Church of St Michael and All Angels

Church of St Michael and All Angels

This parish church was designed by J E K Cutts and built between 1883 and 1885. It is constructed of red brick with cast concrete dressings and Bath stone columns, with a slate roof throughout, though some later replacements are evident.

The church comprises a five-bay nave with a tall clerestory, north and south aisles, a two-bay chancel, a morning chapel on the south side (now subdivided as a meeting space), and a north transept which originally contained an organ chamber and vestries (latterly converted to a nursery). A vestibule leads from the main west entrance to a church hall, which was sectioned off from the main body during work undertaken in 1972.

Exterior

The church presents a tall and imposing red brick Gothic Revival composition with robust Early English detailing and a large, steep-pitched slate roof. A small brick porch of slightly later date stands at the west end in place of the intended tower and spire shown in J E K Cutts' original plans. Above the porch rises a tall three-lancet Gothic window, framed by a pair of narrow buttresses. A small bell is set in an arched recess at the top of the west elevation, with a pinnacle on each side.

Stepped buttresses run along the walls of the south and north aisles, punctuated by Gothic lancet windows. Paired Gothic lancets rise above to the clerestory of the nave. At the east end of the north aisle, a projecting gable-ended transept bay contains the organ, with original lean-to structures to the north and east that were built to house clergy and choir vestries (converted to a nursery in 2016). The east end features a large Decorated Gothic window with flanking buttresses to north and south, and a three-light Gothic lancet window above. Cast concrete is used throughout for dressings and plate tracery.

Interior

The main entrance passes through the porch into the nave, via the inserted hall of 1972. Two arcades, supported by Bath stone columns, separate the nave from the aisles. The walls and spandrels in the arcades and clerestory are plastered and painted white, creating a striking contrast with the brick arches to the windows and arcades. Paired Gothic lancet clerestory windows with clear, leaded lights flank each side. The nave and chancel roofs are supported by exposed timber scissor trusses. The chancel floor is covered with polychromatic ceramic tiles. The font stands at the south-east end of the nave and the pulpit at the north-east end.

Furnishings and Fittings

Early features retained in the church include an octagonal font of 1885 carved from Devonshire marble with a carved oak steeple cover. The octagonal pulpit of 1889 features stone tracery, winder stairs, and supporting marble columns. A carved oak reredos at the east end of the chancel dates to 1931, and a wrought-iron screen between the nave and chancel to 1934; both are by Messrs Maile & Sons Ltd. Carved screens to the organ chamber (to the south and east) date probably to the late 19th century. The organ has been removed, though parts of its casement have been reconstituted as part of a storage space. Simple timber pews with shaped ends fill the nave and aisles, with those in the chancel featuring simple carved trefoil arches to their front panels.

Several memorial tablets are mounted to the walls, including one commemorating the fallen men of the parish from the First and Second World War and a City of London Volunteers Regiment memorial of 1900 to a parishioner who died in the South African Campaign of the Second Boer War.

Stained Glass

The stained-glass windows date from several distinct phases. The earliest glass, from the 1880s and 1890s, is by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, one of the leading Gothic Revival stained-glass manufacturers in Britain, who established their studio in Covent Garden in 1862. Work by this firm appears in the Decorated Gothic east window, which has five lancets with a sexfoil opening at the head, depicting the nativity, the flight into Egypt, the ascension, annunciation, adoration of the magi and crucifixion (dated 1899-1910). A series of nine lancet windows in the north aisle dates to 1889, and a two-light stained-glass window at the east end of the south aisle to 1884. The latter was the only window installed at the time of the church's consecration in 1885 and was designed in memory of Emma Diana Alabaster.

The remaining windows date to the 20th century. A pair depicting the ascension and the charge to Peter in the north aisle was made by Kelley & Co in 1925. A window in the south aisle depicting St Peter dates to 1968 and is by Messrs Maile & Sons Ltd. A further window in the south aisle showing Christ with three children was made by Hargel and designed by E T Fellows in 1984.