CHURCHES.
In the early 13th century Teddington
was a chapelry of Staines, but by the end of the
Middle Ages it had become independent. The parish
was divided in 1880, 1921, and 1938, when new
ecclesiastical parishes were created. (fn. 94)
There was apparently a chapel at Teddington
about 1217-18, when the mother church of Staines
was appropriated to Westminster Abbey, who already
owned the advowson. It was then agreed that Teddington was to be removed from the jurisdiction of
the priest of Staines, who had probably hitherto
appointed a vicar to the chapel. In future there was
to be a chaplain, appointed and paid by the Abbot
of Westminster. It was also arranged that all the
demesne lands of the church were to belong to the
vicar of Staines, including 1½ acres stated expressly
to be in Teddington. (fn. 95) No trace of a later holding
by the vicar has been found, but any land that the
rectory may have retained in Teddington became
merged in the manor. (fn. 96) Church offerings were included in the rectorial income in 1370 and belonged
to the rectory under the 16th-century leases of the
manor and the grant made in 1603, (fn. 97) but at some
dates in the Middle Ages, as well as later, the rectorial
income seems to have consisted only of tithes. (fn. 98)
The 16th- and 17th-century grants included both
the great and small tithes. (fn. 99) This accords with the
absence of an endowed vicarage, but in the 14th
century small tithes seem to have been paid on the
produce of the manorial demesne, possibly to the
chaplain. (fn. 1) The rectory was valued at £6 in 1291, (fn. 2)
and its rent in the late 15th and early 16th centuries
was £8 6s. 8d. (fn. 3) It was worth about £50 in 1650 and
the tithes were commuted in 1800 for 205 acres of
land. (fn. 4)
The patronage of the church was attached to the
rectory and manor until the late 17th century. By
that time the living was described as a donative, (fn. 5) and
from the later 16th century the incumbents were
called curates and were licensed by the bishop. (fn. 6) In
the late 18th century the incumbent claimed to be
exempt from the bishop's jurisdiction, presumably
because the benefice was donative, but there seems to
be no historical evidence for exemption. (fn. 7) There is no
record of the licensing of the medieval chaplains and
little is known about them. One, in 1351, was referred
to as chaplain and vicar. At about this time the
chaplain seems to have farmed the rectory and received the tithes; in 1358 he also received a stipend
of 50s. a year. By the 1360's he no longer farmed the
rectory, and was paid 2s. 4d. a week. (fn. 8) In 1369-70 the
abbey also paid for candles and wine for the church. (fn. 9)
In the late 14th and early 15th century the payments
to the chaplain were allowed out of the rent of the
lessee of the demesne and rectory. The customary
amounts were 4s. for candles, bread, and wine, and £6
for the stipend of the chaplain, who sometimes also
had his house rent-free and repaired by the abbey. (fn. 10) In
1545, after the manor had passed to the Crown and a
new lease had begun, (fn. 11) the stipend was unpaid and
there was no curate, nor was there one in 1561, but
there was a reader in 1574 and 1577, and a curate in
1583. (fn. 12) In 1586 a curate was licensed by the bishop
and thereafter curates seem to have been regularly
appointed. (fn. 13) The earlier payments to the chaplain
may have been resumed under a lease which came
into effect in 1572, (fn. 14) and in 1603 the manor and
rectory were charged with the perpetual payment of
£6 for a chaplain having care of souls and celebrating
divine service in the parish, and of 4s. for bread and
wine. (fn. 15) This remained the income of the curate (fn. 16)
until Sir Orlando Bridgeman (d. 1674) (fn. 17) purchased
fee-farm rents of about £80 to augment the living.
He did not settle them legally on the church, however, and after his death they fell into arrears. A
Chancery decree of 1709 ended the disputes which
had arisen about this and about the related question
of rights of presentation. The rents were secured on
the living and alternate rights of presentation were
vested in Sir John Bridgeman and Edward Hill, the
lord of the manor. (fn. 18) The manor's alternate right was
purchased by Orlando Bridgeman, Earl of Bradford
(d. 1825), between 1795 and 1811, (fn. 19) and the whole
advowson remained with his successors until it passed
to the Bishop of London in 1913. (fn. 20) In 1837 the
endowment was augmented by £900 raised by subscription and by £400 from Queen Anne's Bounty, (fn. 21)
and in 1868 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners secured
on it another £20 a year. (fn. 22) There was no parsonagehouse until 1837, when one was built by a subscription to which Queen Adelaide, then living at Bushy
House, gave £100. (fn. 23) This house stood by the later
Vicarage Road, and was afterwards replaced by a
house in Manor Road, then by one in Kingston Road,
and finally, in 1931, by the present Vicarage, also in
Kingston Road. (fn. 24) In 1955-6 the net income of the
benefice was £659, of which the endowment provided
£99. (fn. 25)
The names of one or two of the medieval chaplains are preserved. One, who was called chaplain
and vicar, seems to have held some land, and another
leased three acres from the lord of the manor. (fn. 26) One
Robert Fern or Feron, clerk, of Teddington, who
may have been chaplain there, was convicted in 1535
along with the priors of the Charterhouses for
treasonable conversation against the king's Church
policy, but was afterwards pardoned. (fn. 27) In 1547 it was
said that only one priest was provided to serve the
church, and a little later the parish lacked any
minister at all for some years and then had only a
reader until about 1583. Even then the curate was
also the schoolmaster of Twickenham. (fn. 28) Ephraim
Udall (licensed 1615), was a Puritan while he was
at Teddington, (fn. 29) Thomas Gouge (curate 1637-8)
was also later a Nonconformist, (fn. 30) and Matthew Randal (licensed 1631) was suspended by Laud in 1634
for preaching a sermon over an hour long at the
Sunday afternoon catechizing. (fn. 31) Later, however,
more orthodox doctrines may have prevailed, for
Robert Mossom was sequestered in 1650 for officiating by the Book of Common Prayer. (fn. 32) In 1673 the
old rails which had once been round the communion
table stood in the porch. (fn. 33) Another curate is said to
have been the poet Thomas Traherne, who was
domestic chaplain to Sir Orlando Bridgeman and
died at Teddington in 1674. (fn. 34) Since the right of
presentation to the cure seems to have been acquired
by Bridgeman's heirs after his death, however, Traherne is more likely only to have been his domestic
chaplain and not parish curate. (fn. 35) Charles Williams
(curate 1692-c. 1709) was also Vicar of Twickenham, (fn. 36) but from then on the incumbents have
generally been resident themselves and have had
assistant curates. (fn. 37) Stephen Hales (curate c. 1709-61),
the physiologist and inventor, was taken by Pope as
the model of the man who loves his God. (fn. 38) He was an
active parish priest, enlarged the church and churchyard, and provided the village with a clean and plentiful water supply. He is known on occasion to have
made women in the parish do penance for irregular
behaviour, (fn. 39) but there is no reason to believe the
statement (fn. 40) that he always did so. Only a few instances are recorded in his long incumbency, and
it would be wrong to make too much of them as
examples of 18th-century moralist churchmanship.
The services, which were said to have been monthly
before Sir Orlando Bridgeman endowed the living,
were held twice on Sundays in Hales's time, with
monthly communion services and weekly catechizings. (fn. 41) In 1766 there were also prayers twice a week. (fn. 42)
A Sunday school was started by 1800 and a Wednesday evening service by 1831, (fn. 43) and notable departures
from old customs began under Daniel Trinder
(vicar 1857-78). Among other innovations, he had
the old pews taken down, introduced Hymns Ancient
and Modern, and preached in a surplice, all of which
led to accusations of popery, and to the foundation
of Christ Church, which became attached to the Free
Church of England. (fn. 44) Communion services continued
to be held only once a month at the parish church in
Trinder's time, (fn. 45) though more high-church practices
prevailed at the new church of St. Peter and St. Paul
which he founded. (fn. 46) Under Trinder and his successor there were also disputes about the provision of an
open burial ground and the burial of nonconformists
in the churchyard. (fn. 47) Prebendary F. Leith Boyd
(vicar 1884-1908), replaced the old church by St.
Albans (fn. 48) and introduced more decisively highchurch ritual. Sung mass was introduced, and in
1907 the first outdoor procession of clergy, choir,
and acolytes was held. In spite of some opposition,
the church had a large congregation, and Boyd's
traditions have been maintained, though his successor was compelled to retrench expenditure. (fn. 49) In 1959
the main Sunday service was high mass at 11 o'clock,
with a sermon, and there was also parish communion
at 9.30. There were then some 340 names on the
electoral roll. (fn. 50)
The church of ST. MARY, on the corner of Ferry
Road and Twickenham Road, ceased to be the parish
church in 1889. No part of the present building
dates from before the 16th century, though in 1816
the chancel, which has since been rebuilt, was attributed to the later 14th century: (fn. 51) Westminster Abbey
is known to have repaired it in the later Middle
Ages, and in 1365 the church of St. Michael, Teddington, had recently been destroyed by fire. (fn. 52) St.
Mary's is a small and low brick building with stone
dressings consisting of chancel, nave, north and
south aisles, north-east organ chamber and vestries,
a small south porch, and a west tower. (fn. 53) The aisles
and vestries are nearly as high as the chancel and
nave, and are roofed under separate gables; the three
plastered barrel vaults, the centre one continuing
over both nave and chancel, are a notable feature of
the interior. The oldest parts of the church are the
south aisle, with early-16th-century diaper brickwork, (fn. 54) and the arch between the north aisle and the
organ chamber, which is probably of the same date.
During the incumbency of Stephen Hales (c. 1709-
61) successive alterations were made which account
for much of the present fabric. In 1716 the church
was enlarged and repaired and a south-west gallery
was built. (fn. 55) The barrel-vaulted ceilings and the flattopped colonnade dividing the nave from the aisles
may have been alterations of this date or a little
earlier. In 1748 the bells could not be heard all over
the parish, so the existing shingled spire was replaced
by a wooden cupola containing a loud bell, and six
years later the timber tower itself was demolished and
the present brick one was built, with the same cupola
on top. (fn. 56) The tower has round-headed windows and
an embattled parapet; the cupola was removed some
years before 1936. (fn. 57) The rest of the changes were
designed to accommodate more people. In 1753 the
north aisle was built, with round-headed windows
and a central pediment. It originally contained a
gallery. In 1767 a vestry with a fire-place was made
under the tower. (fn. 58) Dry rot and vermin from the
vaults made repeated repairs to the chancel floor and
the furniture necessary, (fn. 59) while the continued shortage of space led John Walter (d. 1812), the founder
of The Times and a parishioner of Teddington, to sue
the churchwardens for a suitable pew. (fn. 60) In 1833 the
capacity of the church was increased from 413 to 559
sittings by public subscription, helped by £100 from
the Church Building Society and £50 from the king
and queen. (fn. 61) A larger chancel was built, and the main
door was removed from the south front to the west
tower. (fn. 62) Further extensive alterations were made in
1877: another vestry was built on the north-east side,
the old one becoming the organ chamber, and the
floor of the church was lowered; the small south
porch also probably dates from this time. Most of the
windows, which are all of late Perpendicular type
with four-centred heads, were altered or enlarged.
The three easternmost in the south aisle appear to
be faithful copies of the original ones which they replaced. Similar windows were inserted in the 18thcentury openings in the north aisle. Finally, at the
same time, the galleries were removed and the pulpit
and pews were replaced. (fn. 63) In 1889 the church was
closed for services. It was repaired and reopened, at
first only for occasional use, in 1898. (fn. 64) After being
closed for about eight years it was again repaired and
reopened for regular services in 1936. (fn. 65)
The most notable of a number of wall-monuments
dating from between the late 17th century and the
19th are those of Sir Orlando Bridgeman (d. 1674),
on the south wall of the chancel, and of W. T. Stratton (d. 1814), in the south aisle. (fn. 66) The latter is by
Sir Richard Westmacott; the former is of black and
white marble and has a wreathed inscription framed
by a Corinthian order with two cartouches of arms
above and an achievement of arms surmounting the
pediment. There are two brasses, of which one, of
1506, has two figures. There is one bell, cast in 1620,
and another which is not hung. In 1685 the church
had a communion cup with a cover. (fn. 67) In 1742 all the
plate was less than 30 years old, and it now all dates
from 1877 or later except for two silver almsdishes
of 1765. (fn. 68) It is kept in St. Alban's church, as are the
registers, which begin in 1558 with baptisms, mar
riages, and burials in one volume, and are substantially complete. (fn. 69)
The church of ST. ALBAN, which replaced St.
Mary's, was opened in 1889. (fn. 70) It was designed by
W. Niven almost on the scale of a Gothic cathedral
and, in spite of its size, is incomplete. It is built of
stone and consists of a lofty aisled and clerestoried
nave of five bays, chancel, ambulatory, and north
and south aisles. The roofs are covered with copper
externally and all but that of the nave are vaulted.
The west end of the nave, as originally planned, has
never been built. The three eastern windows of the
chancel clerestory and the east window of the ambulatory were inserted in 1953. The font and one of the
side altars were formerly in St. Mary's Church, and
there are various other fittings which are older than
St. Alban's itself and were brought to it from
different countries. They include seven silver lamps
which were once in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre
in Jerusalem. (fn. 71)
The church of ST. PETER AND ST. PAUL in
Broad Street was opened in 1865 as a chapel of ease
to St. Mary's. The original design, by G. E. Street,
was completed in 1873, except for the tower and
spire, which were never built. (fn. 72) The church is of red
and yellow brick with stone piers in the nave. It consists of a chancel, a nave of five bays, and north and
south aisles with chapels. Even before it became
independent in 1880, St. Peter and St. Paul's seems
to have had a rather more advanced ritual than the
parish church. (fn. 73) In 1959 the main Sunday service
was solemn mass at 11 o'clock. There were then 116
names on the electoral roll. (fn. 74) The parish assigned to
the church in 1880 was bounded on the east by the
railway, and was diminished in 1914 when St. Michael
and St. George's parish, Fulwell, was created. (fn. 75) The
living was endowed with £200 a year in 1882 and in
1955-6 the net income was £570. The patron is the
Vicar of St. Mary's. (fn. 76)
The present church of ST. MARK, in St. Mark's
Road, South Teddington, was opened in 1939. In
1875 a National school, which also served as a mission
building, had been opened in Schoolhouse Lane,
and in 1880 a mission church on the corner of Fairfax Road and Bushy Park Road was opened. It was
pulled down when the new church was built. (fn. 77) St.
Mark's was separated from the mother parish in
1938. (fn. 78) The living is in the gift of the bishop. It was
worth £618 in 1955-6, of which £186 came from the
endowment. (fn. 79) There were 297 names on the electoral
roll in 1959. (fn. 80) The main Sunday services were then
sung eucharist at 10.15 and matins and sermon at
11.30. The church was designed by C. A. Farey. It
is cruciform with a tower at the crossing and is built
of grey brick with stone dressings and a tiled roof. (fn. 81)
Inside it has an open roof and low narrow aisles with
round-headed arcades.
The church of ST. MICHAEL AND ST.
GEORGE, Wilcox Road, Fulwell, was opened in
1913. It was designed by J. S. Adkins in the Gothic
style and lies north and south instead of east and
west. It is built of red brick with stone dressings and
has a nave, chancel, aisles, 'south' chapel, and 'west'
baptistry. (fn. 82) Its parish, formed out of that of St.
Peter and St. Paul, was assigned to it in 1914. (fn. 83)
In 1955-6 the living, in the gift of trustees, was
worth £635 of which £220 came from the endowment. (fn. 84) There were 144 names on the electoral roll
in 1959, (fn. 85) and the principal Sunday service was then
sung mass and sermon at 10.30.