Patrick Comerford
Pimlico has more than 350 Grade II–listed buildings and many Grade II* listed churches. The churches I visited during my stroll around Pimlico and Belgravia this week include Saint Gabriel’s Church on Warwick Square, Saint Saviour’s Church on Saint George’s Square, and Saint Barnabas Church, Saint Barnabas Street, as well as Saint Peter’s Church on Eaton Square, Belgravia, known as Saint Peter’s Pimlico until the 1870s.
Saint Gabriel’s Church on Warwick Square is a parish church in the Anglo-Catholic tradition in the Deanery of Westminster (Saint Margaret) and the Diocese of London. The Grade II* listed church was designed by Thomas Cundy (junior) and was built in 1851-1853 as part of Thomas Cubitt’s development of the area on behalf of the Grosvenor Estate.
I wanted to visit Saint Gabriel’s Church to see its Decorated Gothic architecture, the windows by Charles Eamer Kempe, the mosaics by Antonio Salvati of Venice, the stalls designed by Bridgeman of Lichfield, and because of its social mission and witness within the Anglican tradition. Sadly, it was not open when I arrived on Thursday afternoon, and I only caught a glimpse, albeit a somewhat but static satisfactory glimpse, through the doors in the narthex at the west end.
In the early 19th century, Pimlico was part of the Parish of Saint George, Hanover Square, formed in 1725. The development of Belgravia, and subsequently Pimlico, by Thomas Cubitt, employed by the Grosvenor family began in the 1820s and gathered momentum. In 1827, the Parish of Saint Peter, Pimlico, was created out of which Saint Gabriel, Warwick Square, was carved in 1850.
Pimlico was rapidly expanding as a residential area between the 1840s to 1860s. Private legislation in 1850 provided that the new parish church would generate sufficient revenue from pew-rents to provide a repair fund, administrative expenses of the new parish, and a stipend for the incumbent. The principal local landlord, the Marquess of Westminster, granted £5,000 and the freehold of a plot at the south-west end of Warwick Square for building the new church.
The church was designed by the younger Thomas Cundy (1790-1867), who joined his father’s practice and succeeded him as surveyor of the Grosvenor Estate, working in that role during Thomas Cubitt’s development of Belgravia and Pimlico.
In later years Cundy worked mostly on building churches on the west side of London, including Holy Trinity Church, Paddington, Saint Paul’s Church, Knightsbridge, Saint Michael’s Church, Chester Square, and Saint Barnabas’s, Saint Saviour’s and Saint Gabriel’s in Pimlico.
Cundy designed Saint Gabriel’s in the Decorated Gothic style, and John Kelk was the building contractor. The cost of building the new church was partly raised by subscription, with £5,000 from the Marquess of Westminster, who also gave the freehold of the site.
The church originally had galleries on three sides around the nave and could seat 1,150 people. It was consecrated by Charles James Blomfield, Bishop of London, on 12 May 1852.
The spire was rebuilt and the choir vestry was added in 1887-1888 by the architect James Piers St Aubyn (1815-1895) and the chancel was substantially reordered and embellished in 1890-1897.
The church has a five-bay nave with clerestory, double aisles, the inner taller as lean-tos, the outer with individual gables bays. There is a lower, three-bay chancel, a gabled south-east chapel with a polygonal apse against south chancel wall, and a gabled vestry to north, with a taller gabled choir vestry beyond. There is also a south gabled porch, a west gabled porch or narthex, and a north porch below the south-west tower and spire.
The High Altar was designed by John Francis Bentley (1839-1902), the architect of Westminster Cathedral, and dedicated in 1890. It is of mahogany, with a carved panelled, painted and gilded frontal. The central panel shows Christ the King, flanked by Saint Gabriel and Saint Michael, and the outer panels angels against a gilded background.
The improvements in the chancel were funded mainly by Lord Edward Pelham-Clinton (1836-1907) as a memorial to his wife Matilda. They Including the reredos, chancel wall decoration, sedilia, communion rails, sanctuary and chancel paving. The floor is of red and white marble squares with solid marble steps, and the alabaster and Italianate mosaic designs are by James Powell and Company.
The East Window (1896) by Charles Eamer Kempe depicts Christ in Majesty surrounded by angels, apostles, saints and kings.
The Lady Chapel was added to the south of the chancel and some of the original reredos from the original high altar, thought to be by George Gilbert Scott, was installed there. The south-east chapel also includes former flanking panels from east chancel wall in stone and mosaic, by Salvati, and reset against the south wall.
The panel above the arch to the south-east chapel apse shows Christ with the Doctors, in coloured and gilded opus sectile and in a moulded and carved alabaster frame. The south chancel window (1896) with a nativity scene is also by Kempe.
The pulpit (1875) on the north side of the chancel arch was designed by JP St Aubyn. The organ case (1892-1893) is attributed to Arthur Bloomfield. The vicar’s stall and choir stalls (1897) are by Bridgeman of Lichfield. The elaborately carved foliated corbels are attributed to Samuel Cundy, Thomas Cundy’s nephew.
The outer aisles, west porch and south-east chapel were added in 1896-1897 by the architects Baker and Turrill.
Few alterations have taken place since then, although the church suffered damage from a World War II flying bomb on 29 July 1944.
Father Owen Higgs is the Vicar of Saint Gabriel’s, Pimlico. The regular Sunday services are: 8 am, Holy Communion (traditional language); 10:30 am, Sung Mass; 6 pm, Choral Evensong and Benediction. Choral Evensong is at 5:30 on Wednesdays.
Meanwhile, more in the days to come, hopefully, about my visits to Saint Saviour’s and Saint Peter’s during my stroll around Pimlico.
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