I was reading about “tin tabernacles” having sketched the “Tin Tabernacle” in Esher. I discovered, via a Historic England blog article, that there is a Tin Tabernacle in Kilburn in London. So I went to have a look. It is an “iron church” built of galvanised corrugated iron in 1863. It used to have a steeple, but that has disappeared.
Here it is now:
Cambridge Hall, Cambridge Avenue, Kilburn NW6 5BA, sketched 28 February 2024 3pm in sketchbook 14
The building was built as a church, and more recently was a centre for Sea Cadets. Its future is under discussion, according to an article on the London Historic Buildings Trust site (LHBT).
The site is owned by Notting Hill Genesis Housing Association (NHG). LHBT are currently working with NHG and the Sea Cadets, supported by Historic England and the Conservation Officer at Brent Council, to explore how the building can be stabilised and used in the future.
The latest date mentioned in this article is 2021, so I guess the exploration is still going on. It’s listed as a “current project” on their website. The building was looking a little precarious when I visited this year (February 2024). An alarm was sounding inside.
It is Grade II listed, and on the Heritage at Risk Register. The listing is on this link. It is currently an events venue, the website is: http://tintabernaclekilburn.org/
Here are some photos of the outside:
The building is about 150m north of Kilburn Park underground station on the Bakerloo Line.
After sketching the Tin Tabernacle in Esher West End, I walked into the town centre to sketch another St George’s: St George’s Old Church.
St George’s, Esher, Old Church. Sketched February 2024 in Sketchbook 14
Here is the notice by the door:
ST GEORGE ESHER This church is cared for by The Churches Conservation Trust. Although no longer needed for regular worship, it remains a consecrated building, a part of England’s history, maintained for the benefit of this and future generations.
Here is the notice hanging from a post by the gate:
Welcome to ST. GEORGE’S CHURCH
Esher’s oldest public building and one of the earliest Anglican churches. Most of the structure is 16th Century Tudor Two 18th Century features of te Church are a 3-decker pulpit and the Newcastle chamber pew designed by Sir John Vanburgh for Thomas Pelham., Duke of Newcastle and his brother Henry: both served as Prime Minister. Princess Charlotte – heir to George IV – and Prince Leopold – who became the first King of the Belgians – worshipped here when they lived at Claremont after their marriage in 1816. Queen Victoria, Leopold’s niece attended services when visiting her uncle and later came with Prince Albert. When Christ Church was completed in 1854 St George’s ceased to be the Parish Church. Restored by the community in 1965 it remains a consecrated building now in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust. Several services are held each year. It is also a venue for music and the arts.
I sketched it from the graveyard, as the sun set. So many angles and views! It has been altered and added to and mended, yet is graceful and somehow perfect.
Behind the church there were crocuses.
A wonderful place! Tranquillity just off the main road.
Here’s a map. I walked here from the St Georges West End, along the route marked with a red line on the map: a half hour’s walk, just over a mile.
Here is work in progress on the drawing.
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Beside the green on the West side of Esher stands this iron church, St George’s West End.
St George’s West End, Esher. Sketched on location February 2024, in Sketchbook 14
It has a single bell in its small bell tower, and a fence made in a particular way, which I tried hard to show. I wondered if it is intentionally in the shape of a line of crosses, appropriate for a Christian church.
This is one of dozens of “tin tabernacles” or iron churches across the UK. Wikipedia has a whole list. Some of them are strikingly similar to this one.
They were built in the late 19th century, in response to expanding demand, using the new technology of corrugated iron. Many of them, including this one, were pre-fabricated.
According to a 2004 article on this church by Angela Stockbridge the land was donated by Queen Victoria in 1878. “A need was felt to make provision for “the spiritual wants of the “Aged, Poor and Infirm of West End”” and to spare them from the steep and often muddy climb into Esher” she writes. It was intended to be a temporary church. 145 years later, here it is, still standing, and still hosting services.
The church is dedicated to St George. Above the porch is a stained glass window, evidently showing the Knight slaughtering the Dragon. I could just make him out standing on the stirrups of his white horse. The church was closed when I visited, but I hope to go inside on a future occasion. I am told that inside it is cladded with white-painted wood panelling.
I sketched the church from the village green opposite. It was damp and muddy. When I’d had enough, I retreated to the “Prince of Wales” for some lunch. Then I went on to sketch the church in Esher town centre: another St George’s.
Esher is to the West of London, with a main line railway station in to Waterloo.
“They do tend to heat up in summer and stay cold in winter, and the rain makes a noise on their roofs, but they have proved remarkably sturdy. As one commentator writes, “Tin Tabernacles are an important if brief and overlooked episode in the history of church architecture,” and have a claim to “be recognised as listed buildings, particularly as examples of prefabrication” (Dopson 204-05).” Dopson, Laurence. “Tin Tabernacles.” Words from “The Countryman”. Ed. Valerie Porter. Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 2007. 204-05.
Here is the church of St Edmund, Kessingland, seen from the south.
Church of St Edmund, Kessingland. Sketched 11 February 2024, 12:30 in Sketchbook 14
I was a guest of the bell ringers, who kindly invited me to their loft. There are six bells. I witnessed their splendid peals, which made the tower shake slightly under my feet. This was a surprise to me, as the walls of the tower are about three foot thick. But apparently it’s perfectly normal. Then I went outside and sketched the church from the south.
It was a beautiful place to stand and sketch: a peaceful country churchyard. The gravestone in front of me, in the foreground in the picture, carried stone carved flowers, and cushions of moss.
view from the bell ringers’ loft
This tower is very old. According to the Historic England listing, the tower is from the 15th century and Grade I listed. There is neat flint work, in a chequerboard pattern higher up and in vertical lines lower down, with a horizontal border at ground level. The nave is thatched! It has recently received new thatch, in a glowing russet colour which you can just see to the right of the tower.
The church is about half a mile from the sea. There is a stained glass window, dated 2007, by Nicola Kantorowicz, dedicated to the “Glory of God and the memory of Kessingland driftermen, ‘where ever they may rest'”. It was given by G. Jack Strowger in memory of his wife Katherine. There is a ship’s wheel on the wall, and another on a low pulpit. An anchor hangs from the wall, “in loving memory of Jack and Mary Smith”.
The nave of the Church of St Edmund, Kessingland, looking east.
It’s well worth a visit if you are in the area.
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St Clement Danes stands on a traffic island in the Strand.
St Clement Danes, Strand, WC2R 1DH, sketched 7 February 2024 13:30 in sketchbook 14
I sketched this church over a lunchtime. At 1pm its bells played its tune, “Oranges and Lemons“, a little haphazardly, but quite distinct.
Why St Clement Danes? What’s Danish about it? According to the church leaflet, in the 9th century, “Danish settlers who had married English wives were allowed to settle in the area taking over a small church dedicated to St Clement. The Church came to be known as ‘St-Clement-of-the-Danes'”. A rather more brutal story is told by the Viking Ship museum of Roskilde in Denmark:
“By the 9th century London was yet again a powerful and wealthy town attracting the attention of the Danish Vikings. They attacked London in AD 842, and again in AD 851, and The Great Army spent the winter in the town in AD 871-72.” “Cnut became King of England and in AD 1018 he was able to send his army back to Denmark. He burdened the English population with the tax thingild to pay for the maintenance of a small army. He also placed his Danish garrisons around London, including by the church St. Clemens Danes. Generally, Cnut was a popular king, and during his reign peace prevailed in England. Cnut died in AD 1035 and one of his sons, Harold Harefoot, took over the English throne. On his death Harefoot he was buried in Westminster Church, but his brother Harthacnut ordered the body to be dug up and thrown into the Thames. Perhaps Harold Harefoot was re-buried in St. Clemens Danes outside the town wall. The peace in England was over.”
The “Science Nordic” site offers lively descriptions of the Danish people that arrived in England in the 9th and 10th centuries. Today we might describe them as “economic migrants”
“In eastern England the Vikings discovered a milder climate and a rich agricultural landscape, similar to the one they knew back home. Faced with a lack of good farming land in Denmark, many families decided to try their luck on the other side of the North Sea.” – Dr Jane Kershaw, Archaeologist and Viking researcher
St Clements no longer has any particular Danish connection. It is linked to the Royal Air Force. The statue outside, in the bottom centre of my sketch, is
“Air Chief Marshall Lord Downing, Baron of Bentley Priory, Fighter Command 1936-40”
according to the inscription on his plinth. The Danish church in London is St Katherines, to the East of Regents Park.
Here is the song the bells played, with links to my drawings of the churches:
Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement’s. (St Clement Danes) You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin’s. (St Martin in the Fields) When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey. (St Sepulchre-without-Newgate) When I grow rich, Say the bells at Shoreditch. (St Leonard Shoreditch) When will that be? Say the bells of Stepney.(St Dunstan’s Stepney) I do not know, Says the great bell at Bow. (St Mary Le Bow) Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
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An old brick building stands amongst the new-build. The paint on its window frames is flaking, and its brickwork is dark from the smoke of a previous age, yet it retains its dignity: a grandmother of a building.
15 Lamb’s Passage, London EC1, sketched 5th January 2024 in Sketchbook 14, 4pm, 6 degrees C
This is the former St Joseph’s School, built in 1901, which ceased operation as a school in 1977. On its roof you can see the wire netting which once must have surrounded a playground or netball court.
St Joseph’s Church is in the basement, accessed by the porch you can just see to the right of my drawing behind the furthest lamppost.
The area in front of the building is a quiet garden, in memory of Basil Hume, an English Catholic bishop. Sometimes the gate is open and you can go in. It has been arranged so that, even in this tiny space, it is possible to walk some kind of small pilgrimage, along a path, across a ditch, past a tree, and so round a corner to rest in the shaded hut. On the way you encounter a splendid birch tree with white bark, which I have seen grow from a sapling.
BE STILL AND KNOW THAT I AM GOD
This quiet garden is dedicated to the memory of BASIL HUME monk and shepherd 1923-1999
Number 15 Lamb’s Buildings hosts several organisations now. The City Photographic Society uses the Church Hall in this building. It is also the registered office of the Catholic Herald. I have often heard music as I pass by, so it might also be used as a rehearsal space. There is ballroom dancing on Mondays. The smaller building to the south, on the left of my drawing, hosts a pregnancy advice centre. So this is a set of buildings is in use, actively serving the community despite the flaking paint.
I made this drawing quickly as the light faded on a cold and windy evening. After the pen, I retreated back to my desk to apply the colour.
This church stands on Fleet Street, near the Royal Courts of Justice. It is set a little back from the road, so I had not really noticed it. But it is remarkable in many ways.
St Dunstan-in-the-West, 186a Fleet Street, sketched 31 Dec 2023, in Sketchbook 14
For one thing, the architect has used every possible ornate contrivance. It was impossible for this urban sketcher to do justice to the extraordinary details. The crocheted spires! The castellations! The geometry! The lacy top! The stonework above the door!
The geometry is interesting because the tower starts as a squarish-type shape at ground level, and then higher up there is an arrangement of planes which slice off the corners, turning it into an octagon at the top. At the higher part of the tower, the stonework is open so the sky is visible between the fine arches and spires.
Then there are the clocks. There are two clocks on the tower, both showing the correct time. And there is another clock, also showing the correct time, suspended on a substantial wooden bracket below a little covered stage. Inside the stage are two muscular wooden figures, and two bells. The figures strike the bells every quarter hour. The little stage is described as an “aedicule” in Pevsner, who tells me that the clock was made in 1671.
The clock and the small covered stage (aedicule”), with wooded figures.
At ground level there is a rather austere monument: the bust of a man, on a plain triangular plinth, labelled simply “Northcliffe MDCCCLXV MCMXXII”. And behind that, above a door, a dusty statue, evidently very old, of Queen Elizabeth the First.
Northcliffe memorial. (Lord Northcliffe 1865-1922)Elizabeth statue (Queen Elizabeth I 1533-1603)
To the left of the church door there is a font set in to the fence. Round the edge, barely legible, it says “The gift of Sir James Duke Bart MP Ald of this ward”.
Next to the church, on its left, is a beautiful building, which is mysteriously empty and boarded up. This is 187 Fleet Street. It also has a clock, but this one did not show the correct time.
Another mystery: St Dunstan-in-the-West burial ground is some distance away to the north, on Breams Buildings, see map above.
St Dunstan-in-the-West Burial Ground, entrance on Breams BuildingsSt Dunstan-in-the-West Burial Ground
“IanVisits” has an article on the Burial Ground published in 2020. When he visited it was clearly in a better condition than it is now. On my visit, December 2023, the burial ground was litter-strewn and neglected, overshadowed by a building site to the East, and defiled by plastic advertising hoardings flapping on its north fence.
The current St Dunstan-in-the-West church was constructed in 1830-1832 to the designs of John Shaw senior, and completed by his son, also John Shaw. This building replaced a much older one. The church website says:
“It is not known exactly when the original church was built, but it was between 988 and 1070 AD. It is not impossible that St Dunstan himself, or priests who knew him well, decreed that a church was needed here.”
It is an active Anglican church, open during the week, with services on Sundays, according to the notice on the door. The building also hosts the Romanian Orthodox Church.
Northcliffe, it turns out, was quite a character. He was a press baron, founder of the Daily Mail, and promoter of popular journalism. He launched the Daily Mail in 1876. At a time when newspapers were mostly intended to be serious reading, Northcliffe realised the potential of offering “entertainment” and “diversion”:
Hamilton Fyfe, a trusted contributor [to the Daily Mail], recalled that ‘the Chief’ wanted the Daily Mail to ‘touch life at every point … He saw that very few people wanted politics, while a very large number wanted to be entertained, diverted, relieved a little while from the pressure or tedium of their everyday affairs.’
Northcliffe gradually built up his empire, acquiring the The Times and other newspapers. By 1914 he controlled 40% of the morning newspaper circulation, 45% of the evening and 15% of the Sunday circulation in Britain (Wikipedia). A fascinating article by Jessica Kelly of Cardiff University says that, due to Northcliffe’s influence, “politicians of the age sought his approval and support during this most uncertain and unpredictable of times”. Northcliffe publications advocated war against Germany. Once war was declared, they were a “solidifier of British public opinion behind a total war”. The author of this article makes a striking comparison between Rupert Murdoch today, and Northcliffe in the Edwardian era.
Lutyens designed the obelisk for the Northcliffe Memorial in St Dunstan-in-the-West, and the bust is by Kathleen Scott. (Pevsner)
I sketched the church standing on the other side of Fleet Street, near the office of C Hoare and Co, bankers. The church was closed when I visited, but I shall certainly go back and have a look inside during its opening hours.
References
“The Buildings of England, London 1: The City of London, by Simon Bradley and Nikolaus Pevsner (1999 edition)” page 214
Here is St Leonard Shoreditch, which stands at the intersection of Shoreditch High St and the Hackney Road, postcode E1 6JN.
St Leonard’s, Shoreditch Church sketched 23 November 2023, 12″ x 9″ [sold]
There has been a Christian church here since medieval times. The present building dates from 1741 and was designed by George Dance the Elder (1695-1768). George Dance the Elder was the City of London surveyor at the time, and designed, amongst other buildings, Mansion House at Bank Junction.
The current church is active in the community. On the day I was sketching, a Thursday, they were offering meals to local people. This is the Lighthouse Project, “providing practical help, food parcels and hot meals to local people in need” according to their website. You can see several guests in the picture.
When the church was recently rebuilt at the turn of the millenium, a large amount of money was spent on its community needs and no funds were left to buy paint. Hence it still looks a bit bohemian. We think it’s quite endearing and shows people where our priorities are – with the community rather than how we look.
The current community is highly diverse. The wealth of the City meets the deprivation of Hackney and Tower Hamlets. Our neighbours in Arnold Circus and St Hilda’s Community Centre are highly galvanised community groups acting for societal change.
This church houses the “bells of Shoreditch” from the children’s song “Oranges and Lemons”. If you go inside the church you can see a bell, which is resting on a wooden pallet on the right hand side of the nave.
when I grow rich, say the bells of Shoreditch.
Oranges and lemons, Say the bells of St. Clement’s. (St Clement Danes) You owe me five farthings, Say the bells of St. Martin’s. (St Martin in the Fields) When will you pay me? Say the bells at Old Bailey. (St Sepulchre-without-Newgate) When I grow rich, Say the bells at Shoreditch. (St Leonard Shoreditch) When will that be? Say the bells of Stepney.(St Dunstan’s Stepney) I do not know, Says the great bell at Bow. (St Mary Le Bow) Here comes a candle to light you to bed, And here comes a chopper to chop off your head!
The Society of Cumbernauld Youths in 1784 rang a complete peal of 12000 changes of Treble Bob Royal, taking nine hours and and five minutes, according to a placard in the church porch.
The bells are still rung.
This picture was a commission. My client was keen to have this upward view showing the front of the church. I did some practice sketches to understand the tricky upward perspective.
Thank you to my client for suggesting I draw this inspiring church, and for their permission to publish the photos of the drawing online.
Practise drawing in sketchbookpencil sketchExploring the perspectivenearly finishedPractise drawing in sketchbook 13
Here is a map showing the location:
There is a current exhibition in the Guildhall London:
“Treasures of Gold and Silver Wire” curated by Dr. Karen Watts, Emeritus at the Royal Armouries. It celebrates the 400 anniversary of the Worshipful Company of Gold and Silver Wyre Drawers.
St Leonard Shoreditch is the spire to the left of the wordsThe Silver Jubilee Cope on display in the Guildhall 16th December 2023
Having myself had a go at depicting those arches and columns on the spire, I am full of admiration for the embroiderers who managed to create an accurate image in wire thread. Hugely accomplished! The exhibition is on until 31st December 2023- well worth seeing.
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Having sketched the Stoke Newington New Church, I was keen also to sketch the Old Church, which is just the other side of the road. This church is Elizabethan, constructed in 1562, on a very ancient site. It is in active use, and shares a vicar with the New Church across the way.
Old Church of St Mary, Stoke Newington, London N10 sketched 1 December 2023 in Sketchbook 13
The churchyard is overgrown and atmospheric, it was wonderful to stand there on this cold clear day.
The building is Grade II* listed. The listing is here and the At Risk listing is here. It is listed because of much of the building from 1563 has survived, and because very few churches were built in this period. Also, the listing comments on its “group value”, because it stands next to the New Church. “The two make a memorable contrast and are a striking visual representation of the demographic changes from the C16 to the C19 in this area.” says the listing. The Old Church is small and domestic in scale, the New Church is magnificently huge.
Some history is given on the placard by the entrance.
ST. MARY’S OLD CHURCH, STOKE NEWINGTON The Manor of Stoke Newington is recorded in the Domesday Book (1086) to be the property of the Canons of St.Pauls Cathedral in whose possession it still remains. It is reputed to have been the Gift of King Athelstan about the year 940. It is probable therefore that a Church has occupied this site since Anglo-Saxon times. The South Aisle was built in 1563 by William Patten Lord of the Manor In.1829 Sir Charles Barry enlarged the Church. Severe bomb damage was sustained in 1940 and the Church was restored to its present state in 1953.
The future? This building is on the Historic England Heritage at Risk register, at risk level A, the highest, because there is “immediate risk of further rapid deterioration or loss of fabric; no solution agreed”
I sketched the church quickly as it was 2 degrees C outdoors. Then I caught the number 73 bus back down the hill to central London. Here is work in progress on the sketch.
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It’s just visible, on the horizon between office blocks. Some work with the binoculars and the map established that it must be St Mary Stoke Newington, some 3 to 4 miles away to the North.
“What is that spire?”
I went up there to make sure, and to have a closer look at this building which was visible at so great a distance.
St Mary Stoke Newington, the “New Church”, London N16. Sketched on October 17th 2023 in sketchbook 13, size: 10″x 8″
I sketched the church from Clissold Park.
Stoke Newington is another world, even though just 4 miles from the City. My sketching location was a few yards from the gate of the park. A succession of people entered the gate and walked along the path: old and young, solitary and in groups, noisy, meditative and with or without dogs. Each person or group carefully opened the gate, then turned round and closed it again behind them. At one point, a very elderly person approached the gate in a wheelchair. Someone who had just passed through noticed them, returned to the gate, and with a respectful flourish, opened both gates wide, to allow the passage of the wheelchair, and then carefully closed the gates again afterwards. It was all very civilised, and restored my faith in the human race.
If you wish to visit this church bear in mind that the overground lines are rather complicated in this area. The one to get is the one which goes north from Liverpool Street. The one from Shoreditch, although going in broadly the same direction, takes another route entirely and you end up in Dalston, which is also an interesting place, but different. I walked from there to Hackney Downs to find the right railway line, and discovered more as-yet-unexplored areas of London.
Overground routes in the Stoke Newington area.
St Mary Stoke Newington New Church was built in 1854-8, to the design of Sir George Gilbert Scott. His other works include the Midland Hotel at St Pancras, the Albert Memorial, Westminster Abbey, the Martyr’s Memorial in Oxford and St John’s College Chapel Cambridge, to name but four. So the people of Stoke Newington got a rock-star architect in 1854. This was because Stoke Newington had a hugely popular preacher, the Reverend Thomas Jackson, with people coming across London to hear him preach. The cost of the new church was raised by voluntary contributions1 from this large congregation.
The spire was added by Sir George’s son John Oldrid Scott, in 1890.
Stoke Newington New Church seen from Stoke Newington Church StreetThe impressive interior of Stoke Newington New Church.
Across the road is the much smaller “old church” which this “new church” replaced. The old church is still there, looking like a country village church.
Stoke Newington Old Church, 17th October 2023
Now I know what that spire is, on the horizon, I think I should make another visit, to sketch the old church.
Jane Sketching 