Trinity Independent Chapel | |
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![]() The New Trinity Congregational Church 1951–present | |
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Location | London Borough of Tower Hamlets |
Country | United Kingdom |
Denomination | Charismatic Baptist, earlier Methodist and Congregationalist |
Architecture | |
Architect(s) | William Hosking and John Jay |
The Trinity Independent Chapel (also known as the Congregational or Methodist chapel) was an early Victorian church in Poplar. It was destroyed by a V-2 rocket hit during the Second World War, and later re-built in Modernist style. In the late 1990s the building was sold to the Calvary Charismatic Baptist Church, and since then has served as their Prayer Temple and international headquarters.
The Trinity Independent Chapel was designed in 1840–41 by William Hosking FSA, and built by John Jay. It occupied a site at the corner of East India Dock Road and Augusta Street (Annabel Close) in Poplar, in the Metropolitan Borough of Poplar, near the East India Docks. With its large, elegant frontage—a combination of Grecian and Italian Renaissance styles—directly facing the main road, this lavish building came to dominate its streetscene at a time when chapel architecture in the East London was generally low-key.
The design was financed by the shipyard owner George Green, a prominent local Congregationalist with non-denominational sympathies. Green and Hosking agreed to include a bell in their design, falling foul of the local Anglican clergy. The parish authorities knew of no previous independent meeting house that had incorporated a bell, so they instructed Green and Hosking to render the bell immobile and silent, to prevent it from competing with their parish church. Gradually, as chapel design came more and more to adopt Anglican church architecture (the two often being indistinguishable by the late Victorian era), the bell was allowed to be unfixed.
Green also contributed to many philanthropic causes in Poplar and Blackwall: "minister's house, sailors' home, schools, and almshouses", according to the Survey of London . [1] The Sailors' Home (later Board of Trade offices and other uses, converted into flats in the 1980s) was built at 133 East India Dock Road, beyond the Wesleyan Methodist "Queen Victoria Seaman's Rest". He also endowed George Green's School (1828), which was rebuilt as the George Green Centre at Island Gardens in 1974–1978.
In 1843, the Trinity Chapel Day School was established, also financed by George Green. In 1857, new buildings for 591 children were built in Upper New Street, but following the Elementary Education Act 1870, the school was transferred to the London School Board, who renamed it Upper North Street Board School, now called Mayflower Primary School. [2]
The first minister at Trinity Chapel was the Rev. George Smith (1803–1870), Secretary of the Congregational Union of England and Wales. His pink granite pedestal memorial can be seen today at the non-denominational Abney Park Cemetery in Stoke Newington.
Despite being at the heart of the industrial and commercial Port of London, the chapel's surroundings were enormously deprived even before they became a prime target of the 1940-1941 Blitz. Under the leadership of Rev William Dick (possibly the chapel's most noteworthy and influential minister in the 20th century), the chapel became a beacon of hope for the dispossessed and downtrodden, seeing its efforts to improve the local population's lives as an integral part of its Christian mission.
The chapel itself survived that first Blitz, only to be destroyed by a V-2 rocket hit in 1944. The only part to survive was the bell, which had been salvaged from the bombsite. Having rung in the old chapel for the last time on the morning war was declared in 1939, it was later recast, repaired and incorporated into the new church.
The chapel's replacement on the same site, the New Trinity Congregational Church, formed part of the Exhibition of Live Architecture for the Festival of Britain in 1951, as its site abutted the Lansbury Estate development (appropriately named after the Labour politician George Lansbury, who went to prison for dispersing local tax money directly to the needy rather than passing it on to the London County Council). The church was re-built somewhat experimentally in a bold and very modern post-war style, using new materials such as concrete, and new building techniques. Social work continued to be a priority for the church community.
Poplar is a district in East London, England, now part of the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Five miles (8 km) east of Charing Cross, it is part of the East End.
Bromley, commonly known as Bromley-by-Bow, is a district in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in East London, located on the western banks of the River Lea, in the Lower Lea Valley in East London.
Poplar was a local government district in the metropolitan area of London, England. It was formed as a district of the Metropolis in 1855 and became a metropolitan borough in the County of London in 1900. It comprised Poplar, Millwall, Bromley-by-Bow and Bow as well as Old Ford, Fish Island and Cubitt Town.
The Lansbury Estate is a large, historic council housing estate in Poplar and Bromley-by-Bow in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is named after George Lansbury, a Poplar councillor and Labour Party MP.
St Matthias Old Church is the modern name given to the Poplar Chapel built by the East India Company in 1654, in Poplar. The church is designated a Grade II* listed building.
Blackwall is an area of Poplar, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, East London. The neighbourhood includes Leamouth and the Coldharbour conservation area.
The North London Railway (NLR) company had lines connecting the northern suburbs of London with the East and West India Docks further east. The main east to west route is now part of London Overground's North London Line. Other NLR lines fell into disuse but were later revived as part of the Docklands Light Railway, and London Overground's East London Line. The company was originally called the East & West India Docks & Birmingham Junction Railway (E&WID&BJR) from its start in 1850, until 1853. In 1909, it entered into an agreement with the London and North Western Railway which introduced common management, and the NLR was taken over completely by the LNWR in 1922. The LNWR itself became part of the LMS from the start of 1923. The railways were nationalised in 1948 and most LMS lines, including the North London route, then came under the control of the London Midland Region of British Railways.
Bow is an area of east London, England, within the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, 4.6 miles (7.4 km) east of Charing Cross.
Leamouth is a locality in the Blackwall area of Poplar, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. The area takes its name from the former Leamouth Wharf and lies on the west side of the confluence of the Bow Creek stretch of the Lea, at its confluence with the River Thames.
William Hosking was an English writer, lecturer, and architect who had an important influence on the growth and development of London in Victorian times. He became the first Professor of Architecture at King's College London, and associated this discipline in a scholarly fashion with interests in town planning, civil engineering, history and antiquities.
All Saints Church, Poplar, is a church in Newby Place, Poplar, London Borough of Tower Hamlets, and is the Church of England parish church of Poplar. It was built in 1821–3 to serve the newly created parish.
South Bromley railway station was a former railway station in South Bromley, London, on the North London Railway between Bow and Poplar. It opened in 1884 but was closed in 1944 after bomb damage in the Blitz cut off the railway east of Dalston Junction.
Poplar (East India Road) was a railway station located on the East India Dock Road in Poplar, London. It was opened in 1866 by the North London Railway. It was the southern passenger terminus of the NLR, although goods trains ran on to connect to the London and Blackwall Railway (LBR) for the East India Docks or to the LBR's Millwall Extension Railway for the West India Docks.
Blackwall Yard is a small body of water that used to be a shipyard on the River Thames in Blackwall, engaged in ship building and later ship repairs for over 350 years. The yard closed in 1987.
Coldharbour is a street and wider conservation area in Blackwall, lying on the north bank of the River Thames, east of Canary Wharf. The area is said to be "[t]he sole remaining fragment of the old hamlet of Blackwall" and "one of the last examples of the narrow streets which once characterised the river's perimeter".
George Green was a ship builder from Blackwall, London.
John Perry was the founder of the Blackwall Yard, where he built ships largely for the East India Company.
East India Dock Road is a major arterial route from Limehouse to Canning Town in London. The road takes its name from the former East India Docks in the Port of London. To the west it becomes Commercial Road and to the east Newham Way. It forms part of the A13, a major road connecting the historic City of London to Tilbury and Southend.
Sir Henry Johnson was an English shipbuilder and politician who sat in the House of Commons in 1679. He was one of the leading commercial shipbuilders on the River Thames during the period of enormous mercantile expansion and the Dutch wars after the Restoration..
Mayflower Primary School is a primary school in the Poplar area of East London in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. Originating in 1843 and formerly called Upper North Street School, it was badly damaged in an air raid in 1917 during the First World War, resulting in the deaths of eighteen children. The school was rebuilt in 1928 and adopted its present name in 1952. The school was judged to be "outstanding" at an Ofsted inspection in 2017, and was awarded the title "Primary School of the Year" in 2020 by a national newspaper.