CHURCHES.
There was a priest at Hendon in
1086. (fn. 75) A church was mentioned in 1157 (fn. 76) and was
valued with a chapelry at Hampstead in the mid
13th century. (fn. 77) The chapelry was still annexed to
Hendon rectory in 1476 (fn. 78) but it became the separate
parish of Hampstead in 1549. (fn. 79) Several new churches
were founded in the 19th and 20th centuries, until
in 1970 there were 14 ecclesiastical parishes and two
mission chapels within the old parish.
There is no mention of the church at Hendon in
early grants of the manor to Westminster (fn. 80) but in
1157 Pope Adrian IV confirmed that the abbey held
the advowson, (fn. 81) as was subsequently reaffirmed by
the bishop of London. (fn. 82) In 1258 the abbey retained
the advowson when it granted the church to the
bishop of London. (fn. 83) Except in 1262 and when the
king acted as patron sede vacante in 1349, the abbey
presented all the rectors until 1476, (fn. 84) when it
appropriated the church. (fn. 85) In 1550 the Herberts
became lay rectors. (fn. 86)
A vicarage was ordained before 1244. (fn. 87) Vicars
were appointed by the rectors from 1329 to 1477,
when the bishop of London collated by lapse, and
from 1478 until the Dissolution by the abbot of
Westminster. (fn. 88) The advowson of the vicarage passed
in 1541 to the new diocese of Westminster (fn. 89) and in
1550 to the Herberts, (fn. 90) who, as recusants, appear to
have leased it; J. Askew and William Lambert
presented in 1557, Sir Francis Walsingham in 1582,
John Goldesborough in 1606, Thomas Staresmere
in 1662, John Herne in 1679, and John Wand and
John Wright in 1707 and 1726. (fn. 91) The advowson was
sold after the death of John Bond in 1801 to the
Revd. C. L. Eldridge, who presented in 1812. (fn. 92)
Edward Bailey presented in 1876 (fn. 93) but by 1890 the
living was in the hands of Lady Howard de Walden. (fn. 94)
Lord Howard de Walden was patron in 1940 and
the bishop of London in 1947. (fn. 95)
The vicarage was valued at five marks c. 1244, out
of which two marks a year were paid to the sacristy
of Westminster abbey (fn. 96) until the Dissolution. (fn. 97)
In 1535 the vicarage was worth £15 (fn. 98) and by 1650
its value had risen to £55, which was augmented
by £37 from the profits of the rectory. (fn. 99) The
vicar's stipend was increased by £100 in 1694, after
the attainder of Lord Powis, (fn. 1) but the grant was
revoked after the manor had returned to the
Herberts. (fn. 2) The endowment was chiefly drawn c.
1705 from the small tithes, including 6d. for each
new-born lamb and 1d. for every barren ewe; pigs,
geese, ducks, honey, wool, and other articles were
also taken. (fn. 3) Apart from the profits from the lambs
the tithes were not worth more than £10 but except
when lambs failed the vicar thought his income
'generally considerable'. In 1706 the vestry offered
him £80 out of the church rates in lieu of tithes, in
return for which he was to preach twice each
Sunday and read Mattins twice a week during the
summer. (fn. 4) The arrangement excluded the lucrative
burial fees for non-parishioners, which were
divided between the vicar and the parish. In 1814
the vicar, Theodore Williams, who maintained that
the parish's share of the money was wasted at
vestry meetings, (fn. 5) refused to bury non-parishioners,
but the vestry won its suit in the consistory court. (fn. 6)
In 1835 the gross income of the vicarage was £1,300,
out of which was paid an assistant curate's annual
stipend of £100 and other sums amounting to £20. (fn. 7)
In 1843 the vicar was given an annual rent-charge
of £850 in lieu of small tithes. (fn. 8) The vicarial glebe
amounted in 1640 to 4 a. of pasture adjoining the
vicarage house (fn. 9) and remained intact until the
1930s, when it was sold for the building of Glebe
Crescent and the Quadrant. (fn. 10) The vicarage house
in Parson Street is an early-19th-century stuccoed
villa, in whose garden Theodore Williams kept a
noted collection of potted coniferous trees. (fn. 11)
A chantry priest in 1547 was paid £8 a year for a
term of twenty years out of the profits of houses and
lands in Hendon to sing masses for the soul of
Allen Brent. (fn. 12) An obit was founded in 1492 under
the will of John Atwood, who left 6s. 8d. a year for
prayers to be said by the parish clerk and for a
candle before the Easter Sepulchre each year. (fn. 13) The
profits of a tenement and three closes were devoted
in 1547 to an obit established by Richard Brent. (fn. 14)
Several of the pre-Reformation vicars were
pluralists; Robert Shether, for instance, held two
other benefices in 1535. (fn. 15) In 1586 the vicar was nonresident and his curate was absent at the time of the
diocesan examination in the Scriptures, (fn. 16) whereas in
1640 a 'very able' minister preached twice each
Sunday. (fn. 17) Francis Warham, appointed by Parliament in 1643, was a lecturer at the church of St.
Mary Magdalen, Milk Street, London, and was
said to serve the cure diligently (fn. 18) but was ejected in
1662. (fn. 19) During the 18th century services were held
twice on Sundays, with Holy Communion monthly
and at festivals. (fn. 20) In 1778 there was an average of
fifty communicants (fn. 21) but by 1810 the number had
dropped to ten. (fn. 22) With the exception of Hugh
Bailey, 1787-90, all 18th- and 19th-century vicars
seem to have resided. (fn. 23) There was a charity sermon
at Hendon church in the 18th century and in 1795
Robert Johnson endowed a sermon to be preached
there before officials of the Stationers' Company of
London on the text: 'The Life of man is a bubble'. (fn. 24)
William Wilberforce wrote in 1830 on the wretched
spiritual state of the parish, (fn. 25) while his neighbour
Sir Stamford Raffles noted in 1826 (fn. 26) how Theodore
Williams had antagonized most of his parishioners;
in 1823, during the dispute over burial fees, the
vicar had demolished a new tomb in the churchyard
and scattered the materials in the road outside. (fn. 27)
Although the vestry thought that the vicar's attitude
promoted secession, church attendances increased:
in 1851 an average of 500 to 700 worshippers
attended morning service at the parish church, as
well as 250 in the afternoon and 300 to 600 in the
evening, while some 25 attended a Sunday evening
cottage lecture. (fn. 28) The vicar was indicted in 1906,
along with the vicar of St. John's, West Hendon, for
High Church practices, which included the use of
eucharistic vestments, candles on the high altar, and
the daily celebration of communion. (fn. 29) The AngloCatholic tradition has since been maintained in
several churches, including the old parish church
and St. Jude-on-the-Hill. (fn. 30)
Among those who held the benefice in the Middle
Ages was William Dudley (d. 1483), rector from
1466, who became bishop of Durham in 1476 and
chancellor of Oxford University in 1483. (fn. 31) Richard
Rawlins (d. 1536) became vicar in 1504, warden of
Merton College, Oxford, from 1508 to 1521 and
bishop of St. Davids in 1523. (fn. 32) James Townley,
1768-77, was the author of several farces, (fn. 33) while
his curate, Henry Bate, later Sir Henry Bate
Dudley, Bt., became a noted journalist. Bate, known
as 'the fighting parson', (fn. 34) was a friend of David
Garrick, the patron of the living. (fn. 35) F. H. A.
Scrivener, who succeeded Theodore Williams in
1875, was a noted classical scholar. (fn. 36)
The parish church of ST. MARY is built of
flint rubble and pudding-stone with Reigate stone
dressings; the tower is of ragstone, while the modern
south aisle is of Portland and Weldon stone. (fn. 37)
Excavations during restoration in 1929-31 are said
to have revealed the foundations of the 12thcentury chancel. The church was rebuilt and
enlarged in the 13th, 15th, and early 16th centuries.
There were restorations in 1783 and 1827 and in
1915 the building was doubled in size, giving it an
almost square plan. The east wall of the chancel
contains 13th-century arcading, springing from
foliated capitals, and fragments of contemporary
wall-paintings were discovered near by between
1929 and 1931. The east window of three lights was
added in 1408 under the will of John Ware, canon
of St. Stephen's, Westminster. (fn. 38) Aisles were added
to the nave in the 13th century, and the existing
three-bay south nave arcade, supported on low
octagonal piers, dates from that time. The north
nave arcade, also of three bays, was rebuilt in the
15th century, when the clerestory and flat-pitched
wooden nave roof were also built. The clerestory
windows, which have no tracery, date from the 18th
century. The embattled western tower, of three
storeys, was built during the 15th century and
repaired in 1783. (fn. 39) The chapel north of the chancel,
lit by two three-light windows, was added in the
early 16th century.
The interior was considerably altered after the
Reformation by the addition of galleries, of which
there were two by 1691, belonging to Sir William
Rawlinson and to John Nicholl of Hendon Place. (fn. 40)
Another gallery was added at the west end in 1788
to hold the charity school children. (fn. 41) Extensive
repairs were carried out in 1827 by T. H. Taylor,
after a scheme to demolish the old nave and build
a new one of brick had been quashed by the
vestry; (fn. 42) work included the construction of more
galleries and of the chancel arch and wide arches in
the chancel walls. With the ritualistic changes of the
later 19th century the three-decker pulpit was
removed, the chancel floor tiled, and the north
chapel transformed by the removal of a gallery and
the insertion of an altar to the designs of G. F.
Bodley. In 1915 the south aisle was replaced by a
new nave, south aisle, and south porch, designed
by Temple Moore in a restrained late Gothic style;
the new nave and south aisle were equal in height
and separated by an arcade of seven bays, the
columns of which were without capitals. The effect
was to produce a light and spacious appearance,
which was enhanced in 1929-31, when some 19thcentury features were removed from the older part
of the church and the walls were plastered.
The church contains a mid- to late-12th-century
font and three small brasses, of which the earliest, to
John Downer, is dated 1515. Monuments include a
large black marble floor slab of 1677 to Sir Jeremy
Whichcote of Hendon House, a large wall monument
to Sir William Rawlinson erected in 1705, with a
life-sized reclining effigy, a draped marble tablet
dated 1714 to Edward Fowler (1632-1714), bishop of
Gloucester, and wall monuments to Sir Charles
Colman by the younger Flaxman, dated 1795, and
to Giles Earle by J. Smith, dated 1811. In the south
aisle there is a painting of the Flight into Egypt by a
member of the school of the Bassani. The plate
includes a silver-gilt cup and paten-cover dated
1607, a silver-gilt paten probably of the late 17th
century, and a silver-gilt flagon dated 1730. There
are also two chalices, two patens, and two cruets,
designed by G. F. Bodley in 1890. (fn. 43) There are six
bells: (i) and (vi) Lester and Pack, 1759; (ii) Brian
Eldridge, 1637; (iii) Ellis Knight, 1638; (iv) Thomas
Mears, 1802; (v) James Bartlett, 1690. (fn. 44) The
registers are complete from 1653. Among those
buried in the churchyard are: Charles Johnson
(1679-1748), dramatist; Sir Joseph Ayloffe, Bt.
(1709-81), antiquary; Nathaniel Hone (1718-84),
portrait painter; George Carter (1737-94), painter;
and Benjamin Travers (1783-1858), eye surgeon. (fn. 45)
A rise in the population of Mill Hill led to many
proposals in the early 19th century to build a church
there. Arrangements were said by the vestry to be
well advanced in 1826 (fn. 46) but nothing had been done
by 1828, when William Wilberforce proposed to
build a chapel near his house at Highwood Hill,
with the aid of private contributions. (fn. 47) After remonstrances by Theodore Williams he agreed to locate it
farther south, on the Ridgeway, but the vicar replied
with a pamphlet attributing mercenary motives to
Wilberforce and maintaining that any chapel would
be injurious to religion and private property. (fn. 48)
Williams refused to allow a district to be allotted to
the chapel, the building of which began in 1829 and,
despite support for it from both the bishop of
London and the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, the
consecration of the chapel of ST. PAUL, Mill Hill,
was delayed until a few days after Wilberforce's
death in 1833. (fn. 49) As the main benefactor, Wilberforce
appointed the first minister, although Williams
continued to claim the patronage; in 1838 the case
was still being argued (fn. 50) but by 1855 the vicar had
become patron and St. Paul's, described as a district
chapel, was served by a curate of the parish church. (fn. 51)
The patronage passed later to the Revd. E. C.
Lethbridge, who transferred it in 1896 to the bishop
of London, with whom it remained in 1970. (fn. 52) The
church, which was erected on land given by Sir
Charles Flower, (fn. 53) was designed by Samuel Hood
Page (fn. 54) in a plain Gothic style. It is built of brick,
later stuccoed and painted, and has a short chancel
and a nave with a west gallery supported on slender
cast-iron columns. In addition to private monuments the interior houses several memorials and
banners relating to the Middlesex Regiment.
The district chapelry of ALL SAINTS, Childs
Hill, was formed in 1857 out of the southern part of
St. Mary's parish, services having formerly been
held in a laundry belonging to Mrs. Hipwell. (fn. 55) It
was served by a perpetual curate, appointed by the
vicar of Hendon, (fn. 56) but by 1878 the living was
described as a vicarage, in the gift of trustees. (fn. 57) The
patronage was transferred in 1908 by Sir Samuel
Hoare, Bt., and others to the bishop of London,
with whom it remained in 1970. (fn. 58) The church,
which was consecrated in 1856, (fn. 59) was designed, like
the adjacent red-brick vicarage, by Thomas Talbot
Bury. It is built of ragstone in the 'middle pointed'
style and had originally only a short aisled chancel
and a nave, although it was probably intended to be
enlarged later; the north aisle and transept were
added in 1878 (fn. 60) and the south aisle and transept in
1884. The church was badly damaged by fire in
1940 and restored in 1952.
CHRIST CHURCH, Brent Street, was built in
1881 to the designs of S. Salter as a chapel-of-ease
served by the clergy of Hendon parish church. (fn. 61) It
became the centre of a new parish, formed out of
St. Mary's in 1923, and in 1970 the patronage was
held by the bishop of London. (fn. 62) The church, a
small and plain ragstone building in an early
Decorated style, consists of an aisled and clerestoried
nave, north porch, and chancel. The rood screen
was designed by Temple Moore in 1896. (fn. 63)
Services for Anglicans in the Cricklewood area
were held from 1882 in a combined mission church
and schoolroom in Cricklewood Lane designed by
Ewan Christian. (fn. 64) The permanent church of
ST. PETER, Cricklewood, on a site given by the
Ecclesiastical Commissioners, (fn. 65) was dedicated in
1891 and became in 1892 the centre of a district
chapelry formed out of the parishes of St. Mary,
Hendon, and All Saints, Childs Hill. (fn. 66) The
patronage was held by the vicar of All Saints but
was transferred in 1910 to the bishop of London,
who held it in 1970. (fn. 67) The church, a large building
in a plain French Gothic style, was designed by
T. H. Watson. (fn. 68) It is of uncoursed Burgate stone
and has a clerestoried nave, with aisles and small
transepts, and a south-eastern chapel. A Perpendicular chancel and Lady Chapel were added in
1911 and the nave was extended to the west in
1912. (fn. 69) The church was closed in 1971 and awaited
demolition in 1972, when services were held in the
neighbouring parish hall and at the chapel of
Little St. Peter, Claremont Way. (fn. 70)
A temporary iron church was built in Edgware
Road in 1866 to serve Anglicans in West Hendon. (fn. 71)
Services were later held in another building, in
Milton Road, shared with St. John's school. (fn. 72) The
permanent church of ST. JOHN, West Hendon, in
Algernon Road, was consecrated in 1896 and in
the same year became the centre of a district
chapelry formed out of the parish of St. Mary,
Hendon; the advowson was vested in the bishop of
London. (fn. 73) The church, which was designed by
Temple Moore in a late Gothic style, is a spacious
and lofty building of yellow brick and has an
undivided chancel and nave, with the south aisle
continued as a south chapel. A north arcade was
provided for an aisle but this and the belfry were
not built. Among the fittings are some panelling
from two of Wren's London churches, St. George,
Botolph Lane (demolished 1904), and St. Bartholomew-by-the-Exchange (demolished 1902), a font
and cover of the same date, and a mid-18th-century
pulpit from St. Michael Bassishaw (demolished
1900). (fn. 74)
The first Anglican worshippers in Hampstead
Garden Suburb met from 1908 in a wooden hut. (fn. 75)
In 1909 services were transferred to the Institute
and in 1911 the church of ST. JUDE-on-the-HILL
was consecrated, as the centre of a new district
chapelry taken from the parish of St. Mary, the
patron being the bishop of London. The Lady
Chapel had been consecrated in 1910 but the church
was not completed until 1935. (fn. 76) The architect was
Sir Edwin Lutyens, whose building, with its lofty
spire and steeply-pitched roof covering both nave
and aisles and extending nearly to ground level, is a
prominent landmark. The plan is cruciform, with
aisles to both nave and chancel and chapels to
north-east and south-east. The style shows a
mixture of influences from Byzantine to English
18th-century. Apart from the west window the
nave is lit only by square-headed dormers set on the
aisle walls and the dimness is emphasized by the
woodwork and bare brick.
At Golders Green services were held from 1910 in
an iron church in Golders Green Road, which
occupied the site of the church hall of ST.
MICHAEL. (fn. 77) The church was begun in 1914, when
its parish was taken from that of St. Mary, Hendon.
In 1970 the living was in the gift of the bishop of
London. (fn. 78) The original church, designed by J. T.
Lee of Tufnell Park and not orientated, is a large
Gothic building of buff brick with an aisled,
galleried, and clerestoried chancel, an east chancel
chapel, and an aisled and clerestoried nave of three
bays. (fn. 79) Two more bays were added to the nave in
1925 by Caroë and Passmore and a low northwestern tower, surmounted by a classical cupola,
was added in 1960. From 1970 the church was
shared with a Greek Orthodox community, which
had used Christ Church, Brent Street, in 1968, (fn. 80)
and part of the light and spacious interior was
furnished for Orthodox worship.
The church of ST. ALBAN, Golders Green, was
built as a chapel-of-ease to All Saints', Childs Hill,
in 1910. (fn. 81) It became the centre of a new parish
taken from that of All Saints in 1922: in 1970 the
patron of the living was the bishop of London. (fn. 82)
The original church, a simple brick building,
became the parish hall in 1933, when another
church was built adjacent to it. The second church
was by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, who also designed
most of the fittings, and in a Gothic-inspired style.
It is of dark red brick with stone dressings and has a
cruciform plan with a massive central tower surmounted by a short spire.
Temple Fortune was served from the 1890s by
a mission under the control of St. Mary's, Hendon,
which conducted services at no. 24 Hendon Park
Row. (fn. 83) In 1915 its functions were taken over by a
London Diocesan Home Mission dedicated to the
Holy Name, which held services in a temporary
building in Cranbourne Gardens, serving also as a
church hall. The mission district became the consolidated chapelry of ST. BARNABAS, Temple
Fortune, in 1923, taken from the parishes of St.
Mary, Hendon, and St. Mary, Finchley. In 1970
the living was described as a vicarage in the gift of
the bishop of London. (fn. 84) The original church of 1915,
which was aligned north to south, was designed by
J. S. Alder and had a nave with apsidal sanctuary,
south porch, and east vestries. The chancel, part of
the nave and the Lady Chapel of a new church
designed by E. C. Sherman were built at its north
end in 1932-4 but it was not until 1962 that a new
aisled nave, replacing that of J. S. Alder, was
dedicated. The architect was R. B. Craze and
although the building is much plainer than had been
intended in 1932 it matches the north end in scale,
the colour of the brickwork, and the simple Gothicinspired design. (fn. 85)
A brick church in Flower Lane, serving the area
around the Midland Railway station at Mill Hill,
was consecrated in 1909. (fn. 86) It became the church
hall in 1922, when the chancel and two bays of the
nave of the permanent church of ST. MICHAEL
and ALL ANGELS, Mill Hill, were consecrated on
an adjacent site. This church became the centre of a
new parish, taken out of that of St. Paul, Mill Hill,
in 1926, and in 1970 the bishop of London was
patron of the living. (fn. 87) The church is built of uncoursed ashlar in a 15th-century Gothic style, with
some rich interior detail; the architects were W. D.
Caroë and Passmore. (fn. 88) The sanctuary was consecrated in 1932 and the church was finally completed in 1957, when the end bays of the aisled
nave, a chapel, baptistry, vestries, and porches
were added.
A mission church in East Road, Burnt Oak,
dedicated to St. Paul and served from St. John,
West Hendon, was consecrated in 1904; the
building, which was of corrugated iron, had formerly
been occupied by Burnt Oak National school. (fn. 89) It
ceased to be used for worship in 1927, when the
church of ST. ALPHAGE, Burnt Oak, was built in
Montrose Avenue, as the centre of a new parish
which covered the Watling estate; in 1970 the
living was in the gift of the bishop of London. (fn. 90)
The architect of the church, a plain brick building
with a basilican plan in the Early Christian style,
was J. E. Dixon-Spain; the church was restored in
1952 after war-damage. (fn. 91)
The ecclesiastical district of JOHN KEBLE
church, Mill Hill, was created in 1932 to serve the
area around the Hale. A parish was created out of
St. Michael, Mill Hill, and St. Alphage, Burnt
Oak, in 1937, (fn. 92) and in 1970 the patron of the living,
a vicarage, was the bishop of London. (fn. 93) The congregation worshipped for the first six months of
1932 in a wooden hut in Deans Lane, before moving
to a dual-purpose hall and church, later the parish
hall. (fn. 94) A permanent church was consecrated in 1936.
It was designed by D. E. Martin-Smith and ranked
as one of the more notable modern churches in
Middlesex. Built of brick around a reinforced
concrete frame, it has a square plan with a flat
coffered ceiling and a spacious interior unencumbered with columns. The altar is set in a recess in
the east wall and there is a west gallery and tower. (fn. 95)
There was a mission church at Colindale in 1905,
dedicated to St. Mellitus and served by clergy from
St. John's, West Hendon. (fn. 96) With the building of
St. Alphage's, Burnt Oak, in 1927, the mission
church became a parish hall. (fn. 97) In 1934 the mission
district of ST. MATTHIAS, Colindale, was
formed out of the parishes of St. John, West
Hendon, and St. Alphage. (fn. 98) Services were held in a
dual-purpose church and hall in Rushgrove Avenue
which had been given in that year by Christ Church,
Lancaster Gate (Paddington). The district became
a parish in 1951 and in 1970 the benefice was a
vicarage in the gift of the bishop of London. (fn. 99) In
1972 work was started on a permanent church,
behind the dual-purpose building, designed by
R. W. Hurst.
In 1934 the mission church of St. Mary Magdalen,
Holders Hill Road, was opened as a chapel-of-ease to
St. Mary's parish church. (fn. 1) The church is a plain
wooden hut. In 1958 the mission chapel of Little
St. Peter, Claremont Way, was founded as a chapelof-ease to St. Peter, Cricklewood, and was served
in 1970 by a deaconess. (fn. 2)