St Mary, Haggerston facts for kids
St Mary, Haggerston was an Anglican church built in 1827 in what is now the London Borough of Hackney. It was designed by a famous architect named John Nash. The church was built in the Gothic style, which was popular at the time. It had a fancy front with a very tall tower. The rest of the church was quite plain. Later, in the 1800s, it was changed by James Brooks. Sadly, the church was destroyed by bombs during the Second World War. Today, the place where the church once stood is a children's playground. It is located west of Haggerston Park, between Thurtle Road and Queensbridge Road.
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History of St Mary's Church
St Mary, Haggerston, was a "Commissioners' church". This means it was built using money from a special law passed in 1818. This law provided £1,000,000 to build new churches. A group called the Church Building Commission was set up to manage this money. They asked three main architects for ideas: John Soane, John Nash, and Robert Smirke. John Nash only built two churches for this project. One was All Souls, Langham Place, and the other was St Mary, Haggerston.
Haggerston used to be a small village near Shoreditch. But by the time the church was built, it had grown into a busy part of London. It also became more industrial. Factories and gasworks opened along the Regent's Canal from 1822.
The church was officially opened by the Bishop of London on March 29, 1827. It cost about £12,496 to build. The church was designed to hold 1,700 people for services.
Design of the Church
The church had a large front with towers on the sides. From the middle of this front, a very tall tower rose up. People told stories about why the tower was so unusually tall. One story said it was built so high because the builder bought a lot of cheap stone from a demolished house.
A writer named Edward John Carlos reviewed the church for a magazine. He thought the church had problems because the architect, John Nash, tried to do too much with a small budget. He wrote that some parts were very fancy, while others were very plain. He felt the grand front was attached to a "plain-looking body."
The front of the church was made of stone. It had a central square tower with porches on either side. At each end of the front, there was a round tower. These towers held the stairs that led up to the galleries inside the church. This design saved space inside the main building. The main tower had eight-sided supports called buttresses. These ended in pointed decorations called pinnacles. The tower was divided into four levels by stone bands called string courses. The third level was very tall and mostly plain, with a round window near the top. The whole tower was topped with a square lantern. The rest of the church was made of brick with stone decorations. The back of the church had a pointed roof and a small window with three sections.
The church's style mixed ideas from different periods of Gothic architecture. It also used ideas from newer Gothic revival styles. The main part of the church, called the nave, was made of brick. It had two rows of windows. The upper windows had a simple, criss-cross design. The lower windows were square-shaped, like a very late Gothic style. Carlos complained that the details were not chosen from old buildings. Instead, he said, they used ideas from newer architects like Wyatt.
Inside, the nave and side sections, called aisles, were separated by arches. There were galleries above the aisles. There was also a gallery at the back for the organ. Another gallery in front of it was for "charity children." There were wooden rooms, called vestries, built into the corners at the back. Carlos joked that they looked like "brewers' vats." The ceilings of the aisles were flat. The nave ceiling was flat in the middle but sloped at the sides. It had simple bands crossing it above the arches.
Haggerston Church Improvements
In 1860, John Ross became the vicar of Haggerston. He wanted to make the church better and help his parish. The area had over 30,000 people, but only about 200 attended St Mary's. With help from Robert Foster and Robert Brett, he started raising money for what was called the Haggerston Church Scheme.
The first big change was adding a chancel and sanctuary to the church. These are special areas for Christian rituals. The architect James Brooks was hired to make these changes. His work brought him a lot of positive attention. The new sanctuary was built out beyond the main church. It had a vaulted ceiling and a large window with five sections. This window was in the Decorated style and had stained glass by Clayton and Bell.
Other changes were made too. Nash's original pillars were reshaped to look more like real Gothic pillars. The lower row of windows was removed. The upper windows were given new, more decorative designs. The galleries were taken out, and the old box-like pews were replaced with more open seating. The roofs of the nave and aisles were also replaced. After these changes, a choir was introduced, and more people started coming to the church.
The Church Organ
The organ at St Mary's Church had an interesting past. It was first built by a famous organ maker named Father Smith. It was originally in St George's Chapel, Windsor. In 1788, it was moved to Windsor parish church. Around 1825, when that church was rebuilt, parts of the organ were sent to St Mary's, Haggerston. Other parts went to a different chapel in Long Melford. During the church's changes in 1861–1862, the organ at St Mary's was moved. It went from the back gallery to the east end of the south aisle. Even in the early 1900s, some of Father Smith's original work, especially the wooden parts, was still there.
Destruction of the Church
St Mary's Church was destroyed by bombs in 1941 during the Second World War. From 1953, the church's parish joined with that of St Chad's Church, Haggerston. The land where the church once stood, between Queensbridge Road and Thurtle Road, is now a playground.
