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 Emmanuel Church - Romford Road, London, UK
N 51° 32.768 E 000° 01.579
31U E 293817 N 5714751
Emmanuel church, built in Revival Gothic style, was constructed in 1852 to the designs of the architect Sir George Gilbert Scott. The church stands at the junction of Romford Road and Upton Lane in Forest Gate in east London.
Waymark Code: WM13Z3Z
Location: London, United Kingdom
Date Posted: 03/17/2021
Views: 1
Wikipedia
has a brief article about the church that tells us:
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Emmanuel Church, Forest
Gate is a Church of England church in Forest Gate, east London.
It was built in the Decorated Gothic Revival variant of the
neo-Gothic style in 1852 to designs by George Gilbert Scott and
a new parish formed for it from parts of All Saints Church, West
Ham and St Mary Magdalene's Church, East Ham. A north aisle was
added in 1890. Bomb damage from the London Blitz was repaired.
It was Grade II listed in 1984.
The church also set up the mission churches of St Saviour's
Church, Forest Gate in 1880 and St Mark's Church, Forest Gate
(which gained a permanent building between 1893 and 1898 and a
parish of its own (using parts of the parishes of Emmanuel and
All Saints) in 1894. In 1881 part of its parish was joined with
parts of those of All Saints Church, West Ham and St John's
Church, Stratford to form a parish for St James' Church, Forest
Gate.
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The church is Grade II listed with the entry at the
Historic England website advising:
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Church 1852. Sir George
Gilbert Scott. Decorated Gothic Revival style. Kentish ragstone.
Tiled roof to eaves. No clerestory. Perpendicular north aisle of
1890, the same height and width as original nave. Short tiled
broach spire over chancel arch. Lady Chapel to south side
balances organ chamber to north. Lean-to south aisle. South
porch. Aisles are buttressed. Low turretted north transept.
Vigourously foliated columns to 6-bay nave arcading.
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The British
History website further tells us:
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The church of EMMANUEL,
Forest Gate, Romford Road, was opened in 1852, and in the same
year a separate parish was formed from parts of West Ham (All
Saints) and East Ham, the advowson being vested alternately in
the vicars of those two parishes.
The building, erected at the expense of the Revd. T. Cornthwaite,
was designed by Sir Gilbert Scott in the Decorated style, using
Kentish ragstone. By 1889 it had been slightly enlarged and in
1890 the north aisle was rebuilt on a larger scale in the
Perpendicular style, forming a second nave with a new porch and
choir vestry.
The church suffered bomb damage during the Second World War, but
was repaired. Parts of the parish were transferred to those of
St. James (1881), St. Saviour (1884), All Saints, Forest Gate
(in East Ham) (1886), and St. Mark (1894).
About 1893 ritualism at Emmanuel caused some of its members, led
by a churchwarden, to secede and form a Free Church of England
in Earlham Grove. In 1962 the parish of St. Peter was united
with that of Emmanuel, the advowson being vested in the bishop.
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The
Britain Express website has an article about Sir George Gilbert Scott that
tells us:
Sir George Gilbert Scott was the founder
of a fantastically successful architectural dynasty, and probably
the most successful and prolific Victorian Gothic architect. Author
Simon Jenkins called Scott the 'unsung hero of British
architecture'.
Unsung, perhaps, because although his output was extraordinary - you
could say that no corner of Britain was left completely untouched by
Scott, and either directly or indirectly his style touched every
aspect of British life - his work was not always admired, even in
his own lifetime.
Scott was born in Gawcott, Buckinghamshire, the son of a poor
clergyman. He studied architecture with James Esmeston, then worked
in the offices of Henry Roberts and then with Sampson Kempthorne. He
was not well off, so Scott had trouble launching his own practice.
As a result, he found work where he could - much of it designing
workhouses and gaols.
His best known early design was Reading Gaol, later made famous in a
poem by Oscar Wilde. He travelled to France, studying Gothic
cathedrals and parochial churches. These studies helped form his own
vision of architecture, which was heavily influenced by French High
Gothic (1280-1340). Scott believed passionately in the Gothic
Revival; he thought that the Gothic style was the best, indeed, the
only, suitable style for both secular and ecclesiastical buildings.
Perhaps his most memorable early commission was not a building, but
The Martyr's Memorial in Oxford, his first real foray into Gothic
Revival design. The design, it must be said, looks for all the world
like a very ornate top to a church steeple.
His most important early church design was St Giles, Camberwell,
London (1841-4). St Giles established Scott's name as a Gothic
Revival architect and led to a commission to design the Church of St
Nicholas in Hamburg, Germany. Other major British commissions
followed, including town churches like St George's, Doncaster, and
St Matthias, Richmond.
Along with new designs came a huge quantity of work restoring older
churches. Here, Scott tended to have a heavy hand, sweeping away
original work and replacing it with his own meticulously crafted
'improved' Gothic. He was hired to oversee restoration work on many
of England's cathedrals and became Surveyor of the fabric for
Westminster Abbey.
It is not for a church that Scott's name is best remembered,
however, but for a London landmark. When Prince Albert, Queen
Victoria's beloved consort, died in 1861 it was decided to erect a
memorial to him in Kensington Gardens.
A design competition was held, and Scott's exquisitely gilded design
won. The Albert Memorial was built 1863-72. It would be hard to find
a more striking example of Victorian Gothic style. Scott's design
was a mix of Byzantine and medieval design, with a brooding
sculpture of the Prince beneath an ornate canopy decorated with
marble, precious metals, and enamel.
Scott's most prominent civic commission was the Foreign and War
Offices in Whitehall (now the Foreign and Commonwealth Offices).
Here he ran headlong into a stubborn Lord Palmerston, who insisted
on a neo-classical design. The argument provoked a public reaction
which might seem puzzling to modern eyes, but at the time it was a
real clash of values. In the end, Palmerston was victorious, and
Scott designed the buildings in the style of an Italian Renaissance
palace.
Scott died in 1878 and is buried in Westminster Abbey. Not too
shabby for a boy from a poor family. |
Architect: Sir George Gilbert Scott
Prize received: RIBA Royal Gold Medal
In what year: 1859
Website about the Architect: [Web Link]
Website about the building: [Web Link]
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