St Michael's Church or Church of St Michael, commonly referred to as St Michael's Highgate, is an Anglican parish church in

Highgate Highgate is a suburban area of N postcode area, north London in the London Borough of Camden, London Boroughs of Camden, London Borough of Islington, Islington and London Borough of Haringey, Haringey. The area is at the north-eastern corner ...

, North London and a

Grade II* listed building 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 ...

. It is the highest elevated church in London.

History

There are records dating back to the twelfth century of a small hermitage chapel at the top of Highgate Hill. It closed in 1539 during the dissolution of monasteries and was acquired by Sir Roger Cholmeley, who used the site for his

new school The New School is a private research university in New York City. It was founded in 1919 as The New School for Social Research with an original mission dedicated to academic freedom and intellectual inquiry and a home for progressive thinkers ...

with permission from

Elizabeth I Elizabeth I (7 September 153324 March 1603) was List of English monarchs, Queen of England and List of Irish monarchs, Ireland from 17 November 1558 until her death in 1603. She was the last and longest reigning monarch of the House of Tudo ...

in 1565. A brick school chapel was built from 1576, which would serve as a parish church for Highgate residents for 250 years. An adjoining burial ground was consecrated for interments in 1617, and a preacher was appointed in 1637. By the early 19th-century, the

Highgate School Highgate School, formally Sir Roger Cholmeley's School at Highgate, is a co-educational, fee-charging, private day school, founded in 1565 in Highgate, London, England. It educates over 1,400 pupils in three sections – Highgate Pre-Preparato ...

chapel was in need of repairs and expansion to accommodate the growing local population. In 1822, a bill was put before Parliament to allow school governors to demolish and replace the chapel, but after years of fierce opposition and legal challenges, the bill was struck down by the

Court of Chancery The Court of Chancery was a court of equity in England and Wales that followed a set of loose rules to avoid a slow pace of change and possible harshness (or "inequity") of the Common law#History, common law. The Chancery had jurisdiction over ...

in 1826: the church would have to be built on a different site. On the site of the derelict Ashhurst House (demolished 1830) with support from the school governors, St Michael's Church was built over eleven months, designed in the

Neo-Gothic Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic or neo-Gothic) is an 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 of the 19th century ...

style by

Lewis Vulliamy Lewis Vulliamy (15 March 1791 – 4 January 1871) was an English architect descended from the Vulliamy family of clockmakers. Life Lewis Vulliamy was the son of the clockmaker Benjamin Vulliamy. He was born in Pall Mall, London on 15 March 17 ...

at the relatively inexpensive cost of £8,171. It went unused for ninth months due to a peculiar legal issue regarding its location on land from the Parish of St Pancras. After an act of Parliament resolved the issue, the church was officially consecrated on 8 November 1832. The Parish of St Michael was established in 1834. The original organ was installed in 1842, and the pulpit in 1848. Choir practices began in 1865. The old burial ground remained in use by St Michael's, but was closed to new interments in 1857 barring special applications. The church underwent renovations and extensions in 1880 by

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 ...

and 1903 by

Temple Moore Temple Lushington Moore (7 June 1856 – 30 June 1920) was an English architect who practised in London but whose work can be seen across England, particularly in the North. He is famous for a series of fine Gothic Revival churches built betwe ...

. It was damaged by a bomb in 1944. Restoration on the building began in 1946, and it received its

Grade II* 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 ...

listed status on 29 June 1954.

Evie Hone Eva Sydney Hone RHA (22 April 1894 – 13 March 1955), usually known as Evie, was an Irish painter and stained glass artist.Nicola Gordon Bowe (May 2009)Hone, Eva Sydney (1894–1955) ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', online editi ...

contributed to the church's new stained glass windows.

Notable features

The church stands on the periphery of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

. The spire forms a landmark skyline with

Witanhurst Witanhurst is a large Listed building#England and Wales, Grade II* listed 1930s Georgian Revival mansion on in Highgate, North London. It has had several prominent owners since being rebuilt by the soap magnate and politician Sir Arthur Crosfie ...

, which can be viewed from

Hampstead Heath Hampstead Heath is an ancient heath in London, spanning . This grassy public space sits astride a sandy ridge, one of the highest points in London, running from Hampstead to Highgate, which rests on a band of London Clay. The heath is rambling ...

and

Parliament Hill Parliament Hill (), colloquially known as The Hill, is an area of Crown land on the southern bank of the Ottawa River that houses the Parliament of Canada in downtown Ottawa, Ontario. It accommodates a suite of Gothic revival buildings whose ...

in particular.

Edmund Grindal Edmund Grindal ( 15196 July 1583) was Bishop of London, Archbishop of York, and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reign of Elizabeth I. Though born far from the centres of political and religious power, he had risen rapidly in the church durin ...

and Sir Roger Cholmeley's coats of arms are carved into the West door's

corbels In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal keyed into and projecting from a wall to carry a bearing weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applie ...

. Some bricks and other remains of Ashurst House are still visible. Beneath the church is a 17th-century wine cellar. In 2018, the burial site of

Samuel Taylor Coleridge Samuel Taylor Coleridge ( ; 21 October 177225 July 1834) was an English poet, literary critic, philosopher, and theologian who was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets with his friend William Wordsworth ...

and his family was uncovered. The poet has a plaque.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Michael's Church Highgate 1832 establishments in England 19th-century Church of England church buildings Church of England church buildings in the London Borough of Camden category:Highgate Gothic Revival church buildings in London Grade II* listed buildings in the London Borough of Camden Grade II* listed churches in London