St Peter's Church, is an early Victorian

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

Arkley Arkley is a village in Greater London, England, within the London Borough of Barnet. It is located north-northwest of Charing Cross. It consists of a long village strung out between Barnet and Stirling Corner, and composed of the ancient ...

, in the

London Borough of Barnet The London Borough of Barnet () is a suburban London boroughs, London borough in north London, England. Forming part of Outer London, the borough was formed in 1965 from parts of the ceremonial counties of Middlesex and Hertfordshire. It is the ...

. It is a

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 ...

building.

History

The construction of the church, from local bricks, was funded by Enosh Durant (c.1778-1848). It was consecrated on 1 November 1840 by

Charles James Blomfield Charles James Blomfield (29 May 1786 – 5 August 1857) was a British divine and classicist, and a Church of England bishop for 32 years. Early life and education Charles James Blomfield was born in Bury St Edmunds, Suffolk, the eldest son (an ...

, Bishop of London. Durant, who is commemorated by a monument placed in the church by his widow the year after his death, was the owner of a local brickworks, and lived at the High Canons estate in Shenley, near Borehamwood. The chancel was added in 1898 and was consecrated by the

Bishop of St Albans The Bishop of St Albans is the Ordinary (officer), Ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of St Albans in the Province of Canterbury. The bishop is supported in his work by two suffragan bishops, the Bishop of Hertford and the Bishop o ...

John Festing John Wogan Festing (13 August 1837 in Stourton, England – 28 December 1902) was an English clergyman who was Bishop of St Albans from 1890 to 1902.

. The stained glass of the east window was installed in 1903. In 1921 a Lady Chapel was added and a war memorial, now Grade II listed, was unveiled opposite the church in 1920. There are also memorials in the church to the fallen of both World Wars. A commemorative bench by the west door (2023) is dedicated to local stalwarts Geoffrey and Jan Mabbett. This replaced one installed in 1953 for the Coronation of Queen

Elizabeth II Elizabeth II (Elizabeth Alexandra Mary; 21 April 19268 September 2022) was Queen of the United Kingdom and other Commonwealth realms from 6 February 1952 until Death and state funeral of Elizabeth II, her death in 2022. ...

, which, after 70 years, was in poor condition. Another bench, to commemorate the Coronation of

Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

(2023), was unveiled by

Theresa Villiers Dame Theresa Anne Villiers (born 5 March 1968) is a British politician who served as the Member of Parliament (United Kingdom), Member of Parliament (MP) for Chipping Barnet (UK Parliament constituency), Chipping Barnet from 2005 United Kingdom ...

MP and is in the garden behind the church. St Peter's was originally built for the benefit of Durant's tenants and workers, but, some years after his death, it became a

chapel-of-ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

of St John the Baptist Church, Chipping Barnet. It was dedicated for this purpose in 1888 by

Alfred Blomfield The The Right Reverend, Right Reverend Alfred Blomfield Doctor of Divinity, D.D. (31 August 18335 November 1894) was an Anglican bishop in the last decades of the 19th century. Alfred was the youngest son of Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of Lo ...

, Bishop of Colchester, son of Charles Blomfield. Arkley became a separate parish in 1905 with St Peter's as its church. Since the 1980s St Peter's has been part of the Chipping Barnet Team Ministry.

Notable people

The ashes of the English actor

Trevor Howard Trevor Wallace Howard-Smith (29 September 1913 – 7 January 1988) was an English stage and screen actor. After varied work in the theatre, he achieved leading man star status in the film '' Brief Encounter'' (1945), followed by '' The Third M ...

are buried in an unmarked plot near the church. A small plaque on the exterior wall of the church commemorates the Howard family. Christine Hardman, who, as Bishop of Newcastle, became the second female diocesan bishop in the Church of England, was married at St. Peter’s in 1971. The Vicar since 2024 has been the Revd Cindy Kent, former lead singer of the 1960s/70s folk-pop band

the Settlers ''The Settlers'' () is a City-building game, city-building and real-time strategy video game series created by Volker Wertich in 1993. The The Settlers (1993 video game), original game was released on the Amiga, with subsequent games released p ...

Gallery

File:St Peter, Arkley, Herts - East end - geograph.org.uk - 379888.jpg, East end File:St Peter, Arkley, Herts - West end - geograph.org.uk - 379890.jpg, West end File:St Peter, Arkley, Herts - Font - geograph.org.uk - 379886.jpg, Font File:St Peter, Arkley, Herts - Organ - geograph.org.uk - 379885.jpg, Organ File:St Peter, Arkley, Herts - geograph.org.uk - 379880.jpg, South side

References

External links

* * 19th-century Church of England church buildings Arkley

Church of England church buildings in the London Borough of Barnet Churches completed in 1840 Gothic Revival church buildings in London Diocese of St Albans {{London-Anglican-church-stub