CHURCHES.
The first time at which there is
known to have been a church at Hanwell is the mid12th century. (fn. 47) It may well have been there for some
time before, though there is no evidence for the
statements by local historians that there was one at
the time of St. Dunstan's alleged gift of Hanwell to
Westminster Abbey. (fn. 48) While it is not impossible that
there was a church in the 10th century, there is
no reason whatever to believe the further statement
that there was a pagan or Christian shrine here in
Roman times. (fn. 49) In the 12th century the church's
jurisdiction extended over the whole ancient parish,
including New Brentford, and when a chapel was
founded in the town c. 1163-88, arrangements were
made to preserve the rights of the mother church. (fn. 50)
It was not until 1747 that the chapelry of New
Brentford became legally independent and had a
separate benefice, and even then the advowson was
retained by the rector of Hanwell. (fn. 51) Since 1908 the
foundation of new parishes within Hanwell proper
has reduced that of the parish church to a comparatively small area.
The patronage of Hanwell church belonged to the
Abbot of Westminster, who was the lord of the
manor, and passed with the manor to the Bishop of
London, who still holds it. (fn. 52) According to a 15thcentury inspeximus from the Crown, the abbey had
secured a grant from King Stephen that the virgate
of land which belonged to Hanwell church should
be free from all secular service. (fn. 53) The next information available about the glebe dates from 1650,
when it was said to comprise 25 acres. (fn. 54) At the
inclosure of 1816 the rector held about 20 acres of
old inclosures east of High Lane (now part of the golf
course) and 5 beside the church. He was also allotted
2 acres on the heath, on which St. Mark's School
was later built. (fn. 55) All the glebe had been sold by
1924. (fn. 56) Since Westminster Abbey never appropriated
the living of Hanwell, the rector was entitled to all
the tithes, though the small tithes and dues of Brentford seem to have been payable to the curate there
under the 12th-century agreement. (fn. 57) In 1291 the
benefice of Hanwell was valued at £6 13s. 4d. and
in 1535 at £20. (fn. 58) In 1650 it was worth about £100,
out of which, according to the people of Hanwell,
£18 were allowed to the curate of New Brentford.
According to the people of New Brentford, however,
the curate received rather less, and the money he did
receive constituted the income of all the tithes of the
chapelry. (fn. 59) In 1714 the rector of Hanwell successfully sued Christopher Clitherow of Boston House
for his small tithes, and it was made clear that small
tithes were paid to the curate of Brentford by custom
and not by right. (fn. 60) In 1747 the rector formally gave
up all his right to the church dues, offerings, and
small tithes of New Brentford: he retained, however,
part of the tithes of hay, (fn. 61) and by 1837 was apparently
receiving all the great tithes. (fn. 62) Despite this loss the
value of the benefice rose from about £100 to £150
in the earlier 18th century (fn. 63) and to £530 gross by
1830. (fn. 64) In 1837 the tithes of Hanwell were commuted
for £410, and the great tithes of New Brentford,
also belonging to the rector, for £60. (fn. 65) In 1957 the
living was worth £769 net, of which £475 came from
endowments. (fn. 66) The rectory house east of the church,
which by 1795 had been 'much improved' by G. H.
Glasse, rector 1785-1809, (fn. 67) was rebuilt in 1847 (fn. 68)
and demolished after 1934. (fn. 69) It had been sold some
time before, and a smaller house had been built in
1922 to replace it. (fn. 70) This stands at the bend in
Church Road.
The first known rector, Henry of Bayeux (instituted c. 1187) held the churches of Greenford and
Hanwell together, (fn. 71) and at least one other medieval
rector is known to have been a pluralist. (fn. 72) Another
held the church before he was ordained sub-deacon
and one had a dispensation for five years from proceeding to any higher order than this. (fn. 73) The only
other information about the life of the church before
1547 is that by this date half a yardland and 8 acres
had been given for its maintenance. (fn. 74) In 1547 the
rector provided a priest to serve the cure: (fn. 75) the statement of a number of local historians (fn. 76) that he himself
served New Brentford is based upon insufficient evidence. (fn. 77) A number of the 16th- and 17th-century
rectors held other livings, though some at least are
known to have had curates. (fn. 78) John Fuller (1548-51),
later Master of Jesus College, Cambridge, may have
held other preferments while he was at Hanwell. (fn. 79)
Three rectors between 1551 and 1596 combined Hanwell with other Middlesex livings nearby and the two
who served from 1596 to 1631 were prebendaries of
St. Paul's. (fn. 80) Between 1575 and 1591 the incumbent
was a licensed preacher. (fn. 81) Parliament sequestered the
living in 1644, but the rector's wife was still receiving
a fifth of the income in 1651. (fn. 82) During the Interregnum the parish had a succession of incumbents,
and possibly a few vacancies of some length. (fn. 83) In
1653 the government revoked one appointment on
the petition of the 'well disposed inhabitants' and
appointed commissioners to decide the difference in
the parish about it. (fn. 84) Little is known of the life of
the church in the decades after the Restoration: two
rectors of some eminence held the living for short
periods, (fn. 85) and the tone of the parish may possibly be
indicated by the fact that one prominent parishioner, Henry Hodges, was a keen supporter of Titus
Oates and a reputed anti-monarchist. (fn. 86) Two Sunday
services were held during the 18th and early 19th
centuries, and the number of communion services
was increased from four a year to one a month
between 1766 and 1790. (fn. 87) Samuel Glasse, a chaplain
of George III and rector 1780-5, and his son and
successor, G. H. Glasse, a classical scholar, were
both men of some eminence in the literary world, and
seem to have been active and benevolent incumbents in the contemporary mould. The elder Glasse,
though holding another living during most of his
incumbency, took an active part in parish affairs
and particularly in the rebuilding of the church in
1781-2. After his resignation he lived in Greenford,
leased charity lands in Hanwell, and continued to
attend the vestry. (fn. 88) G. H. Glasse, who accumulated
a small estate around the church, (fn. 89) is said to have
spent a considerable fortune. He committed suicide
because of financial troubles, (fn. 90) but there seems to
be no evidence for the statement by Sir Montagu
Sharpe that he defaulted on Hobbayne's charity
funds. (fn. 91)
In 1847 there was strong opposition both inside and
outside the parish to the bishop's appointment to
the living, when the claims of J. A. Emerton, the
proprietor of Hanwell College, who had served as
curate for twelve years, were passed over. Emerton
was apparently influential in the second rebuilding
of the church in 1841, and according to the churchwardens the congregation had increased fourfold
during his ministry. (fn. 92) In spite of the embarrassing
circumstances of his appointment to Hanwell, the
rector of 1847-64 seems to have been active in the
parish: the National school was built on glebeland
in 1855 and services for South Hanwell were held
there until St. Mark's was opened in 1879. (fn. 93) Church
rates continued to be levied until they were abolished
by statute, but pew rents were introduced in 1860
and largely replaced them. (fn. 94) Derwent Coleridge
(rector 1864-80), the son of the poet, had formerly
been the first principal of the National Society's
training college at Chelsea. (fn. 95) Just before his retirement from Hanwell at the age of 80 he succeeded in
building St. Mark's Church, and before this he had
introduced Hymns Ancient and Modern at the parish
church, started a night-school, a choir, confirmation
classes, and regular 'collect-day' services, and made
a few changes in ritual. (fn. 96) These last aroused some
opposition, (fn. 97) and one man, not a parishioner, complained that 'simple worship had been turned into
a semi-musical entertainment', (fn. 98) but Coleridge's
changes do not seem to have been at all radical, and
since his time the church has remained more or less
evangelical in character. (fn. 99) Eleven o'clock matins was
still the main Sunday service in 1959. A bequest was
made to the church in 1940, subject to a life interest,
for the maintenance of the musical part of the
services. (fn. 1) In 1959 there were 355 persons on the
electoral roll. (fn. 2)
The church of ST. MARY, Hanwell, was opened
in 1842. (fn. 3) It stands at the end of Church Road on
a site successively occupied by at least two earlier
buildings. The medieval church, which was dedicated to St. Mary by the later 12th century, (fn. 4) was
pulled down in 1781 because it was too small for the
growing population. It was some 67 feet long, and
the nave was nearly 22 feet wide and the chancel
about 15 feet. (fn. 5) There was a small west tower with a
pyramidal roof and a south porch or vestry. The
windows, as they appear in a water-colour drawing, (fn. 6)
suggest that the nave at least dated from the 12th
century. A suggestion (fn. 7) that the church was thatched
is not borne out by the original drawing. The church
built to replace this one was opened in 1782. (fn. 8) It was
designed by Thomas Hardwick, a mason of New
Brentford, who had already rebuilt the nave of the
chapel there. (fn. 9) It was a characteristic brick and
slated building of that date with an aisled and
galleried nave, and round-headed windows under a
cornice and parapet. The chancel was small and
there was a west turret with a cupola. (fn. 10) Another
gallery was added in 1823 to accommodate the
pupils of Dr. Bond's school, (fn. 11) but the church was
still too small for the population, since the servants
of the gentry and the National school children
occupied the only seats which 'could be considered
free'. (fn. 12) The present church was therefore built in
1841 and consecrated in the following year. (fn. 13) It was
one of the earliest churches to be designed by
George Gilbert Scott, though not his first, as has
sometimes been claimed. Scott afterwards condemned his work of this period as 'a mass of horrors': (fn. 14)
Hanwell, like Scott's other early churches, lacked
'any proper chancel' and had galleries, which still
survive, in the nave aisles. It is in the style of the
13th century and is built of flint with white brick
and stone dressings. It has a small clerestory and a
tall south-west tower surmounted by a broach spire.
A chancel and a second vestry by W. Pywell were
added in 1898. (fn. 15) The wall paintings in the chancel
are said to have been originally executed by William
Yeames, the painter of 'When did you last see your
father?' who was a parishioner and at one time
churchwarden. (fn. 16) The church was badly damaged by
fire in 1912. (fn. 17)
No monuments or furnishings have been preserved
from the medieval church, except for a bell of 1760. (fn. 18)
The earliest of the wall-tablets dates from 1798. (fn. 19)
Among the others is one of 1806 to Margaret Emma
Orde by P. M. van Gelder. The earliest plate dates
from 1782. (fn. 20) A bequest of 1538 gave the church a
chalice, mass-book, and vestments. (fn. 21) In 1685 there
was only one cup and a cover. (fn. 22)
Although St. Mark's was built in 1879, the first
modern church to have a separate parish assigned to
it was that of ST. MELLITUS, on the corner of
Uxbridge Road and Church Road. The parish was
formed in 1908 and lay between the railway and
Elthorne Park, thus including St. Mark's as a chapel
of ease. (fn. 23) The church was built in 1910 from the
proceeds of the sale of Holy Trinity, Gough Square,
in London, and was endowed with some £375 a year,
also from Holy Trinity. (fn. 24) In 1957 the endowment
provided £78 out of the income of £642 net. The
Bishop of London is patron of the living, (fn. 25) and in
1959 there were 165 names on the electoral roll. (fn. 26)
The main Sunday service in 1959 was parish mass at
10 o'clock, preceded by said matins at 9.30. The
dedication of the church is probably derived from
the legend, propagated by Sir Montagu Sharpe, that
Mellitus, Bishop of the East Saxons, was instrumental in the conversion of the Anglo-Saxons of
Hanwell. (fn. 27) The church was designed by Sir Arthur
Blomfield and Sons in a Gothic style, and has an
aisled nave of five bays with chancel and chapels
and a bell-cote. It is built of brown and red brick.
The vicarage was built at the same time beside it.
The church of ST. MARK, Lower Boston Road,
became independent in 1919 when the south-western
part of St. Mellitus's parish was assigned to it. (fn. 28) It
had been built in 1879 to the designs of W. White in
the early Decorated style (fn. 29) in brown and red brick
and has an aisled nave, an apsidal chancel and no
tower. When the benefice was created the patronage
was vested in the Bishop of London. In 1955 the
church had an endowment of £443 out of a net
income of £603. (fn. 30) There were 195 names on the
electoral roll in 1959. (fn. 31) A licensed incumbent was
appointed in that year, after the living had been
vacant for some years before. (fn. 32) The main Sunday
service was then sung mass at 11 o'clock.
The church of ST. THOMAS, Boston Road, was
built in 1934 from the proceeds of sale of St.
Thomas, Portman Square. The parish assigned to it
in 1933 consisted of the southern part of St. Mary's
parish which had been detached from the rest by the
creation of St. Mellitus's parish. (fn. 33) The mission from
which it grew was first established in 1907 in a house
in Elthorne Avenue, and an iron mission church (now
the church hall) was erected in 1909 on a site given
by Lord Jersey. (fn. 34) It was later taken over by the
London Diocesan Home Mission, and in 1933
became a perpetual curacy in the gift of the Crown,
which had been patron of St. Thomas, Portman
Square. The endowment was also transferred from
the London church, (fn. 35) and in 1957 comprised £216 a
year out of an income of £807. (fn. 36) There were 392
persons on the electoral roll in 1959. (fn. 37) The principal
Sunday service was then family eucharist at 9.30,
with said matins at 11. The church was designed by
Sir Edward Maufe and is built of brick, with nave
and chancel under a high concrete-vaulted roof. The
seven bays of the nave are divided by boldly projecting piers which are pierced with arched openings to
form narrow aisles. There are vestries and a chapel
on each side of the chancel and a tower in the
centre of the north side. The crucifixion on the east
front is by Eric Gill. Some of the fittings come from
St. Thomas, Portman Square. (fn. 38)
The church of ST. CHRISTOPHER, Bordars
Road, was established by the London Diocesan
Home Mission in 1937. (fn. 39) A parish was assigned to it
in 1951 and a benefice was created in the gift of the
Bishop of London. (fn. 40) It was worth £570 net in 1957,
including an endowment of £424 a year. (fn. 41) There
were 88 persons on the electoral roll in 1959. (fn. 42) A
permanent church had not been built by 1959 and
services were held in the original church-hall. The
main Sunday service was sung mass and holy communion at 10 o'clock.