Hornsey, including Highgate: Protestant nonconformity

A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6, Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey With Highgate. Originally published by Victoria County History, London, 1980.

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Citation:

A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, M A Hicks, R B Pugh, 'Hornsey, including Highgate: Protestant nonconformity', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6, Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey With Highgate, ed. T F T Baker, C R Elrington( London, 1980), British History Online https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol6/pp183-189 [accessed 3 October 2024].

A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, M A Hicks, R B Pugh, 'Hornsey, including Highgate: Protestant nonconformity', in A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6, Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey With Highgate. Edited by T F T Baker, C R Elrington( London, 1980), British History Online, accessed October 3, 2024, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol6/pp183-189.

A P Baggs, Diane K Bolton, M A Hicks, R B Pugh. "Hornsey, including Highgate: Protestant nonconformity". A History of the County of Middlesex: Volume 6, Friern Barnet, Finchley, Hornsey With Highgate. Ed. T F T Baker, C R Elrington(London, 1980), , British History Online. Web. 3 October 2024. https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol6/pp183-189.

In this section

PROTESTANT NONCONFORMITY.

Highgate, the home of Parliamentarians (fn. 1) and just beyond the limits imposed by the Five Mile Act, was a natural resort for dissenters. John Storer, formerly lecturer at Stowmarket (Suff.), was licensed as a Presbyterian at his house in Highgate in 1672, when Hezekiah King, ejected from Fowlmere (Cambs.), was similarly licensed in Hornsey. (fn. 2) The Quaker William Mead entertained George Fox at Highgate in 1677 and 1678 (fn. 3) and Daniel Latham, ejected from Orsett (Essex), made his will there in 1691. (fn. 4) A meeting-house in Southwood Lane was said to have been founded in 1662, (fn. 5) although the first recorded minister was Josiah Sprigge (d. 1684). (fn. 6) His successor William Rathband had property in Highgate from 1662, (fn. 7) was registered as a preacher in 1689, when he had no particular charge, and was buried there in 1695. (fn. 8)

The 18th-century congregation in Southwood Lane (fn. 9) claimed descent from that of 1662, although the next known minister, Thomas Sleigh, was recorded only c. 1729. (fn. 10) Among its regular members was John Wilkes's father Israel (d. 1761), a rich Clerkenwell distiller. (fn. 11) Ministers included David Williams, founder of the Royal Literary Fund, Rochemont Barbauld, husband of the writer Anna Letitia Barbauld, the biographer John Towers, and the philologist Alexander Crombie. Many were unorthodox and none stayed for long: the deistic Williams withdrew in 1773, Towers left on the opening of a rival chapel in 1778, and dissension grew when a successor introduced his own liturgy. (fn. 12) The old and new meeting-houses, on opposite sides of the lane, were described as Presbyterian and Methodist respectively. (fn. 13) The first closed on Crombie's departure in 1798, to be reopened briefly by Unitarians in 1806 and sold to the Baptists by 1814. Its later history was that of a Baptist tabernacle, while the rival meeting-house, where Methodists probably did not worship for long, was replaced by a forerunner of Highgate Congregational church.

At Crouch End, a village previously 'without the gospel', a small building was opened for worship in 1806. (fn. 14) It might have been the place attended by a few Methodists in 1810 (fn. 15) or that registered by Baptists in 1819, (fn. 16) and was later known as Broadway chapel. (fn. 17) John Wesley had preached at Highgate in the 1780s (fn. 18) and Independents had registered rooms at Hornsey in 1794, 'Highgate House', jointly with Baptists, in 1797, and a greenhouse at Hornsey in 1806. (fn. 19) At Muswell Hill, where the Baptist Dr. Samuel Stennett (d. 1795) had lived, (fn. 20) part of a house was registered by dissenters in 1822. (fn. 21) Stennett's house was bought in 1826 by the philanthropist William Brodie Gurney (d. 1855), who attended Highgate Baptist chapel but held Sunday evening services in his own drawing-room until 1830. Worshippers at Muswell Hill, led by Gurney's missionary friend Eustace Carey (d. 1855), were said to number 150-200 in the summer months. (fn. 22)

Baptists, (fn. 23) at Crouch End and in Southwood Lane from the early 19th century, Methodists, earlier but more briefly in Southwood Lane and at Crouch End in 1810, and Congregationalists, arising from groups of Independents, were the longest established denominations. All three opened chapels as housing spread and in 1873 the Methodists created a Highgate circuit out of part of the area served from Islington. (fn. 24) The Hornsey and Highgate Free Church Council was formed in 1896; it was renamed after the withdrawal of Highgate's churches in 1901 and a separate council for Muswell Hill was established in 1903. (fn. 25)

The attraction of churches just outside the parish, such as the Methodist churches in Archway Road and Holly Park, obscures the strength of nonconformity in Hornsey and the relative popularity of the sects. In 1903 slightly more than half of the 29,329 worshippers were Protestant nonconformists, the Anglicans accounting for 13,015 and the Roman Catholics for 598. Baptists had as many as 5,056, followed by Congregationalists with 3,983 and Wesleyan Methodists with 3,566. Presbyterians numbered 1,652, Brethren 674, and Primitive Methodists 428. (fn. 26) Later arrivals included the Moravians, the Salvation Army, Christian Spiritualists, and Mennonites. A few churches were closed or rebuilt after the Second World War and others were closed on the union of Congregationalists with Presbyterians as the United Reformed Church.

Baptists. (fn. 27)

Crouch End chapel, afterwards Broadway hall, was opened by Baptists in 1806 and soon used for two Sunday services, a weekday lecture, and a Sunday school. (fn. 28) Dissenters at Crouch End had a small place of worship in 1810 (fn. 29) and 1816 (fn. 30) but it is not known if they used the later Broadway hall or the meeting-place registered by Baptists in 1819 (fn. 31) and made the centre of an open communion in 1822. (fn. 32) The later Broadway hall was used in turn by Congregationalists, by Anglicans during the rebuilding of St. Mary's, and again by Baptists from 1879 until the opening of Ferme Park chapel in 1889. The hall had once been a farm building of Crouch Hall and had only 170 sittings in 1851 when under lease to the rector, (fn. 33) who added Gothic windows and a short tower with a cupola. (fn. 34) Broadway hall afterwards served the Universalist Church and the British Legion, until a fire in 1923 led to its demolition in 1925. Its site was covered by the forecourt of Hornsey town hall.

Campsbourne Road church first met in an iron chapel, leased in 1873 and registered in 1876. (fn. 35) After dissension (fn. 36) a group left to found Westbury Avenue church, Wood Green, (fn. 37) and in 1892 Campsbourne's remaining members joined Ferme Park church, which rebuilt the chapel in Campsbourne Road as a mission, started several institutions, and by 1903 had raised the attendance to 158 in the morning and 195 in the evening. (fn. 38) In 1907 a brick hall, seating 600, and two smaller halls were opened in the Campsbourne, next to three houses (nos. 3 to 5) which had been given to the mission. The hall in Campsbourne Road was thereafter used for adult education and, later, as an institute and a scouts' headquarters. In 1954, with help from Ferme Park, Campsbourne chapel again became independent. It retained the hall and two converted houses in the Campsbourne in 1976.

Ferme Park Baptist church was formed largely through the efforts of John Batey, minister at Broadway hall. Land had been bought at the corner of Weston Park and Ferme Park Road in 1888 and a chapel, with schoolrooms and seating 630, was opened in 1889. A building on the plan of a Greek cross, seating 1,250 and with marble baptistery and vestries, was opened in 1900, when the older one was converted into halls and a flat. Ferme Park, which administered many societies, had Hornsey's largest Baptist attendances in 1903, with 1,052 on one morning and 1,036 in the evening. (fn. 39) Members, who belonged to the London Baptist Association in 1928, (fn. 40) numbered 1,205 in 1914 and 1,029 in 1939. From 1973 they worshipped in Park chapel, belonging to the United Reformed Church, while awaiting the rebuilding of their own church, which was demolished in 1974. (fn. 41)

Archway Road Baptist church, on the later corner of Wembury Road, was promoted by the London Baptist Association. (fn. 42) Building began in 1885 (fn. 43) and continued in 1888 (fn. 44) but the congregation temporarily disbanded before the opening of a new chapel, on the same site, in 1894. (fn. 45) Attendances numbered 323 in the morning and 398 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903 (fn. 46) and there was seating for 700 in 1928. (fn. 47) The chapel had closed by 1941 (fn. 48) and later was replaced by Highgate district synagogue. (fn. 49)

Emmanuel church, Duckett Road, probably originated as Hornsey Park Baptist chapel, registered at no. 114 Turnpike Lane in 1892 but vacated by 1896. (fn. 50) In 1903 there were 166 worshippers on one Sunday morning and 178 in the evening at Duckett Road. (fn. 51) Emmanuel church had closed by 1928. (fn. 52)

Muswell Hill Baptist church was also promoted by the London Baptist Association. (fn. 53) A chapel in Duke's Avenue, with a hall beneath, was founded in 1901 (fn. 54) and registered in 1902. (fn. 55) It was attended by 314 on one Sunday morning and 372 in the evening in 1903 (fn. 56) and had seating for c. 800, (fn. 57) later reduced to 750. The building is of red brick with stone dressings, in a Decorated style; its tower is surmounted by an octagonal lantern, with a spirelet. A hall for young people was opened at the rear of the church in 1957. (fn. 58)

Strict Baptists.

Highgate Baptist chapel or tabernacle originated in a mission sent by the church of Eagle Street, Holborn, in 1809. (fn. 59) The old meetinghouse in Southwood Lane stood empty in 1811 (fn. 60) but had been acquired for worship, with help from Eagle Street, by 1814. (fn. 61) It may have been the Ebenezer chapel registered by Christopher Miller, a Highgate butcher, in 1829 (fn. 62) but was later rebuilt (fn. 63) and was registered by Particular Baptists in 1861. (fn. 64) In 1851 there were 190 sittings, 50 of them free, and a congregation on census Sunday of 95 in the morning, 55 in the afternoon, and 118 in the evening. (fn. 65) By 1903 attendances were 66 in the morning and 122 in the evening, the smallest at any of Hornsey's six Baptist churches. (fn. 66) After numbers had fallen further, (fn. 67) the chapel was registered as Highgate tabernacle (fn. 68) by members of the London Baptist Association. (fn. 69) Although refurbished in 1960-1, (fn. 70) the building was disused in 1971 (fn. 71) and served as a photographic studio in 1977, when it retained its galleries (fn. 72) and presented a stuccoed and pedimented front, with round-headed windows, to Southwood Lane. It was bought by Highgate School in 1977. (fn. 73)

Stroud Green chapel, Stapleton Hall Road, was established in 1878 (fn. 74) and registered as Crouch Hill chapel by Particular Baptists in 1884. (fn. 75) A red-brick building in the Gothic style, with adjoining halls, was founded in 1889. (fn. 76) There were 280 worshippers in the morning and 396 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903. (fn. 77) There were 475 seats in 1928, by which date the church had joined the London Baptist Association, (fn. 78) and 460 in 1975. (fn. 79)

Congregationalists.

Highgate Congregational chapel was founded in Southwood Lane, where in 1827 a site was sub-leased by the Revd. John Thomas to trustees who were to erect a chapel for the Village Itinerancy or Evangelical Association for the Propagation of the Gospel. The chapel was built in 1834, when the neighbouring building of 1778 was demolished, and in 1844 was called Highgate Congregational church. (fn. 80) In 1851 there were 400 sittings, 300 of them free, and the average attendance was 320 in the morning, including 70 Sunday-school children, and 200 in the evening. (fn. 81) It housed a British school from 1860 until 1874. (fn. 82) A building in South Grove, with a schoolroom underneath, was opened in 1859 (fn. 83) to replace the chapel of 1834 and was later enlarged. (fn. 84) It seated 720 by 1894 (fn. 85) and was attended by 312 in the morning and 203 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903. (fn. 86) Under Josiah Viney, minister in 1859, the chapel was active in local life. (fn. 87) The building was retained for regular worship, with seating reduced to 600, (fn. 88) until the formation of Highgate United Reformed church in 1967. The stone Gothic chapel in South Grove in 1976 temporarily housed Highgate district synagogue. (fn. 89) Highgate chapel established a mission at no. 33 North Hill in 1872; (fn. 90) it was described as undenominational in 1936 (fn. 91) but again as Congregationalist in 1951, when it seated 180. (fn. 92) The hall was later acquired by Jehovah's Witnesses. (fn. 93)

Park chapel, (fn. 94) at the foot of Crouch Hill, was opened in 1855 and registered by Independents in 1856. (fn. 95) Alterations raised its seating to 1,017 in 1877 (fn. 96) and 1,430 by 1894. (fn. 97) After further extensions it had 816 worshippers in the morning and 671 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903, the largest Congregationalist attendances in Hornsey. (fn. 98) The chapel and its halls formed a popular social centre, accommodating Hornsey British school until 1877 and later being described as a 'great church'. (fn. 99) From 1973 Baptists from Ferme Park shared Park chapel, by then a United Reformed church and still seating c. 1,400. The original Gothic building, with a corner turret and small spire, (fn. 100) had faced east along Haringey Park. In 1976 it formed part of an impressive stone range and was the northern end of a larger north-south chapel; at the southern end stood a church parlour, built in 1886, and on the north the Corbin hall, dated 1892. The Grove mission was apparently established in 1881 and served from Park chapel in 1951, (fn. 101) although a Grove united mission was also listed as undenominational. (fn. 102)

Mount View Congregational church was founded to serve Stroud Green, where land on the corner of Mount View and Granville roads was acquired with help from Park, Highgate, and Tollington Park chapels. A hall was opened in 1887 and used for worship until the completion of a building in the Decorated style, of red brick faced with terracotta, which in 1893 was to seat 1,000. (fn. 103) The pastorate was said to be prosperous (fn. 104) and on one Sunday in 1903 there were attendances of 330 in the morning and 231 in the evening. (fn. 105) The church was closed and demolished in 1935. (fn. 106)

Muswell Hill Congregational church presumably originated in Union church, Tetherdown, registered in 1891. (fn. 107) Union church stood opposite Page's Lane (fn. 108) and may have been only a hall, as a church at the corner of Queen's Avenue was begun in 1898 and the first registration of 1891 was cancelled in 1912. The new church, on land given by James Edmondson, (fn. 109) was registered in 1901 (fn. 110) and was a Gothic building of brown roughcast with stone dressings. There were 850 sittings (fn. 111) and attendances on one Sunday in 1903 of 603 in the morning and 568 in the evening. (fn. 112) The building accommodated members of the former Presbyterian church from 1973 and seated 257 in 1976. (fn. 113)

Methodists.

Middle Lane Wesleyan Methodist church (fn. 114) was founded in 1873, with help from the new Highgate circuit. The iron Trinity church in Hornsey High Street (fn. 115) was used until the opening of a brick building at the corner of Middle Lane and Lightfoot Road in 1886. It seated 1,000 and on one Sunday in 1903 there were attendances of 322 in the morning and 427 in the evening. (fn. 116) The church, in an early Gothic style, was demolished in 1975 and replaced by one of red brick and concrete, seating 200. (fn. 117)

Finsbury Park or Wilberforce Road Wesleyan Methodist church opened in 1871 in an iron building on land bought by Sir Francis Lycett at the corner of Wilberforce and Seven Sisters roads. A permanent church was used from 1875, being assigned to the new Finsbury Park circuit, and near-by stables, acquired for a Sunday school, were replaced by a hall in 1901. An offshoot was founded in 1878 in Gillespie Road, Islington. (fn. 118) The main church, later in Stoke Newington, had attendances of 630 in the morning and 495 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903. (fn. 119) The building, seating 1,000 in 1894, (fn. 120) was of brick with stone dressings, in the Gothic style, and had a north-west tower and spirelet. Between 1959 (fn. 121) and 1976 it was replaced by a yellow-brick block, with the church behind, near the corner site.

A Wesleyan mission room at no. 66 Gordon Road, Hornsey Vale, was registered from 1884 until 1896. (fn. 122) Possibly the same room was used by the Church of England in 1908. (fn. 123)

Willoughby Road Wesleyan Methodist church (fn. 124) opened as a Sunday school chapel in 1885, on land acquired in 1882 near the corner of Hampden Road. Classrooms were built in 1889 and a church, perhaps replacing an iron one, was opened on the corner site to the east in 1893. A lecture hall and more classrooms were added to the north in 1903, when on one Sunday there were attendances of 822 in the morning and 1,124 in the evening. (fn. 125) The congregation, which belonged to the Finsbury Park circuit, was joined by many from Mattison Road in 1963. (fn. 126) After a fire in 1973 Willoughby Road church was replaced by a yellow-brick structure which, with the adjoining schoolroom in Hampden Road, seated 300. The brick hall opened in 1903 (fn. 127) was bought with the empty corner site by Haringey L.B. and survived in 1976.

Mattison Road, later Harringay, church opened as an iron tabernacle in 1891 and was replaced by a permanent church and halls in 1901. (fn. 128) A schoolroom was registered in 1900. (fn. 129) Originally sponsored by the Caledonian Road circuit of the Primitive Methodists, it joined the Finsbury Park circuit after the Methodists' union in 1931. There were attendances of 188 in the morning and 240 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903, (fn. 130) when membership was rising and Mattison Road was described as the chief Primitive Methodist church in London. A minister was shared with Grange Park from 1931 to 1942 and thereafter with Finsbury Park. The church, seating 400, (fn. 131) was of brick with stone dressings, in a Decorated style. It closed in 1963 and became a Roman Catholic church. (fn. 132)

A Wesleyan church in Inderwick Road belonged to the Finsbury Park circuit by 1898 (fn. 133) and had attendances of 70 in the morning and 147 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903. (fn. 134) It belonged to the Highgate circuit in 1906 (fn. 135) and apparently closed soon afterwards.

Muswell Hill Wesleyan Methodist church occupied a wooden building at the foot of the Avenue, Wood Green, in 1898 and moved to the corner of Colney Hatch Lane and Alexandra Park Road in 1899. The nave and transepts were built in that year and other parts in 1904. (fn. 136) The church belonged to the Highgate circuit (fn. 137) and had attendances of 349 in the morning and 305 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903. (fn. 138) The building is of red brick with stone dressings, in a Gothic style, and has a corner turret terminating in an octagonal lantern.

Highgate or Jackson's Lane Wesleyan Methodist church was opened in 1905, twelve years after a site had been obtained at the corner of Archway Road. The building included a Sunday school and was of red brick with stone dressings, designed in an early Gothic style by W. H. Boney of Highgate; the church seated 650 and the schoolroom 400. (fn. 139) Although well known in the 1960s for its counselling centre, (fn. 140) the church had closed by 1976.

Presbyterians.

Highgate Presbyterian church, at the corner of Hornsey Lane and Cromwell Avenue, was built by the church extension committee of the London presbytery and opened in 1887. (fn. 141) There were attendances of 473 in the morning and 362 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903. (fn. 142) The building, of stone in a Decorated style, was known as Highgate United Reformed church from 1967 and seated 400 in 1976. (fn. 143)

Muswell Hill Presbyterian church, at the corner of Prince's Avenue and the Broadway, was registered in 1899 (fn. 144) and completed in 1903, (fn. 145) when on one Sunday there were attendances of 489 in the morning and 328 in the evening. (fn. 146) The church was built of flint and terracotta, to the designs of G. Baines, (fn. 147) with late Gothic and art nouveau features, including a corner tower surmounted by a copper spirelet. Its materials and style later won widespread attention (fn. 148) and led to a campaign for its preservation after the Presbyterians joined the Congregationalists in 1973. The building, seating c. 600, was unused in 1976. (fn. 149)

Brethren.

Cholmeley hall, in Archway Road opposite Cholmeley Park, was registered in 1890 by undesignated Christians. (fn. 150) Brethren worshipped there in 1903, when on one Sunday there were 195 in the morning and 200 in the evening. (fn. 151) Their fellowship, believed to have come from Clapton hall, Hackney, was renamed Cholmeley Evangelical church in 1966. The yellow-brick building, seating c. 250, included a hall and youth centre in 1976. (fn. 152)

By 1886 Plymouth Brethren, perhaps unconnected with Cholmeley hall, had a mission room in Archway Road. (fn. 153) In 1903 Brethren also met at no. 88 North Hill and no. 45 Woodstock Road, with morning attendances of 85 and 43 and evening attendances of 68 and 32 respectively; smaller groups worshipped in the drill hall, Southwood Lane, and no. 33 Stroud Green Road. (fn. 154) Plymouth Brethren registered the assembly rooms in Middle Lane, Crouch End, from 1916 until 1922 and a mission hall at no. 59 Park Road from 1921 until 1934. (fn. 155) They also met at Coleridge hall, Coleridge Road, in 1936, when no. 45 Woodstock Road was used by an unspecified denomination. (fn. 156) Alexandra hall, built on the parish boundary in Alexandra Road by 1901, (fn. 157) was a meeting-place of Brethren in 1968. (fn. 158)

In 1923 Brethren from Cholmeley hall had an iron room in St. James's Lane, Muswell Hill, which was registered from 1929 until 1935. After its demolition they used temporary meeting-places before buying a site in Wilton Road, Friern Barnet, where Wilton chapel was opened in 1952. (fn. 159)

The Salvation Army.

Assembly rooms in Middle Lane were registered by Salvationists in 1907. The registration was cancelled in 1912, (fn. 160) presumably on the foundation of a citadel in Tottenham Lane, opposite Elmfield Avenue, (fn. 161) which was registered in 1913. (fn. 162) The building, of red brick with stone dressings, was damaged in the Second World War but it reopened in 1944 (fn. 163) and remained in use in 1976.

Moravians. (fn. 164)

Hornsey Moravian church, in Priory Road, was founded in 1907 (fn. 165) and consecrated in 1908. (fn. 166) Its congregation separated from the Moravian church in Fetter Lane, London, in 1910. (fn. 167) The church, of red brick with stone dressings in a 14th-century style, has a corner turret and spire. In 1976, when the first major alterations were planned, there was seating for c. 270. An adjacent hall was rebuilt in the 1930s.

Spiritualists.

Felix hall, Crouch End, was used briefly by Spiritualists from 1925 and a shop in Church Lane, Hornsey, from 1936. (fn. 168) Christian Spiritualists registered nos. 56 and 58 Wightman Road for a few months in 1933. (fn. 169)

Muswell Hill Spiritualists met at a house in Tetherdown in 1936 and at the Athenaeum from 1939 (fn. 170) until its demolition. From 1965 they hired a hall of Crescent Lodge hotel, Crouch End, until in 1968 they moved to no. 36 Waldegrave Road. In 1976 the house, also used as a dancing school, seated c. 40. (fn. 171)

Society of Friends.

Meetings were held at the Athenaeum, Muswell Hill, in 1924 (fn. 172) and a meetinghouse in Church Crescent was built in 1926 (fn. 173) and survived in 1976. At Highgate Quakers were established in 1953 (fn. 174) and rented part of Davies's school of English, at no. 17 North Grove, in 1975. (fn. 175)

Mennonites.

During the Second World War relief work was undertaken by Mennonites in Shepherd's Hill, where, at no. 14, the London Mennonite Centre was founded in 1954. It served as an information centre and students' hostel, and had a chapel with an average Sunday attendance of 20 in 1976. (fn. 176)

Other denominations and unspecified missions.

Highgate Wood Cottage, Jackson's Lane, was registered by Christians in 1851 (fn. 177) and Christ Church, in Coach and Horses Lane, by Episcopalian dissenters from 1853 until 1896. (fn. 178) The Free English Church built the iron Trinity church in Hornsey High Street c. 1872 but sold it to the Methodists in 1873. (fn. 179) The drill hall in Southwood Lane, later used by Brethren, was registered by home missionaries in 1882. (fn. 180)

The Grove united mission registered a room at no. 14 the Grove, Crouch End, in 1878. (fn. 181) Perhaps it occupied premises near the corner of the Grove and Lynton Road, recorded in 1886 (fn. 182) and attended by 51 in the morning and 58 in the evening on one Sunday in 1903, (fn. 183) although the original registration was cancelled in 1896 and a hall in the Grove was again registered, by undesignated Christians, in 1912. (fn. 184) The Grove united mission survived in 1936 (fn. 185) and presumably was not connected with the Congregationalists' mission, which still existed in 1951. (fn. 186)

Shortly before the foundation of Highgate Unitarian church in Despard Road, Islington, (fn. 187) in 1885 Unitarians, including girls from Channing House school, worshipped in the drill hall at Crouch End. (fn. 188)

Hornsey tabernacle, Wightman Road, was registered for undenominational worship in 1893. (fn. 189) In 1903 it was used by 'disciples of Christ', with an average attendance on one Sunday of 58 in the morning and 118 in the evening, (fn. 190) and in 1912 it was registered as Hornsey Church of Christ. (fn. 191) Members joined Harringway Congregational church to form Harringay United church, Tottenham, in 1969, (fn. 192) whereupon the Wightman Road site was sold to the United Apostolic Faith Church. (fn. 193)

Broadway hall served the Universalist Church by 1903 and in 1910. (fn. 194) Unspecified Christians registered Park Road hall in 1929, (fn. 195) a room at no. 44 Coleridge Road from 1942 until 1949, (fn. 196) and no. 88 North Hill from 1944 until 1949. (fn. 197)

Christian Scientists were at no. 137 Stroud Green Road from c. 1912 until 1923 and thereafter at nos. 60 or 58 Crouch Hill until the Second World War. (fn. 198) They also had a reading room at no. 13 Topsfield Parade, Crouch End, in 1936. (fn. 199)

The Chapel of the Divine Love, a room at no. 83 Claremont Road, Highgate, was registered by the Evangelical Catholic Communion from 1938 until 1964. (fn. 200)

Jehovah's Witnesses acquired no. 33 North Hill as a Kingdom hall by 1964 and retained it in 1976. (fn. 201)

The United Apostolic Faith Church bought and renovated the former Hornsey tabernacle in 1970.

A hall, offices, and premises for the Evangel Press were added in 1971 and flats in 1972. The church was called the Gospel Centre in 1977, when it seated c. 200 and was the headquarters of the group, which belonged to the Pentecostal movement. (fn. 202)

Footnotes

  • 1. See p. 125.
  • 2. Calamy Revised, 308, 465.
  • 3. Short Jnl. and Itinerary Jnls. of Geo. Fox, ed. N. Penney, 232, 270.
  • 4. Calamy Revised, 315.
  • 5. Prickett, Highgate, 167.
  • 6. Trans. Cong. Hist. Soc. v. 8; D.N.B.
  • 7. Marchams, Hornsey Ct. Rolls, 135 sqq.
  • 8. Calamy Revised, 404; A. Gordon, Freedom after Ejection, 3, 72, 338.
  • 9. Except where otherwise stated, the para. is based on Trans. Cong. Hist. Soc. v. 8-9, 13, and D.N.B.
  • 10. Dr. Williams's Libr., Evans MS. 34.4.
  • 11. Gent. Mag. lxviii (1), 126.
  • 12. Ibid.; D.N.B.
  • 13. Guildhall MSS. 9557, f. 23; 9558, f. 452.
  • 14. Evangelical Mag. xiv. 476.
  • 15. Guildhall MS. 9558, f. 455.
  • 16. G.R.O. Worship Returns, iii, no. 1137.
  • 17. S. W. Kitchener, 'Hist. Hornsey. Chapter 4' (MS. notes in Hornsey libr.); Hornsey Jnl. 8 Nov. 1935.
  • 18. See p. 197.
  • 19. G.R.O. Worship Returns, iii, nos. 351, 359, 423, 643.
  • 20. Baptist Mag. xlvii. 598; D.N.B.
  • 21. G.R.O. Worship Returns, iii, no. 1293.
  • 22. Baptist Mag. xlvii. 598; D.N.B.
  • 23. For the hist. of individual chs. see below.
  • 24. Hall's Circuits and Ministers (1897), 129, 181.
  • 25. Ferme Park Retrospect (75th anniv. booklet, 1964), 22.
  • 26. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 27. Except where otherwise stated, the following three paras. are based on Ferme Park Retrospect, 5 sqq.
  • 28. The chapel was opened by Bapt. preachers, incl. Jos. Ivimey (see below, n. 55): Evangelical Mag. xiv. 476. A statement that it had also been used by Quakers cannot be verified.
  • 29. Guildhall MS. 9558, f. 455.
  • 30. Brewer, Beauties of Eng. and Wales, x (5), 213.
  • 31. G.R.O., Worship Returns, iii, no. 1137.
  • 32. T.L.M.A.S. xiii. 417.
  • 33. H.O. 129/137/1/1/1.
  • 34. Illus. (1898) in T.L.M.A.S. xiii. 413. A watercolour and photograph, ascribed respectively to 1880 and 1883, are in Potter Colln. 20/49, 57.
  • 35. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 23000. In 1928 its date of origin was given as 1875: W. T. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 213-14.
  • 36. J. E. Ellis, John Wm. Kirton, 173.
  • 37. V.C.H. Mdx. v. 360.
  • 38. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 39. Ibid. 407.
  • 40. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 283.
  • 41. Ex inf. the minister, Park chap.
  • 42. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 242.
  • 43. Datestone.
  • 44. Lloyd, Highgate, 466.
  • 45. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 283, 242.
  • 46. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 47. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 283.
  • 48. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 34980.
  • 49. Kitchener, 'Hist. Hornsey'.
  • 50. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 33168.
  • 51. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 52. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 236.
  • 53. Ibid. 250.
  • 54. Ex inf. the church sec. Mrs. Jas. Edmondson laid one of the foundation stones.
  • 55. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 39022.
  • 56. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 57. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 283.
  • 58. Ex inf. the church sec.
  • 59. J. Ivimey, Hist. of Eng. Baptists, iv. 409-10. The author was pastor of Eagle Street ch.: D.N.B.
  • 60. Lysons, Environs (Suppl.), 200.
  • 61. Ivimey, Eng. Baptists, iv. 409-10.
  • 62. G.R.O. Worship Returns, iii, no. 1628.
  • 63. Although it was said to have been rebuilt in 1836, when the freehold was bought (Lloyd, Highgate, 189 and Potter Colln. 14/70), the 17th-cent. building survived in 1851: H.O. 129/137/1/1/5. It was 'enlarged' in 1867: Mdx. Dir. (1870).
  • 64. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 12413.
  • 65. H.O. 129/137/1/1/5.
  • 66. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 67. Hornsey Jnl. 3 Feb. 1961.
  • 68. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 48311.
  • 69. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 283.
  • 70. Hornsey Jnl. 3 Feb. 1961.
  • 71. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 48311.
  • 72. Highgate Soc. News, Jan. 1977.
  • 73. Ex inf. the headmaster.
  • 74. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 222.
  • 75. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 23811.
  • 76. Date on building.
  • 77. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 78. Whitley, Baptists of Lond. 283.
  • 79. Baptist Union Dir. (1975-6).
  • 80. Deeds in Highgate Sch. rec., box 4, bdle. 4; Lloyd, Highgate, 187.
  • 81. H.O. 129/137/1/1/4.
  • 82. See p. 193.
  • 83. Kelly's Dir. Essex, Herts. and Mdx. (1908); Highgate Cong. Chap. Yr. Bk. (1859) (copy in Highgate Lit. and Sc. Inst.).
  • 84. Thorne, Environs, 349.
  • 85. Cong. Yr. Bk. (1894).
  • 86. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 176.
  • 87. Highgate Cong. Chap. Yr. Bk. (1859 et seq.) (copies in Highgate Lit. and Sc. Inst.).
  • 88. Cong. Yr. Bk. (1951).
  • 89. Ex inf. the sec., Highgate Utd. Ref. ch.
  • 90. Cong. Yr. Bk. (1894, 1951).
  • 91. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1936).
  • 92. Cong. Yr. Bk. (1951).
  • 93. See below.
  • 94. Except where otherwise stated, the para. is based on Kitchener, 'Hist. Hornsey', and information from the church sec.
  • 95. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 7672.
  • 96. N. Mdx. Chron. 3 Feb. 1877.
  • 97. Cong. Yr. Bk. (1894).
  • 98. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 99. W. R. Matthews, Memories and Meanings, 86.
  • 100. Lithograph by T. Packer, 1859, in Potter Colln. 20/63.
  • 101. Cong. Yr. Bk. (1951).
  • 102. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1936); see below, p. 188.
  • 103. Independent and Nonconformist, 2 Nov. 1893; G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 30078.
  • 104. A. Porritt, A Home of Fellowship, 46-7.
  • 105. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 106. Kitchener, 'Hist. Hornsey'.
  • 107. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 33028.
  • 108. O.S. Map 6", Mdx. XII. NW. (1894-6 edn.).
  • 109. Newspaper cuttings, 27 Oct. 1898, in Hornsey libr.
  • 110. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 38288.
  • 111. Cutting, 27 Oct. 1898, in Hornsey libr.
  • 112. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 113. Ex inf. the sec., Muswell Hill Utd. Ref. ch.
  • 114. Except where otherwise stated, the para. is based on Middle Lane Meth. Ch. 1873-1973 (booklet), where the iron ch. and its successor are illus.
  • 115. See p. 188.
  • 116. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 117. Ex inf. the minister.
  • 118. L. F. Church, Finsbury Pk. Wesl. Ch. Jubilee Souvenir (1925).
  • 119. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 161.
  • 120. O.S. Map 1/2,500, Lond. III. 75 (1894 edn.).
  • 121. Finsbury Pk. Wesl. Ch.; Stoke Newington, Official Guide [1947, 1959].
  • 122. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 28049.
  • 123. Kelly's Dir. Essex, Herts. and Mdx. (1908).
  • 124. Except where otherwise stated, the para. is based on Willoughby Rd. Meth. Ch. (booklet, 1974) and information from Mrs. Dorothy Simpson.
  • 125. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 126. Hornsey Jnl. 27 Sept. 1963; see below.
  • 127. Datestone 1902.
  • 128. Except where otherwise stated, the para. is based on St. Augustine of Canterbury (souvenir brochure, 1965).
  • 129. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 37585.
  • 130. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 131. Hornsey Jnl. 2 Aug. 1963.
  • 132. See p. 183.
  • 133. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey and Wood Green (1898-9).
  • 134. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 135. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey and Crouch End (1905-6).
  • 136. Beauty in the Sanctuary (pamphlet on new windows, 1937); Hornsey Jnl. 17 Apr. 1959.
  • 137. Kelly's Dir. Essex, Herts. and Mdx. (1908).
  • 138. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 407.
  • 139. The Times, 15 Sept. 1905.
  • 140. Hornsey Jnl. 28 Oct. 1960.
  • 141. Ibid. 5 Oct. 1962.
  • 142. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 143. Ex inf. the sec.
  • 144. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 36982.
  • 145. Pevsner, Mdx. 114; there is a datestone of 1902.
  • 146. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 147. Hornsey Hist. Soc. Quarterly Bull. June 1975, 9.
  • 148. J. Barnard, Decorative Tradition, 73 and plate 62.
  • 149. Ex inf. the sec., Muswell Hill Utd. Ref. ch.; Hampstead and Highgate Express & News, 30 Apr. 1976.
  • 150. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 32444.
  • 151. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 152. Ex inf. the sec.; P.O. Dir. Lond. (1975).
  • 153. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1886); Kelly's Dir. Mdx. (1890).
  • 154. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 155. G.R.O. Worship Reg. nos. 46775, 48171. A hall in Park Rd. was reg. by 'unsectarian Christians' in 1929: see below, n. 92.
  • 156. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1936).
  • 157. Ibid. (1901-2).
  • 158. Free Ch. Dir. (1968-9).
  • 159. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 51998; ex inf. Mr. J. E. Small.
  • 160. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 42712.
  • 161. Datestone 1912.
  • 162. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 45612.
  • 163. Hornsey Jnl. 4 Feb. 1944.
  • 164. Except where otherwise stated, the para. is based on information from the min.
  • 165. Datestone on ch.
  • 166. Hornsey Jnl. 3 Oct. 1958.
  • 167. Ibid. 1 Nov. 1929.
  • 168. Kitchener, 'Hist. Hornsey'.
  • 169. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 54231. The near-by sanctuary at no. 65 Duckett Rd. was in Tottenham: V.C.H. Mdx. v. 363.
  • 170. Kitchener, 'Hist. Hornsey'.
  • 171. Ex inf. the church sec.
  • 172. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1924).
  • 173. Kitchener, 'Hist. Hornsey'.
  • 174. Ex inf. Friends' Ho. libr.
  • 175. P.O. Dir. Lond. (1975).
  • 176. Ex inf. the warden.
  • 177. G.R.O. Worship Returns, iii, no. 2392.
  • 178. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 721.
  • 179. Middle La. Meth. Ch. 4; see above, p. 186.
  • 180. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 26292.
  • 181. Ibid. 24012.
  • 182. Hutchings & Crowsley's Dir. Hornsey (1886).
  • 183. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 184. G.R.O. Worship Reg. nos. 24012, 54144.
  • 185. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1936).
  • 186. See p. 186.
  • 187. P.O. Dir. Lond. (1934).
  • 188. Dalton, Channing Ho. Sch. 10; undated newspaper cutting in Hornsey libr., Heal Colln.
  • 189. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 33639.
  • 190. Mudie-Smith, Rel. Life, 408.
  • 191. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 45072.
  • 192. V.C.H. Mdx. v. 362.
  • 193. Ex inf. the gen. overseer, Utd. Apostolic Faith Ch.
  • 194. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1903-4, 1910-11).
  • 195. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 52069.
  • 196. Ibid. 60021.
  • 197. Ibid. 60892. In 1903 the premises had been used for undenominational services, as well as by Brethren.
  • 198. Kelly's Dir. Hornsey (1912-13 and later edns.).
  • 199. Ibid. (1936).
  • 200. G.R.O. Worship Reg. no. 58302.
  • 201. Ex inf. the branch manager, Watch Tower Bible and Tract Soc. of Pennsylvania; P.O. Dir. Lond. (1975).
  • 202. Ex inf. the gen. overseer.