St Mary's Church, Summerstown, is the parish church of Summerstown, South London. It is also a Grade II listed building, having been designed by

Godfrey Pinkerton Godfrey Pinkerton (1858 – 1937) was a London-based British architect. Biography Early life Pinkerton was born at Godstone, Surrey, son of metal broker George Pinkerton (1823 – 1899), son of the missionary and linguist Rev. Robert Pinkerton, D ...

and constructed in 1903–4.

History

The parish was constituted in 1845 and there has been a church in this area for a number of years. In 1894, the old chapel, built in 1836 by William Moseley and extended in 1861 and 1870, was demolished for structural reasons, and was replaced by a temporary iron structure until a new parish church could be completed nearby. This iron structure served as a church hall from c.1925 until 1968, when it was sold by act of Parliament (St. Mary, Summerstown Act 1968). The Incorporated Society for Promoting the Enlargement, Building and repairing of Churches and Chapels gave £250 towards the rebuilding. The foundation stone was laid by Princess Helena, daughter of

Queen Victoria Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria; 24 May 1819 – 22 January 1901) was Queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until Death and state funeral of Queen Victoria, her death in January 1901. Her reign of 63 year ...

on 4 April 1903 who was accompanied by an escort of the Surrey Imperial Yeomanry, and greeted at the site by a detachment of the 4th Surrey Volunteers. The Mayor of the

Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth The Metropolitan Borough of Wandsworth was a Metropolitan boroughs of the County of London, Metropolitan borough under the London County Council, from 1900 to 1965. History The borough was formed from five civil parishes in England, civil parish ...

, Mr Henry Kimber MP and the vicar, Revd. John Robinson were in attendance. The church was consecrated by the Suffragan Bishop of Southwark,

Huyshe Yeatman-Biggs Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman-Biggs (2 February 184514 April 1922; until 1898 known as Huyshe Wolcott Yeatman) was an influential Church of England clergyman who served as the only Anglican Bishop of Southwark, Bishop of Southwark to be a suffragan bis ...

, on Saturday 30 April 1904. It has been little altered over the years, with an addition of a new church hall around 1968, a (recently restored) lynch gate around 1930, and Summerstown's war memorial after the

Great War World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

Organ

The church contains a pipe organ by Henry Bevington. A specification of the organ can be found on the

National Pipe Organ Register The British Institute of Organ Studies (BIOS) is a British organisation and registered charity which aims to promote study and appreciation of all aspects of the pipe organ. Further, it acts as a lobbying body to raise awareness of organ issue ...

Present Day

The church is open for public services every Sunday at 10:30am, and has a range of mid-week groups, including for children, students and young adults.

References

External links

* Summerstown Anglican Diocese of Southwark Churches completed in 1904 {{London-Anglican-church-stub