St James' Church, Islington, is a

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 ...

in the inner

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

borough of

Islington Islington ( ) is an inner-city area of north London, England, within the wider London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's #Islington High Street, High Street to Highbury Fields ...

. It is located on Prebend Street between Essex Road and the New North Road. The parish is bounded by Essex Road between the New North Road and

Upper Street Upper Street is the main street of the Islington district of inner north London, and carries the A1 road. It begins at the junction of the A1 and Liverpool Road, continuing on from Islington High Street which runs from the crossroads at Pe ...

The Angel, Islington The Angel, Islington, is a historic landmark and a series of buildings that have stood on the corner of Islington High Street and Pentonville Road in Islington, London, England. The land originally belonged to the Clerkenwell Priory and has ha ...

City Road City Road or The City Road is a road that runs through central London. The northwestern extremity of the road is at Angel where it forms a continuation of Pentonville Road. Pentonville Road itself is the modern name for the eastern part of Lo ...

to Wharf Road, Wharf Road to the

Regent's Canal Regent's Canal is a canal across an area just north of central London, England. It provides a link from the Paddington Arm of the Grand Union Canal, north-west of Paddington Basin in the west, to the Limehouse Basin and the River Thames in ea ...

, and the

to the New North Road.

History

The Clothworkers' Company of the

City of London The City of London, also known as ''the City'', is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and Districts of England, local government district with City status in the United Kingdom, city status in England. It is the Old town, his ...

built St James' Church, Islington to serve the surrounding Packington housing estate. The church was consecrated in 1875 and the surrounding estate had been built by around 1850. The land on which the church and the rest of the estate were built originally belonged to

St Paul's Cathedral St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...

(hence St Paul's Street, Mary Street, Bishop's Street, Canon Street, Prebend Street and so on) but these 'prebends' were stripped from the cathedral at the time of the

Reformation The Reformation, also known as the Protestant Reformation or the European Reformation, was a time of major Theology, theological movement in Western Christianity in 16th-century Europe that posed a religious and political challenge to the p ...

and were sold to the Clothworkers' Company, which shortly afterwards were bequeathed an additional 60 acres of land by Dame Ann Packington on her death in 1563, which had been used for archery practice. The Clothworkers paid £8,400 for the construction of the church, Lady Burdett-Coutts paid for a set of bells and individual members of the Clothworkers paid for the stained glass including members of the Heysham Wood family. The full name for the church is St James' with St Peter and St Philip,

as the parish includes that of the former St Phillip's the Evangelist, Arlington Square, which was consecrated in 1857 but which was demolished in 1954 after a falling congregation made it redundant and that of St Peter which was located in Devonia Road but which was closed in 1981 The church was built as the successor to Lambe's Chapel, formerly St James in the Wall, in Monkswell Street in the

, which had been built as a hermitage during the reign of King Henry III. William Lambe acquired St James in the Wall on 30 March 1543, became Master of the Company of Clothworkers in 1569 and in 1574 bequeathed the chapel to the Clothworkers' Company. Almshouses attached to the original Lambe's Chapel were pulled down in 1825 and replacements built on the Clothworkers Estate in Islington. In 1872 Lambe's Chapel itself was demolished and its successor, St James' Church, Islington, was built adjacent to the new almshouses, although the original chapel's crypt was moved to All Hallows Staining. The church was designed by the Clothworkers' Company's architect, F. W. Porter.pp. 655-656, 'The buildings of England - London 4: north', Bridget Cherry & Nikolaus Pevsner It is built in the style of 13th century French gothic, and Pevsner's architectural guide notes the "Good E stwindow by Lavers & Baraud" at St James' Church, Islington, and that the window in the north chapel contains "four Flemish

roundel A roundel is a circular disc used as a symbol. The term is used in heraldry, but also commonly used to refer to a type of national insignia used on military aircraft, generally circular in shape and usually comprising concentric rings of differ ...

s, from Lambe's Chapel". Today the west wall of St James' Church, Islington contains a half figure of William Lambe, dated 1612, after whom Lambe's chapel was named. The

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

has a watercolour sketch dated 15 May 1851 of the same half figure of William Lambe from when it was located in the "Chapel of the Clothworkers' Almshouses,

Cripplegate Cripplegate was a city gate, gate in the London Wall which once enclosed the City of London, England. The Cripplegate gate lent its name to the Cripplegate Wards of the City of London, ward of the City, which encompasses the area where the gat ...

". On 14 December 2018 the church was used to film a short sequel to

Four Weddings and a Funeral ''Four Weddings and a Funeral'' is a 1994 British romantic comedy film directed by Mike Newell. It is the first of several films by screenwriter Richard Curtis to star Hugh Grant, and follows the adventures of Charles (Grant) and his circle of ...

for

Comic Relief Comic Relief is a British charity, founded in 1986 by the comedy scriptwriter Richard Curtis and comedian Sir Lenny Henry in response to the 1983–1985 famine in Ethiopia. The concept of Comic Relief was to get British comedians to make t ...

which was aired on

BBC Television BBC Television is a service of the BBC. The corporation has operated a Public service broadcasting in the United Kingdom, public broadcast television service in the United Kingdom, under the terms of a royal charter, since 1 January 1927. It p ...

in the UK on Red Nose Day, Friday 15 March 2019. The piece featured, amongst others,

Rowan Atkinson Rowan Sebastian Atkinson (born 6 January 1955) is an English actor, comedian and writer. He played the title roles in the sitcoms ''Blackadder'' (1983–1989) and '' Mr. Bean'' (1990–1995), and in the film series '' Johnny English'' (2003– ...

Hugh Grant Hugh John Mungo Grant (born 9 September 1960) is an English actor. He established himself early in his career as a charming and vulnerable romantic leading man, and has since transitioned into a character actor. He has received List of awards ...

Lily James Lily Chloe Ninette Thomson (born 5 April 1989), known professionally as Lily James, is an English actress. She studied acting at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London and began her career in the British television series '' Just Wi ...

and Kristin Scott-Thomas. On 16 December 2018 the church was visited by a 'mystery worshipper' from the Ship of Fools website who gave the church a broadly positive write-up, rating the sermon 8/10 and the likelihood of a making a return visit 7/10. In early 2023 a major refurbishment and enhancement of the church's organ was completed by Paul Mortier of MPOS. The organ was originally installed in 1885 by Gray and Davison.

Present day

Today the Islington Proms organisation holds an annual series of mainly classical concerts exclusively at St James' Church, Islington. On Mondays the church provides a soup and sandwich lunch for members of the street community in its church hall. The church is in the

deanery in the archdeaconery of Hackney in the

Stepney Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...

area of the

Diocese of London The Diocese of London forms part of the Church of England's Province of Canterbury in England. It lies directly north of the Thames, covering and all or part of 17 London boroughs. This corresponds almost exactly to the historic county of ...

. The congregation of St James' Church, Islington is extremely diverse, reflecting the community in which it is based. A part of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

, the style of worship is ' modern catholic', with a balance of familiar and more contemporary hymns.

Gallery

St James' Church, Islington - geograph.org.uk - 1739940.jpg, Church from the south-west St James' Church, Islington - geograph.org.uk - 1740106.jpg, Church from the west St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - West porch - geograph.org.uk - 2136053.jpg, West entrance St James, Islington, with Clothworkers Insignia.jpg, Coat of arms of Clothworkers Company over the entrance East window, St James's Church, Islington.JPG, East window of St James's Church St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - West window - geograph.org.uk - 2136048.jpg, West window of St James's Church Effigy of William Lambe, St James's Church, Islington.JPG, Effigy of William Lambe in St James' Church St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - Window - geograph.org.uk - 2136045.jpg, Saint James the Greater, the church's patron, on a window in the church St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - East end - geograph.org.uk - 2136011.jpg, Nave of church looking east St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - West end - geograph.org.uk - 2136021.jpg, Nave of church looking west St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - Organ - geograph.org.uk - 2136042.jpg, Organ St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - Pulpit - geograph.org.uk - 2136040.jpg, Pulpit St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - Samctuary - geograph.org.uk - 2136017.jpg, Altar and chancel St James, Prebend Street, London N1 - Capital - geograph.org.uk - 2136034.jpg, Capital in the church

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint James Church Islington

19th-century Church of England church buildings Diocese of London Anglo-Catholic church buildings in the London Borough of Islington Buildings and structures in Islington