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Also known as St Michael's Sutton Court
A History 1909 - 2009
[edit]In the Beginning
In early 1906 the Vicar of Chiswick proposed to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners the creation of the Parish of St Michael, Sutton Court from parts of the Parishes of St Nicholas, Chiswick and Christ Church, Turnham Green. It was also agreed that the new church of St Michael's would be financed from the sale of St Michael, Burleigh Street, just off The Strand. The new church would serve the burgeoning population of Grove Park. The Vicar of St Nicholas was very gracious about the loss of part of his parish, though he did remark wistfully, ‘It means cutting off a great part of the parish where several people are of a much more prominent social standing than in much of the parish that will be left to us.’
Grove Park
During the nineteenth century Grove Park, shown in this map of 1865, was primarily an area of market gardens and orchards, supplying fruit and vegetables to the rapidly growing population of London. By the last decade of the nineteenth century, Grove Park was developing apace. In the Ordnance Survey Map of 1891-3, below, Gordon Road and St Mary’s Grove are shown as already mainly built up, and Whitehall Gardens and Whitehall Park Road are laid out as roads, though with no houses as yet. Within the next 20 or so years much of the area to the east of Sutton Court Road would be built up so that by 1912 our part of Grove Park was much as we know it today.
A New Parish'
[edit]By 1906 the population had grown enough to justify the formation of the new Church of England parish. The London Gazette on 31st July of that year reported the creation of ‘the District of St Michael, Chiswick’ and the merger of the Parish of St Paul’s, Covent Garden and the Benefice of St Michael, Burleigh Street, just off the Strand. Churchwardens and sidesmen for the new parish were appointed in January 1908.
St Michael le Strand, Burleigh Street
On the north side of the Strand, just opposite the Savoy, is the Strand Palace Hotel. On this site, at the corner of the Strand and Burleigh Street, St Michael le Strand stood from 1833 until 1907. It was closely associated with St Martin-in-the-Fields. The church was demolished to make way for the hotel and its parish was united with that of St Paul’s Covent Garden.
The Old Clergy House
Only the old clergy house in Burleigh Street survives today, becoming a home for three monks from the Mirfield Community. You can just see the figure of St Michael to the left of the building, above the window.
Financing
The sale of St Michael le Strand raised £20,500, of which £8000 went to buy the site and build the new church of St Michael’s, Sutton Court, and £1,800 to build the new vicarage. The remainder was used to build the hall, to endow the parish, and to make some charitable contributions. The patron of the parish was – and still is – the Vicar of St Martin-in-the-Fields.
The Old Church Hall
The Bishop of Kensington (Dr Ridgeway) decided that the new church should be built in the grounds of Little Sutton on the site of the small fishpond shown on the map of 1891-3, on a new road called Elmwood Road. The first building to be erected was the Hall, opened by Dr Ridgeway on 1st February 1908. Made of wood with a tin roof, this building cost £360 and its builder, Mr W. Harbrow of the Iron Building Manufacturers of South Bermondsey, took only seven weeks to finish the job. Because of the spring which fed the fishpond, the hall had to be built on steel piers embedded in concrete, rather than on the usual brickwork, and the foundation piles had to be particularly deep. Ninety years later, the builders of the new Centre also found it necessary to drive in unusually deep piles.
The hall was used for services from February 1908 until the opening of the permanent church. It then had a long life as the church hall until 1996
The Foundation
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The foundation stone of the church itself was laid by Lord Kinnaird on 19th December 1908, while a ‘large number of parishioners and visitors from other parishes’ sheltered from the unfavourable weather under an awning.
The choir of St Martin-in-the-Fields led the singing. Lord Kinnaird, as well as being a senior churchman, played in nine F.A. Cup Finals, appearing in all positions and earning a reputation as a ‘muscular’ tackler. He scored the first recorded own goal in F.A. history.
The inscription on the foundation stone, which can be seen just to the right of the northeast door, reads:
AM†DG
IN COMMEMORATION OF THE CHURCH OF
ST MICHAEL BURLEIGH STREET STRAND
THE DEMOLITION OF WHICH TO MEET
THE NEEDS OF THE TIME HAS ENABLED
A HOUSE OF GOD TO BE ERECTED IN THIS
DISTRICT OF GREATER LONDON THIS STONE
WAS LAID BY LORD KINNAIRD
DECEMBER 19TH 1908
LEONARD MCNEILL SHELFORD VICAR
The first vicar was the Reverend L. McNeill Shelford, the son of the Reverend Leonard E. Shelford, the Patron of the Parish.
The New Church
Less than a year later the church was complete and its consecration took place on Tuesday 7th December 1909 with the Bishop of London officiating. Both The Chiswick Gazette and The Times optimistically reported that the church could accommodate 625 persons: the actual capacity is around 350. They also reported that the church contained many of the fittings transferred from St Michael, Burleigh Street including the bell, pulpit, lectern, font and communion plate.
Other items transferred were the communion table, desk prayer book, altar service book, oak sanctuary chair, sanctuary stools, oak reading desk, sanctuary curtain and carpet, altar vases, collection plates and boxes and churchwardens staves and numerous other gifts. Some of these are still in use and some have been sold over the years. However the oak altar, retable and altar rail were new. We should perhaps be grateful that our predecessors decided that they did not want some things. Apparently the painted pine choir stalls disfigured the chancel, according to the Parish Magazine in April 1911, and so they were replaced by oak ones, the ecclesiastical commissioners having found some money left over from the sale of St Michael le Strand. The complete organ was also to have been transferred, but this proved impractical, though many of its pipes and other components were used.
Few other major changes have been made to the interior of the church since its building, except a new altar in 1927, the painting of the chancel and improvements to the lighting on two occasions. Sadly however the fine candlesticks seen on the altar below left were among some of the items of church furniture stolen in a burglary, and replaced with those we use today shown on the right.
The Building'
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The style of the St Michael’s very much reflects the period in which it was designed, constructed as it was at the height of the Edwardian period in 1908-09. Nonetheless, its design by W. D. Caröe clearly has its roots in the mass of ecclesiastical architecture of the late nineteenth century. Throughout most of the Victorian period the design of ecclesiastical buildings in England was strongly influenced by the Ecclesiological Society which advocated a Gothic style of church design. Whereas there were variations on this Gothic theme, ranging from decorated early English to Perpendicular, this style continued through to almost the end of the nineteenth century. In the last decade, however, architects such as J. D. Sedding and Ewan Christian among others began to depart from this design tradition, introducing a variety of design styles.
In the early years of the twentieth century this variety continued in the churches built for the newly emerging Edwardian leafy suburbs. In these areas there was a need to provide good quality but relatively inexpensive churches to suit the new congregations and their developing aspirations. These new churches required practical comforts which included reasonable lighting and heating, good acoustics and, just as importantly, relatively easy maintenance. The design of St Michael’s shows how W. D. Caröe developed the nineteenth-century tradition from his perspective as an Arts and Crafts architect. The church, according to Nikolaus Pevsner and Bridget Cherry in their revised edition of The Buildings of England, represents ‘one of Caröe’s most interesting churches in outer London’.
The design of St Michael’s shows W. D. Caröe at the height of his career. St Michael’s is one of a number of churches built by Caröe between 1902 and 1909 in the emerging London suburbs. All have a similarity in style but each is unique in the particular way. W. D. Caroe adapted to the position of the site as well as the finances which were available at each of these churches. Jenny Freeman in her book on W. D. Caröe describes St Michael’s as a building wherein ‘the emphasis externally is on the craftwork, on careful stone dressings, on subtle variations in the tilework, on the timbering, brickwork and leadwork’. Ms Freeman also highlights Caröe’s interest in local building traditions and how they are apparent at St Michael’s. Its surroundings are ‘still leafy enough to evoke the setting of a simple country church. Yet the building is a highly complex composition of red brick and tile’. The most striking feature of St Michael’s, according to the current Church Architect Patrick Crawford, is undoubtedly the shallow swept tiled arches. Beneath these arches of tiles are, according to Cherry and Pevsner, ‘free flamboyant Gothic stone tracery’.
The Architect
William Douglas Caröe was born in 1857 in Liverpool and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge where he took a degree in Mathematics. After leaving University, he became articled to a Liverpool architect, E.B. Kirby but in 1882 was taken on by the noted Victorian architect, J. L. Pearson. Within a year of joining Pearson, he started commissions on his own and soon became so busy that Pearson agreed that he could reduce his hours to devote more time to his own work.
By the turn of the twentieth century he had built up one of the largest architectural practices in England, and was appointed the Church Commissioner’s Architect. His work was influenced by Pearson, Norman Shaw, and J.D. Sedding as well as by his partner, Henry Wilson. He died in 1938.
The Incumbents
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Soon after the new Parish was formed, the Revd L. McNeill Shelford was appointed its first Vicar. He was the son of the patron, the Revd Leonard E. Shelford, Vicar of St-Martin-in-the-Fields. Since then the Parish has had eight other incumbents.
McNeill Shelford was Vicar for over 18 years, with a gap when he was on active service during the First World War. The longest-serving vicar so far is the late Michael Barney who was at St Michael’s for nearly 20 years. Our current vicar, Martine Oborne arrived here in 2012.
Revd L. M. Shelford 1906 - 1925
Revd F.D. Vaisey 1925 - 1932
Revd F. I. Anderson 1932 - 1937
Revd T.H. Croxall 1937 - 1948
Revd S.W.W. Manning 1948 - 1959
Revd A. B. Richardson 1959 - 1966
Revd M. J. Oatey 1966 - 1974
Revd M. F. Barney 1974 - 1993
Revd N. C. Fincham 1995 - 2010
Revd M.A. Oborne 2012 -
The Great War
[edit]Within five years of the opening of St Michael's, the Great War had broken out. During that war, 33 men of the parish died, either in action or from disease while serving abroad. Most died in France, although there were also fatalities in Mesopotamia from heatstroke, in Rhodesia and in Australia. Most of the men of the parish were away including the Vicar, Mr Shelford, who was a Chaplain to the Forces. In his absence the locum was Canon Woodman until September 1917 and thereafter Mr Palmer.
The Memorial to the dead of the parish on the pillars in the nave was designed by Caröe.
The Windows
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As a memorial to those who died in the First World War it was decided to commission a stained glass window. The artist was Horace Wilkinson, who also designed the small stained glass window in the lady chapel.
He was a well-known stained glass designer and there are outstanding examples of his work in Brecon Cathedral, Winchester College and many parish churches. He was born in Camberwell in 1866 and died in Broadstairs, aged 90, in 1957.
The window symbolises the Te Deum. The upper central light shows Christ crowned and robed seated on a rainbow throne. Kneeling at his feet are the Virgin Mary and John the Baptist. He is surrounded by circles of Seraphim and Cherubim and the symbols of Alpha And Omega. Above are the symbols of the four Evangelists: the Man St Matthew, the Lion St Mark; the Bull St Luke and the Eagle St John.
The bottom panels depict the three military saints St George, St Michael and St Martin, plus a host of other figures. On the left is St George and to the right of him four figures representing the Holy Church throughout the world. On the right is St Martin of Tours, bearing the lilies of France and representing both the French allies and St Martin-in-the-Fields.
To the left of him is the Noble Army of Martyrs represented by St Catherine with her wheel and St Stephen. Above them are the Goodly Fellowship of the Prophets, represented by King David who is carrying his harp and by the prophet Isaiah.
The window in the North Aisle was designed by the noted stained glass artist Brian Thomas. In the South Aisle, there are memorials to Walter Slade and to Edmund Williams-Ashman and his son Andrew.
The Organ and Music at St Michael’s
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A few of our organ’s pipes date back to the early nineteenth-century organ built by John Gray for St Michael, Burleigh Street, and many more to the late nineteenth-century additions to that organ. The component parts of the organ were transported from Burleigh Street to Chiswick. However, most of the instrument is based on the reconstruction of 1924, carried out by Browne and Sons of Canterbury. This rebuilding cost around £850. In the intervening years little had been done to the organ, apart from tuning, maintenance, and some repairs in 1966, until the centenary year 2009.
The rebuilding of the organ in 2009 to mark the centenary has been a major project, comprising the electrification and modernization of the soundboards and pneumatic action, the installation of a ‘Trombone’ stop and new electric blowers. Inflation is evident in the cost of these newest repairs, around £100,000, which the parish has raised through numerous fund-raising events, legacies and donations, and a grant from the diocese. The work has been carried out by Griffiths and Cooper, an Isle of Wight based firm.
Music has always been an important aspect of worship at St Michael’s and according to Wippell’s, maker of the choir’s robes, many of their serial numbers date back more than 50 years! Today’s choir of some 25 adults and children is directed by Jan Cunningham and sings a wide repertoire of music at Sunday services and for special occasions. Former choirmasters include Patrick Connolly who served in the 1980s, and John Thackray, a notable musician who died aged just 50 in 1999, having served two separate terms as choirmaster and organist.
The New Centre
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Though ‘temporary’, the original hall served us for 90 years, albeit with improvements to the stage, kitchen and floor in 1934. However by the early nineties it was clear that more and better space was needed.
In 1997 the new Centre was built in place of the old Church Hall, and opened by the Bishop of Kensington on 13th April. The Centre was designed by Pierre Fowell Associates and the contractors were H.A. and D.B. Kitchen Ltd. It had been financed by the sale of the former church hall of St James' Gunnersbury, which since the demolition of that church had been the scenery store for the London Festival Ballet. Most of St James' parish had been added to St Paul's Brentford, but then the St Michael's parish boundary was extended westwards almost to Kew Bridge, and so included the hall.
The overall design challenge was to replace the existing 90-year-old wooden and tin-roofed hall with a building that would link to and be respectful of the Listed Church in form, materials and detail and would at the same time relate to the Edwardian street scene.
The building was designed to be flexible enough to host the Montessori school, and to be used for a variety of community activities ranging from the St Michael's Players to choirs, playgroups, dancing, scout groups, weddings and other functions.
St Michael’s in 2014
[edit]We have lots of activities for children and young people – both at services on Sundays (10.00am and 6.00pm) and during the week. There is Youth Club on Monday evenings and Brownies on Fridays. The St Michael’s Players perform regularly in the Centre. Other activities include Saturday soup lunches, a Summer street party in Elmwood Road, quiz nights, concerts, and special services and events for all the major festivals of the church’s year. We also host a night shelter for homeless men during the coldest months of the year.