Taking Stock

A  small  church  built  in  1930,  initially  as  a  parish  hall  and  later converted and extended. It is of little architectural or historic significance.

A 1950s building in an Italian Romanesque style, mostly built by voluntary labour. The original roof concealed behind parapets was replaced in the 1990s with an overall pantiled roof, to good effect.

A plain tall church of 1936-37, extended in the 1960s. The Lady altar consists of salvaged marble parts from the former high altar at Sidcup.

A typical late Gothic Revival church of 1890-1891 by A. E. Purdie. It replaced an orphanage chapel which had moved to the site in 1870 and which led to the establishment of the Blackheath mission in 1873. The church is notable for its complete set of fine stained glass windows by John Hardman & Co. The church makes a positive contribution to the Blackheath Park conservation area.

A handsome essay in neo-Romanesque by F.A. Walters, achieving grandeur in the face of economy. The church has some notable furnishings. The contemporary presbytery is also a building of note.

Built as a village hall, the building has little architectural or townscape significance.

A plain portal-framed structure of the 1950s, with later additions.

A large red brick church in Early English Gothic style, originally built as an Independent chapel and acquired and restored for Catholic use after the Second World War. The three-stage tower is a landmark on the northern approach to Brixton town centre. The interior space is the best feature of the building, with its timber roofs supported on delicate cast iron  columns.  The  removal  of  the  galleries  is  regrettable,  but  the interior remains a fine space, recently embellished by dramatic mural paintings in the apse.

Even in its incomplete state, this major town church by J. F. Bentley is an impressive structure. The church takes full advantage of its prominent location on Brixton Hill, being tall and majestic in its proportions. It is a free polychromatic essay in Decorated Gothic, its interior retaining a number of important original furnishings by Bentley.

A remarkable church by Giles Gilbert Scott, designed in 1929 but not completed until 1963.   The architectural forms and materials used are traditional but used in an original way, with a low nave and a dramatically tall chancel with an even taller square tower. The general standard of finish is extremely high.

A   much-altered   Italianate   church   of   1898-99   by   the   little-known architect Young Bolton. The decorative high altar is one of the few original furnishings to survive.

A neo-Romanesque brick church of 1912 by Edward Goldie. The church is locally listed and its high nave and west front are of some townscape value.

A small Romanesque Revival church of 1910, one of several nearly identical churches by Rev. Benedict Williamson, built with funds provided by Miss Frances Ellis. The interior is much altered.

A modern brick church of the 1960s by F. G. Broadbent, built to serve the post-war Ayliffe housing estate on the edge of Dover. While clearly inspired by traditional church forms, the building is not in any specific style.    The interior is wide and simple.   The sanctuary  has  been  re- ordered but some of the good original fittings remain.

A post-war church brick church, in its character bearing some resemblance to the Art Deco churches of Cachemaille-Day and the industrial buildings of Giles Gilbert Scott. The striking staggered plan form was driven by a functional need to reduce noise from the adjacent railway line. The church is little altered and retains a complete set of internal furnishings of high quality. It replaced a 19th-century church destroyed in 1941 by enemy action. The church lies within the Camberwell  New  Road  conservation  area,  but  makes  a  relatively modest  contribution to the  local  scene, being  set  well  back from  the main road and bounded on one side by the high viaduct of a railway line.

A church of symbolic significance to Catholics, being built in the city of Becket’s martyrdom, in the shadow of the main Cathedral of the Established Church. The church was built on the site of a medieval chapel, and holds notable relics of St Thomas Becket. Architecturally, as built in the 1870s, St Thomas’s was an exercise in the High Gothic style much in the manner of E. W. Pugin. Its symmetrical design was unbalanced in the 1960s when major additions were made to the church in an uncompromisingly modern style. Though externally the juxtaposition between these structures is not successful, the interior space works well and much of the 19th- century character survives.

A simple church building to an inter-war design by W.C. Mangan. The building has an Italianate character, typical of Mangan, but is essentially a single large worship space.   The most original feature of the interior is  the use of large console brackets supporting the wide ceiling.

A  1970s  church  built  on  the  site  of  a  1930s  temporary  church.    The design was apparently provided by the parish priest. It is a functional multi-use structure, with the main volume designed to function as both church and hall.

A small, plain Romanesque revival church by F.W. Tasker, very similar to his slightly earlier church of St Gertrude at South Bermondsey (qv), and one of many churches built in the Diocese in the early 20th  century under the patronage of the Catholic convert Miss Frances Ellis. Furnishings of note include a number of statues by Mayer of Munich. The church lies on the edge of, and makes a positive contribution to, the Culverley Green conservation area.

A Neo-Romanesque church of 1905-1906 by the French architect Eugéne- Jacques Gervais, built for an Assumptionist congregation from Bordeaux. During a restoration campaign of 1959, an outer north aisle was added, and the reredos and high altar altered. The interior is colourful and theatrical. The church has some townscape value.