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All
Hallows Parish Church, Twickenham History A History of All Hallows. |
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Vicar: Revd. Nicola Stanley
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In BriefAll Hallows Church has stood on the Chertsey Road in Twickenham since 1940, but its history stretches back to Saxon times. The original All Hallows Church was on Lombard Street in the City of
London on a site where Christian worship has been documented back
to 1053. Over the
years the church was rebuilt twice, but in 1666 disaster struck
when the Great Fire ravaged London and destroyed hundreds of
buildings, including All Hallows. Christopher Wren designed the new All Hallows, which was built between
1686 and 1694. Dominating
the new church was the square stone bell tower outside and the
extraordinary woodwork of the fittings inside. As the City population dwindled and business interests began to dominate
there, fewer churches were needed to serve the people. Once structural defects were discovered in its walls, the
authorities selected All Hallows for demolition which took place
in 1939. Its former
location is now occupied by the head office of Barclays Bank. At the same time, the suburbs were booming and needed new churches.
A site on the Chertsey Road in Twickenham was chosen for a permanent
building for the Mission Church of St Martin. This had been established in
1918. In 1938 the two projects came together, and the Reverend Harold
Schofield, priest-in-charge at St Martin’s, announced that the new church
would take the identity of All Hallows, along with the fittings and
furnishings from the Lombard Street church. The Bishop of London laid the
foundation stone in July 1939, and the new building, designed by Robert
Atkinson, was dedicated and opened here in November 1940 under wartime
conditions as the new home for All Hallows.
Robert Atkinson designed a modern church to house the
treasures saved from London. In the midst of World War II the building with its dramatic
old bell tower and wonderful wooden interior fittings started a
new life in Twickenham. The Bishop of London dedicated All Hallows, Twickenham, on November 9th 1940 with the sound of gunfire in the distance. All Hallows TodayOur parish is quite small and has no centre of commerce or industry, although the Rugby Union Football Stadium lies within it. It is highly unusual in not having one pub or school within its boundaries (although the Richmond-upon-Thames College of Further Education, with over 4,000 students, is). In fact, the nature of the parish is such that we consider the church to be the centre of the community here and we are doing all we can to ensure that this is seen to be so. All Hallows is a lively and active community, with a worshipping congregation of around 150, over three services, on a typical Sunday. The congregation is well represented across the generations, with a large proportion of young families. Our worship includes traditional and modern, formal and informal. Information on the bells, the bells go in, bell ringing at All Hallows Information on the organ... Information and pictures of the interior... For some more pictures of All Hallows, old and new... Descriptions of all the monuments... Other LinksFor more detail on Christopher Wren.. http://www.greatbuildings.com/architects/Sir_Christopher_Wren.html http://www.nmm.ac.uk/education/fact_wren.html
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