St Luke's Kentish Town is an active Church of England parish church on Oseney Crescent in Kentish Town, North London, closed from 1991 to 2011 and now hosting a

Holy Trinity Brompton Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's, Onslow Square and St Augustine's, South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (former ...

church plant. The church has been designated by

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, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

as a Grade II*

listed building 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 ...

History

The church was built between 1867 and 1869 using £12,500 compensation provided by the railway company for the demolition of St Luke's Church, Euston Road, along with money from the sale of the church building on the Euston Road. John Johnson had built the church on Euston Road and hoped to be commissioned to design the new church in Kentish Town. However, he was disappointed when he was in fact passed over in favour of the 25-year-old

Basil Champneys Basil Champneys (17 September 1842 – 5 April 1935) was an English architect and author whose most notable buildings include Manchester's John Rylands Library, Somerville College Library (Oxford), Newnham College, Cambridge, Lady Margaret Hal ...

. It was his first church and one of his first buildings. His father, William Weldon Champneys, who commissioned the church, was the vicar of the parish of St Pancras. The original construction phase included the three east stained glass windows designed by

Henry Holiday Henry Holiday (17 June 183915 April 1927) was a British historical genre and landscape painter, stained-glass designer, illustrator, and sculptor. He is part of the Pre-Raphaelite school of art. Life Early years and training Holiday was born ...

and made by

Heaton, Butler and Bayne Heaton, Butler and Bayne were an English firm who produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953. History Clement Heaton (1824–82) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 371 ...

. The same company produced the c. 1880-1890 aisle windows of the twelve apostles and the 1891 west window, whilst a Willis organ was installed in 1893. Morris & Co. produced four more stained glass windows for the south clerestory in 1910 - two are taken from figures by

Edward Burne-Jones Sir Edward Coley Burne-Jones, 1st Baronet, (; 28 August, 183317 June, 1898) was a British painter and designer associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood which included Dante Gabriel Rossetti, John Millais, Ford Madox Brown and Holman ...

and two by

John Henry Dearle John Henry Dearle (22 August 1859 – 15 January 1932) was a British textile and stained-glass designer trained by the artist and craftsman William Morris who was much influenced by the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Dearle designed many of th ...

. A reredos added in the 1930s and in 1955 the benefice was merged with that of St Paul's Camden Square, an arrangement that lasted until 1987. St Luke's present brass

eagle lectern An eagle lectern is a lectern in the shape of an eagle on whose outstretched wings the Bible rests. They are most common in Anglican churches and cathedrals, but their use predates the Reformation, and is also found in Catholic churches. Hist ...

dates to 1882 and originally came from St Paul's, which had been war-damaged. The building closed in 1991 and was handed over to the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

, before reopening in 2011 via a pastoral measure naming Revd Jonathan March as the new parish priest. Renovation work by HTB was completed in January 2012 and services have recommenced as of 29 January 2012

Architecture

Exterior

The exterior of the church is largely red brick with stone dressings, and the roof is

tile Tiles are usually thin, square or rectangular coverings manufactured from hard-wearing material such as ceramic, stone, metal, baked clay, or even glass. They are generally fixed in place in an array to cover roofs, floors, walls, edges, or o ...

d. The tower with its saddleback

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d roof is in the North German style, with three arcaded openings to the belfry and

plate tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

above. The detail of the

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 ...

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

and

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, par ...

s is Early English revival. The nave has four bays with narrow aisles. The chancel is situated beneath the tower. It has a polygonal

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an '' exedra''. ...

with plate tracery. The west end has three lancet windows, with a plate tracery rose window above. The aisles and clerestory have pointed windows in pairs.

Interior

The walls are of exposed red brick with two bands of stone. The nave arcades have low cylindrical pillars. Between the arches are shafts which support the principal roof timbers. The floor is paved with red and black tiles. From the crossing, there are three steps up to the brick-vaulted chancel and a further six steps up to the

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred place, such as a shrine. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This secondary use can be categorized into human sanctuary, a sa ...

, which has decorative tiles and

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...

Ministry

One of its missions is combatting gun and knife crime, though its website has no particular information on how it is accomplishing this stated goal. A woman has said she was forced out of a church congregation after coming out as a lesbian. Rachel Gillingham's case left her needing three years of counselling. An investigation into St Luke's Church in Oseney Crescent and its vicar has since taken place. She had been a regular at the church – part of the Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB) network – but was frozen out after coming out to Reverend Jon March in 2019. In support of Ms Gillingham, Fr Robert Thompson said: “ ev Marchdidn’t have to respond that way. The bishop licensed me and is happy with me being here. It’s not the position of the

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 Britai ...

and doesn’t have to be in any parish. It seems that this is the position within the clergy team at St Luke’s Kentish Town.” He said that the requirement for celibacy did not apply to lay people – people who are not ordained – and only to clergy. Ms Gillingham shared about how this has resulted in

PTSD Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) is a mental and behavioral disorder that can develop because of exposure to a traumatic event, such as sexual assault, warfare, traffic collisions, child abuse, domestic violence, or other threats on ...

: "I couldn’t sleep for more than about four hours at a time due to replaying the meeting, emotions, and what happened. This is a classic sign of PTSD. I was experiencing extreme emotions: anger, depression, grief, and having to process this while holding down a teaching job... When you experience trauma like this, any spiritual practice triggers the trauma." The Diocese of London, who led the investigation into St Luke's, said it was providing ongoing support to Ms Gillingham and took the complaint seriously. In a new statement, a spokeswoman defended Rev March and said he had been “open and helpful throughout the process”, adding: “He continues to work closely with the Bishop of Edmonton on a positive way forward for the parish.” Ms Gillingham's complaints about how her situation was subsequently handled by Mr March and his church form the basis of an informal investigation conducted by the Ven. Rosemary Lain-Priestley, who is an adviser to the Bishop of London, the Rt Revd Sarah Mullally. Archdeacon Lain-Priestley was given the task of responding to a brief sent by the Bishop of Edmonton, the Rt Revd Rob Wickham, in April 2020, on the extent to which Mr March conformed to or breached the guidelines for professional clergy conduct when responding to Ms Gillingham about her sexuality and leadership. An inquiry found that St Luke's had been negligent in its treatment of Ms Gillingham. The report found that Rev March's idea of “beyond reproach” may have excluded Ms Gillingham from her position, and admitted pastoral failings, but cleared him of abuse of power. The inquiry quoted Mr March as saying: “It is by far one of my biggest regrets. It was lacking. It was thought about but we came to the wrong side of a wrong decision, a bad call.” Among the recommendations from the report are St Luke's putting together a policy on sex and relationships, but stops short of saying it should be published. It said that Mr March would benefit from, and has agreed to, training in handling “difficult conversations” on conflict on this or similar issues. Some of the measures have been delayed by the COVID-19 pandemic and others, including a risk assessment for LGBT+ and vulnerable people, have not been carried out. Regarding transgender identities, St Luke's accepted a clergy, Colin Brookes, after he was a signatory on a "Response to the House of Bishops Guidance on Transgender Welcome." This open letter is considered to be anti-trans in how the Church of England offers liturgy to those identifying as transgender. Colin Brookes is now priest-in-charge at Holy Trinity Church, Sittingbourne.

Gallery

File:St Luke Chancel, Kentish Town London 181211.JPG, Vaulting of the chancel, featuring the Christmas opening service lighting, 18th Dec 2011 File:St Luke Nave Kentish Town London 1 240112.JPG, Facing east in the nave; the font in the foreground File:St Luke Nave, Kentish Town London 2 240112.JPG, Facing west in the nave

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Lukes Church Kentish Town Luke Luke Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden Churches completed in 1869 Gothic Revival church buildings in London 19th-century Church of England church buildings Kentish Town 1869 establishments in England Holy Trinity Brompton plants