Works of Percy Bacon & Brothers

St Michael's & All Angels, Woolwich. Architects impression. John W. Walter architect. It seems Walter got the church's name wrong!.

St Michael's & All Angels, Woolwich. Architects impression. John W. Walter architect. It seems Walter got the church's name wrong!

Posted 28 August 2024.

The story of St Michael's is one of never quite getting there. Sitting on a hill south of Woolwich Dock station, the edifice is now sombre-looking. The first church on the site was the work of the Rev. Hugh Ryves Baker, a mission priest who had been sent to the area to minister to the urgent need of the parishes south of the Thames. In 1868 after land was made available on Borgard Road by Joseph Spencer of Blackheath,¹ and paid for by the Bishop of London's Fund, Rev. Baker erected an impromptu church built of timber and clad with corrugated iron. It was opened, appropriately enough, at Michaelmas.² The Rev. Baker also established a school next door, and a school remains to this day. In 1876-7 John W. Walters Arch^t. was commissioned to design a new church. His ambitious vision was for a high gothic Early English style of building, with a nave and equal width chancel, full-length south aisle, a south transept and tower offset to the (liturgical) north east above the organ chamber. On the south side flying buttresses were envisaged. In the event funds were only sufficient to build a chancel, chancel aisle, organ chamber and vestry, these to be in brick and Bath stone dressings. This seems to have been butted up against the iron church which continued to serve as a nave. The east lancets were filled with stained glass by Frederick Drake, and the choir stalls manufactured by Harry Hems, both of Exeter, indicating the Rev. Baker's connection with that city.

In 1886 plans were put in place to complete the nave, but instead of using John Walter's designs (Walter was now practicing in America) a new set was drawn up by William Butterfield. His design was simpler; the flying buttresses would go, and instead of pointed lancets in the clearstory large sexfoil "rose" windows would be inserted, reflecting Butterfield's High Victorian taste. This ultimately destroyed any harmony between the chancel and nave, a work judged by the reverend architect, Ernest Geldart as, "Butterfield's latest abomination".³ Geldart would later design the carved reredos in 1892. Funds were still tight despite Rev. Baker's best efforts, including appealing to the government on the basis that it liberally provided churches and chaplains for the nearby military garrisons but took "no cognizance of the multitude of labourers serving the state".⁴ Nave building works began in 1888 and continued into 1889, and although the north arcade was completed, the north aisle was omitted - in fact never to be completed - leaving a rather strange narrow corridor between the columns and the wall with a steeply pitched roof.³ Likewise the tower was never built, despite a modified design.

New tower design by W. D. Caröe.

The Builder of 15th April 1899 (p371) carried a piece by Mr. Caröe; "The chancel of this church was erected about eighteen years ago, from the designs of Mr Walters, [sic] who is now practicing in America. It is a brick groined structure. The nave is the design of Mr. Butterfield, and is a striking example of his methods - broad and simple in treatment and marked by two lofty western porches, with side walls extending to the full height of the clearstory, and thus forming western transepts. The tower, which will be at the junction of Mr. Walters' and Mr. Butterfield's work, has been designed to respect both and have at the same time a character of its own. The completion of the church has been stayed by the sudden and untimely death of the vicar, the Rev. Hugh R. Baker, to whose energy the carrying out of the work, so far, has been due. It has been suggested that the tower, which he was most eager to see finished, would form a fitting memorial to his work in the parish.
W. D. CARÖE.

being prepared by W. D. Caröe in 1898 after Butterfield's death. This was probably the last element commissioned by the Rev Baker who died on 8th December that very year.

The church was severely damaged during the second world war with all the windows being blown out, as well as some structural damage. In 2014 St Michael and All Angels was sold to a Ghanaian Pentecostal church, an irony given that the church's founder, the Rev. Hugh Baker, was a fervent Tractarian. The church today is known as the Jubilee Temple, part of the Church of Pentecost, UK.

A more comprehensive history of the church can be found in Survey of London, Vol 48, Ch 6 (pp298-302) published for English Heritage.

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In February 1899 Percy Bacon and Brothers would provide some decoration above the chancel arch. This was described in The Guardian thus:

The Church of England's page has a photo taken in 2000 which includes the paintings of five angels above the chancel arch, the central one being (presumably) St Michael. Also the Survey of London, on page 299, has a photo taken in 1967. These may still be in situ, and this page will be updated when more information comes to hand.

Later that year, Percy Bacon would return. On Friday 9th June 1899, The Woolwich Herald reported as follows:

The location of the lectern is not known, but may have been moved to St Mary Magdalene, Woolwich, when St Michael's was sold in 2014. Some items were sold or moved to other churches.

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1. Guillery, P. (Ed).Survey of London Vol 48. English Heritage 2012; pp298-301.
2. Canon Clarke, B. F. L. Central Institutions of the Church. Vol 14 pp41/42 (available at Lambeth Palace Library).
3. Guillery, P. Survey of London Vol 48. English Heritage 2012; p299.
4. Letter from Baron Addington published in the Greenwich and Deptford Observer, 20th July 1888, p6.
5. The Church of England's page has a detailed description and photo taken in 2000 of the interior of the church showing the incongruous north aisle.
6. History of St Michael & All Angels, Woolwich, with some photos. https://www.stmaryswoolwich.co.uk/page6.html.