St Augustine's, Queen's Gate, is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

Queen's Gate Queen's Gate is a street in South Kensington, London, England. It runs south from Kensington Gardens' Queen's Gate (the edge of which gardens are here followed by Kensington Road) to Old Brompton Road, intersecting Cromwell Road. The street i ...

Brompton, London Brompton, sometimes called Old Brompton, survives in name as a Wards and electoral divisions of the United Kingdom, ward in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. Until the latter half of the 19th century it was a scattered vill ...

, England. The church was built in 1865, and the architect was

William Butterfield William Butterfield (7 September 1814 – 23 February 1900) was a British Gothic Revival architect and associated with the Oxford Movement (or Tractarian Movement). He is noted for his use of polychromy. Biography William Butterfield was bo ...

History

In 1865 the curate of

Holy Trinity, Brompton Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's Onslow Square and St Augustine's South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (''formerly ...

, the Reverend R. R. Chope, had a temporary iron church put up in his garden off Gloucester Road, and there he would conduct services which, for one writer of the time, were "the nearest approach to Romanism we have witnessed in an Anglican church … if indeed it be not very Popery itself under the thinnest guise of the Protestant name". Finding the temporary church inadequate, a group of influential members of his congregation approached the Church Commissioners later that year with a request for the formation of a new parish in

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

to be known as St Augustine's. They offered a 'benefaction' of £100 per annum, stipulating that the first incumbent should be Mr Chope. Retrieved 15 January 2016. As there was no shortage of churches in the neighbourhood, the

Bishop of London The bishop of London is the Ordinary (church officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of London in the Province of Canterbury. By custom the Bishop is also Dean of the Chapel Royal since 1723. The diocese covers of 17 boroughs o ...

, A. C. Tait, objected strongly to the proposal and it was not until after he became

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

in 1868 that a site was purchased and the new parish formed. It was a difficult site, for although plans had been formulated to extend Queen's Gate to

Old Brompton Road Old Brompton Road is a major street in the South Kensington district of The Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, London. It starts from South Kensington tube station, South Kensington Underground station and runs south-west, through a ma ...

, at this time the road went no further than the crossing of Harrington Road. Access to the site had to be made through what is today Reece Mews, and the church plan was aligned with this. This accounts for the strange angle the church presents today in relation to Queen's Gate. William Butterfield was appointed architect, and the estimated cost of his plan was £18,000. As there was not enough money, it was proposed to build the church in two stages. The

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and aisles were ready for services in 1871. The

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...

and

sanctuary A sanctuary, in its original meaning, is a sacred space, sacred place, such as a shrine, protected by ecclesiastical immunity. By the use of such places as a haven, by extension the term has come to be used for any place of safety. This seconda ...

were completed in 1876. The seating capacity was for 853 people.

Gerald Hocken Knight Gerald Hocken Knight (1908–1979) was a cathedral organist, who served at Canterbury Cathedral. Background Gerald Hocken Knight was born on 27 July 1908 in Par, Cornwall, the only son of Alwyne Knight of Par by his first wife Edith Harvey a ...

was organist of St Augustine's from 1931 to 1937.

Present day

In 2010, St Augustine's was joined with the neighbouring parish of

Holy Trinity Brompton Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's Onslow Square and St Augustine's South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (''formerly ...

(HTB). It was fully absorbed into its parish in March 2011, with the parish being renamed "Holy Trinity w St Paul, Onslow Sq and St Augustine, Sth Kensington". Unusually, given that HTB is a

charismatic Charisma () is a personal quality of magnetic charm, persuasion, or appeal. In the fields of sociology and political science, psychology, and management, the term ''charismatic'' describes a type of leadership. In Christian theology, the term ...

evangelical Anglican Evangelical Anglicanism or Evangelical Episcopalianism is a tradition or church party within Anglicanism that shares affinity with broader evangelicalism. Evangelical Anglicans share with other evangelicals the attributes of "conversionism, a ...

church, St Augustine's has "kept its Sung Eucharist, vestments and incense". It stands within the Modern Catholic

tradition A tradition is a system of beliefs or behaviors (folk custom) passed down within a group of people or society with symbolic meaning or special significance with origins in the past. A component of cultural expressions and folklore, common e ...

of the Church of England. The Revd Paul Cowley, a curate of HTB was assigned to St Augustine's as its '

pastor A pastor (abbreviated to "Ps","Pr", "Pstr.", "Ptr." or "Psa" (both singular), or "Ps" (plural)) is the leader of a Christianity, Christian congregation who also gives advice and counsel to people from the community or congregation. In Lutherani ...

'. He had no previous experience of

High Church A ''high church'' is a Christian Church whose beliefs and practices of Christian ecclesiology, Christian liturgy, liturgy, and Christian theology, theology emphasize "ritual, priestly authority, ndsacraments," and a standard liturgy. Although ...

Anglicanism, having trained for ordination at

Oak Hill College Oak Hill College is a conservative evangelical theological college located on Chase Side in Southgate, London, England. Its aim is to prepare men and women from the Church of England and Independent churches for ministry. Overview The College ...

conservative evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide, interdenominational movement within Protestant Christianity that emphasizes evangelism, or the preaching and spreading of the Christian go ...

theological college) and served as a minister of HTB (a charismatic evangelical church). Though he learnt the High Mass that was the main service of St Augustine's, he made a number of changes: a faculty was obtained to remove the pews and replace them with chairs but original pews as agreed with

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, a battlefield, medieval castles, Roman forts, historic industrial sites, Lis ...

are clearly on display in various parts of the building. Clergy from HTB wear albs and coloured stoles appropriate to the liturgical seasons to celebrate the weekly 11 am Sung Eucharist. There is also a service of Holy Communion at 9 am . A more informal, evening service was also introduced though this now takes place at

St Paul's, Onslow Square St Paul's, Onslow Square (known as HTB Onslow Square), is a Grade II listed Anglican church in Onslow Square, South Kensington, London, England. The church was built in 1860, and the architect was James Edmeston. Composer William Carter was ap ...

. In November 2018 the Revd Tom Jackson took over from Revd Paul Cowley. Under both these priests the congregation has flourished and grown and is an example to the rest of the church as to how different church traditions can happily and fruitfully coexist in a spirit of mutual understanding and respect.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Augustines Queens Gate Anglo-Catholic church buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Church of England church buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea Churches completed in 1865 1865 establishments in England 19th-century Church of England church buildings William Butterfield buildings St Augustine's, Queen's Gate Brick churches Romanesque Revival church buildings in England Holy Trinity Brompton plants Grade II* listed churches in London Grade II* listed buildings in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea