Church of the Ascension, Victoria Docks

Last updated

Church of the Ascension Church-of-The-Ascension-Newham-geograph.org.uk-.jpg
Church of the Ascension

The Church of the Ascension, West Ham, or Church of the Ascension, Victoria Docks, is a Church of England church on Baxter Road in West Ham, east London. [1] It was first built in 1887 as a mission hall for St Luke's Church, later put under the charge of the Felsted School Mission, which prior to that had been working in Bromley. Between 1903 and 1907 a new church was built, with a separate parish split from St Luke's in 1905. The new parish opened a mission house for women workers in 1909.[ citation needed ]

From about 1924 writer Mabel Knowles led the St Luke's Mission Church in London's Victoria Docks. Knowles wrote more than 300 books during her life. She continued for leading the mission for 25 years, dying while preparing a mission service for women on 29 November 1949. [2]

During the Second World War clergy from the Church of the Ascension also served Sandon parish near Chelmsford, since its rector Eric Leicester Andrews had been captured by the Japanese during the fall of Singapore in 1942. [3] In 1961 the Church of the Ascension took on the area covered by the parish of St Matthew's Church, Custom House, which had been closed and deconsecrated the previous year. [4]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">London Borough of Newham</span> Inner Borough of London, England

The London Borough of Newham is a London borough created in 1965 by the London Government Act 1963. It covers an area previously administered by the Essex county boroughs of West Ham and East Ham, authorities that were both abolished by the same act. The name Newham reflects its creation and combines the compass points of the old borough names. Situated in the Inner London part of East London, Newham has a population of 387,576, which is the third highest of the London boroughs and also makes it the 16th most populous district in England. The local authority is Newham London Borough Council.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Custom House, Newham</span> Area in London, England

Custom House is an area in the London Borough of Newham, in East London, England.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St John Horsleydown</span>

St John Horsleydown was the Anglican parish church of Horsleydown in Bermondsey, South London. Built for the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches to the designs of Nicholas Hawksmoor and John James in 1726–1733, it was noted for its distinctive spire in the form of a tapering column.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mary's Church, Plaistow, Newham</span> Church of england church

St Mary's Church is a Church of England church in Plaistow in the (East-) London Borough of Newham. With the three churches of St Matthias’, St Martin's, and St Philip and St James’, it now forms part of the Parish of the Divine Compassion. Its Victorian building, designed by Sir Arthur William Blomfield in 1890-1894, was demolished in 1976. They now worship in a smaller church built in 1981.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Mark's Church, Silvertown</span> Former church in east London, now a music venue

St Mark's Church, Silvertown or St Mark's Church, Victoria Docks is a former church building in Silvertown in east London, located on North Woolwich Road. It takes one of its names from the nearby Royal Docks. It was listed as Grade II* in 1971 and now houses the Brick Lane Music Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Holy Trinity Church, Canning Town</span> Former church in greater London area

Holy Trinity Church was a Church of England parish church in Canning Town, east London. Its origins were in the Plaistow and Victoria Docks Mission, set up to serve the growing area of Hallsville by the vicar of St Mary's Church, Plaistow and Antonio Brady. It initially worshipped in the National School on Barking Road until the permanent church opened in 1867, with a parish formed for it the following year by parts of St Mary's and All Saints. Its advowson was initially vested in the bishop, but transferred to the Lord Chancellor in 1886 to allow the benefice of Holy Trinity to be supplemented from revenues from All Hallows Church, London Wall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Paul's Church, East Ham</span>

St Paul's Church, East Ham or St Paul's Church, Burges Road is a Church of England parish church in East Ham, Newham, east London.

St Michael and All Angels Church, Beckton Road, was a Church of England church in East Ham, east London. It opened as a mission of St Mary Magdalene's Church, East Ham in 1883 and immediately rebuilt after burning down three years later. A permanent church was built on a new site around 1906, funded by the Gas Light and Coke Company. A new mission district was formed for it about 1922, but the church was not rebuilt after bombing in 1941 during the London Blitz and ultimately the district was dissolved in 1952, to be merged back into St Mary's parish. St Michael's had also founded two mission churches of its own, St Mark's, Ferndale Street (c.1890) and St Andrew's, Roman Road (1934) - these both closed in 1952 when the district was dissolved.

St Alban's Church, Upton Park is a Church of England church in the Upton Park area of East Ham in east London, England, dedicated to Saint Alban. It was founded by St Stephen's Church as a mission church on Boleyn Road in the Upton Park area around 1889, replaced by a small brick church on Wakefield Street in 1897. It was given a parish of its own in 1903, in which year the nave and aisle of a new permanent church on the opposite side of the same street were completed. Vestries, a Lady Chapel and chancel were added in 1934. Damaged by the London Blitz in 1940, it was repaired in 1949 and now forms part of the East Ham Team Parish alongside St Mary Magdalene's Church, St Bartholomew's Church and St Edmund's Church.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Matthew's Church, Custom House</span>

St Matthew's Church, Custom House, was a Church of England church on Ethel Road in the Victoria Docks area of West Ham. It is named after its district, Custom House.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Luke's Church, Canning Town</span> Church in Newham, Greater London, UK

St Luke's Church, Canning Town or St Luke's Church, Victoria Docks is a Church of England church, originally housed in a building on Boyd Road in the Royal Docks area of West Ham in east London.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Christ Church, Stratford</span>

Christ Church, Stratford was a Church of England church on the corner of Union Street and High Street in Stratford, London. It was built in 1852 to serve the Stratford Marsh area and consecrated on 15 May that year. On 10 November 1852 it was assigned a separate parish, taken from that of All Saints Church, West Ham. The costs of construction and purchasing the site were partly met by Thomas Curtis. In 1882 it opened a mission on Ward Road, for which the church of St Aidan was built – it was begun in 1895, suffered bomb damage in the London Blitz and was closed in 1944. Christ Church celebrated its centenary in 1952 but was merged into the parish of St John's Church, Stratford in 1961 – the church site was bought by the local council and the building finally demolished in 1975, though the site remained undeveloped until works for the 2012 Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Paul's Church, Stratford</span>

St Paul's Church, Stratford is a Church of England church in Stratford, London. It had its origins in a Sunday School opened in Stratford New Town by a City Missionary around 1850, for which a building was constructed on Queen Street by Samuel Gurney in 1853, within the parish of St John's Church, Stratford. St John's vicar William Holloway was ambivalent about the mission and so friction arose when the vicar of All Saints, A J Ram, bought a site for the mission to build a church, initially an iron hall in 1859 and a permanent church in 1864, both dedicated to St Paul. The latter was built with assistance from Thomas Fowell Buxton and Raymond Pelly. The permanent church was then assigned a separate parish in 1865, split from that of St John's. The church was destroyed by a V-weapon in 1945, but was replaced by a new building, consecrated in 1953.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Andrew's Church, Plaistow</span>

St Andrew's Church was a Church of England church on Barking Road in Plaistow, east London. It began as a small mission built in 1860 on Whitwell Road by St Mary's Church, Plaistow. A permanent church designed by James Brooks opened in 1870 on a site just south of the northern outfall sewer embankment and a separate parish assigned to it the following year. A large central crossing tower with a pyramidal spire was planned but only completed as far as the ridge of the nave roof.

St Gabriel's Church, Canning Town was a Church of England church in Canning Town, east London. It originated as an undedicated iron church between the River Lea and the railway to the north of the Barking Road, on the site later used for the brick-built permanent church of St Gabriel's, consecrated in 1876. Initially a mission of All Saints Church, West Ham, it was given a parish of its own three years after the consecration, using parts of those of All Saints, St Mary's and St Andrew's. It was damaged in the London Blitz and demolished around 1955, with its parish split between St Matthias and St Luke's in 1961.

St Thomas's Church, West Ham, was a church in West Ham, East London. It originated around 1878 on Rokeby Street as a mission of All Saints Church, West Ham, initially in an iron building and then from 1889 in a brick one, which was assigned a parish from All Saints' in 1891. It was damaged by bombing, closed and finally demolished in 1957, though the parish existed until 1961, when it was merged back into that of All Saints.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">St Matthew's Church, West Ham</span>

St Matthew's Church is a Church of England church on Dyson Road in West Ham, east London. It originated in 1891 as a mission of All Saints Church, West Ham, designed to serve the area between West Ham Park and Romford Road. A permanent building was put up in 1896 and a separate parish formed the following year. It opened a mission of its own around 1900 in Vicarage Lane, which was destroyed by the London Blitz.

St Barnabas' Church, West Silvertown was a Church of England church in Silvertown, east London. It was opened in 1882 on Eastwood Road as a mission church of St Mark's Church, Silvertown. In the 1917 Silvertown explosion its chancel and iron hall were destroyed, leaving the church to use temporary buildings until the completion of a new church and the formation of a separate parish for it, both in 1926. The new parish was mainly drawn from St Mark's, though it also took a small part of the parish of St Luke's Church, Canning Town. The vicar of St John's Church, North Woolwich administered it after 1945. The parishes of St John, St Mark and St Barnabas were merged in 1974 to form the parish of North Woolwich with Silvertown.

St Cedd's Church was a Church of England church between Newham Way, and Chadwin Road, in Canning Town, east London, dedicated to Cedd, evangelist to Essex, in whose ceremonial county the church falls. Opened as a brick hall in 1903-1904 as a mission of St Andrew's Church, Plaistow, it had a mission district assigned using parts of the parishes of St Andrew's and St Luke's in 1905. That mission district was turned into a separate parish in 1936, for which a new redbrick church was completed in 1939. Part of the former parish of Holy Trinity Church was assigned to St Cedd's in 1961, though the latter is no longer an Anglican church. Fire damaged in 1995, it was restored and re-opened in 2007 to house the London Ghana Seventh-day Adventist congregation

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mabel Knowles</span> British popular writer, church worker (1875–1949)

Mabel Winifred Knowles who wrote as May Wynne and Lester Lurgan was a British popular writer and church worker. She wrote 100s of historic romances and books for children. She wrote a few sci-fi books including the book of the first British Sci Fi film. She gave 25 years to leading a mission in London.

References

  1. Ascension Church Centre, Victoria Docks - official site
  2. Mitchell, Sally (23 September 2004). Knowles, Mabel Winifred [pseuds. May Wynne, Lester Lurgan] (1875–1949), popular writer and church worker. Vol. 1. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/58982.
  3. "Essex Archives Online - Catalogue: T/Z 151/144".
  4. "West Ham: Churches - British History Online" . Retrieved 8 October 2016.

51°30′40.463″N0°2′14.449″E / 51.51123972°N 0.03734694°E / 51.51123972; 0.03734694