OUR HISTORY

Welcome to St. Saviour’s church!
Standing at the heart of Markhouse Road this imposing and beautiful building was consecrated on 4th November 1874 and has served the people of Walthamstow as a place of worship and spiritual guidance, a place of meeting, and for communal events. It is a place where life’s great moments are celebrated in baptism, marriage and funerals. Each generation has made its mark on the building and so it represents the story of the community in which it sits. However, over time its upkeep made increasing demands upon the resources of our congregation, particularly if it was to continue to function effectively. Happily, as you will read, a number of generous friends and supporters, and especially the National Lottery Heritage Fund have been extraordinarily supportive and so we have been able to revitalise this wonderful space. We hope that this short history will encourage you to visit this gracious building.

Fr. Salvador Telen, Vicar

In the beginning . . .

This attractive and gracious Georgian house stood on the site of Samantha Close and from 1830 was the home of a wealthy merchant named James Foster. When James died in1872 the house and the field next door were left to his two nephews, Richard Foster and John Knowles. Foster and Knowles were business partners as well as being related and decided to donate the field next to the house as a site for a new church. A rapid increase in the local population (it doubled between 1871 and 1881) had resulted in a need for additional churches and until Foster and Knowles made their donation a temporary iron church had been built on the corner of Cambridge and Boundary Roads. Not only did Foster and Knowles provide the site, they paid for building both the church and vicarage.

Against this poplar tree is the last remaining sign of the field in which St.Saviour’s church was built. If you look carefully you can see the remains of an iron railing which provided protection for the tree from the sheep which once grazed here.

Did You Know?
Many of the trees in our churchyard are ‘listed’ so they can be enjoyed by future generations.

Richard Foster

Richard Foster was a wealthy City merchant who together with his cousin John Knowles paid for the building of St. Saviour’s. Foster had thought about becoming a priest but decided instead on a career in commerce and like his uncle became extremely wealthy. Together with his cousin, John Knowles, Foster paid for the building of both the church and the vicarage and provided enough money for an endowment of £100a year (this was to help provide a stipend for the vicar).In the early Victorian period some Christians became concerned that the Church of England had moved too far away from its roots in the Roman Catholic Church. Generally described as ‘Anglo-Catholic’ they built their churches to emphasise continuity with the past; their services used more elaborate ritual (involving incense in some services) and special robes for the clergy called vestments. Richard Foster and John Knowles belonged to this group and today St.Saviour’s still retains some aspects of this heritage. However, this type of worship was often viewed with suspicion by some other Christian groups and churches, the local newspaper whilst often speaking in support of St. Saviour’s clergy would also equally as often denounce its ‘Popish practices’. In fact, in the early years services were regularly subject to violent disruption from protestors and a group of young men from the congregation regularly stood guard outside armed with wooden staves and crowbars to deter would-be troublemakers!

Richard Foster–the wealthy merchant who with his cousin John Knowles paid for the church went on to give substantial financial support towards the building of St. Michael’s Church,(1885) and paid the entire cost of St.Barnabas Church (1903) both also in Walthamstow.

The Architect

Determined to have only the best for St. Saviour’s, Foster and Knowles engaged the services of the architect Francis Dolman. Dolman had been a pupil of Augustus Welby Pugin, probably the greatest of the early Victorian church architects, and was known as a superb draughtsman. He probably knew Richard Foster from working on a church scheme in Stoke Newington for which Foster had helped raise funds. Dolman was better known as an architectural historian than an architect although he also designed two churches in Clapton (St. Matthew’s in 1869 and All Saints in 1871) just before working on St. Saviour’s. The spire of St. Matthews can just be seen across the marshes from St. Saviour’s vicarage garden. Dolman positioned the church very carefully –the tower is off-set in such a way that before a huge spurt of housebuilding in the 1880s it would have dominated the traveller’s view of Walthamstow as approached either along Lea Bridge Road or across Walthamstow Marshes by train. The church is on a raised gravel platform which also assists in giving it a dominance in the local streetscape.Dolman did not do very much more than the design work –the actual construction was in the hands of Messrs. Henshaw of Haggerston. Unfortunately the Walthamstow Chronicle of April 25th1874 gives details of a tragic accident during construction. A workman was killed when one of the main roof trusses fell down crushing him to death. He left a widow and five children, the youngest of whom had been born on the day of the accident. The vicar subsequently launched an appeal fund for the victim’s family.

A Gothic Church . . .

The church is built in the ‘Gothic’ style which means it would have looked new in the late 1200s and deliberately old fashioned by 1874. Thus it is very much in keeping with the Tractarian inclinations of Richard Foster and John Knowles. Many other churches from this period therefore used the late 13th century for inspiration. In an industrial age this meant that many of the architectural details could be cut into the stone by machine thus making for much shorter building times. Had a church of this size been built in the 13th century it would have taken many decades; in fact the foundation stone was laid on 10th June 1873 with the completed building being ready for consecration on 4th November 1874. All the stone was brought by rail to sidings at Lea Bridge station and then along to the site by horse and cart. Often genuine medieval Gothic buildings involved mixing two different stones; a grey masonry being rough hewn and a lighter smooth stone for facing details. Unusually St. Saviour’s uses four different types of stone. Externally the rougher stone is Kentish ragstone with the detailing being in Tisbury stone. Internally Hassock (a kind of ragstone) is used to line the walls with all the dressings and detailing of the arches etc being in Bath stone. A feature of Gothic architecture is the use of pointed arches which carry the divide and carry the weight of the main walls and roof through their columns.The nave (the main body of the church) is built of five arcades supported by quatrefoil (ie 4-faced) piers of stone. They give a rather grand impression, although there is a rather clinical lack of relieving detail.

A view of the nave looking towards the west end. The ‘Gothic’ arcading and pillars can be clearly seen whilst light from above comes from tall windows at a higher level (known as a clerestory). Clear too is the modern canted roof which replaced the lofty Victorian original which was destroyed in the fire of 1945.

Did You Know? Scorch marks from a major fire in 1945 fire may still be seen on some of the pews.

St. Saviour’s tower with it’s broached spire dominates the skyline and was sited so as to make maximum impact when viewed from the major road and rail approaches to Walthamstow. The tower houses a peal of 8 bells cast by Warner& Co. of London. they were raised into position through the roof of the porch.

Did You Know ?
At 170 feet (52m) the church spire is taller than Nelson’s column!

The architect of St. Saviour’s, Francis Dolmanwas best known as an expert draughtsman and historian of medieval architecture. This knowledge and skill can be seen in the some of the original features which remain such as this external door on the north side which is an exact replica of a medieval original.

Did You Know?
Much of the black stone discolouration is not due to fire damage as many think, but atmospheric pollution

Victorian Glory

This is one of very few pictures which have survived showing the interior of the church before a disastrous fire in 1945 destroyed much of the original. There were stained glass windows above the altar, mosaics featuring gold leaf and lapis lazuli decoration and a superb mosaic floor in the chancel. All apart from a tiny fraction of mosaic on the wall of the sanctuary were lost. In fact trouble began earlier; by 1895 the chancel was unsafe due to ground movement and the original stone chancel and sanctuary arches were replaced by wooden ones. Sadly the 1945 fire also destroyed the fine lofty timber roof, organ and chancel screen.

The Lady Chapel

The Lady Chapel at the eastern end of the south aisle is not part of the original Victorian design which made no provision for additional altars. Created in 1927 as a memorial to a former Vicar, Canon Siddons, it is however the one place in the building where a sense of the original building may be gained. Much of this is thanks to the elaborate reredos (the screen behind the altar). Although damaged by smoke in 1945, the chapel survived the fire and the entire south aisle was blocked off and used for weekly services until repairs to the main church were completed in 1950. Shortly after the fire a wedding took place in the much-reduced space of the Lady Chapel but the furnishings still carried evidence of smoke damage. Fortunately the bride’s grandfather, Edward Hopkins who was a skilled gilding artist was able to clean and re-gild much of the woodwork in time for the big day! Today the Lady Chapel is used for private prayer and weekday services which generally attract smaller congregations and provides a welcoming and intimate space in this large building.

The refined detail of the gilded reredos behind the Lady chapel altar gives at least an impression of what was lost in the fire of 1945, although this work actually dates from 1927.

Stained Glass

St. Saviour’s has more stained glass than any other church inWalthamstow; most of it takes the form of memorials toformer members of the congregation, clergy or their families.The most beautiful was undoubtedly the windows at the eastend above the altar which were also destroyed in 1945.However, the three tall lancet windows in the west wall whichare by Heaton, Butler and Bayne are particularly fine.

The three stained glass windows on the west wall are without doubt the finest in the church and were in place at the consecration in 1874. The barrel vaults of the modern Narthex echoes the Gothic style of the rest of the church. It was added in the re-ordering of 1987-88 and was designed by John Burton.

The Parish War Memorial

Once it became apparent that the Great War would not be over by Christmas 1914 and as the extent and nature of the conflict became obvious, St. Saviour’s began a fund in order to erect a memorial to those who died serving in the armed forces. It was decided at an early stage that this should include all known fatalities of the war regardless of whether they attended the parish church. Funds were solicited at special bi-monthly collections which began in October 1915 and continued until November 1919. Initially the intention was to commission a large Calvary with flanking name panels to be situated in or near the Baptistery.

Although St. Saviour’s is situated in what has always been the poorest part of the town, significant sums were raised. However, in 1919 when a parish sub-committee was formed to progress the project the Vicar pointed out that very little had actually been done by the government to provide financial support to those who had lost breadwinners, or indeed who had been so badly wounded that they would be unable to work. It was therefore unanimously decided that “The most fitting and preferable action should be that this parish shall undertake to provide for those left bereft by the sacrifice of the menfolk through the provision of monetary support”.Consequently, small pensions were created using the funds which had been subscribed and these were topped up by several large anonymous donations. Several pensioners were still be being paid into the 1930s.

Meanwhile it was decided that the names of those who had fallen should be inscribed on a simple memorial which was designed and made by William Jones, a joiner and member of the congregation. The memorial was created as three panels framing lists of names surmounted by a small Calvary. Space was provided to support banners representing the three armed services, although these were removed many years ago.

The creation of the narthex at the west end of the church in the 1980s meant that the War Memorial along with several other features associated with the baptistery were effectively cut off from the body of the church and so the War memorial was moved from there to its present position near the Lady Chapel. In addition, a stained glass window featuring the figures of St.George and Christ costing £119 was dedicated by the Bishop of Colchester in 1919.

The War Memorial in its original position in1919 and the War Memorial window.

Did You Know?
Servicemen killed during the Great War (1914-1918) were not brought home for burial and so for many people the parish war memorial was the nearest thing they had to a grave to visit

Music and the Organ

Music has been an important part of the life of St. Saviour’s from the very start. A harmonium was used to lead services until June 1875 when a permanent pipe organ was installed. This was the work of ‘Father’ Henry Willis of Liverpool –probably the finest organ builder of his day. Sadly this original organ was also destroyed by fire in 1945 but by great good fortune another by the same builder was acquired from a church in Bacup. It is without doubt an important example of Willis’s work and acquits itself well both as an instrument to lead congregational singing and as a solo instrument. It has two manuals (keyboards) and pedals with 31 speaking stops.

One of the first churchwardens was John Read who was a wealthy stockbroker and professionally trained musician who played a major role in promoting music locally. Read ensured adequate funds were made available to pay good musicians –when John Cox was appointed as organist his salary of £26 per year exceeded that which he received for teaching in the parish school.

Another long-standing organist was Richard Lumsden who was first appointed in 1939 and apart from war service, remained in post until 1973. For much of the time the posts of organist and choirmaster were separated and a number of musicians served as choirmaster.

Almost as important as the organist in the early years was the organ blower. William Day was employed from 1874 until 1911 to both blow the organ and act as caretaker to the church and hall. At his retirement (when he was replaced at the organ bellows by an electric motor –which broke down after a year) Day remarked that “I’ve blowed for sixteen organists with Mr Cox, and one of them was a lady female”.

Initially the church supported a traditional choir of men and boys; it was only in the post-war years (and with strong reservations from the vicar) that the problem of recruiting boy choristers was solved by admitting women to the choir stalls.

At this, the choir took on a new lease of life and regularly enhanced the weekly services with music from ‘modern’ composers such as Herbert Howells and Cuthbert Bairstow alongside other established items from a cathedral-like repertoire.

Today a much smaller group of singers maintains the tradition of excellence providing musical enrichment to the services.

Did You Know?
The current organ was brought here in 1950 to replace one destroyed in the fire. Being built in 1870 it is actually older than the church!

The Great St. Saviour’s Fire

On 6th June 1945 shortly after an evening service had ended a passer-by noticed the church was alight. No one is certain how or where the fire actually started. A party for about 90 returned prisoners-of-war was being held in the church hall, at which the Mayor and Mayoress were guests. All the men present rushed to the church and managed to save some items from what was now a serious blaze. It was made worse when flames melted the gas meter and burning gas added to the chaos. Despite the efforts of the National Fire Service who used seven appliances and a turntable ladder, the main nave roof was destroyed and much of the remaining building damaged by heat and smoke.

Temporarily services were held in the south aisle, the arches separating the aisle and nave having been walled off.

The church interior after the debris from the fire had been cleared away. To the right the temporary wall between the side aisle and the nave can be seen. The fire caused much damage, but almost as much came from having to leave the building open to the elements until re-building could begin. Repairs were delayed by the post-war building licence system and work did not begin until November 1948

Rebuilding and Development

*The repaired chancel on 31 January 1950*

Whether or not to repair the church after the fire was never in doubt. There was debate as to whether a temporary or permanent repair would be best. Eventually it was decided that it would be better to do the job only once and that restoring the original roof would be impractical. Therefore the current much simpler roof was installed and repairs made to the chancel. The architects for the rebuilding were Wheeler, Humphrys & Hurst and the main contractors were The New Stone Restoration Company. The complete repair (including the organ) totalled £25,000. The Bishop of Barking consecrated the repaired building on 31stJanuary 1950, although the organ was not completed until March.

Changing liturgical fashions during the 1970s saw a move towards a number ofchurches experimenting with bringing the altar forward from its traditional eastern position. At St. Saviour’s the original altar was left in its original position, but the chancel was stripped of the choir stalls, the 1950 chancel screen removed and a carpet put down over the fine original mosaic floor and a modern altar introduced much closer to the congregation. The new altar was created by using parts of the displaced choir stalls and the new arrangements were The repaired chancel on 31 January 1950completed in 1988. At the same time the baptistery, original font and 16 pews were removed from the back of church and a meeting area created to the designs of John Burton.

Very unusually for an Anglican church a small relic of St Martin de Porres Velazquez was sealed into the new altar with considerable ceremony. As the patron saint of all those engaged in social care and for those working for racial harmony the relic is perhaps a helpful reminder for our diverse local community.

The sketch (left) by John Burton shows very much how this part of the church looked following re-ordering with the exception of the font which proved too large and heavy for use. Instead a font from Chignall St. James in Essex was obtained and can be seen today.

In 2012 Canon Steven Saxby re-instated the choir stalls to the chancel area and restored the primacy of the main altar. The altar containing the relic of St. Martin was placed in the north aisle and together with his statue from a discrete chapel in that area

The former main altar as it ls now in the north aisle and the font from Chignall St. James

Recovering The Splendour of St. Saviour’s

Thanks to the generosity of many funders, and in particular to a significant grant of £230,800 from theNational Lottery HeritageFund in 2018, we have had the opportunity to repair and equip the church for the twenty-first century whilst retaining and conserving the beauty and quality of this fine Grade II listed building. In particular we have been able to repair and re-tile the main nave roof, whilst also providing an entrance ramp improving access for all together with the installation of new, fully accessible toilet facilities. In addition we are now able to host small meetings for community groups in the repaired and refurbished sacristy. We can now comfortably host concerts, exhibitions, social functions and school visits. We hope you and our many other visitors will find the church to be better presented and more inviting as a place to spend time and linger. Baptism and wedding parties will find the church to be more comfortable and able to cater for today’s needs and expectations. Many, many individuals have also helped us to get where we are. Thank you to everyone. Neil Houghton, May 2019