Tag: Stoke Newington

Old Church of St Mary, Stoke Newington, London N16

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.

St Mary Stoke Newington N16

“What is that spire?”

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 Street
The 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.

Sketchbook 13, Stoke Newington New Church

Note 1: The information about Thomas Jackson and the cost of building the New Church is from the St Mary website https://www.stmaryn16.org/history.html, downloaded 24 October 2023. For even more detail see also British History Online here: https://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/middx/vol8/pp204-211