A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5, Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1976.
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A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, Eileen P Scarff, G C Tyack, 'Edmonton: Churches', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5, Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham, ed. T F T Baker, R B Pugh( London, 1976), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol5/pp181-187 [accessed 5 October 2024].
A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, Eileen P Scarff, G C Tyack, 'Edmonton: Churches', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5, Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham. Edited by T F T Baker, R B Pugh( London, 1976), British History Online, accessed October 5, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol5/pp181-187.
A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, Eileen P Scarff, G C Tyack. "Edmonton: Churches". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 5, Hendon, Kingsbury, Great Stanmore, Little Stanmore, Edmonton Enfield, Monken Hadley, South Mimms, Tottenham. Ed. T F T Baker, R B Pugh(London, 1976), , British History Online. Web. 5 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol5/pp181-187.
CHURCHES.
Edmonton church is first mentioned between 1136 and 1143, (fn. 1) a date consistent with the earliest surviving portions of the fabric. (fn. 2) It was appropriated to Walden abbey from 1136-43 until 1538 and granted to St. Paul's cathedral after 1544. (fn. 3) A vicarage had been ordained by 1189-90 when the prior of Walden granted it to master Peter de Walde, to hold as William the chaplain had held it. (fn. 4) The advowson descended with the rectory.
The vicarage was endowed with a small plot of land and the small tithes c. 1189-90. (fn. 5) It was valued at £6 13s. 4d. in the mid 13th century (fn. 6) and at £5 in 1291, (fn. 7) but was subject to a yearly pension of £2 to the abbot of Walden. (fn. 8) In 1535 the vicarage was worth £18 a year (fn. 9) but in 1649 it was only £6. (fn. 10) The valuation rose from £150 in 1723 to £300 in 1812, (fn. 11) until by 1835 the vicar's net income was £1,550. (fn. 12) Small tithes were worth £1 16s. in 1535. (fn. 13) In the 16th century the glebe consisted of 1 a. of arable in the Hyde, a close of pasture (3 a.), and 1 a. in the common marsh. (fn. 14) At inclosure in 1804 the vicar was allotted 20 a. in the Hyde in lieu of small tithes from common land, and corn-rents, then totalling £829, in lieu of small tithes from old inclosures. (fn. 15) In 1851 from a total income of £1,174, tithes accounted for £928 and glebe for £129. (fn. 16)
The vicar's house, on the site of the later vicarage, was mentioned in the mid 13th century. (fn. 17) It stood in an orchard south-east of the church (fn. 18) and was ruinous and uninhabited in 1649 (fn. 19) and still so in 1673. (fn. 20) The vicar was apparently living elsewhere in 1664 and 1672. (fn. 21) The vicarage was rebuilt c. 1700 as a narrow, two-storeyed building with dormerwindowed attics and a steep roof. In 1819 it was described as 'a comfortable dwelling and in good repair'. (fn. 22) It was replaced by a large, Victorian brick house which was demolished in 1967 (fn. 23) and in turn replaced by a smaller, modern vicarage.
Berenger le Romeyn founded a chapel in Edmonton church which his son-in-law, Sir Richard de Plessis (de Placetis) or Wrotham, by will dated 1292, endowed to maintain a chaplain. (fn. 24) It may be identifiable with the chantry of St. Thomas of Canterbury in the crypt, which was mentioned in 1461. (fn. 25) Before his death in 1360 (fn. 26) Peter Favelore built a chapel within Edmonton church, which his colleague Adam Francis, by will proved 1375, endowed to maintain two chantry chaplains, vesting the patronage in the vicar of Edmonton. (fn. 27) In 1417 the chantries received an endowment of £13 6s. 8d. from property in London from John Church, a London grocer, (fn. 28) and in 1471 a house and garden were devised by William Age. (fn. 29) In 1535 the chantries were worth £7 8s. 4d. and £7 3s 4d. a year respectively. (fn. 30) When they were suppressed in 1547, the two priests were receiving the £13 6s. 8d. of John Church's endowment from the chamber of London and £3 from their chantry house, two other houses, and c. 10½ a. in Edmonton. (fn. 31) In 1548 the property was granted to Thomas Wilkes and Thomas Atkins, both of London. (fn. 32)
In 1417 John Church also settled upon the chantry priests 13s. 4d. yearly for a lamp and 13s. 4d. for an obit. (fn. 33) By wills proved 1471, 1529, and 1540 respectively, William Age, John Kirton, and Jasper Leake founded obits (fn. 34) but only John Church's still survived in 1547. (fn. 35) There was a brotherhood of Our Lady in 1529. (fn. 36)
Richard Rogers the elder, by will proved 1579, left his property in trust for, inter alia, 6s. 8d. for a sermon on the anniversary of his death. (fn. 37) Richard Rogers the younger left a rent-charge of £2 by will dated 1636, from which 3s. 4d. was to be paid for a sermon on the first Sunday in August. A further 3s. 4d. out of a rent-charge of £1 9s. 4d. was given towards a sermon on that day by Edward Rogers, by will proved 1659. (fn. 38) In 1867 13s. 4d. from the Rogers' charities was paid to the minister for a sermon on the first Sunday in August out of rentcharges totalling £7 1s. 4d. (fn. 39)
Although there is no evidence that vicars were non-resident, assistant curates were usual from the 13th century. (fn. 40) In 1641-2 there were two assistant curates, one of whom served Weld chapel, (fn. 41) and there was an assistant curate in 1706. (fn. 42) James Scott, the author of political and religious works, held the position as a young man from 1760-1. (fn. 43) There was one curate, paid £40 a year, in 1776 (fn. 44) and two in 1835 had stipends totalling £250. (fn. 45) In 1883 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted the vicar £450 a year to employ three curates. (fn. 46)
In 1609 armed parishioners seized the crops of the vicar, William Hicks, who had been accused by the churchwarden, Walter Agard, of constantly breaking the canons. (fn. 47) William Muffet, who succeeded his father-in-law as vicar in 1631, was ordered in 1637 to remove a monument from the upper end of the chancel and replace it with a communion table and rail. (fn. 48) By 1643, however, he had been ejected as a royalist and execrated in a pamphlet as a drunkard, blasphemer, and man of violence. (fn. 49) He was restored in 1660.
The church was still suffering in the 1670s and 1680s from the neglect and ill-treatment of the Interregnum. (fn. 50) By will proved 1665, John Wilde of Edmonton devised property in trust for various charitable purposes, including an annual payment of £4 for bread and wine for the sacrament each Easter and the residue for the repair of the church. (fn. 51) By 1867 £90 from Wilde's charity was spent on church purposes (fn. 52) and when the Ecclesiastical Charities were instituted in 1899, £107 was allotted to them from this source. (fn. 53)
During the 18th century services were held twice on Sundays, communion was administered once a month and children were examined in Lent. By 1778 prayers were also said on Wednesdays, Fridays and holy days. There were 70 communicants in 1770. (fn. 54) Several of the 18th-century vicars were canons of St. Paul's. (fn. 55) An exception was Henry Owen (vicar 1776-95), author of several theological works. (fn. 56) In 1825 Dawson Warren (vicar 1795-1839), author of a Paris journal and active in local affairs, proposed to present a petition to Parliament against concessions to Roman Catholics. (fn. 57) Henry W. Burrows (vicar 1878-82), canon of St. Paul's, was described as a 'High Churchman but not a ritualist'. (fn. 58)
Warren in 1810 blamed the increase in the numbers of dissenters on the lack of accommodation in the church. (fn. 59) Although this was mainly an excuse, the increasing population in the 19th century, especially in distant parts of the parish, did lead to the foundation of daughter churches. In 1828 a chapel of ease was erected at Winchmore Hill and St. John's in Upper Edmonton existed by 1839. In 1851, when Edmonton church was attended on census Sunday by 763 people in the morning, 590 in the afternoon, and 338 in the evening, (fn. 60) two daughter churches, St. Paul's Winchmore Hill and St. James's Upper Edmonton, were assigned separate parishes. Most missionary activity took place after 1880, with the creation of mission churches to serve the new suburbs. Most of these became separate parish churches, (fn. 61) St. Mary's in 1883, St. Peter's in 1898, St. Michael's in 1901, St. Aldhelm's in 1903, St. Stephen's in 1907, St. Martin's in 1911, and St. Alphege's in 1954. Among those which never developed into separate parishes was St. Barnabas's mission room, erected at the corner of Bury Street and Hertford Road in 1882 and superseded in 1902 by St. Michael's, Hertford Road. (fn. 62) A mission room, sometimes called St. Martin's, opened on the north side of Bury Street, between Bush Hill Road and the Stag and Hounds between 1882 and 1886 and was replaced by another mission room in 1902. This was St. Saviour's, opposite the Stag and Hounds, (fn. 63) which was attended by 26 people on the evening of census Sunday 1903, (fn. 64) and which closed between 1933 and 1937. (fn. 65) St. George's hall in St. George's Road was being used as a parish room by All Saints by 1893. (fn. 66) It was demolished in 1971. (fn. 67) St. Alban's or St. Peter's mission room opened in Goodwin Road in north-east Edmonton in 1888 and closed between 1933 and 1937. (fn. 68) In 1904 an iron room on the northern side of Malden Road replaced an earlier mission in Walton Road. It was still there in 1938. (fn. 69) In 1905 All Saints took over Hyde mission hall in Victoria Road, which it used as St. Matthias's mission church until it was taken over by Brethren between 1917 and 1922. (fn. 70)
The church of ALL SAINTS, (fn. 71) so called in 1396, (fn. 72) is built of Kentish ragstone rubble and is faced, except for the tower, with brick. It consists of the chancel with chapels and north vestry, aisled nave, and west tower. The remains of a 12th-century arch and doorway were discovered in the south wall in 1889 and then incorporated into the west wall of a new aisle. The chancel, vestry (including the metal-plated door which survives), nave, north aisle, and west tower were rebuilt in the 15th century and the north chapel was added in the early 16th century. The roof of the north aisle probably dates from 1626 although it was ordered to be repaired in 1685. (fn. 73) In 1772 the churchwardens, a bricklayer and a carpenter, encased the outside, except for the tower, in brick and substituted wooden frames for the stone mullions of the windows. (fn. 74) The chancel was restored in 1858, the wood frames were replaced with stone mullions in 1868, and the south aisle and chapel added in 1889. (fn. 75)
There are many brasses dating from c. 1500 (Elizabeth and her husbands John Asplyn and Geoffrey Askew) to 1616 (Edward Nowell). There is a stone monument to John Kirton (d. 1529) (fn. 76) which has lost its brasses, but most monuments are of marble and date from the 17th and 18th centuries; several commemorate the Huxley family. The churchyard contains the tombs of Charles Lamb (d. 1834) and his sister.
In 1552 the church plate consisted (fn. 77) of a silver pax and two cruets bequeathed by John Kirton in 1529, (fn. 78) a silver pyx, and two chalices. Five salvers had been added by 1818, when all the plate was stolen. (fn. 79) The plate was replaced by a silver-gilt cup, bought in 1854, and a set made in 1880. (fn. 80) There are eight bells: (iii-vii) by Samuel Knight of Stepney, 1734; (i) and (ii) by Mears, 1788; (viii) by Mears, 1866. There is a sanctus bell by Mears, 1812. (fn. 81) The registers of burials are complete from 1557, those of baptisms and marriages from 1558. (fn. 82)
In 1615 Sir John Weld of Arnolds in Southgate erected a small chapel on his own land near his house for the use of his family and the inhabitants of South Street and Bowes. (fn. 83) It was consecrated in 1615 on condition that all the inhabitants should take Easter communion at the parish church and that the vicar of Edmonton should consent to baptisms and marriages there. (fn. 84) The chapel was assigned a district chapelry in Southgate in 1851. (fn. 85)
The patronage of the chapel, which had been exercised by Sir John Weld, descended with Arnolds until 1762 (fn. 86) when Sir George Colebrook, Bt., expressly reserved it when he sold the estate. His trustees sold the patronage and the chapel itself in 1774 to the Revd. Henry Shepherd, from whom it passed in 1784 to the Revd. William Barclay and in 1786 to Robert Winbolt of Enfield.
In 1813 Warren the vicar challenged the right of Robert Winbolt's widow to the patronage. Mrs. Winbolt appointed George William Curtis, nephew of the lord of the manor Sir William Curtis, as minister and she may have sold the patronage to Sir William at about that time. Warren took possession of the chapel as an appurtenance of Edmonton church and in 1814 Mrs. Winbolt sued him in King's Bench. In 1815, however, she renounced all her claims and the patronage passed to the vicar of Edmonton.
Sir John Weld made provision in 1615 for a minister or curate of at least £13 6s. 8d. a year (fn. 87) and, by will proved 1623, directed his trustees to purchase land to the value of £30 a year, out of which they were to pay £15 18s. 8d. to the poor and the remainder for the maintenance of the curate. (fn. 88) In 1625 Weld's widow and executrix, Frances, purchased an estate at Orsett (Essex) which she settled in trust. The profits of £40 a year, through negligence, had dwindled to £26 by 1709. By 1867 the annual rent was £170, of which £138 was spent on the church, mostly as an endowment for the curate. (fn. 89) The Orsett estate was subsequently sold and the proceeds, invested by the Charity Commission, were in 1974 applied in yearly grants to the incumbent. (fn. 90) The curate's income was supplemented in 1665 by £2 a year from the charity of Sir John Wilde (fn. 91) and members of the Weld family paid £18 a year, which was reduced to £12 until 1707 when it lapsed. By 1851 the total income of Weld chapel was £354, of which £160 came from the Weld chapel estate. (fn. 92)
Sir John Weld bequeathed £20 towards the building of a dwelling-house for the curate, which was pulled down in 1732 when the chapel was enlarged. The Ecclesiastical Commissioners made a grant in 1882 for a vicarage house, (fn. 93) but it was not built until 1900. (fn. 94) Southgate Church House was erected in 1934 (fn. 95) and the foundation stone of a parish hall and new vicarage was laid in 1970.
WELD CHAPEL was a small brick building with narrow buttresses, windows in a College Gothic style, and a wooden turret. (fn. 96) Aisles were added to the original nave and chancel in 1715 and 1732 and there were alterations and enlargements in 1830. (fn. 97) On census Sunday 1851 the chapel was attended by 560 people in the morning, 430 in the afternoon, and 200 in the evening. (fn. 98)
The chapel was demolished in 1862 and replaced in 1863 by CHRIST CHURCH, Southgate, which was erected farther east on a site given by Isaac Walker. Built of stone in the Decorated style by Sir George Gilbert Scott, Christ Church consists of chancel with north chapel and south organ chamber, aisled nave, and spire. The stained glass windows in the south aisle, by D. G. Rossetti, date from 1865; those in the north aisle, by BurneJones, date from 1865, 1866, 1885, and 1898. The church contains 17th-century monuments from the original chapel, including one to the founder. (fn. 99)
The sanctus bell, the gift of Dame Joan Brooke, dates from 1616. The other bells, of which there are ten, date from 1872 to 1920 and are by Mears and Stainbank of London. (fn. 100) The plate includes a silver cup given by Dame Frances Weld in 1639, which was remodelled in 1894. There are also two plates of c. 1700, a tankard of 1738, a late-18th-century tumbler, and a set of modern plate, all in silver. (fn. 101) The registers of baptisms and burials date from 1695, those of marriages (incomplete) from 1702. (fn. 102)
The church of ST. PAUL, Winchmore Hill, was built in 1828 as a chapel of ease to Edmonton church. The bishop of London authorized marriages to be performed there in 1838 but was prevented from creating it a parish by the chapter of St. Paul's. (fn. 103) In 1851, however, Winchmore Hill became a district chapelry. (fn. 104) The benefice, a vicarage from 1874, is in the gift of the vicar of Edmonton. (fn. 105) On census Sunday 1851 the church was attended by 176 people in the morning and 176 in the afternoon. (fn. 106) By 1903 numbers had risen to 576 in the morning and 753 in the evening, making St. Paul's the best attended church in Edmonton. (fn. 107) The church, designed by John Davies and erected in 1828, is an early example of the neo-Gothic style. It was repaired in 1844 after thieves had stolen the communion plate and set fire to the building. The nave and chancel side windows date from 1846 and the chancel was enlarged in 1888 and 1928. Built of white brick in the Perpendicular style, it consists of an apsidal chancel with south chapel, a nave with north porch, and a bell turret. (fn. 108) St. Paul's parish hall and institute was built in 1905 (fn. 109) and a corrugated iron mission room was erected in Highfield Row (later Road) in the early 1890s. (fn. 110)
The church of ST. JAMES, Upper Edmonton, originated in mission work by the curate of All Saints, who held services in Northumberland House and who leased the meeting-place in Meeting House Lane for Anglican services. (fn. 111) As St. John's chapel it was licensed for marriages in 1839. (fn. 112) When John Snell died in 1847 he left 1½ a. of his park as a site for a church and school. The church, originally dedicated to St. Pancras, was erected in 1850 and a parish was assigned to it in 1851. The benefice, a vicarage, was in the gift of the vicars of Edmonton until 1901, when the patronage was transferred to the chapter of St. Paul's. (fn. 113) In 1877 the Ecclesiastical Commissioners granted the vicar an additional stipend to employ an assistant curate. (fn. 114) On census Sunday 1851 the church was attended by 500 people in the morning and 500 in the evening (fn. 115) and in 1903 by 141 in the morning and 258 in the evening. (fn. 116) The decline in attendance was attributable to the active mission work of St. James's. Mission halls were opened under its auspices in Upper Fore Street, on the east side just south of the junction with Claremont Street, c. 1880, (fn. 117) at Raynham Road (later St. John's, Dyson's Road) c. 1884, and on the north side of Gilpin Grove c. 1900. (fn. 118) The last was attended in 1903 by 74 people in the morning and 205 in the evening. (fn. 119) The Upper Fore Street mission room closed c. 1920 (fn. 120) but that in Gilpin Grove remained as a church hall until it was burnt down and replaced by a new church hall in 1967. (fn. 121) St. James's church, built in 1850 in an early Gothic style by Edward Ellis of Angel Place, is a stone building accommodating 600 people and consists of apsidal chancel, nave with aisles and transepts, a west organ gallery, and western bellcot; it was restored in 1882 and 1896. (fn. 122) A large stone vicarage was built to the north of the church in 1868. (fn. 123)
The church of ST. PAUL, (fn. 124) New Southgate, originated in 1870 in a mission to the new district of Colney Hatch by the assistant curate of Christ Church, Southgate. In 1873 it became a consolidated chapelry, formed from Southgate and Friern Barnet parishes, (fn. 125) with the vicar of Southgate as patron. Attendance on census Sunday 1903 was 206 in the morning and 265 in the evening. (fn. 126) The High Church character of St. Paul's began with the introduction of high mass in 1914. Services were held in a temporary building in Ely Place until a church was built on land between Betstyle Road (later High Road) and Woodland Road probably given by G. Knights Smith, one of the largest subscribers. The foundation stone was laid in 1872 and the church, built of stone in the Early English style under the direction of George Gilbert Scott, was consecrated in 1873. It consists of chancel with north and south chapels and south bell turret and aisled nave. (fn. 127) The fabric, which was severely damaged by bombing in 1944, was restored by R. S. Morris by 1957. A stone vicarage, built in Woodland Road opposite the church in 1878-80, was demolished in 1964. A parish hall was built to the north of the church in 1908.
The parish of ST. MICHAEL-AT-BOWES was formed in 1874 as a consolidated chapelry out of the parishes of Southgate and St. Michael, Wood Green. (fn. 128) The church was built and endowed by Alderman Thomas Sidney of Bowes Manor, who presented the first vicar. After Sidney's death the patronage was exercised by his trustees until 1897, when it was transferred to the bishop of London. (fn. 129) St. Michael's was attended in 1903 by 370 people in the morning and 493 in the evening. (fn. 130) The church ran missions at Tile Kiln Lane in 1890, (fn. 131) at Wolves Lane from c. 1900 until after 1910, (fn. 132) and at St. Mary's, Tottenhall, from 1902 until after the Second World War, when it passed to St. Cuthbert's, Chitts Hill (Wood Green). (fn. 133) The Wolves Lane mission was attended by 134 people on the evening of census Sunday 1903. (fn. 134) The church, which was erected at the junction of Palmerston and Whittington roads in 1874, was built to an early Gothic design by Sir Gilbert Scott in rusticated Kentish ragstone and consists of chancel with north chapel, south tower, and south organ chamber, and aisled nave. (fn. 135) The vicarage and a small hall were built in 1892 (fn. 136) and a new parish hall was opened in 1910. (fn. 137) In 1974 the vicarage was used for children in need. (fn. 138)
The church of ST. JOHN, (fn. 139) Dyson's Road, originated in mission work begun between 1882 and 1886 by St. James's, Upper Edmonton, in the Edmonton settlement, a hall on the north side of Raynham Road. (fn. 140) The district chapelry of St. John was formed from St. James's parish in 1906. The benefice was a vicarage in the patronage of the bishop of London. (fn. 141) In 1954 it was united with that of St. Mary as the parish of St. Mary with St. John and the patronage was to be exercised alternately by the bishop of London and the chapter of St. Paul's. (fn. 142) The mission hall, by then called St. John's, was attended in 1903 by 74 people in the morning and 138 in the evening. (fn. 143) The hall continued to be used for social purposes until the late 1920s, when it became a motor-repairing shop. The church, which was erected in 1906 to a design by C. H. B. Quennell, is of buff brick in a Gothic style and has a chancel with side chapels, aisled nave with transepts and western bellcot. (fn. 144) Inside there is some 17th-century woodwork reset in a seat. The vicarage and parish hall were built north of the church in 1911.
The church of ST. MARY, (fn. 145) Fore Street, dates from the formation of a parish out of Edmonton in 1883. The benefice was a vicarage, originally in the gift of Robert S. Gregory, vicar of Edmonton, who gave £3,000 towards the cost of the church, and afterwards of the chapter of St. Paul's. (fn. 146) The church, which was built in 1884, was attended on census Sunday 1903 by 157 people in the morning and 131 in the evening. (fn. 147) The House of the Comforter, later called St. Mary's mission room, was erected next to the church in 1894 and was still in existence in 1922. (fn. 148) In 1954 the benefice was united with that of St. John, Dyson's Road. St. Mary's church, which was consecrated in 1884, was built to a characteristic design by W. Butterfield in red brick with stone dressings and consisted of nave, north and south aisles, and chancel. It contained candelabra and a carved seat dating from the 18th century. (fn. 149) A vicarage was erected in 1893. (fn. 150) The church was demolished in 1957 and in 1958 a small chapel was opened on the ground floor of the vicarage. The vicarage, however, was subjected to a compulsory purchase order and a new building, St. Mary's church centre, in Lawrence Road, replaced it in 1970. It contains a small church, a hall for meetings, and accommodation for a deacon and Sisters of the Community of St. Mary the Virgin.
The church of ST. ALDHELM, Silver Street, originated in mission services held by the London Diocesan Home Mission in a schoolroom in Windmill Lane c. 1885. An iron church in Silver Street was consecrated in 1895 (fn. 151) and was superseded by a permanent church erected next to it on the corner of Windmill Road. It was consecrated in 1903 when a consolidated chapelry in the patronage of the vicar of Edmonton was formed from All Saints and Saint James's parishes. (fn. 152) St. Aldhelm's was attended by 407 people in the morning and 261 in the evening on census Sunday 1903. (fn. 153) The church built in red brick with stone dressings to a design by W. D. Caroë, (fn. 154) and consisting of chancel, north organ chamber, vestry and south chapel, aisled nave with west gallery, and bell turret, was paid for out of the proceeds of the sale of St. Michael Bassishaw (London). A vicarage was built north of the church in 1907 and a mission hall was added in 1908. (fn. 155)
A corrugated iron chapel was erected in 1893 in Farm Road as a mission church of Christ Church, Southgate. (fn. 156) It was superseded by the church of ST. ANDREW, (fn. 157) Chase Side, to which in 1928 a vicarage in the patronage of the bishop of London was assigned. (fn. 158) St. Andrew's was attended on census Sunday 1903 by 129 people in the morning and 198 in the evening. (fn. 159) The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1903 although the completed building was not consecrated until 1916. Built in red brick with stone dressings to a design by A. R. Barker, with extensions by Barker and Kirk, it consists of nave, passage aisles, chancel, and chapel. (fn. 160) The Wesleyan chapel in Chase Side was bought for conversion into a church hall in 1929 and replaced by a new hall in 1957. (fn. 161)
Building began in 1896 of the church of ST. PETER, Lower Edmonton, to which a district chapelry taken from All Saints parish was assigned in 1898. (fn. 162) The living is a vicarage in the patronage of the bishop of London. (fn. 163) In 1903 St. Peter's was attended by 156 people in the morning and 291 in the evening. (fn. 164) A church with accommodation for 800, at the junction of Bounces Road with St. Peter's Road, was built in 1896-1900 to designs by Messrs. Newman & Newman. In 1902 J. S. Alder added the chancel, narthex, and porches. Built in red and yellow brick with stone dressings in the Perpendicular style, it consists of chancel with chapel and vestries, an aisled nave with transepts, and a west narthex. The vicarage was built to the north in a William and Mary style in 1901, (fn. 165) and a parish hall to the east of the church in 1908. (fn. 166)
The church of ST. ALPHEGE, Hertford Road, originated in 1897 as a mission church of All Saints. From 1905 it was run by a curate-in-charge under the auspices of the London Diocesan Home Mission (fn. 167) until the benefice became a vicarage in the patronage of the bishop of London in 1954. (fn. 168) A temporary iron chapel, attended in 1903 by 105 people in the morning and 110 in the evening. (fn. 169) was erected in 1897 on the east side of Hertford Road, just south of its junction with Tramway Avenue. (fn. 170) A permanent brick church with vestries, a campanile, and statues of Christ and angels and of St. Alphege, was erected on the western side of Hertford Road, near the Enfield boundary in 1958. (fn. 171)
The church of ST. MARTIN began as a mission in 1900 in an iron church in Town Road. (fn. 172) A consolidated chapelry, in the patronage of the bishop of London, was formed from the parishes of All Saints and St. Mary in 1911. (fn. 173) The iron church was attended in 1903 by 109 people in the morning and 163 in the evening. (fn. 174) Money bequeathed by Miss Elizabeth Mason (d. 1909) for the erection of a new church, hall, and vicarage in the north-eastern London area, was allotted to St. Martin's, then described as a poor district. The church was consecrated in 1911, when the hall and vicarage were also completed. (fn. 175) The church, built in a mixed Gothic style of red brick with stone dressings to a design by E. L. Warre, (fn. 176) consists of chancel with south chapel, nave with aisles and transepts, and an organ gallery. The interior, which was restored in 1970 by John Phillips, (fn. 177) is plastered with exposed stone dressings, with a roof of exposed timber and gilded angels.
The church of ST. MICHAEL, Bury Street, was the second of two churches in Edmonton built with the proceeds from the sale of St. Michael Bassishaw (London). (fn. 178) A parish was assigned to it in 1901 and the living, a vicarage, was in the patronage of the chapter of St. Paul's. (fn. 179) In 1903 the church was attended by 163 people in the morning and 300 in the afternoon. (fn. 180) From 1973 the building was shared between Anglicans and the Greek Orthodox Church and is known to its worshippers as St. Demetrios. A red brick church was erected in 1901 to a debased Tudor design by W. D. Caroë. It consists of chancel, aisled nave, north chapel, and western narthex. A vicarage and church hall were erected at the same time. (fn. 181)
The church of ST. STEPHEN, Bush Hill Park, began in 1901 as a mission held in an iron church by an assistant curate of Edmonton. It was a chapelry with a conventional district from 1907 until 1909 when it became a vicarage in the patronage of the vicar of Edmonton. (fn. 182) Services on census day 1903 were attended by 94 people in the morning and 104 in the evening. (fn. 183) A church, at the corner of Park Avenue and Village Road, was begun in 1906 and a western end, designed by J. S. Alder, was added in 1916. Built in stone in a Decorated style with wooden barrel-vaulting, (fn. 184) it consists of chancel with north and south chapels, aisled nave with north and south porches, and a west baptistery. The south porch is built at the lowest stage of an intended tower.
The church of HOLY TRINITY, Winchmore Hill, originated as a mission of St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill, in 1903. The assistant curate who conducted it became the first vicar when Holy Trinity became a district chapelry in the patronage of the vicar of St. Paul's in 1913. (fn. 185) It was High Church in character in 1974. In 1907 the foundation stone was laid of a church in the corner between Green Lanes and Queens Avenue. (fn. 186) Built of red brick with stone dressings to a design in the Gothic style by J. S. Alder, (fn. 187) it consists of an apsidal sanctuary and an undivided and aisled chancel and nave with a tower rising from the western end of the north aisle.
The church of ST. JOHN, (fn. 188) Palmers Green, owed its foundation to the initiative of the vicar of Southgate, to V. E. Walker of Arnos Grove, who gave land, and to Mrs. Baird who gave money. The foundation stone of a church was laid in 1903 on a site at the corner of Green Lanes and Hoppers Road and in 1906 a consolidated chapelry in the patronage of the vicar of Southgate was formed from Southgate and Winchmore Hill parishes. (fn. 189) High Church practices have obtained since 1909. The church was consecrated in 1904 although not completed until 1909. Built in the Late Gothic style to a design by John Oldrid Scott, (fn. 190) it consists of chancel with south vestry, central tower, north chapel and south transept, aisled nave and north porch, and is of mixed flint, brick, and ashlar construction. The vicarage and parish hall, designed by J. S. Alder, were built in Bourne Hill, northwest of the church, in 1908.
The church of ST. THOMAS, Oakwood, dates from 1938 but there was an earlier, iron chapel of St. Thomas in Winchmore Hill Road which had been built between 1904 and 1908 by one of the daughters of Samuel Sugden (d. 1905) of Oak Lodge and which served as a chapel of ease to St. Paul's, Winchmore Hill. (fn. 191) A vicarage in the patronage of the bishop of London was created in 1938 (fn. 192) and the foundation stone of a church at the junction of Prince George and Sheringham avenues was laid in 1939. (fn. 193) The church was built in stonefaced brick to a design by R. B. Craze and consists of nave, north and south aisles, and apsidal chancel, completed in 1941. (fn. 194) The west end, including a south-west tower with a copper spire, was built in 1965 to designs by William Mulvey. The spire was blown down in 1974. (fn. 195)