Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church, Mile End Road. Roman Catholic church, 1901-3 by F.A. Walters. Perpendicular style. Red brick with Ancaster stone dressings, copper-sheathed fleche, slate roof not visible.
PLAN: aligned north-south, with liturgical east end to north. Entrance to right, beneath tower; presbytery (listed separately) to east. 3-bay nave: gallery at (liturgical) west end, Lady Chapel at (lit.) north-east; two-bay chancel.
EXTERIOR: Main (lit.) west end to street with large seven-light traceried window, set beneath a shouldered gable end. Four openings to crypt beneath. Blocked arched door way with crenellated parapet to left, main doorway to right, with moulded brick arch and Arts and Crafts-influenced bronze grille over, embellished with IHS monogram. Smaller arched doorway with grille to right. Triple arched niches with cusped heads over main entrance, the central one with stone canopy flanked with narrow lancet windows; crenellated hood mould of stone over. Single lancet opening with hood-mould above. Upper part of tower is octagonal, with crenellated parapet, slatted two-light belfry openings to main sides, blind brick arches to angles. Short fleche with pinnacle over.
INTERIOR: three-bay nave with gallery at west end. Moulded piers with broad moulded arches, clerestorey with pairs of plain leaded lights over. Open scissor-trussed roof, the trusses carried on brackets carved with angels holding shields embellished with sacred monograms. Chancel arch flanked on either side by stone niches with statues: to (lit.) north, St Thomas a Becket, to (lit.) south, St Dunstan. Stone pulpit to (lit.) north of arch in the Perp. Style, with relief of eagle to front set within blind tracery. Entrance to crypt to (lit.) south of chancel arch. Chancel with moulded piers; spandrels of arcade with stone reliefs of angels, holding shields decorated with instruments of the passion, coffered ceiling. Lady Chapel to (lit.) north, with organ over. Large crypt below comprising two main chambers.
FIXTURES: items of note include a rood sreen, inscribed REGNAVIT A LIGNA DEUS ('God ruled from the wood'). Panelled openwork altar by Earp and Hobbs. Tabernacle with enamelled gilt door. East window by N.H.J. Westlake, showing Christ in majesty flanked by the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, with SS Margaret of Scotland and Clare in the outer lights. Wrought iron gates to Lady Chapel and to crypt entrance by Bainbridge Reynolds. Total immersion font of stone, or recent date, in centre of nave, designed by Matteo del Preti.
HISTORY: this is the successor church to a mission chapel opened in 1868 by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Manning, which offered the first Catholic place or worship in this area. The present church was paid for by Lady Mary Howard in memory of her sister Lady Margaret; the foundation stone was laid in October 1901 and opened for worship on 25 March 1903. Its architect, F.A. Walters, was a late follower of the tenets of Pugin and one of the leading Roman Catholic architects of his generation; he is best known for his work at Buckfast Abbey, Devon.
Gwendoline Mary Herries, Lady Herries of Terregles was born on 11 January 1877. She was the daughter of Marmaduke Francis Constable-Maxwell, 11th Lord Herries of Terregles and Hon. Angela Mary Charlotte Fitzalan-Howard. She married Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk, son of Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk and Hon. Augusta Mary Mina Catherine Lyons, on 15 February 1904. She died on 28 August 1945 at age 68.
From 15 February 1904, her married name became Fitzalan-Howard. She succeeded to the title of 12th Lord Herries of Terregles on 5 October 1908. She was decorated with the award of the Grand Cross, Order of the Holy Sepulchre.