St Mary Magdalene, Enfield, is a

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, ...

church in Enfield, London, dedicated to Jesus' companion,

Mary Magdalene Mary Magdalene (sometimes called Mary of Magdala, or simply the Magdalene or the Madeleine) was a woman who, according to the four canonical gospels, traveled with Jesus as one of his followers and was a witness to crucifixion of Jesus, his cr ...

. The building is

grade II* 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, H ...

with

Historic England Historic England (officially the Historic Buildings and Monuments Commission for England) is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is tasked with prot ...

History

The church was built as a memorial to Philip Twells, MP and city banker, by his wife Georgiana Twells, who employed the architect

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was bo ...

. The foundation was stone was laid in 1881 and the church opened in 1883. The artist

Charles Edgar Buckeridge Charles Edgar Buckeridge (1864 – 11 May 1898) was an English church decorative artist and the son of Charles Buckeridge, a Gothic Revival architecture, Gothic Revival architect. Life and career Born in Headington, Oxford in 1864, the son of ...

painted the ceiling and east wall of the sanctuary and after his early death the side walls were painted by

Nathaniel Westlake Nathaniel Hubert John Westlake FSA (1833–1921) was a 19th-century British artist specialising in stained glass. Career Nathaniel Westlake was born in Romsey in 1833. He began to design for the firm of Lavers & Barraud, Ecclesiastical Designe ...

. The walls and ceiling were conserved in 2012 by Hirst Conservation with the help of local donations and the

Heritage Lottery Fund The National Lottery Heritage Fund, formerly the Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF), distributes a share of National Lottery funding, supporting a wide range of heritage projects across the United Kingdom. History The fund's predecessor bodies were ...

. The stained-glass windows are by

Heaton, Butler and Bayne Heaton, Butler and Bayne was a British firm that produced stained-glass windows from 1862 to 1953. History Clement Heaton (1824–1882) Fleming, John & Hugh Honour. (1977) ''The Penguin Dictionary of Decorative Arts. '' London: Allen Lane, p. 371 ...

. The tower originally contained 8

change ringing Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuning (music), tuned bell (instrument), bells in a tightly controlled manner to produce precise variations in their successive striking sequences, known as "changes". This can be by method ringing in ...

bells cast by

John Warner & Sons John Warner and Sons was a metalworks and bellfoundry based in various locations in the UK, established in 1739 and dissolved in 1949. Previous businesses A company was founded by Jacob Warner, a Quaker, in 1739 and originally produced water p ...

for the new church in 1883, however these were replaced in 1999, as they were too heavy for the tower and were causing damage. The church installed a new, lighter ring of 8 bells cast by the

Whitechapel Bell Foundry The Whitechapel Bell Foundry was a business in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. At the time of the closure of its Whitechapel premises, it was the oldest manufacturing company in Great Britain. The bell foundry primarily made church bells ...

, and the older, larger bells were bought by

Grace Church Cathedral Grace Church Cathedral, located in Charleston, South Carolina, is the diocesan cathedral of the Episcopal Church in South Carolina. It is also a contributing property in the Charleston Historic District. The parish was founded as the city's fi ...

in Charleston, United States, where they were installed and augmented to 10 with two new treble bells cast in the same year, also by Whitechapel.

Gallery

File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, The Sanctuary.jpg, The Sanctuary File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, ceiling 7.jpg, The ceiling File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, ceiling 3.jpg, The ceiling File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, part of north wall 2.jpg, North wall File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, part of south wall.jpg, South wall File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, East wall northern painting.jpg, The Angel Gabriel, East wall File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, East wall southern painting.jpg, The Magi, East wall File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, Christian received into Heaven window.jpg, Christian received into Heaven File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, The West window.jpg, West window File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, East window.jpg, East window File:Enfield, St Mary Magdalene, The Holy Family window.jpg, Holy Family

References

External links

Enfield Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Enfield Diocese of London Enfield, London {{London-Anglican-church-stub