The Church of St Edward the Confessor (full name the Parish Church of the Blessed Virgin Mary and St Edward the Confessor) is an

anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church in

Romford Romford is a large List of places in London, town in east London, east London, England, located northeast of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Havering, the town is one of the major Metropolitan centres of London, metropolitan centr ...

, in the

London Borough of Havering The London Borough of Havering () in East London, England, forms part of Outer London. It has a population of 259,552 inhabitants; the principal town is Romford, while other communities include Hornchurch, Upminster, Collier Row and Rainham, Lo ...

, England. It is part of the

Diocese of Chelmsford The Diocese of Chelmsford is a Church of England diocese, part of the Province of Canterbury. It was created on 23 January 1914 from part of the Diocese of St Albans. It covers Essex and part of East London. Since 1984 it is divided into three ...

. The building dates from 1849–50 and replaced an earlier church which was demolished in the mid-19th century. There has been a religious building on the site since the end of the 14th century. The current church was completed to a

gothic revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an Architectural style, architectural movement that after a gradual build-up beginning in the second half of the 17th century became a widespread movement in the first half ...

design by the English architect John Johnson. It was designated as a Grade II*

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

in 1952.

History

Oldchurch

Romford's earliest known place of worship was a small chapel, dedicated to

Saint Andrew Andrew the Apostle ( ; ; ; ) was an apostle of Jesus. According to the New Testament, he was a fisherman and one of the Twelve Apostles chosen by Jesus. The title First-Called () used by the Eastern Orthodox Church stems from the Gospel of Jo ...

, after its then-

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

of St Andrew, Hornchurch. The chapel was established in 1177 and was built near to the

River Rom The River Rom, also known as the River Beam below its confluence with the Ravensbourne, is a tributary of the River Thames in England that flows through the east London suburbs around Romford before joining the Thames at Dagenham. Part of the r ...

. The chapel existed into the late-14th century but it fell into ruin and was eventually demolished.St Edward's Romford — History
(Accessed 18 December 2017) The Oldchurch area, including Oldchurch Park and the former Oldchurch Hospital, takes its name from the old church of 1177.

Church of 1410

A new church was built on the site of the present building towards the end of the 14th century; it was completed in 1410. The grounds were consecrated by

Henry Chichele Henry Chichele ( ; also Checheley; – 12 April 1443) was Archbishop of Canterbury (1414–1443) and founded All Souls College, Oxford. Early life Chichele was born at Higham Ferrers, Northamptonshire, in 1363 or 1364; Chichele told Pope Eu ...

Bishop of St David's The Bishop of St Davids is the ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of St Davids. The succession of bishops stretches back to Saint David who in the 6th century established his seat in what is today the city of St Davids in ...

, on 23 March of that year and was dedicated to the

Virgin Mary Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...

and St

Edward the Confessor Edward the Confessor ( 1003 – 5 January 1066) was King of England from 1042 until his death in 1066. He was the last reigning monarch of the House of Wessex. Edward was the son of Æthelred the Unready and Emma of Normandy. He succeede ...

. It had a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

, a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

, an extended north aisle, which was longer than its predecessor by 28 ft and wider by 14 ft, and featured a brick tower which housed a ring of five bells. A gallery was later built within the west end part of the building in which a charity for orphaned children was later founded. By 1710 the orphanage had become the St Edward's School and moved to a separate building in Romford's Market Place in 1728. Almost 30 years later a replacement weight driven clock was installed and three bells were added to the

peal In campanology (bell ringing), a peal is the special name given to a specific type of performance of change ringing which meets certain exacting conditions for duration, complexity and quality. The definition of a peal has changed considerably ...

. The building remained in use until 1844 when work on a new church to the east of the Market Place (now the war memorial in Main Road) was started. The new building in Main Road was designed by

Edward Blore Edward Blore (13 September 1787 – 4 September 1879) was a 19th-century English landscape and architectural artist, architect and antiquary. Early career Blore was born in Derby, the son of the antiquarian writer Thomas Blore. Blore's backg ...

and existed as a chapel, only."Romford: Perambulations"
''The Buildings of England: London 5 East'', by Nikolaus Pevsner, pp. 196–197. Halfway through construction it was decided by the planners to relocate the town's church back to Market Place. The last services were held at the old church in Market Place in 1849 before it was demolished. Blore's chapel in Main Road remained and continued as a burial ground, hence the current collection of 19 headstones at the back of the park. Blore's chapel was eventually demolished in 1953.

Current building

The current building in Market Place was designed by the English architect John Johnson,"New Church of St. Edward, Romford, Essex", ''The Illustrated London News'', 21 September 1850, p. 249. who, in 1874, designed the

Alexandra Palace Alexandra Palace is an entertainment and sports venue in North London, situated between Wood Green and Muswell Hill in the London Borough of Haringey. A listed building, Grade II listed building, it is built on the site of Tottenham Wood and th ...

and its associated buildings. The contractor for the new Church was John Kelk, with whom Johnson would often work. The

foundation stone A cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry Foundation (engineering), foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entir ...

was laid on the 14 July 1849 by the conservative politician

Thomas William Bramston T.W. (Thomas William) Bramston (30 October 1796 – 21 May 1871) was Conservative and Protectionist Member for South Essex, 1835–1865. He was a trustee of the Royal Agricultural Society of England and a noted cattle breeder at the family estat ...

, who was then the member of parliament for Romford. The church was consecrated on 19 September 1850 by George Murray,

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

. To pay for the construction, £2,500 was borrowed from financiers, £1,000 was given by

New College, Oxford New College is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1379 by Bishop William of Wykeham in conjunction with Winchester College as New College's feeder school, New College was one of the first col ...

, and the remainder was donated through grants and private subscription. The total costs of the building was £8,000; (equates to £ in (adjusted for inflation). Johnson's designs were in the Gothic style of the 14th century. It was built using

Kentish Ragstone Kentish ragstone is a hard grey limestone in Kent, England, drawn from the geological sequence known as the Hythe Beds of the Lower Greensand. For millennia it has been quarried for use both locally and further afield. Geology Ragstone occurs ...

with

Bath stone Bath Stone is an oolitic limestone comprising granular fragments of calcium carbonate originally obtained from the Middle Jurassic aged Great Oolite Group of the Combe Down and Bathampton Down Mines under Combe Down, Somerset, England. Its h ...

dressings. Some of the materials came from John Nash's Quadrant in

Regent Street Regent Street is a major shopping street in the West End of London. It is named after George IV of the United Kingdom, George, the Prince Regent (later George IV) and was laid out under the direction of the architect John Nash (architect), J ...

, London, which was at that time being demolished. This may account for the many carved corbels depicting the heads of kings, queens, bishops, the Green Man, a veiled woman and sundry other heads with unusual head dresses. The stained glass window on the east of the building is by

Charles Edmund Clutterbuck Charles Clutterbuck (1806–1861) was an English stained glass artist of the early Victorian era, being a younger contemporary of Thomas Willement and William Warrington Personal life Clutterbuck was born in London on 3 September 1806, th ...

, whilst the three windows in the south chapel are by

William Wailes William Wailes (1808–1881) was the proprietor of one of England's largest and most prolific stained glass workshops. Life and career Wailes was born and grew up in Newcastle on Tyne, England's centre of domestic glass and bottle manufacturing. ...

. The wall that separates the churchyard from the Market Place may be contemporary and could date to around the time of the building of the second church in the 14th century. The church sustained some minor damage in the Second World War. During the renovations a year later, in 1944, an electric clock and chime bells were installed, perhaps to replace the bells that had been requisitioned for the

war effort War effort is a coordinated mobilization of society's resources—both industrial and civilian—towards the support of a military force, particular during a state of war. Depending on the militarization of the culture, the relative si ...

. The church was recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II*

on 4 July 1952.St Edward the Confessor's Church (Market Place)
Historic England, accessed 3 December 2015. By 1965 the school had moved to a new location in London Road and became a secondary school. A new organ was installed in the west gallery of the church in 1979, and five years later, the Church House was restored. A major renovation took place in 1988 which included the installation of under floor heating whilst the fixed pews were converted to free standing. The church received a grant from the Pilling Trust in 2001 and a lavatory and kitchen facilities were added. The same year, an oak carving of St Edward the Confessor, was commissioned and installed in the main porch. The following year chairs replaced the free standing pews. The spire, 162 feet high, underwent major repair work in 1992.

Interior

The church consists of a nave of five bays with

clerestory A clerestory ( ; , also clearstory, clearstorey, or overstorey; from Old French ''cler estor'') is a high section of wall that contains windows above eye-level. Its purpose is to admit light, fresh air, or both. Historically, a ''clerestory' ...

, north and south aisles, chancel,

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

and west gallery. Two

vestries A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spent nearly one-fi ...

were added in 1885. The south wall in the chancel features a monument to George Hervey, while on the north wall there is a memorial to Anthony Cook, which is attributed to the sculptor Cornelius Cure, or perhaps his father, William.Pevsner, p. 191. On display is a silver communion plate introduced by the

Camden Society The Camden Society was a text publication society founded in London in 1838 to publish early historical and literary materials, both unpublished manuscripts and new editions of rare printed books. It was named after the 16th-century antiquary ...

and donated by a parishioner. It was manufactured by the jeweller and silversmith John Turner, of

New Bond Street New or NEW may refer to: Music * New, singer of K-pop group The Boyz * ''New'' (album), by Paul McCartney, 2013 ** "New" (Paul McCartney song), 2013 * ''New'' (EP), by Regurgitator, 1995 * "New" (Daya song), 2017 * "New" (No Doubt song), 1 ...

References

Sources

* * {{Churches in Havering

Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Havering Rebuilt churches in the United Kingdom 19th-century Church of England church buildings Churches completed in 1850 Romford History of the London Borough of Havering Anglo-Catholic church buildings in the London Borough of Havering John Johnson (architect, born 1807) buildings