A drawing of St
A Summary of the
Architectural Features
St Mary Magdalene Church, Woolwich stands at the end of a spur of high
ground, which reaches out northwards towards the River Thames. The churchyard
is now maintained by the London Borough of Greenwich as a public garden. The church was built between 1727 and 1739. The
builder was Matthew Spray, however the designer is not known. The church is
Grade B listed.
The church originally consisted of a nave with galleried aisles and a
western tower. The Chancel, Sanctuary, Organ Chamber, and Lady Chapel were
added in the 19th century. The Chancel by J. O. Scott dates from 1894. The
galleries and aisles were closed off to form offices and a cafeteria by Thomas
Ford in 1961. New vestries were added and the crypt was converted into a Youth
Club by Thomas Ford in 1965 and 1967 respectively.
The walls are constructed of stock bricks in line mortar. Copings,
cornices, window surrounds and plinth cappings are Portland stone. The buttress
capping and band courses in the newer work at the east end of the church are in
A
History of the Church
Written by Enid
Webb – and updated by the Rev. J. v. d. Valk
It is believed that there has been a church on this site since the 9th century or
even earlier. The church that existed prior to the present one was located nearer the River Thames and in Elizabethan
times, it had a spire. The spire eventually
fell down, and this was the first sign that all was
not well with the foundations.
It is hardly surprising that the former church fell down as sand had been dug
from the little hill on which the church had been
built for many years to be used as ballast in the boats on the river.
Money was obtained from a special fund dedicated to Queen Anne for building fifty
new churches in London* and the present building
was started in 1732. The church was completed in
1739 and dedicated on
The original building extended only as far as the wall by the
steps to the Choir and had a shallow recess for the altar. The altar was surrounded
by wooden panels; and on these was painted: the Ten Commandments, the Lord’s
Prayer, and the Apostles Creed, in gold lettering.
In 1894 the Choir, Sanctuary, and Lady Chapel were added and the panels
fitted around the Lady Chapel altar.
The organ was installed by Harrison & Harrison in 1900 and has three manuals and foot pedals. It is considered to be one of the
finest organs in the district.
The finances for the pulpit were raised by public subscription to commemorate the Diamond
Jubilee of Queen
There is a fine ring of eight bells in the tower; and the first recorded peel was in 1826. The bells were re-hung
in 1936, and our
architects advise us that
we should re-hang them again as soon as possible,
although this time lower down the tower in order
to save it from going the same way as the earlier spire! This would be a major operation and a costly one,
although it would be preferable to silencing the bells altogether.
As you walk round the church, you will be aware that the
galleries and the side aisles have been enclosed. This was done in the 1960’s
in two stages, first, to create a coffee bar on the river side of the church
and second, to create a meeting room/lounge on the garden side. This was
thought necessary after the Council demolished the Old Rectory and the Rectory
Room during the big clearance schemes of the 1960’s.
Church Youth
organizations met at St Mary’s
A few years later, again because of Council clearance and
rebuilding works, the Woolwich Council of Social Service’s lost its old house
in Rectory Place, and the side aisles of the church were enclosed to make
offices for this organization and another organization called ‘WELCARE’
(WELCARE continues to have a base in Woolwich, although in another part of the
town). At this time, an investigation was also made into the viability of
enlarging the crypt - which was under the organ and the Sanctuary - to see if
it could be used for youth activities. A small chapel that could be reached by
steps had been excavated during the 1939-45 war, but
this had headroom of only 5’ or less. The explorations found that the wall of
the church did go down as deep as the outer Crypt, so the crypt was expanded
under the east window. A flight of steps was added to give access to the Crypt
from the church garden.
A youth club and a folk club soon developed in the Crypt, and
meetings took place there several evenings a week. The Senior Citizens’ Club
quickly followed, and this continued to meet in the Crypt for 30 years. The
Crypt is now used by the St Mary’s Under 5’s Crèche, which is run as an
independent charity by full time staff and volunteers. The group meets five
days a week, and serves the children of families that are in need of support
and help.
Over the years, many different groups have used the church
rooms, many of them starting out from St Mary’s Church to help those in need
and moving on when they needed more space. At the moment three organizations
meet in the church. These are:
In 1965, the Rev. Derek Baker and the congregation of
St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Woolwich came to share St Mary’s Church when
their own building became unsafe. It was a case of a fully turned circle. For
in 1662, the Rev. John Hawkes, the Rector of St Mary’s Church, walked out of St
Mary’s to become the first Presbyterian Minister in Woolwich. St Andrew’s
Church still had the bible that he had taken with him and this was re-bound to
celebrate a ground breaking sharing agreement between the two churches in 1974. At first, St Andrew’s had a service each Sunday after the Anglican
service, but it was soon decided to have a joint service once a month and
finally it was decided to meet together every week.
St. Andrew’s Church did not come to St Mary’s empty handed! The
Nave Altar and the Celebrant and Preacher’s Chairs’ came with them. The
‘Burning Bush’ pulpit fall is from St. Andrew’s, as is the stone Font next to
the steps to the Choir. The altar in the Lady Chapel also came from St.
Andrew’s Church; and we have been delighted to make use of them all.
In the 1970’s St Andrew’s Presbyterian Church joined the United
Reformed Church, but continued to meet at St Mary’s. Sadly, due to declining
numbers, St Andrew’s Church was dissolved in 2001. But good relations between
our two denominations continue.
At the front of the nave you will see a beautiful statue of St.
Mary and the baby Jesus; in the Lady Chapel there is a small silver cross
behind the altar; and at the back of the Nave is a small wooden font. These all
came from the Chapel of the famous
There are many interesting brass and stone memorials in the Lady
Chapel, including one dedicated
to Emma Wholmes, who was the church’s organist
for many years. One of Emma’s relatives
was amongst the many people who were returning from
a day trip to Sheerness on the Princess Alice’ pleasure
steamer on the 3 September 1878, when a collision occurred with a collier
vessel, the Bywell Castle, a little way down the river from the Woolwich Ferry.
Five hundred and ninety-one people died in the collision, and a stain glass
window and brass plaque is dedicated to their memory in the room to the right
of the nave near the main door of the church.
The last
memorial to be placed in the Lady Chapel is dedicated to Henry Maudsley, the
great engineer. Henry designed his own tomb and was buried in it. It is near
the footpath towards the river. When some work had to be done in that area of
the churchyard some years ago, the Maudsley Society removed the tomb and put a
new memorial in the Lady Chapel.
St. Mary’s
Church has a huge coat of arms on the wall of the entrance porch. Also in the
porch, are lists of the previous Rectors of
Woolwich and of the ministers of St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church.
On the outside of the church, on the south
side, there is a sundial, but sadly this has
folded against the wall, and, because of the large
trees nearby, very
little sun gets through
to help us tell us the time!
If you carry on to the east end of the church, you will see the entrance to the crypt and below the east window a plaque
dating back to 1894. Turning towards the river, you cannot fail to see the large stone lion at the end of the path to your right. It is a memorial to Tom Cribb, the
famous bare fist fighter.
The memorial was paid for by public subscription. When Tom retired from the ring, he went to live with a son who had a bakery just along Woolwich High Street.
Many headstones from the graves in the churchyard were
repositioned against the wall of the churchyard when
the care of the gardens was handed over to the
Borough Council. The Council still looks after the garden today, and they have made it into a little oasis amid
all the blocks of flats in the area. The churchyard
still belongs to the church; and underneath the pleasant gardens still exist
the hundreds of graves of those buried in previous centuries.
At the front of the church is a
In the 1970’s, the former Parish of St Michael and All Angels
was added to the Parish of Woolwich. Hence, the present Parish of Woolwich is
now an amalgam of these three former parishes.
Links to other web sites with details
of the history of the Parish of Woolwich
*The Commissions for Building Fifty New Churches
To find out more about the 1911 Act of Parliament and Commission
that led to the building of St Mary Magdalene Church click on this link to
British History Online - http://www.british-history.ac.uk/source.asp?pubid=235
The Town of
Click here to visit
the Old Towns website to read about Woolwich in 1848.
The Hale Family of
To find out about the Hale family and their ancestors, many of
whom were baptized married and buried in St Mary Magdalene Church, Woolwich in
the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries click here.
The Pigot Family History of the Woolwich
area in the 1830’s
The Pigot family have here provided a
history of Woolwich and surrounding area in the 1830’s. Click here
to view.
