The Corpus of ROMANESQUE SCULPTURE in Britain & Ireland
Greater London (now)
Parish church
Bromley is a large town formerly in Kent, but now in Greater London. The medieval church was almost totally destroyed by wartime bombing in 1941 leaving only the tower, the earliest parts of which probably date from the 14thc. A new church, incorporating the tower, was built between 1948 and 1957 on a site adjacent to that of the old church. The only Romanesque sculpture remaining is the font bowl.
Parish church
East Ham, in the London Borough of Newham, is 2 miles N of the Thames and the Royal Albert Dock. Its High Street runs parallel to the A13, and immediately N of it, and the rubble-built church, surrounded by a large cemetery that is now designated as a nature reserve stands on the N side of the High Street. It is an imposing building with a tall, spacious nave, a chancel with the remains of intersecting arcading on the side walls, no chancel arch but a 12thc apse arch and a semicircular apse. On the S wall of the chancel are 2 low side windows, the westernmost equipped with a wooden shutter. There is a W tower, variously dated between the 13thc and the 16thc, and the 12thc W doorway to the nave is inside the tower. On the S side of the nave is a 12thc doorway protected by a porch. The church was dilapidated by the end of the 19thc, but was restored in 1891-96. Further restoration work took place in 1930 and more recently after in was damaged in the 2nd World War. Romanesque features described here are the W and S nave doorways, the chancel blind arcading, the apse arch and a corbel reset above the piscina on the S wall of the apse.
Parish church, former
Friern Barnet was once a small, rural parish 7 miles N of London. It's original name of Little Barnet distinguished it from the larger part of Barnet which was in Hertfordshire. The name of Freren Barnet did not appear before 1294 and reflected the lordship of the Brotherhood of Knights Hospitaller.
The former parish church of St James stands on the main N-S road through the village, now surrounded by 20thc housing but retaining a large wooded churchyard. It consists of a chancel with a N vestry, nave with S aisle and porch and a tower with a shingled spire at the SW. This arrangement is the result of a major restoration and enlargement in by W. G and E. Habershon in 1853, which increased the number of pews from 200 to 500. The original Norman church was a simple one consisting of nave and chancel with a S porch and a wooden W tower. The Habershons kept the 12thc S doorway but it is heavily restored. The 1853 tower collapsed in 1930 and was rebuilt on the same plan. In 1977 an octagonal parish room was added on the N side of the nave, accessed from the church via the N nave doorway. The restored and reset S doorway is the only Romanesque feature.
Parish church
Havering-atte-Bower is now an outlying village in the London borough of Havering, 3 miles N of Romford. The church of St John in the village centre was built by Basil Champneys on the site of the demolished medieval chapel of St Mary. St Mary's was demolished in 1876 and St John's was dedicated 2 years later. Champneys's church consists of a chancel with a N organ room and vestry, a nave with a 3-bay N aisle, and an embattled tower with a SW turret, sited on the S side of the nave at its W end. The building, in the Decorated style, is of brick faced with flint. The only Romanesque feature is the font from the old church.
Parish church
Harmondsworth is on the W edge of the traditional county, under a mile from the Buckinghamshire border. It is now in the S of the London Borough of Hillingdon. It retains some of its village character despite being squeezed between Heathrow airport to the S, the M25 to the W and the M4 to the N.
St Mary’s stands at the N end of the village, E of the celebrated late-medieval tithe barn. The church consists of a chancel with N aisle, nave with N and S aisles and a S porch, and a tower at the W end of the S aisle, alongside the porch. A 19thc vestry towards the W end of the N aisle now contains lavatories and is linked to a later 20thc flat-roofed parish room; extremely unprepossessing from the exterior but providing a large and surprisingly airy space for functions.
In detail, the three-bay S arcade of the nave, and the reset S doorway are the oldest parts, dating from the 12thc. The S aisle is shorter than the N, owing to the presence of the tower at its west end. The ground storey of the tower was formerly a baptistery and still contains an octagonal Purbeck font; originally 13thc but with a shiny new bowl. The 13thc N arcade is of three bays too, but the E bay has been partly replaced (see below). The chancel was rebuilt in 1396-98, after the church passed to Winchester College, and has a small S doorway and a three-bay N aisle with a four-centred arcade of c.1500 of which the two E bays form a Lady Chapel, and the third bay houses the organ. The chancel aisle is contiguous with the N nave aisle, and there was clearly an intention to extend the four-centred arcade of the chancel westwards to replace the older nave arcade, but this only reached the apex of nave bay 1. The upper storeys of the tower are of brick and date from c.1500; the tower is capped by a small cast-iron cupola. The S porch is 19thc. Construction is of flint with a good deal of ashlar rubble incorporated. Romanesque sculpture is found on the S doorway and the S nave arcade.
Parish church
Rainham is a suburban town in the London Borough of Havering, but traditionally in Essex. It is on the N bank of the Thames, E of Dagenham and separated from the river by Rainham Marshes. The church is in the old centre, and is the only medieval building still standing. 20thc expansion has largely proceeded to the W. St Helen and St Giles is a remarkably complete later 12thc church, consisting of a chancel, a nave with N and S aisles, and a S porch, and a W tower with some 12thc lancets and a replacement brick parapet with a pyramid roof. Construction is of flint and stone rubble with ashlar dressings. The church was restored by Rev. Ernest Geldart (1897-1910). Romanesque features covered here are the doorways in the N nave aisle and on either side of the chancel as well as the E oculus on the exterior, and inside, the nave arcades, chancel and tower arches, font and a piscina in the S nave aisle.
Parish church
Wennington is a small village in the London Borough of Havering, a mile N of the Thames, from which it is separated by Wennington Marshes, and between Rainham and Aveley on the N side of the A13. The church stands in the centre of the village, on the S side of the village street. It consists of a 13thc chancel to which a modern S organ chamber has been added, an aisled nave with a N porch, and a W tower. Construction is of flint and rubble with ashlar dressings and decorative flushwork on the chancel E wall, the N nave aisle parapet and the buttresses. The oldest feature here is an 11th - 12thc doorway, but this is reset in the E wall of the organ chamber. Otherwise the chancel is basically 13thc, the S aisle was 13thc but was destroyed and rebuilt in 1885-86, along with the organ chamber, under the direction of the Rev. Ernest Geldart of Rainham, who also designed the N porch. The N aisle was added in the 14thc, and the tower appears early in origin but contains no features earlier than the 14thc.
The only Romanesque feature here is the E organ chamber doorway.
Parish church
North Ockendon is now the eastrnmost settlement of Greater London and part of the Borough of Havering. Despite this the setting is a rural one, church and village being surrounded by arable land. It is half a mile outside the M25, 5 miles N of the Dartford Crossing and 8 miles W of Basildon. The village clusters around a junction of minor roads and the church is alongside a moated site, half a mile to the W. It consists of chancel, nave with S porch and a W tower; a complete medieval church infact, then on the N of the nave is an aisle, and on the N side of the chancel a chapel with important monuments of the Poyntz family. N of the Poyntz chapel is a 19thc vestry, and on the N side of the nave asle a large church hall added in 2003. The nave and chancel are 12thc in origin, and the W tower dates from the 15thc. The N aisle was added in the 13thc and the Poyntz chapel in the 14thc. Construction is of knapped flint, except for the tower, of ragstone rubble and flints in a rough chequerboard pattern. In a restoration of 1858 by Richard Armstrong, the flintwork was repolaced and the vestry added. The only 12thc sculpture is on the S nave doorway.
Parish church
Erith today is a town near Bexley, SE London, but formerly in the historic county of Kent. The church of St John the Baptist is one of six ancient churches in the area, located near a bend in the River Thames. It has a nave with aisles, a chancel and a W tower. Although most of the fabric is 13thc. or later, there is a selection of reset Romanesque material in the nave and tower.
Parish church
The church was built by Lewis Vulliamy in 1844 as a replacement for the old church of All Saints. In 1903 additions were made by Sir Arthur Blomfield at the E, and a S chapel was added in 1936 by N. F. Cachemaille-Day. The only Romanesque feature is the font, transferred from the old church.