The church is Grade II listed and the
entry at the English Heritage website [visit
link] tells us:
"Parish church, 1905-08 by FH Greenaway and JE Newberry
in Arts and Crafts Gothic manner.
MATERIALS: Brown Crowborough brick with Chilmark stone
dressings. Welsh slate roofs. Interior originally of exposed yellow washed brick
with Corsham Bathstone dressings, but has been painted, probably over
limewash.
PLAN: A five-bay nave with broad aisles leads to a long
chancel in High Church manner. A shallow north transept (Lady Chapel) opens onto
the chancel, and a large south tower is in the position of an intended south
transept. Southwest gabled porch occupying a full bay. Crypt beneath
chancel.
EXTERIOR: A monumental east end and tower set on the
corner of the site overlooks Brockley Road. The robust square tower with
polygonal battered buttress turrets has an octagonal base to an intended turret
or spire, with flush chequerwork brick and limestone panels and horizontal stone
bands. The south face has three ground floor windows under recessed brick
arches, between brick buttress shafts but linked by a deep stone cill. The lower
stage is enriched by flush stone bands. Above is a tall tripartite window. The
bell chamber has narrow louvred lights with traceried heads. The east end has
battered angle buttresses linked at the head to the main building by a stone
saddle. A shallow east window is set high on the elevation between tall,
facetted shafts which run the full height of the building. Above it is a carved
stone niche containing the figure of St Hilda, by Albert H Hodge, under a gable
cross. To each side, and set below the level of the east window, are narrow
lancets under ogee stone heads with tall finials. The nave is strongly
horizontal, under deep swept eaves without a clerestorey, which brings the
roofline in scale with the neighbouring houses. Three triangular louvred roof
lights are set at the junction of the nave and aisles. The nave is in five bays,
with large windows each under a broad semicircular brick arch with a narrow tile
hood. Each has five lights of panel tracery, in an early C20 interpretation of a
traditional form, with blind panels to each side, and all have a continuous
stone cill. They are set between battered brick buttresses with stone dressings
at cill level. Under the easternmost window on the south side is an entrance set
back under a shallow stone arch. The westernmost bay is filled by a buttressed
gabled porch with a pair of doors on the east side, and a window of similar
profile to the nave windows on the south and west. In contrast with the tall,
enriched east face, the west elevation is relatively sparse with brick battered
buttresses with minimal stone dressings. The west window has panel tracery under
a slightly pointed arch. Aisle windows are shallow under broad semicircular
arches and similar to the nave windows. Rainwater heads are dated
1908.
INTERIOR: The nave arcade has tall simple octagonal
arches with chamfers which die into the piers, between narrow shafts which rise
to the wall plate. Aisles are wide and lead to the north transept and base of
the tower to the south. The chancel arch is similarly treated and frames a wide
but long chancel which was laid out in Anglo-Catholic tradition, with steps
rising to the chancel and again to the sanctuary. The chancel was enclosed by
low stone screens to each side which have been reduced, and the gates removed.
The chancel windows are small but have long deep sloping cills, said to reduce
glare from the morning sun, and allow for a tall reredos in a timber frame under
a shallow canopy and faced with fabric by William Morris, some of which
survives. The chancel floor is of Portland stone and green Westmorland slate;
the sanctuary floor and steps of Sicilian marble and green slate. Oak choir
stalls by JE Newberry have carved front panels. The pulpit also in oak is set
against the north chancel arch. Aisles and the north transept have some plain
dado panelling. The south wall of the nave has a cusped arcaded timber dado. The
font situated at the west end is octagonal with facetted run-out shafts on a
plain octagonal stepped base, and has a plain octagonal honey - coloured
alabaster bowl. Nave, aisle and transept floors are of woodblock, parquet and
large red tiles. The nave roof is scissor-braced with side wind - braces, aisle
roofs have simple trusses, and the chancel roof is boarded with canted ribs.
Internal doors are of oak, generally segmental-headed and some with small
square-paned leaded glazing. Windows have square leaded lights, mostly with
clear glass, and cast iron fittings. Chancel stained glass is by Henry Holliday.
The organ loft is set above the south side of the chancel over a narrow
ambulatory, the organ in the north transept. Fittings include oak and aluminium
altar cross and candlesticks designed by Newberry, made by the Artificers'
Guild. The nave is seated with chairs which were installed in 1910. The crypt,
the first part of the church to be built in 1905, housed vestries and a chapel.
It was refurbished in the 1970s. Apart from the porch, which retains the
original brick and stone finishes, all internal brickwork and most stonework has
been lime-washed (1950s) and painted (1970s). Flat-roofed offices and meeting
rooms, which are removable, have been inserted into the western two bays of the
aisles.
HISTORY: The church is an unusual dedication to St
Hilda. It was designed by FH Greenaway and JE Newberry and built 1905-8 on a
corner site adjacent to a mission church, now the church hall. The church hall
was designed by Newberry in Arts and Crafts manner and built 1899-1900. An
illustration from the Builder, March 1908 shows both buildings, although the
design for the church tower was subsequently altered and the fleche omitted.
After the offer of a generous donation, the tower was commissioned by the parish
committee, but its height was determined by its position, on the footings of the
already planned south transept.
St Hilda's was the first of a group of churches built by
the partnership for the Diocese of Southwark and is probably the most notable
church by Greenaway and Newberry, inspiring the later St Martin's, Dagenham by
Newberry and Fowler of 1932. The church is an example of Arts and Crafts ideas,
imposed on a Gothic form, to produce a building which is a rich synthesis of
later C19 secular and church design, inspired by a wide range of architects and
seminal buildings, such as the demolished St Agnes Kennington of 1874-7 by GG
Scott Junior. It is considered to be one of the best Edwardian churches in
London, interpreting traditional form and detail in an innovative
manner.
FH Greenaway (1869-1935) was articled to Sir Aston Webb,
JE Newberry (1862-1950) to Edward Hide. They went into partnership in 1904. The
work of both architects reflects the rich diversity in later C19 church
architecture. Other early C20 church work by Greenaway and Newberry includes the
church hall at St Faith, Herne Hill, 1907, the enlargement of the medieval
church of St Nicholas, Plumpstead, 1907- 08, (Grade II), All Saints Hampton,
1908 but completed later, St Peter Haydon's Road, Wimbledon, 1911-12 but
incomplete, and St John the Baptist Sutton, 1915. After Greenaway retired in
1927 Newberry entered into partnership with CW Fowler and retired in
1946.
SOURCES: B Cherry and N Pevsner, Buildings of England,
London 2: South, 1994, p414 Gavin Stamp, The church of St Hilda Crofton Park,
Ecclesiology Today, July 2008, p77. The Builder, March 28, 1908
http//www.croftonpark.com/sainthildas/archive
Reasons for Designation: The Church of St Hilda Crofton
Park built 1905-8 by FH Greenaway and JE Newberry is listed for the following
principal reasons: * It is an ambitious example of an Arts and Crafts Gothic
Edwardian suburban parish church. * It is probably the most notable example of a
church by Greenaway and Newberry."
The church's website [visit link] advises of
the times of services:
"Sunday
8.30 am: Said Mass ( Holy
Communion)
10.10 am: Solemn Mass (Sung Eucharist with Incense)
with & Junior Church in term times
Thursdays
8pm -9pm: Mass, with discussion,
bible study, or spiritual programme
Principle Holy Days: generally 8pm enquire at
office or by email to ascertain
Holy Week
Maudy Thursday
8pm: Liturgy of
the Last supper etc
Good Friday
3pm: Liturgy of Our Lord’s Passion and
Death
Easter Day
6am: Vigil and First
Mass
8.30: Holy Communion
10.15: Solemn Eucharist with Renewal
of Baptismal vows
Christmas Services
Christmas Eve
5.30: The
Children’s Crib Service
11.30pm: Midnight Mass,
and blessing of the Crib 24th Dec 11.30pm - 25th Dec 12.45am, ie come
on the evening of 24th ( yes we have had people come at
midnight on the 25th before)
Chritsmas Day Sunday 25th December
11.00am: Christmas Morning Mass – children’
welcome"