St Mary on Paddington Green Church

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St Mary on Paddington Green
St Mary on Paddington Green Church side entrance.jpg
St Mary on Paddington Green Church
51°31′13″N0°10′31″W / 51.5204°N 0.1753°W / 51.5204; -0.1753
Location Little Venice, London, W2 1NB
CountryEngland
Denomination Church of England
Churchmanship Anglo-Catholic
Website parishoflittlevenice.com
History
StatusActive
Architecture
Functional status Parish Church
Administration
Diocese Diocese of London
Episcopal areaTwo Cities (London and Westminster)
Archdeaconry Archdeaconry of Charing Cross
Deanery Westminster Paddington
Parish Little Venice
Clergy
Bishop(s) The Rt Revd Sarah Mullally (Bishop of London)
Vicar(s) Fr Christopher Stoltz
Assistant priest(s) Fr Andrew Norwood
Laity
Director of music Jonathan Cunliffe
Churchwarden(s) Miles Williams and Anthony Kyrke-Smith

St Mary on Paddington Green is an Anglican church in the Parish of Little Venice, London, and forms part of Paddington Green conservation area. Today it stands at the junction of Edgware Road and Harrow Road, overlooking the East end of Westway and the approaches to Marylebone Flyover, so seen by tens of thousands of motorists daily. [1]

Contents

History

The present building is the third church on the site, once forming a centrepiece of the ancient villages of Paddington and Lilestone. John Donne preached his first sermon in the original church and William Hogarth was married in the second. [2]

View to church from Paddington Green St Mary on Paddington Green with grounds.jpg
View to church from Paddington Green

The current Georgian church was commissioned in 1788 and consecrated in 1791. Designed by John Plaw with a Greek Cross ground plan, in yellow London stock brick dressed with white stone. It is one of two confirmed surviving buildings by Plaw in the UK, along with Belle Isle on Windermere. [3] A further building in Romford, known as The Round House, has been attributed to him. [4] John Plaw later worked in Southampton before emigrating to Canada, where he designed several public and private buildings. [5]

The church was altered in the 19th century but was restored to its mid-Georgian appearance by architect Raymond Erith in the early 1970s using some of the compensation for the construction of the urban motorway Westway, alongside the church. Restoration included the chancel being reinstated in its original form, the nave reseated with box pews and the organ moved to the West end. [6] The organ case is dedicated as a memorial to Erith. [2] The church houses monuments to some of the area's residents, including sculptor Joseph Nollekens and lexicographer Peter Mark Roget.

Gravestones in St Mary's Gardens St Mary on Paddington Green - graves in former burial ground, now St Mary's Gardens.jpg
Gravestones in St Mary's Gardens

St Mary’s Churchyard

The adjoining churchyard was converted to a public park in the 1890s and is now known as St Mary's Gardens. It consists of grass with scattered trees. The grave of well-known 18th-century actress Sarah Siddons is located towards the northern end. Some headstones from the former churchyard are stacked against the west wall of the Gardens. [7]

St Mary's Gardens showing view to City of Westminster College St Mary on Paddington Green, adjoining St Mary's Gardens (former burial ground) with view to City of Westminster College.jpg
St Mary's Gardens showing view to City of Westminster College

The southern part of the churchyard was destroyed to make way for the approaches to Marylebone Flyover in 1968, with exhumed burials being reinterred in an area of Mill Hill Cemetery and marked with a plaque. [7]

St Mary's Paddington Green, Reburials in Mill Hill Cemetery, London St Mary's Paddington Green Reburials.JPG
St Mary's Paddington Green, Reburials in Mill Hill Cemetery, London

Notable burials

Remaining churchyard

St Mary's Gardens

References

  1. ↑ A Church Near You. "St Mary-on-Paddington Green, Paddington Green – London | Diocese of London". Achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  2. 1 2 Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert, The London Encyclopaedia, Papermac, 1987, p. 743
  3. ↑ "The Parish of Little Venice". The Parish of Little Venice. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  4. ↑ "Open House | Site Details – The Round House". Londonopenhouse.org. 20 August 2010. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  5. ↑ "Historic Properties Online: John Plaw". Gov.pe.ca. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Lucy Archer, "Raymond Erith, Architect", 1985, p.205, ISBN 0907435041
  7. 1 2 "Westminster City Council – Paddington Green and St Mary's Churchyard". Westminster.gov.uk. 8 January 2009. Retrieved 15 January 2014.
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