Architecture

St Mary’s, Chislehurst

Paul Waddington looks at a church with a fascinating history

Chislehurst now forms part of the London Borough of Bromley, but in 1853, when the church of St Mary was built, it was a village in Kent. Prior to the building of the church, the Catholic population of Chislehurst would have been small, although a number of Irish immigrants had found employment as quarrymen and farm labourers in the surrounding area. In the year 1851, the newly formed Diocese of Southwark recognised the need to provide a Mass centre and was looking for a suitable location.

The solution was provided by one Captain Henry Bowden of the Scots Fusiliers, who lived in a large house (now a school) called The Coopers. Sunday Masses were offered at The Coopers, but it soon became apparent that a church was required. Captain Bowden again came to the rescue, donating a plot of land across the road from his home, and providing funds for the building of a church and presbytery. William Wardell was appointed as the architect, and building commenced in 1853. The church was opened by Bishop Grant in August 1854.

Wardell had been much influenced by Augustus Welby Pugin, who was his mentor and personal friend. The design that he produced for Chislehurst was modest, and typical of fifteenth century parish churches found in the area. Built from rough Kentish ragstone with ashlar dressings, it had no side aisles, but included a chancel under a lower roof line. The (liturgical) west gable is undecorated, except for two large two-light windows. The main entrance is via a somewhat hidden porch attached to the north side, although there is a smaller porch on the opposing south side. This smaller porch also gives access to the sacristy and the presbytery. A modest belfry is mounted above the chancel arch. Had Pugin lived to see the church built, it would surely have met with his approval.

William Wilkinson Wardell deserves more recognition as an architect than he is generally afforded. Born in 1823, into an Anglican family, he became interested in the Oxford Movement as a young man. He converted to Catholicism in 1843, at about the time when he was starting his architectural career. Over the next fifteen years, he was responsible for the design of several Catholic Churches in England, including, St Birinus in Dorchester, Our Lady Star of the Sea at Greenwich, Our Lady of Victories at Clapham and St Mary and St Michael in the East End of London.

In 1858, at the age of 35, Wardell, who had health problems, decided to remove himself and his growing family to Melbourne in Australia, where he gained the prestigious position of Government Architect for the State of Victoria. Besides his work for the government, Wardell developed a private business, and in the space of 20 years, designed St Patrick’s Cathedral and 14 other churches in the Melbourne area. In 1878, he moved to Sydney to take on the design of St Mary’s Cathedral. The two cathedrals were massive works and neither was completed until long after his death in 1899.

The Emperor Napoleon III

Life in the Chislehurst parish changed considerably in 1871 with the arrival from France of the exiled Emperor Napoleon III, with the Empress Eugenie and their son, the Crown Prince, Louis-Napoleon. By the time of his exile, the Emperor was in poor health, and he died two years later. His funeral was conducted at St Mary’s Church by Bishop Dannell, the second bishop of Southwark. Because there was little space in the church for a tomb, the sarcophagus was installed in the sacristy.

In 1874, the Empress commissioned Henry Clutton to build a mausoleum for her husband in the French Gothic style. This was attached to the northeast corner of the church and constructed of ashlar stone. It was considerably more decorated than the church having hooded windows, and a conspicuous parapet of open stonework around the base of the roof. Imperial eagles were mounted above each corner of the parapet, and finials were installed at the gable ends. The mausoleum was topped with an iron cross above the centre of the ridge.

The Crown Prince was also laid to rest in St Mary’s Church, following his death fighting for the British in the Zulu War of 1879. Still mourning the death of her husband, and distressed by the death of her son, the Empress decided that a grander family mausoleum was required. Due to insufficient land being available in Chislehurst, a new mausoleum was incorporated into the crypt of the Abbey Church of the monastery at Farnborough, which the Empress founded in 1881. The bodies of the Emperor and the Crown Prince were transferred there in 1888, allowing the mortuary to be repurposed as a chapel devoted to the Sacred Heart.

The church was improved in 1925 with the provision of a gallery at the western end, and the installation of a large organ. These, together with new stations of the cross and a wrought iron screen separating the church from the Sacred Heart chapel, were gifts of the Tiark family.

In common with many Catholic churches, St Mary’s suffered from some poor quality reordering following the Second Vatican Council. The white marble altar was separated from its matching reredos and moved forward. To accommodate this, new wooden altar steps were constructed in the sanctuary. These look out of place and make the already small sanctuary congested. The altar rails were removed, although a small portion was retained in the Sacred Heart chapel.

Stained glass

St Mary’s is fortunate to have a number of good quality stained glass windows, several of them by the Hardman Studio, but also four small panels depicting the Evangelists that were salvaged from Dunstable Priory. The rose window behind the altar depicting the Queen of Heaven with Child and surrounded by angels is also impressive. A recess in the south wall, flanked by pillars capped with suitably imperious crowns contains the former tomb and memorial to the Crown Prince. An effigy of the prince dressed in military uniform lies over the tomb, and there are plaques bearing appropriate inscriptions.

The chapel of the Sacred Heart is entered through a pair of round headed arches, separated by a double column with foliated capital. A mural in the spandrel depicts an imperial eagle above an elaborate letter N. The chapel has a stone rib vaulted ceiling, lancet windows to the north and a rose window at the west end. The chapel floor is covered in tiles displaying imperial eagles and the crowned letter N. These surround a black marble slab, marking the original position of Napoleon’s sarcophagus. There is a stone altar with canopy at the east end, and a modern statue of the Sacred Heart at the west end.

Nowadays, the octagonal stone baptismal font is housed in the chapel as is a wooden screen that serves as a confessional. The remaining section of the altar rail stands in front of an effigy of Christ emerging from the tomb and the Empress’s prie-dieu is also in the chapel.

Mention should also be made of the presbytery, which is built from materials and in a style that that matches the church. It seems that Wardell lavished as much attention on the presbytery as he did on the church. The presbytery, church, mausoleum and surrounding cemetery make a picturesque composition close to the centre of the old village of Chislehurst, and definitely justify their Grade II Listing.

The Parish Priest, Fr Lynch offers a Sung Tridentine Mass at St Mary’s Church every Sunday at 11am.