All Saints' Church is a

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

West Dulwich West Dulwich ( ) is a neighbourhood in South London on the southern boundary of Brockwell Park, which straddles the London Borough of Lambeth and the London Borough of Southwark. Croxted Road and South Croxted Road mark the boundary between Sou ...

South London South London is the southern part of Greater London, England, south of the River Thames. The region consists of the Districts of England, boroughs, in whole or in part, of London Borough of Bexley, Bexley, London Borough of Bromley, Bromley, Lon ...

. It is a red brick building designed in 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 ...

style by

George Fellowes Prynne George Halford Fellowes Prynne (1853–1927) was a Victorian and Edwardian English church architect. Part of the High Church school of Gothic Revival Architecture, Prynne's work can be found across Southern England. Biography Early life George H ...

, and was built from 1888–91. It is

Grade I listed 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 ...

Parish

All Saints' parish was formed from the western part of the parish of St Luke's, West Norwood, and also included a detached part of the parish of

St Leonard's Church, Streatham St Leonard's Church is a Church of England parish church in the London Borough of Lambeth. It is a Grade II listed building and occupies a prominent position on the west side of Streatham High Road, at its junction with Tooting Bec Gardens and M ...

. The area that became All Saints’ parish was largely rural, until

West Dulwich railway station West Dulwich railway station is on the Chatham Main Line in England, serving the West Dulwich area in the London Borough of Southwark, south London. It is located on opposite side of the south circular road from Belair Park, down the line fr ...

was opened in 1863. The following decades were marked by an upsurge in residential development. In the 1880s, a temporary iron church was erected on Rosendale Road. This was replaced by a permanent structure that was consecrated on 13 November 1897. The 1901 Census recorded the parish's population as 3,665. In the following year, it was served by one clergyman and attendance at its services (morning and evening combined) represented 37.3% of the parochial population. Based on statistics from UK censuses, the

Diocese of Southwark The Diocese of Southwark ( ) is one of the 42 dioceses of the Church of England, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The diocese forms part of the Province of Canterbury in England. It was created on 1 May 1905 from part of the ancient ...

estimates the population of All Saints’ parish was 5,700 in 2001 and 6,400 in 2011.

Building

The church was designed by

, a pupil of

George Edmund Street George Edmund Street (20 June 1824 – 18 December 1881), also known as G. E. Street, was an English architect, born at Woodford in Essex. Stylistically, Street was a leading practitioner of the Victorian Gothic Revival. Though mainly an eccl ...

. It stands on a site that slopes dramatically down from Lovelace Road to Rosendale Road. The east end of the church is lofty and the whole church, with the exception of the incomplete west bay, is situated over

crypt A crypt (from Greek κρύπτη (kryptē) ''wikt:crypta#Latin, crypta'' "Burial vault (tomb), vault") is a stone chamber beneath the floor of a church or other building. It typically contains coffins, Sarcophagus, sarcophagi, or Relic, religiou ...

spaces, which are extensively used by the wider community. The northeast corner of the building has four storeys of accommodation. An enclosed staircase rises to church floor level across the east elevation. The nave of the building was intended to be three bays longer, with an apsidal western

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

. A flèche was intended over the chancel arch, flanked by a tall slender tower. Only the base of the flèche exists and the present bell turret by JBS Comper of 1952 is a modest substitute. The church is brick-built with stone dressings and steep-pitched slated roofs. The aisles have individual double-pitched roofs, with deep valley gutters alongside the nave's

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' ...

. There is a four-bay nave, the west bay being incomplete with no

and what was intended to be a temporary slated gable end. It is flanked by narrow aisles and porches (now used for other purposes). The nave is flanked by the Lady Chapel in the north aisle, and All Souls' Chapel in the south aisle. The apsidal chancel is enclosed by a narrow ambulatory. To the north the Lady Chapel has its own arcaded

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 ...

with

ambulatory The ambulatory ( 'walking place') is the covered passage around a cloister or the processional way around the east end of a cathedral or large church and behind the high altar. The first ambulatory was in France in the 11th century but by the 13t ...

. To the south of the chancel the space is occupied by the organ chamber and

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 ...

. In June 1944 a

V-1 flying bomb The V-1 flying bomb ( "Vengeance Weapon 1") was an early cruise missile. Its official Reich Aviation Ministry () name was Fieseler Fi 103 and its suggestive name was (hellhound). It was also known to the Allies as the buzz bomb or doodlebug a ...

exploded near the church, shattering the stained glass windows and damaging the roof. Services continued in the crypt until the church was restored after the war. On 9 June 2000, the building's interior was destroyed in a fire. Restoration work was completed in April 2006, providing the western end of the church with a modern entrance that contrasts with the

Gothic architecture Gothic architecture is an architectural style that was prevalent in Europe from the late 12th to the 16th century, during the High Middle Ages, High and Late Middle Ages, surviving into the 17th and 18th centuries in some areas. It evolved f ...

of the remainder of the building. Though the church organ was destroyed in the fire, it was later replaced in the summer of 2011 by a 1969 organ that was previously in the chapel at St Paul's School in Barnes.

Other uses

The church is the home of the Lambeth Orchestra and the Dulwich Symphony Orchestra. After the restoration, a private nursery was installed in the basement.

References

Sources

External links

All Saints West Dulwich
{{Authority control 1897 establishments in England 19th-century Church of England church buildings

Churches completed in 1897 Dulwich Gothic Revival church buildings in London Grade I listed churches in London Grade I listed buildings in the London Borough of Lambeth Christian organizations established in 1897 Churches bombed by the Luftwaffe in London