The church is a Grade II listed building. The entry at the
English Heritage website (visit
link) tells us:
"Anglican parish church. 1872-3 by George & Henry
Godwin.
MATERIALS: Built of rock-faced, snecked Kentish ragstone
with ashlar dressings, from the Doulting and Ham Hill Quarries in Somerset;
slate roofs, high to nave, formerly in grey and purple with terracotta cresting,
now surviving in these materials and fishscale patterns only on the octagonal
roofed baptistery; apex crosses.
PLAN: Plan of long nave, wide N and S aisles, SW
baptistry, and adjacent entrance lobby, N entrance lobby, SE vestry with
entrance lobby, NE tower, short chancel with apsidal sanctuary.
EXTERIOR: Largely Geometric tracery, but with lancets to
the clerestory, tower and basement and part of the tower; the aisle bays are
separated by buttresses with steep stepped coping and offsets, pilaster strips
to the clerestory; kneelers, raised coping, corbel table, sillbands and deep
sills, quatrefoil ventilators below the plinth. At SW is the polygonal vestry
with tall pyramidal roof; gabled porch-bay adjacent; aisle windows are 3-light
with trefoil tracery. At SE end of nave is a tall stack with offsets to the
decorative vestry chimney. Viewed from SE, the building is a complex of
steep-pitched gables and roofs - about 8 separate pitches discernible. By steps
to basement is a length of iron railing and a metal lamp standard. 5-sided apse
to the short chancel at E with similar windows, the bays separated by stepped
and gabled buttresses; visible above the chancel roof are 5 stepped lancets to
the nave gable apex. At NE is a 3-storey tower: Geometric tracery to the louvred
belfry; long unusually cusped tracery lights to the tower chamber; polygonal
staircase tower at NE with foliage cornice; its own gabled doorway adjacent.
Tall broached spire with gabled louvred openings to each face, possibly intended
for a clock at E. N elevation similar to S but with mid-way porch-bay. W front
has the one large window, of 5 lights, with deep Geometric tracery; further
windows above and below; together with W aisle windows, an asymmetrical
arrangement. Interior. Very wide combination of 6-bay nave and aisles. Interior
of brick currently whitewashed except to the nave arcade and clerestory which
reveals the original Kentish stock brick with red and blue relieving bricks and
fine tuck pointing. The nave arcade consists of rounded Hollington stone piers
in C13 style supporting deeply cut foliage capitals (each featuring a different
leaf) with coats of arms of each individual donor. The arches have an outer
chamfer moulding and two inner mouldings, the extrados of the arch in red, white
and black brick. In each spandrel stands a stone sculpture of figures of saints
and clerics, heroes of the Reformation in the Protestant Evangelical tradition:
on N from W Jan Huss, William Tyndale, St Alban, the prophet Isaiah, King David;
on S from E St Stephen, St Ignatius of Antioch, St Sebastian, Archbishop
Cranmer, Bishop Ridley. Aisle walls have boarded dado ; rectangular panelling to
E ends of the aisles. Roofs are dark-stained, raftered and boarded. The nave
roof trusses consist of an elaborate arrangement of 3 arched braces springing
from minor hammer-beams to each bay of the arcade (eleven in all), standing on
corbels and formed as scissors between the arches and apex; enriched by carved
panels of pierced tracery. The stone corbels are enriched with carvings and are
alternately set in the spandrels and over the arch-apexes of the arcade. Aisle
roofs are spanned by N/S trusses on carved corbels with much chamfering and
moulding to the tie beam supporting a triangular arched brace, and on the E/W
axis are arched braces supporting a purlin/ridge; black metal ties. The
sanctuary roof is simple arched braced supported on carved angel capitals, by
Boulton. Floors are boarded under the formerly fixed positions of the nave pews
(originally housing 1000 now largely removed - a few (numbered) remaining) with
surviving heating grilles and encaustic tiles by Minton Hollis and Co in black
red and yellow to the circulation areas. The chancel and sanctuary floors are
marble and alabaster (1938 by J Ernest Franck architect). Across the W end of
the nave is the towering wooden organ screen by W Aumonier with carved figures
of St Michael overcoming the dragon and angels with trumpets on the pipe-shades
and elaborate canopywork tracery. This was installed in 1920 as a memorial to
the dead of the First World War; a dignified plain wooden inscription plaque
with gilded lettering on the wall beneath. From it hang two early
chandelier-like brass lamps. At SW is the former baptistry now an office with
arcade entrance and fittings for brass gates, removed but reputedly in store.
Displaced and now in N nave is the very fine alabaster font, a kneeling angel
with scallop for the baptismal bowl, modelled on Thorwaldsen's Angel of Baptism
in Copenhagen; unsigned; a very fine and unusual example of mid C19
ecclesiastical sculpture. At NE is the remains of 1929 Memorial Chapel by AB
Knapp-Fisher, architect. At NE and SE, either side of chancel arch, are very
fine carved marble, alabaster and Caen stone pulpit and lectern, both by
Boulton. Pulpit, reached from sanctuary on quatrefoil enriched steps with brass
rail, has figures of saints and Martin Luther; fine carved architectural setting
of colonnades, carved capitals, angels in the spandrels, supporting trefoiled
and gabled crocketed canopies. The reading desk/lectern is a wide open-work
Gothic-arched alabaster desk with multiple coloured marble columns and 3 figures
of angels; a fourth angel supporting the lectern was formerly centrally placed
within the chancel arch. Five small stained glass lancets above; nearby plaque
records these and wrought iron cross as a WWI war memorial; the cross which
formerly hung within the chancel arch is now sited on the NW aisle wall. In the
S aisle at E is the alabaster frame of 1914-18 War Memorial with brass plaque
and fixed silver figure of Christ in Glory above. In N aisle a window to Mary
Louise Sargent, unsigned 1932; a window to Thomas and Helen Benyon, signed J
Pace 242 Fulham Road. Under the organ screen are 3 stained glass windows of
c1880 by Ward and Hughes. In N aisle a stained glass window c 1900 given by Sir
N M Bhownaggree signed Heaton, Butler and Bayne, London. Tablet to this donor
signed EE Geflowski. There is a tradition for commemorative brass plaques
throughout. The remaining clear glass is a post World War II replacement. Some
of the window masonry has been painted red. Chancel arch is wide, moulded,
pointed with outer billet moulding and very fine capitals of 3 carved
demi-angels with musical instruments. Three steps up to chancel, empty now
choir-stalls removed. In N recess the Norman and Hill organ of 1912. The chancel
is described as panelled and distempered in c 1935, as now. Sanctuary, two steps
up, is quite outstandingly elaborate. Alabaster altar rails with enriched brass
gates. A five-bay arcade in marble and alabaster, trefoil-headed gabled and
crocketed, stretches the length of the apse wall; the outer bays on each side
have paired sedilia ; flanking the altar on each side are paired panels with the
Ten Commandments to left and the Creed and Lords Prayer to right; in between are
figures of the Prophets Moses and Elijah under gabled niches. In the centre is
the 5-part reredos of a seated Christ flanked by the four Evangelists all under
paired gabled crocketed canopies with finials. Large wooden chest. Vestry at SE
with fireplace and fitted cupboards. History. A High Victorian Anglican parish
church built in 1872-3 by George Jnr and Henry Godwin, surveyors to the Gunter
Estate which gave the site, the last of three churches by these brothers in
Kensington. William Corbett and Alexander McClymont, the builders who leased the
surrounding Redcliffe Estate, were the patrons and trustees of the original
parish and in effect the developers. They were to meet the cost, estimated at
£6000 but actually £17000, and they were forced into bankruptcy in 1878.
Builders were Hill and Sons of Islington. The plentiful and high quality
sculpture, including reredos, pulpit, reading desk and apse arcade - and
probably the architectural sculpture also - was by Richard L Boulton of
Cheltenham. The nave figures of saints and Protestant Reformers were added 1889,
a gift of Revd W Handcock, the first vicar (formerly of Cheltenham) and
commemorated in the church. In 1929 -30 the chancel was 'redecorated and
panelled in oak...and a number of superfluous pews removed'. Original stained
glass in apse was given by Robert Gunter but was removed following war damage. A
notable High Victorian town church, within a contemporaneous setting, with
considerable Protestant iconographic interest. In spite of the loss of some of
the fittings and decoration from the interior, the ensemble remains of
considerable interest."
The church's website (visit link)
advises of service times:
"Sunday
11am
Our Sunday morning service is a time when we all
gather together and worship God with a variety of styles of prayer and worship.
The sunf worship is typically led by a band using a mix of contemporary and
traditional songs and occasionally organ-led traditional hymns.
6pm 'the six'
This is a new cafe style gathering with
food, practical teaching and sung
worship. The church looks very different
with comfortable sofa's to sit
on! There is also time given to ask questions
of the speaker. Launching on 27th March, and then happening every fourth Sunday
of every month."