All Saints' Church, Edmonton facts for kids
Quick facts for kids All Saints' Church, Edmonton |
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The tower at the west end of the Church of All Saints
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| Country | United Kingdom |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | Official website: http://www.allsaintsedmonton.org.uk/ |
| Architecture | |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Administration | |
| Parish | All Saints Edmonton |
| Deanery | Enfield |
| Archdeaconry | Hampstead |
| Episcopal area | Edmonton |
| Diocese | London |
All Saints' Church, Edmonton is a historic church found on Church Street in Edmonton, London, England. People first wrote about this church in the 1100s. It was completely rebuilt in the 1400s and has been changed many times since then.
The Church's Long History
All Saints' Church is the main church for the area of Edmonton. Edmonton used to be in the county of Middlesex. Today, it is part of the London Borough of Enfield.
The first time anyone wrote about the church was between 1136 and 1142. A document from that time says the church was given to Walden Abbey by Geoffrey de Mandeville.
The church was fully rebuilt in the 1400s. Since then, it has had many big changes. In 1772, the outside of the church was covered in brick. Most of the stone window frames were taken out and replaced with wooden ones. A historian named William Robinson, who wrote about Edmonton in the early 1800s, thought this happened because one of the church leaders was a bricklayer and another was a carpenter. At that time, the church only had one side aisle, on the north side of the main area.
The church's leader in 1772, Dawson Warren, was not happy about these changes. He even wrote a poem about them:
The buttresses were chipped away and cased
The ancient battlements built up and coped
With square-cut stones, the Gothic window frames
The costly work of our forefathers' zeal
With sacrilegious hands were torn away
And changed for timber…
In 1855, the chancel (the part of the church near the altar) was restored by an architect named Ewan Christian. In 1868, the wooden window frames from the 1700s were replaced with stone ones. In 1871, the church was refurnished. Old galleries (balconies) that were added in the late 1700s were removed. The old box pews (enclosed seats) were also replaced.
Later, in 1889, a south aisle and a room for the organ were added. These were designed by WG Scott, who used to work for Ewan Christian. Today, the only part of the church that still looks like it did in the Middle Ages is the tall, four-story tower at the west end. Inside, the roof of the main area and the arches on the north side are from the 1400s. The arches on the south side were added during the changes in 1889.
Famous People Buried Here
- Montague Gosset, a surgeon.
- Charles Lamb, a famous writer of essays.
- Mary Lamb, a writer and the sister of Charles Lamb.
- Tryphosa Jane Wallis, an actress.
