1823 - All Saints Church - Newby Place, Poplar, London, UK
N 51° 30.631 W 000° 00.679
30U E 707383 N 5710834
Building commenced in 1817 with the church being consecrated on 3rd July 1823. It is the consecration date that is being used here. The stone can be found on the rear of the church.
Waymark Code: WMFQ2A
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 11/16/2012
Views: 1
The building was
constructed as a church and retains that purpose today.
The inscription reads:
This parish church of All Saints Poplar Middlesex was
consecrated
on the third day of July MDCCCXXIII by the Right Reverend
Father in God
William Howley DD by Divine permission Lord Bishop of
London
the Reverend Samuel Hoole AM Rector
James Mountague Church Warden
and Treasurer James Carey Church Warden
Charles
Hollis
Thomas
Morris
Thomas
Horne
Builder
Builder
Vestry Clerk
The
Docklands Ringers website [
visit link
] tells us:
"The church was consecrated on July 3rd 1823 as the
parish church of the newly created parish of Poplar – it had been separated from
the parish of Stepney in 1817. The church was built at a total cost of £33,000
following an architectural competition in 1820 which attracted 36 entries. It
was funded largely from the parish rates and by loans from shipbuilder George
Green and John Stock, a magistrate and schoolmaster.
When building was completed the loans were
taken over by the West India Dock Company which, as the major ratepayer, had
insisted that it’s engineer John Rennie and Architect George Dance should
adjudicate on the six short listed competition entries. There is some mystery
over the, identity of the Architect. Charles Hollis, the man to whom the design
is attributed was a little known Architect: apart from a church and a bridge at
Windsor he does not seem to have carried out much public work, It has been
claimed on more than one occasion that All Saints was the work of Joseph Scoles,
a Roman Catholic, and in those more religiously bigotted days, ineligible to
participate in a competition to design an Anglican
church.
Is said that the design for All Saints was
exhibited subsequently under his name at the Royal Academy. However there is no
puzzle over who built the church. That was local builder Thomas Morris, who is
buried in the churchyard. The stone-faced church has a traditional Georgian
design in the style established by James Gibbs, architect of St. Martin in the
Fields when it was rebuilt between 1722 and1726. St. Martin’s became the model
for many 18th century churches both in England and America. Gibbs also designed
St. Mary-le-Strand and a new steeple for St. Clement Danes. Thus All Saints has
a tower at the West end sat behind a large portico.
No cost was spared in the finishing
touches. The churchyard and rectory garden were surrounded by ornate cast iron
railings set on a granite base which, at a cost of £3,649, were slightly more
expensive than the Rectory – that cost £3,635 1s. 1 d – very large sums of money
for that time despite the inflation caused by the Napoleonic Wars. The
architectural fee was £1,663. All this was included in the £33,000
total.
During the war the church vaults served as
air raid shelters. The church suffered blast damage from a rocket bomb, while a
drifting barrage balloon pulled the steeple out of a true line. In 1984-5 a
restoration programme funded by the London Docklands Development Corporation
included the cleaning and repair of the exterior of the whole
building."
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