All Saints' Church
Following the Improvement Act of 1813, which reformed
the civil administration of Poplar and Blackwall (see page
18), the inhabitants considered making the hamlet a
separate parish, with its own parish church. Taking the
example of St Mary Magdalene, Islington, built between
1812 and 1814, they thought the cost might be £20,000. (ref. 81)
Allowances for the expense of obtaining the necessary
Act of Parliament, purchasing the ground and building
a parsonage added £6,000 to the estimate. (ref. 82) To reduce
the outlay, a scheme was devised whereby the East India
Company's chapel would be replaced by a new church
building on the same site and its chaplain would become
the parish's first rector, but the East India Company
refused to agree to it. (ref. 83) The East India Dock Company's
response was also lukewarm and it felt that there was a
need for more 'Places of Public Worship, especially for the
Lower Classes who … most required it for Instruction in
their religious Duties'. The replacement of the chapel,
with 800 sittings, by a church with 2,000 would provide
a net gain of only 1,200 places and the size and growth
of the hamlet seemed to call for the retention of the
chapel and the erection of a new church. (ref. 84)
After consultations with Brasenose College, Oxford,
the patron of Stepney parish, Thomas Barneby, the rector
of the parish, William Howley, the Bishop of London,
the East India and West India Dock Companies and the
Corporation's Port of London Committee, it was agreed
that the College would be patron of the new parish and
receive the great tithes. Samuel Hoole, the East India
Company's chaplain, would be appointed as the first
rector. The Bill establishing the parish of All Saints was
passed on 16 June 1817. (ref. 85)
Shortly after the Act had been obtained, advertisements
were placed for the site of a church, which was limited
to eight acres. Three possibilities were identified: one
was Mrs Wade's land north of the East India Dock Road,
the second was on the south side of that road immediately
west of Bow Lane and the third was a part of Black Boy
Field, further to the west. The West India Dock Company
favoured the land owned by Mrs Wade, because of
its relative cheapness. The vestry's church committee
preferred that to the south of East India Dock Road and
adjoining Bow Lane, because it was closer to the majority
of the population. The Black Boy Field site seems to
have received little support. The question was resolved
in favour of the committee's views. (ref. 86)
The site chosen consisted of three parts (fig. 64). The
first to be acquired abutted upon Bow Lane to the east
and consisted of a field, a barn, and five houses fronting
the High Street, including the Old Red Lion, with ten
cottages to their rear. It was in the hands of the eight
heirs and other beneficiaries of the late George, Melchior
and Clement Paillet, respectively a hosier of Bishopsgate
Street, a gentleman of Newent, Gloucestershire, and a
gentleman of Topsham, Devon. It was bought by the
vestry in 1819 and the properties on the High Street
were sold two years later. (ref. 87) The second was a small
wedge-shaped area of just over half an acre, with a
frontage along East India Dock Road. It was acquired for
£800 from the brothers James, Charles and George
Griffiths – James acting for George, who had been
committed to an asylum (see page 175). (ref. 88) The third part
was a plot of over two acres which lay to the west of the
land sold by the Paillets, extending from the rear of the
premises in the High Street to East India Dock Road. It
was owned by Ann Newby, a widow, but she died in
August 1818 and her estate passed to her brother's
surviving children, who were minors. There were, in any
case, problems concerning the title, for in 1791 Ann's
husband William Newby had bought five of six shares in
the land from the children of William Thorns and the
final share, that of Thomas Thorns, only 'in case he was
then dead'. (ref. 89) Thomas was William's eldest son who had
left for the West Indies in 1780 and had not been heard
of since. Not only was there no proof that he was dead
and had left no heirs, but his movements could not be
traced, for the name of the ship in which he had embarked
was unknown, as were its owners. The terms of the Act
creating the parish did not empower the vestry to acquire
a secure title to this land, but the powers of compulsory
purchase given to the Church Building Commission,
established in 1818, enabled it to do so (ref. 90) and the Commissioners therefore bought the site on behalf of the
vestry. A jury awarded the three vendors of the Newby
land a total of £3,620. The purchase was not completed
until the end of 1820. (ref. 91)
In April 1820 designs were invited for a church to
hold at least 1,710 worshippers. (ref. 92) The church committee
received 36 designs, from which 20 were selected as
worthy of consideration and three were awarded premiums. (ref. 93) This process was not without controversy. It
was alleged that the committee had changed the order of
the designs after their initial decision, and the fact that
Charles Hollis, winner of the competition under the
pseudonym 'Felix', had previously been a clerk with one
of the leading parishioners raised suspicions of preferential treatment. The West India Dock Company was
one of the vestry committee's most vociferous critics, and
it went so far as to submit to the bishop a report from
John Rennie supporting the design of John Charles Mead,
together with a strongly worded complaint. (ref. 94) Despite its
efforts, Hollis was confirmed as architect. Also in 1820,
his Gothic designs for the parish church at New Windsor
were accepted, the building being completed in 1822. (fn. a)
The invitation for designs specified a maximum outlay
of £20,000 for the building. Hollis had apparently
achieved this, but there were incidental fees and charges
to take into account and by the end of 1820 the estimated
total cost had risen to almost £35,000. The West India
Dock Company, concerned to keep the costs as low as
possible, again intervened and made the vestry limit the
figure to £30,000. It is not clear what economies, if any,
were achieved, and the decision to finish the building in
stone rather than brick was adhered to. (ref. 96)
Early in 1821 the local builder Thomas Morris of
Regent Street, Blackwall, was awarded the contract to
erect the church on his tender of £17,799 8s 7d. (ref. 97)
(fn. b) The
foundation stone was laid on 29 March 1821 and the
church was consecrated on 3 July 1823. (ref. 98) The actual cost
of the foundations and fabric was £20,651. The bells
were cast by Mears and Stainbank of Whitechapel, the
organ was made by Timothy Russell of Grays Inn Terrace
and the clock by John Moore of Clerkenwell. These and
other fittings cost £2,635 8s 3d, the setting out, railing
and planting of the churchyard added £3,795 19s 11d,
the building of the rectory cost £3,625 1s 1d and the
architect's commission, other fees and miscellaneous
items came to £2,573 1s 9d. The total expense was
£33,280 11s. A further £8,000 had been borrowed for
the purchase of the site, although this cost was somewhat
reduced by the sale of superfluous ground. (ref. 99) The expenditure had, therefore, been kept reasonably close to the
proposed figure.
The cost of the site and building was to be financed
out of the church rate, which was not to exceed 1s in the
pound. It was estimated that nine years would be required
to raise the sum needed and so loans had to be obtained
to cover the interval between expenditure and income.
Two prominent local men, George Green and John Stock,
provided £12,000 in 1821 in equal shares and a further
£4,000 in 1823. (ref. 100) These loans were at five per cent
interest, but in 1824 the West India Dock Company took
them over at four per cent. (ref. 101) The church rate continued
to provide the funds for the rector's and lecturer's
stipends and the maintenance of the church and rectory,
until it was abolished in 1903. (ref. 102)
Figure 62:
All Saints' Church, plan in 1828. Charles Hollis, architect, 1821–3
Prominently placed close to the East India Dock Road,
the church was no doubt intended to be an arresting
symbol of the new parish. The plinth and the entrance
at the west end are of granite from the Heyton quarry in
Devon, the remainder of the church being in brick, faced
in Portland stone. The design of the Ionic tetrastyle
portico was said to have been based upon that of the
Temple on the Ilissus at Athens (Plate 31c). Indeed,
contemporaries referred to the church's 'Grecian character', while congratulating Hollis for avoiding 'the common
place imitation of Grecian temples'. (ref. 103) The tower rising
behind the portico is of four parts; successively a square
bell tower with attached columns, an irregular octagon
clock stage, a circular temple with detached columns and
an octagonal spire (Plates 30b, 31b). The height is
approximately 190ft. The side porches at the west end
are of the same character as the portico. Each side
elevation contains two rows of five windows, roundheaded above and straight-headed below, divided by a
stringcourse. A plaque on the external wall at the east
end records the consecration of the church.
The internal arrangement at the west end provided
three lobbies; the central one being the principal entrance
and those to the side containing the gallery stairs (fig.
62). At the east end the apsidal chancel was flanked by a
vestry and a lobby. The remainder of the interior of the
church was treated as a single space, the width being a
little over two-thirds of the length. It had galleries,
carried on cast-iron columns, on three sides, with the
organ placed in the centre of the western one, which also
contained the choir stalls. The instructions to the architect
included the direction that 140 spaces should be provided
for children from the workhouse and 680 more for
schoolchildren. (ref. 104) The children's seats were arranged in
the galleries on either side of the organ and in the upper
parts of the side galleries. The seating arrangement in
the body of the church was influenced by a stipulation
in the Act of 1817 that a 20ft width in the centre
should be appropriated for free sittings. In 1851 the
accommodation was given as 2,252 sittings, 1,398 of
which were free. (ref. 105)
The cast-iron altar, which also served as the parish
safe, stood on a bronze pedestal on a low platform in the
apse, reached by five steps in two flights (Plate 34a). In
the east wall was a single round-headed painted-glass
window by William Collins of Christ preaching, which
cost £133 8s 3d. This attracted criticism because Christ's
left, rather than his right, hand was raised in blessing.
Another cause of complaint was that the window was not
high enough 'to admit the figure [of Christ] … to be
graceful'. (ref. 106) The opening to the chancel was fronted by
two Corinthian columns with respondent pilasters, all of
scagliola imitating Siena marble, which supported an
ornamental entablature bearing the royal arms in its
centre.
The brick vaults beneath the church were approached
from an external entrance at the east end. They were
ranged along three aisles. Only nine of them were purchased before further interments there and in the churchyard were prohibited in 1862. (ref. 107) The crypt was used as
an air-raid shelter during the Second World War, with
unused vaults adapted as cubicles for bunks. (ref. 108) It was
reinstated in 1956. (ref. 109)
Some subsequent repairs in the church were perhaps
prompted by original defects. Leakage in the roof in 1835
was attributed to 'faulty construction' (ref. 110) and the design
of the interior may be responsible for the imperfect
acoustics which were noticed in 1831 and again during
the 1950s and 1980s. (ref. 111) The church was reseated three
times in the nineteenth century and the original deal
box-pews were replaced. (ref. 112)
A number of internal changes were made during the
incumbency of Thomas Nowell (rector, 1861–91). They
included the removal of the choir stalls from the west
gallery to the chancel in 1868, and the creation of choir
and clergy vestries in the lobby at the east end. In 1869
five memorial windows were inserted and other stainedglass windows were fitted during the next few years,
including eight based upon Old Testament subjects and
twelve illustrating the parables, by Alexander Gibbs. (ref. 113)
The organ was rebuilt by Bunting in 1875. (ref. 114)
The first substantial alterations were made by Arthur
Chandler (1860–1939), Fellow and from 1889 Vice Principal of Brasenose College, who succeeded Nowell as
rector in 1891. (ref. 115) Chandler was dissatisfied with the
internal arrangements in All Saints', particularly those at
the east end, and in 1892 he made a number of changes,
placing the choir stalls on a platform and raising the altar
by the addition of extra steps. The higher level of the
sanctuary necessitated the blocking up of the east window,
two smaller windows being inserted on either side of the
apse. A side chapel was created in 1897. The original
altar was moved to the chapel and a new bronze one was
placed in the sanctuary, together with a carved wooden
altar-front, commissioned from Oberammergau. (ref. 116)
Chandler acted as his own architect for these alterations. (ref. 117)
His changes reduced the seating capacity, but at a time
when attendance was declining. In the middle of the
century it was difficult for ratepayers to get a pew and
in 1851 the size of the average congregation at morning
service was put at 1,000. Attendance when the 1886
religious census was taken was 1,093, but by that of
1902–3 it had fallen to 701. (ref. 118)
Subsequent changes before the Second World War
were less substantial. The original heating was by flues
underneath the floor, fed from stoves, but in 1914 radiators were installed at a cost of £248. (ref. 119) Gas lighting
fitted in 1847 was replaced by electricity in 1903–4. (ref. 120) A
general refurbishment was carried out in 1935–7 under
Cyril Wontner Smith, the diocesan surveyor, at a cost of
£2,802. (ref. 121)
Some of the windows had to be repaired following an
air raid on 30 September 1917, (ref. 122) but far greater damage
to the windows and the fabric itself resulted from the
Blitz of 1940–1, and a V2 rocket which fell at the north
end of Bazely (not Bazeley) Street in March 1945. (ref. 123) This
necessitated a major restoration in 1951–3 under Wontner
Smith, until his death in 1952, (ref. 124) and then Cecil Brown
(1902–83), the surveyor to St Albans Abbey (Plates 32a,
b, 33a, b). The roof was rebuilt and given extra support
by four piers placed at the corners of the church and
connected by beams in the ceiling. Corinthian pilasters
were added to the inside of the church between the
windows. The galleries were taken down and the western
one was replaced by a larger and stronger gallery designed
to carry a replacement organ, the original one having
been badly damaged. The new organ was brought from
Clapham Congregational Church and was installed in
1953–4. It was made by Hunters of Clapham and substantially rebuilt by N. P. Mander. The southern lobby
at the western end was converted into St Frideswide's
chapel (refitted as a 'social area' in 1971) and the northern
one as a vestry. Chandler's arrangements at the east end
were altered; the windows were blocked up, the sanctuary
floor was lowered, the choir stalls were removed and a
baldacchino was placed over the altar. The work was
carried out by the firm of R. W. Bowman of West India
Dock Road and the church was reconsecrated on 23
October 1953. (ref. 125)
The discovery in 1981 that the roof at the east end
again required repair led to a further large-scale restoration. This involved work on the tower and spire and
the stonework, as well as to the roof. It was completed
in 1984 by Bowmans under the direction of John Phillips.
A part of the cost was met by a grant from the LDDC. (ref. 126)
This was followed by internal changes, notably the reordering and redecoration of the east end in 1987, which
included the cutting back of the baldacchino (Plate 33b),
and the conversion of the crypt in 1988–9 to provide a
parish centre. Some of the original vaults were adapted
to provide service rooms and the heating and ventilation
plant. Those beneath the centre of the church were
removed and the floor lowered to create a hall occupying
the full width of the building. Steel girders were inserted
to carry the floor of the church. In addition, a lift was
installed in the north-east vestry. The design was by
Triforum Chartered Architects, with Donald Halstead
Associates as consulting engineers and Dove Brothers as
builders. (ref. 127)
Among the mural tablets in the entrance lobby is one
in memory of Ralph Walker, the engineer to the dock
companies, who died in 1824. Those in the south-east
vestry include one commemorating the life of Samuel
Hoole, the first rector. Two larger tablets are prominently
placed high on the walls at the east end: that on the
north side is a memorial to John Stock (d.1842) and that
on the south, commemorating John Garford (d.1850),
was designed by Matthew Johnson to harmonize with
that of Stock and cost £133 17s 6d. (ref. 128)
The churchyard was enclosed by iron railings on a
granite plinth and in 1823 gas lights were fixed around
it. (ref. 129) The ground on the west side of Newby Place to the
north of the rectory was also consecrated for burials and
was said to have been used for the interment of paupers
and cholera victims amongst foreign sailors. (ref. 130) It was
closed in 1859 when the inscribed monument of polished
red granite by John Cusworth of Stoke Newington was
set up, commemorating its use as a burial ground. A
shrubbery was created around the monument in 1874
and the area was later adapted as a playground. (ref. 131) The
churchyard was closed for burials in 1862 and in 1865–6
was laid out and planted by G. H. Bunney of Stratford. (ref. 132)
In 1893 the northern part was set out as a public
recreation ground by the Metropolitan Public Gardens
Association and the same arrangement was later extended
to the whole churchyard. This facility was opened in
1906, its maintenance having been entrusted to the
Borough Council. (ref. 133)
Figure 63:
All Saints' Rectory, Newby Place, east elevation andground-floor plan in 1990. Charles Hollis, architect, 1822–3
The air-raid defences constructed in 1938 and the
deep bomb shelter built early in the Second World War, (ref. 134)
together with the effects of war-damage, required the
restoration of the churchyard and its railings. The tombs
in the churchyard include those of Thomas Morris, the
builder, close to the north-west corner of the church,
and of Canon Thomas Bazeley, facing the west entrance.
All Saints' Rectory
When the arrangements for the new parish buildings
were being considered, a site to the south of the church
was suggested for the rectory, but it was rejected in
favour of the one opposite, to the west of the church,
preferred by Samuel Hoole, the first rector. (ref. 135) Designed
by Charles Hollis, the rectory was built in 1822–3 by
Thomas Morris, the builder of the church, at a cost of
£3,625. (ref. 136) It is a handsome three-storey double-fronted
brick house, with a basement (Plate 34b; fig. 63).
The internal arrangements have been altered from time
to time (Plate 34d). A bathroom was incorporated in
1884, and it was then that a serious defect in the
arrangement of the drains was discovered, the fall being
towards the rectory and not into the main sewer in
Newby Place. (ref. 137) In 1907 the number of rooms was given
as 16 and a survey of 1943 shows 19. (ref. 138) The rectory
accommodated the members of the large team ministry
that was a feature of the parish in the 1940s and 1950s;
in 1951 six clergymen were living in the building. (ref. 139) Work
was required to repair bomb damage from both world
wars. (ref. 140)
A coach-house, with a loft, and a stable were built to
the south of the rectory. They were adapted for other
purposes during the 1890s. In 1892 the stable was converted for use as a clubroom and other parochial purposes,
and three years later the coach-house was remodelled
internally to serve as a parish room. In 1900 a part of
these buildings was turned into a workshop employing
local women as seamstresses. Initially only seven women
were employed with the 'Goodwill Outfitting Society',
but by 1907 the number had risen to 20. (ref. 141) This range
was destroyed during the Second World War.