jackson
, c. 1882

The developer of the Bedford Park estate, Jonathan Carr, commissioned the artist F. Hamilton Jackson to create publicity images including an "iconic" one of the church, which had not even been completed at the time.[7] The development was promoted to people who had a moderate income but who had "aesthetic sensibilities". The promotion mentioned gardens, hot and cold water, schools, and "Also Church, Club (for Ladies & Gentlemen), Stores, 'The Tabard Inn', Tennis Courts, &c."[7]

War memorials

There are two

First World War. One is beside the main rood screen. Its design, by a "Mr. Robinson of Westminster" was announced in the Parish magazine of September 1917 to "take the form of Cavalry in oak over the choir screen", at a planned cost of around £100.[8]
The rood screen memorial was unveiled on 28 September 1918, on the eve of the Patronal Feast of St Michael and All Angels. The bronze plaque with the names of the 91 fallen was completed in 1919.
First World War, it was designed by Inigo Triggs and completed around 1920. In the 1960s, the original nameplates were stolen, and when the memorial was re-sited in its current position, engraved stone replacements were installed.[9][10] In June 2021, some of the replacement nameplates were again stolen.[11]

Restoration

The church's roof and

Second World War bomb which destroyed the nearby Chiswick Polytechnic. The East Window was filled with new stained glass by Lawrence Lee in 1952. The church's exterior and roof were restored in 1980.[2] In 2013 the bishop of London celebrated the completion of a 5-year project to replace the church organ. The new organ, which has 1667 pipes and 25 stops, was made by the Swiss company La Manufacture d'Orgues St Martin.[12]

Present day

On 11 July 1951, the church was designated a

Grade II* listed building.[13]

The church is within the

Anglo-Catholic tradition of the Church of England.[2]

References

  1. ^ People: Director of Music
  2. ^ a b c d e "A brief history of the Church". St Michael & All Angels. Retrieved 19 November 2015. This is based on Broom, Michael. The Birth of A Parish – The Creation of St Michael & All Angels, Bedford Park. St Michael & All Angels.
  3. ^ a b c "Richard Norman Shaw: Churches". Victorian Web. Retrieved 19 November 2015.
  4. ^ Curl, James Stevens (1990). Victorian Architecture. David & Charles. cited by Victorian Web.
  5. ISBN 978-0-713-47491-6
    .
  6. ^ Grant, Sandra. "Architecture and architects". The Bedford Park Society. Retrieved 11 October 2019.
  7. ^ a b "St Michael's in Health & Architecture exhibition". St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park. 11 October 2018. Retrieved 11 August 2021.
  8. ^ a b "The Parish Memorial". Official website (World War I Project). Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  9. ^ Historic England. "Bedford Park War Memorial (1422868)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 19 October 2017.
  10. ^ "The Bedford Park Memorial Seat". Official website (World War I Project). Retrieved 11 November 2017.
  11. ^ "Several plaques with names of First World War dead removed". Chiswick W4. 6 June 2021. Retrieved 6 June 2021.
  12. ^ "Bishop of London celebrates new organ at St Michael and All Angels, Bedford Park". Chiswick Herald. 27 September 2013. Retrieved 6 December 2015.
  13. ^ Historic England. "Church Of St Michael and All Angels (1079622)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 9 July 2016.
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