The little hamlet on the south side of Blackheath had gradually expanded and by the 18th century thrived. Residents depended wholly on the pastoral ministrations of Greenwich St Alfege, Lee St Margaret, Charlton St Luke and Lewisham St Mary for their spiritual wellbeing. The estate chapels of St Michael’s on the Cator Estate and that of St John’s on Stratheden Road were too small to serve the community and by 1854 local voices demanded a new church.
In 1857 residents gained more than they had hoped, for the church was no longer to be simply a daughter church of Lewisham St Mary but a parish in its own right.
The Earl of Dartmouth, who made the land available, laid the foundation stone on 26 October 1857 and on All Saints’ Day the following year (1 November 1858) the Bishop of London came to consecrate the church.
For 10 years the church lay within the diocese of London until 1867, when the boundaries of the ancient diocese of Rochester were redrawn. As south London expanded in the later Victorian period, it was felt that a new diocese was needed to meet the demands of the population. With the creation of the diocese of Southwark in 1905, from parts of the sees of Rochester, Canterbury, London and Winchester, All Saints was added to the new diocese.
Much of the history is familiar. We learn that spiralling costs more than doubled the original estimates for Benjamin Ferrey’s church; the musical life was high enough that Sir Arthur Sullivan and Gustav Holst brought choirs here and the opera composer Alfred Cellier was organist; an early service (8am Holy Communion) was established in 1883, perpetual reservation of the sacrament in 1928 and requiem masses said.
Before the Second World War vicars had curates and the parish somehow coped during 1939-45 even when one vicar left to be with his family who had been evacuated, one was removed and a third had a nervous breakdown.
Throughout the church, her priests and people have continued to serve the community of Blackheath, standing as a witness to God’s presence and offering a beacon of hope in a busy world.
All Saints was built as the new parish church for the village of Blackheath. It stands on its own on the edge of the Heath and makes no attempt to relate to nearby buildings. It has Kentish rag surfaces and a spire on the south-west corner. Vestries (1890) and porch (1899) were added by A W Blomfield.
Benjamin Ferrey (1810-1880):
Born in Hampshire, Ferrey was a pupil and biographer of Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin. Pugin was Great Britain's foremost architect and designer of the nineteenth century, a man with extraordinary talent, verve and perspicacity. A man who believed in himself, and harboured a passion for Gothic and the Roman Catholic Church.
After a period on the Continent, under William Wilkins, Ferrey set up his own architectural practice in London in 1834. This practice grew to prodigious size, and Ferrey became an important establishment figure, for example being Hon. Secretary of Architects' Committee for the Houses of Parliament. He was Diocesian Architect for Bath and Wells, carrying out much restoration work on the Cathedral at Wells. He also designed and laid out parts of the town of Bournemouth. Ferrey's pupils included his son, Benjamin Ferrey Jr, and the late Victorian architect John Norton.
In London, his work includes several churches, including All Saints Blackheath, and the more centrally located St Stephen's, Rochester Row(1845-7) in Westminster.
He also designed Surrey churches at Shalford 1846, Kingswood 1848 and Esher 1853).
Parish church. 1857-8 by Benjamin Ferrey with vestry added 1890 and west porch added in 1899 by Sir Arthur Blomfield. Early English style. Built of coursed rubble Kentish ragstone with freestone dressings. Tiled roof with bands of plain and fishscale tiles. Nave, aisles, chancel with shorter aisles, north and west porches, north aisle chapel, south aisle organ chamber and south tower with spire. South tower of 2 stages with paired arched openings to bell stage and stone spire with lucarns. Buttresses. West front has to nave, triple trefoliated window with quatrefoil motifs and sexfoil above. West porch has central arched doorway flanked by lancets. Aisles each have one double arched trefoliated window with quatrefoil above. South aisle has 3 windows; 2 paired trefoils with quatrefoil above and central arched window with triple trefoil, partially obscured by 1890 flat-roofed vestry of 3 bays with trefoil windows. North aisle has 4 arched windows, 2 of each type. North porch comprises one large and one small gable, large with quatrefoil window and arched entrance, small with trefoil. Chancel east end has large arched window with hoodmoulding above 5 lancets with 3 circular openings above. Sides have quatrefoil windows. Chancel aisles have to east arched window with triple lancets and 2 quatrefoils above. Paired lancers to North and south. Interior has 5-bay nave with arcade comprising chamfered piers with stiffleaf capitals. Roof of arch-braced type with queen struts. Original pews, hexagonal carved pulpit with figures of the Evangelists and column-shaped stone font with font cover of 1917. Chancel has Murano mosaics of c1880. 1919 Memorial screen. Stained glass by Martin Travers in north aisle chapel.