St Michael and All Angels is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britain ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the 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 community activities, ...

in Bedford Park,

Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

. It was designed by the

architect An architect is a person who plans, designs and oversees the construction of buildings. To practice architecture means to provide services in connection with the design of buildings and the space within the site surrounding the buildings that h ...

Norman Shaw Richard Norman Shaw RA (7 May 1831 – 17 November 1912), also known as Norman Shaw, was a British architect who worked from the 1870s to the 1900s, known for his country houses and for commercial buildings. He is considered to be among the g ...

, who built some of the houses in that area. The church was consecrated in 1880. It is constructed in what has been described both as

British Queen Anne Revival British Queen Anne Revival architecture, also known as Domestic Revival, is a style of building using red brick, white woodwork, and an eclectic mixture of decorative features, that became popular in the 1870s, both for houses and for larger bui ...

style and as

Perpendicular Gothic Perpendicular Gothic (also Perpendicular, Rectilinear, or Third Pointed) architecture was the third and final style of English Gothic architecture developed in the Kingdom of England during the Late Middle Ages, typified by large windows, four-c ...

style modified with English domestic features. Its services are

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglican ...

History

Construction

St Michael and All Angels by Norman Shaw Building News 1879

St Michael and All Angels began as a temporary building on Chiswick High Road opposite Chiswick Lane, some distance from its present site, in 1876. The present church at the corner of Turnham Green Terrace and Bath Road, near

Turnham Green tube station Turnham Green is a London Underground station in Chiswick of the London Borough of Hounslow, west London. The station is served by the District and Piccadilly lines although currently Piccadilly line trains normally stop at the station only a ...

, was designed by the architect

. He was the Estate Architect for Bedford Park, designing some of its earliest houses in red brick and white-painted woodwork, known as

style. Although this style was considered novel and not particularly ecclesiastical by the architect G. E. Street at the time, Shaw decided to use a similar style for the church. The red bricks, as used for Bedford Park houses, were made locally. The architectural writer James Stevens Curl describes the style as "

with seventeenth- and eighteenth-century domestic features". He also notes that the wooden features of the church were originally painted pale green. The foundation stone was laid on 31 May 1879. The church was consecrated on 17 April 1880. A churchwarden of

St Nicholas Church, Chiswick St Nicholas Church, Chiswick is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in Church Street, Chiswick, London, near the River Thames. Old Chiswick developed as a village around the church from c. 1181. The tower was built at some time between 1416 and ...

, the brewer Henry Smith of Chiswick's Fuller Smith & Turner objected in writing to the Bishop of London, raising controversy about the high

form of service used in the church. The poet and writer on English

architecture Architecture is the art and technique of designing and building, as distinguished from the skills associated with construction. It is both the process and the product of sketching, conceiving, planning, designing, and constructing building ...

John Betjeman Sir John Betjeman (; 28 August 190619 May 1984) was an English poet, writer, and broadcaster. He was Poet Laureate from 1972 until his death. He was a founding member of The Victorian Society and a passionate defender of Victorian architecture, ...

called it "a very lovely church and a fine example of Norman Shaw's work." This is based on In 1887 Shaw's vision for an additional North

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

was realised by the church's first churchwarden, the architect

Maurice Bingham Adams Maurice Bingham Adams FRIBA (1849–1933) was a British architect in the Arts and Crafts movement, Arts and Crafts style.Curl, J. S., & Wilson, S., (2015) ''The Oxford Dictionary of Architecture'', 3rd edn, (OUP, Oxford) Life Adams was born in 1 ...

. At the same time he added the

church hall A church hall or parish hall is a room or building associated with a church, generally for community and charitable use.

on the north side, its red brick harmonising with the church, the

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

, and the

pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, access ...

. Adams added the Chapel of All Souls in a more Gothic style than the rest of the church in 1909.

Promotion

'Bedford Park Chiswick W the healthiest place in the world' by F Hamilton Jackson

The developer of the Bedford Park estate, Jonathan Carr, commissioned the artist F. Hamilton Jackson to create publicity images including an "iconic" one of the church, which had not even been completed at the time. The development was promoted to people who had a moderate income but who had "aesthetic sensibilities". The promotion mentioned gardens, hot and cold water, schools, and "Also Church, Club (for Ladies & Gentlemen), Stores, ' The Tabard Inn', Tennis Courts, &c."

War memorials

There are two

war memorial A war memorial is a building, monument, statue, or other edifice to celebrate a war or victory, or (predominating in modern times) to commemorate those who died or were injured in a war. Symbolism Historical usage It has ...

s, both dedicated to parishioners who died in the

First World War World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...

. One is beside the main

rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or ...

. Its design, by a "Mr. Robinson of Westminster" was announced in the Parish magazine of September 1917 to "take the form of Cavalry in oak over the choir screen", at a planned cost of around £100. The rood screen memorial was unveiled on 28 September 1918, on the eve of the Patronal Feast of St Michael and All Angels. The bronze plaque with the names of the 91 fallen was completed in 1919. The other memorial is just outside the church, by the church hall. It is in the form of a semi-circular stone bench, and is Grade II listed. Dedicated to the local victims of the

, it was designed by

Inigo Triggs Henry Inigo Triggs (1876–1923) was an English country house architect and designer of formal gardens, and author. Family life Harry Benjamin Inigo Triggs was born in Chiswick, London, on 28 February 1876, to James Triggs, carpet agent, and h ...

and completed around 1920. In the 1960s, the original nameplates were stolen, and when the memorial was re-sited in its current position, engraved stone replacements were installed. In June 2021, some of the replacement nameplates were again stolen.

Restoration

The church's roof and

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

windows were seriously damaged by a

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

bomb which destroyed the nearby Chiswick Polytechnic. The East Window was filled with new stained glass by

Lawrence Lee Lawrence Stanley Lee (18 September 1909 – 25 April 2011) was a British stained glass artist whose work spanned the latter half of the 20th century. He was best known for leading the project to create ten windows for the nave of t ...

in 1952. The church's exterior and roof were restored in 1980. In 2013 the bishop of London celebrated the completion of a 5-year project to replace the church organ. The new organ, which has 1667 pipes and 25 stops, was made by the Swiss company La Manufacture d'Orgues St Martin.

Present day

On 11 July 1951, the church was designated a

Grade II* In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

listed building. The church is within the

tradition A tradition is a belief or behavior (folk custom) passed down within a group or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common examples include holidays or ...

of the Church of England. File:St Michael and All Angels.jpg, The South front, on to Bath Road File:Southeastern corner in autumn light St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park.jpg, Southeastern corner in autumn light File:Church Hall St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park.jpg,

Church hall A church hall or parish hall is a room or building associated with a church, generally for community and charitable use.

adjoining the church File:Entrance St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park.jpg, Entrance File:font St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park.jpg,

Font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

File:Nave with choir practice St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park.jpg,

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 ...

with choir practice File:Rood Screen WWI Memorial St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park.jpg,

memorial beside the main

File:External semicircular stone WWI Memorial St Michael and All Angels Bedford Park.jpg, External semicircular stone

, c. 1920

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael and All Angels Bedford Park Bedford Park Diocese of London Churches completed in 1880 Richard Norman Shaw buildings World War I memorials in England Bedford Park 19th-century Church of England church buildings Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Hounslow Grade II* listed monuments and memorials