Church Of St Michael And All Angels

Church of St Michael and All Angels

An Anglican church built in 1880 by Richard Norman Shaw, serving as a central element in the planned suburb of Bedford Park, laid out between 1875 and 1883. The church was commissioned by Jonathan Carr and Hamilton Fulton. Later additions by Maurice Adams include a north aisle (1882), a public hall (1887), and a south-east chapel (1919). The building is constructed in red brick with stone dressings and machine-tiled roofs.

The plan comprises a nave, aisles, chancel, south-east chapel, north-west public hall, and south porch.

The west end features a 7-light window set under a 4-centred arch, flanked by flat stepped buttresses. Above this is a rubbed brick element of 4 variously treated panels over a moulded cornice. A projecting clock face bears the inscription "in memoriam Harold Wilson". To the south, the west return of the 2-storey south porch is fitted with one twin 2-light transomed window with cusped lights and two similar 2-light windows. String courses run above and below an inscription plaque set beneath the swept parapet. The north aisle west end has a flat parapet and one twin 2-light transomed window.

The south porch features swept parapets on three sides. Its south opening is segmental, set under a moulded timber hood on scrolled braces dropping to wall posts. Inscription plaques appear on the south and east sides. The east return contains two 2-light cusped windows. The porch interior has a single transverse arch with sunk quadrant mouldings, a statuary niche over the inner doorway, and double-leaf 3-panel inner doors.

The north and south aisles each have 3 twin 2-light transomed windows with cusped heads, separated by stepped buttresses. Coved cornices run along each aisle, the southern one furnished with a timber balustrade. Three clerestory dormers on both north and south sides feature shaped gables and twin 2-light windows. An open lantern on the ridge carries a balustrade and glazed cupola.

The south chapel is lit by two 2-light transomed windows to the south and one similar window to the east, each set under a gable. Stepped side buttresses support the structure. A monument to Jonathan Carr (1845–1915) stands on the south side; a foundation plaque on the east is dated 12 June 1919. The east end has a segmental-headed 7-light window with cusped lights.

The public hall to the north-west comprises a tall Dutch gable with a segmental pediment and scrolled lugs above a twin 2-light transomed west window. A single-storey parapeted entrance projects forward, its opening framed by a central entactic drum column with moulded capital and base supporting two brick arches with keyblocks. Wrought-iron screens bearing cherubs fill the tympana. Double panelled timber inner doors provide access. The north flank has three through-eaves dormers with segmental pedimented tops, each containing 2-light transomed windows. The east end has a vestry at right angles with a pedimented gable, a 2-light window below, and a pedimented entrance in the east return. A further single-storey room with swept parapet and 2-light cusped windows extends to the east.

The interior of the church contains a 5-bay arcade of octagonal piers, the lower parts clad with panelled timber skirts and moulded capitals. The arches feature double sunk quadrant mouldings. A continuous roof spans the nave in the form of 10 combined king post and queen post trusses. Clerestory windows are fitted with internal timber balustrades. The aisles display moulded dado panelling, an open pedimented doorway to the south-west, and two pedimented doorways to the north aisle. Aisle roofs are boarded quadrants with tie beams and radial balusters.

A timber chancel screen of 3 bays with segmental arches on square piers supports an open balustrade carrying 3 rood figures, added in 1919. The chancel has panelled dado and a moulded arch on the south looking into the south-east chapel, fitted with an iron grille. A pedestrian entrance immediately to the east is set under a depressed arch with a carved figure of St Michael above the cornice. Recessed sedilia in the dado panelling feature 3 stall seats set below a swan-necked pediment.

The south-east chapel forms a crossing with 4 arches bearing double wave mouldings that die into 4 free-standing piers. Smaller subsidiary arches connect these piers to the north and south walls. The roof comprises barrel-vaulted cells.

A heavily carved octagonal font occupies the nave, featuring a central drum with 4 outer marble columns and a 3-stepped plinth. A timber font cover accompanies it. Against the west wall stands a clock mechanism in a glazed timber case by Connell of Cheapside, commemorating Lieutenant Harold Wilson, who was killed in the Boer War.

The public hall is roofed with 4 king and queen post trusses. A raised stage with a segmental proscenium arch occupies the east end, with an elevated balcony at the west end.