CHURCH.
West Twyford church originated as
a chapel and suffered many vicissitudes. In 1114
the tithes belonged to the canons of St. Paul's. By
1181 there was a chapel there paying to St. Paul's
12d. a year for tithes, independent of the neighbouring churches, and allowed by the chapter to
baptize and bury. About 1183 Gilbert of Cranford, perhaps related to the Walter of Cranford
who was granted the manor in 1114, (fn. 90) was
instituted as rector, on the presentation of Pain,
son of Henry, and Eileen, with tithes and the right
to bury the dead of Twyford in neighbouring
churchyards belonging to St. Paul's. (fn. 91) Henry de
Capella (d. c. 1248), lord of the manor, was said in
1297 to have founded the chapel and to have
given 12 marks rent to support two chantry
chaplains, 1 mark for the maintenance of the
church, and 1 mark to augment the rectory. (fn. 92) In
1251 Bartholomew de Capella was patron, presenting a chaplain, also called perpetual rector, to
the dean and chapter, as ordinary. The rector had
a house and 10 a. of arable, which was not enough
to support him, (fn. 93) and by 1297 he had a house, 15
a., 4 marks a year from manors in Buckinghamshire where the Capellas had land, (fn. 94) and tithes;
Gunnersbury manor in Ealing was also considered to belong to the chapelry, presumably
paying tithes. (fn. 95)
The chapel was equipped much like a parish
church in 1251, when there were three altars, (fn. 96)
and 1297, when there was a churchyard although
the chapel was said not to be consecrated. (fn. 97) The
advowson was recorded as belonging to the lord
of the manor in 1380 (fn. 98) and rectors were recorded
up to 1439, (fn. 99) but the payments from the
Buckinghamshire manors and Gunnersbury
lapsed and the chapel was worth only £2 a year in
1535. (fn. 1) Perhaps already the glebe and tithes had
been merged in the manorial estate. The lord of
the manor presented a rector in 1546, and in 1589
the rector of Perivale was presented to West
Twyford in plurality. Another rector was presented in 1621, (fn. 2) and in 1635 the Crown presented
after a vacancy of some years. The new rector,
Thomas Lambe, brought an action to recover the
rectory estate from the lord of the manor, (fn. 3) who as
a result was ordered to pay the rector a stipend,
which was £10 in 1650 and £6 in 1795. (fn. 4)
In 1650 the incumbent was a man who had
been ejected from another living for scandal. (fn. 5)
West Twyford may have been left vacant in the
later 17th century; afterwards, until 1809, it was
often held with Perivale rectory. (fn. 6) In the late 18th
century services were performed by the rector or
an assistant curate monthly or six times a year; in
the early 19th century they were weekly, (fn. 7) as in
1872 when they were held by clergy from neighbouring parishes. (fn. 8) In 1885, however, the inhabitants went to church in Ealing. In 1862 the
lessee of the manor had exercised the advowson
but W. H. Allhusen, after acquiring the
advowson with the manor house in 1890, failed to
do so; services ceased and the church became
dilapidated. When the Roman Catholic Alexian
brothers attempted to use the church as their
chapel the inhabitants protested, and when the
brothers denied the rural dean access the bishop
intervened. The church was reopened for
Anglican worship in 1907, the curate of St.
Stephen's, Ealing, being appointed to hold two
services each Sunday and communion once a
month, and the Crown presented an incumbent
to what was thereafter called a vicarage, in the
patronage of the bishop and later of the diocesan
board of finance. (fn. 9) The benefice, augmented in
1912 by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, was
worth £150 a year in 1915, (fn. 10) and a Vicarage was
built in Brentmead Gardens in 1934. (fn. 11)
The chapel of ST. MARY, so called c. 1300
and in 1535, (fn. 12) stood west of the manor house and
was one of the smallest churches in Middlesex,
seating c. 40 people. (fn. 13) It was rebuilt c. 1712 by
Frederick Herne (fn. 14) and in 1800 was a plain gabled
building of brick with round-headed windows, a
western entrance, and a bellcot. (fn. 15) Thomas Willan
and his architect William Atkinson removed the
road between the church and the manor house,
covering both buildings with cement to give the
appearance of stone, and embellishing them with
Gothic details. (fn. 16) To accommodate a growing
population, a church hall was built in 1937 and
used for worship until in 1958 a new church,
incorporating the old one as a Lady Chapel, was
built to the design of N. F. Cachemaille-Day. (fn. 17)
Surviving monuments include alabaster and
marble wall memorials to Robert Moyle (d. 1638)
and Walter Moyle (d. 1660). (fn. 18)
The parish registers date from 1722. (fn. 19) The
church owned a silver chalice in 1251 and in
1552, when it was kept at the manor house. (fn. 20) In
1666 the plate, described as two silver gilt flagons
and a chalice, was included in the personal estate
of Walter Moyle. (fn. 21) Plate stamped with the Moyle
arms and dated 1697 was discovered in a London
bank in 1918 and returned to the parish. (fn. 22)