The Church of the Annunciation, Marble Arch, is a Church of England parish church in the Marble Arch district of

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. It is dedicated to the Annunciation to the Blessed Virgin Mary. It is a Gothic revival building designed by Sir

Walter Tapper Sir Walter John Tapper (21 April 1861 – 21 September 1935) was an English architect known for his work in the Gothic Revival style and a number of church buildings. He worked with some leading ecclesiastical architects of his day and was Presi ...

and built in 1912–1913. It is a

Grade II* listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Ir ...

. Worship at the Annunciation is

Anglo-Catholic Anglo-Catholicism comprises beliefs and practices that emphasise the Catholic heritage and identity of the various Anglican churches. The term was coined in the early 19th century, although movements emphasising the Catholic nature of Anglica ...

and is supported by a tradition of choral singing. The church is closely linked to a local primary school, Hampden Gurney School.

History

The Church is near Bryanston Square and

Montagu Square Montagu Square is a garden square in Marylebone, London. It is centred 550 metres north of Marble Arch and 440 m east of Edgware Road. Internally it spans by and is oriented on an axis of about NNW, an axis lasting for four block ...

in the neoclassical

Portman Estate The Portman Estate, covering 110 acres of Marylebone in London’s West End, was founded in 1532 when the land was first leased to Sir William Portman. The Portman Estate also has two rural estates in Buckinghamshire and Herefordshire. In add ...

area of London, which was developed by Henry William Portman in the 18th century. A chapel of ease called the Quebec Chapel was founded on the present site in 1787 to commemorate the Battle of Quebec. It is thought that this chapel was built on the site of the riding school of the Portman Barracks. By the early 20th century the chapel had fallen into disrepair and it was demolished in 1911. Among the priests-in-charge of the Quebec Chapel was the theologian and hymnodist, Henry Alford, who wrote the hymn "

Come, ye thankful people, come "Come, Ye Thankful People, Come" is an English Christian harvest festival hymn written in 1844 by Henry Alford. It is most often sung to the tune ''St. George's Windsor'' by George Job Elvey. History Alford wrote "Come, Ye Thankful People, Com ...

". The Annunciation Church has always been closely associated with the

movement started in the mid 19th century, and in the early part of the 20th century many of its adherents were strongly opposed to the growing

Ecumenical movement Ecumenism (), also spelled oecumenism, is the concept and principle that Christians who belong to different Christian denominations should work together to develop closer relationships among their churches and promote Christian unity. The adjec ...

. In May 1951 an

interdenominational Interdenominationalism is an evangelical Protestant movement of cooperation among various Christian denominations. History The movement has its origins in the founding of the London Missionary Society, a missionary society, in 1795 by variou ...

Christian rally was held in nearby Hyde Park to coincide with the launch of the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Historian Kenneth O. Morgan says the Festival was a "triumphant success" during which people: ...

. A number of Anglo-Catholic clergy and lay people, led by Rev. Hugh Ross Williamson, held a protest meeting at the Annunciation Church to express their opposition to Bishops of the Church of England sharing a platform with Methodists, Baptists and other Non-Conformist churches, organisations which, in their opinion, did "not accept the traditional Faith of the Church". In a signed letter, they expressed the concern that "the participation of the Church of England may give the additional impression that Roman Catholics are the only religious body which defend the full Catholic Faith." The poet John Betjeman was among the signatories; although he admitted to T. S. Eliot (a fellow Anglo-Catholic and a churchwarden of

St Stephen's, Gloucester Road St Stephen's Church, Gloucester Road, is a Grade II* listed Anglican church located on the corner of Gloucester Road and Southwell Gardens in South Kensington, London, England. History With the population of South Kensington expanding in the mid ...

) that he found the tone of the protest "somewhat extreme", he nevertheless declared "I have nailed my colours to the mast and cannot let down my co-signatories."

Rose Macaulay Dame Emilie Rose Macaulay, (1 August 1881 – 30 October 1958) was an English writer, most noted for her award-winning novel '' The Towers of Trebizond'', about a small Anglo-Catholic group crossing Turkey by camel. The story is seen as a spiritu ...

, a novelist, also commented on the protest at the Annunciation, expressing dismay at opposition to the rally.

Architecture

The present church was designed by the English architect Sir Walter Tapper and built in 1912–1913. Tapper was a pupil of

George Frederick Bodley George Frederick Bodley (14 March 182721 October 1907) was an English Gothic Revival architect. He was a pupil of Sir George Gilbert Scott, and worked in partnership with Thomas Garner for much of his career. He was one of the founders of Watt ...

, a leading designer of Mediæval revival architecture. It is a tall red brick church designed in the Late Gothic Revival (or Edwardian Gothic) style. It features stone dressings and

flying buttress The flying buttress (''arc-boutant'', arch buttress) is a specific form of buttress composed of an arch that extends from the upper portion of a wall to a pier of great mass, in order to convey lateral forces to the ground that are necessary to pu ...

es and a gabled bell tower. The single bell was cast in 1913 by

John Warner & Sons John Warner and Sons was a metalworks and bellfoundry based in various locations in the UK, established in 1739 and dissolved in 1949. Previous businesses A company was founded by Jacob Warner, a Quaker, in 1739 and originally produced water pu ...

of Spitalfields.

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

referred to the church in his ''

Buildings of England The Pevsner Architectural Guides are a series of guide books to the architecture of Great Britain and Ireland. Begun in the 1940s by the art historian Sir Nikolaus Pevsner, the 46 volumes of the original Buildings of England series were publish ...

'' as "a fragment of a major medieval church". The interior has a rood screen with a high triumphal crucifix over an arch that is thought to have been crafted by Robert Bridgeman of

Lichfield Lichfield () is a cathedral city and civil parish in Staffordshire, England. Lichfield is situated roughly south-east of the county town of Stafford, south-east of Rugeley, north-east of Walsall, north-west of Tamworth and south-west o ...

to designs by Tapper. The high altar reredos was designed by Tapper and made by

Jack Bewsey Jack may refer to: Places * Jack, Alabama, US, an unincorporated community * Jack, Missouri, US, an unincorporated community * Jack County, Texas, a county in Texas, USA People and fictional characters * Jack (given name), a male given name, ...

who also designed most of the stained glass. Around the nave are plaster cast Stations of the Cross designed by Aloïs de Beule of Ghent. The

lapidarium A lapidarium is a place where stone (Latin: ) monuments and fragments of archaeological interest are exhibited. They can include stone epigraphs; statues; architectural elements such as columns, cornices, and acroterions; bas reliefs, tombston ...

spanning the arch between the sanctuary and the Lady Chapel was designed by

Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin Augustus Welby Northmore Pugin ( ; 1 March 181214 September 1852) was an English architect, designer, artist and critic with French and, ultimately, Swiss origins. He is principally remembered for his pioneering role in the Gothic Revival st ...

and originally hung above the high altar of St Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham. The organ was built in 1915 by Sir Frederick Rothwell with a case also designed by Tapper. The organ underwent restoration by Bishop & Son organ builders in 1989. Statue outside the Church of the Annunciation in Bryanston Street - geograph

Statue outside the Church of the Annunciation in Bryanston Street - geograph

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Annunciation, Marble Arch 1913 establishments in England 20th-century Church of England church buildings

Marble Arch The Marble Arch is a 19th-century white marble-faced triumphal arch in London, England. The structure was designed by John Nash in 1827 to be the state entrance to the cour d'honneur of Buckingham Palace; it stood near the site of what is toda ...

Churches completed in 1913 Diocese of London Edwardian architecture in London Gothic Revival church buildings in London Grade II* listed churches in the City of Westminster Portman estate