St Mary Matfelon church, popularly known as St Mary's, Whitechapel, was a
Catholic
The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...
then after the
English Reformation
The English Reformation began in 16th-century England when the Church of England broke away first from the authority of the pope and bishops Oath_of_Supremacy, over the King and then from some doctrines and practices of the Catholic Church ...
a
Church of England parish church
A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...
on
Whitechapel Road,
Whitechapel
Whitechapel () is an area in London, England, and is located in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is in east London and part of the East End of London, East End. It is the location of Tower Hamlets Town Hall and therefore the borough tow ...
,
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
(in the county of
Middlesex
Middlesex (; abbreviation: Middx) is a Historic counties of England, former county in South East England, now mainly within Greater London. Its boundaries largely followed three rivers: the River Thames, Thames in the south, the River Lea, Le ...
until 1889). It is repeatedly supposed by many works and
oral histories
Oral history is the collection and study of historical information from
people, families, important events, or everyday life using audiotapes, videotapes, or transcriptions of planned interviews. These interviews are conducted with people who pa ...
that the church was covered in a lime
whitewash
Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...
, which gave the chapelry (district) its common name, Whitechapel. Around 1320, it became called Mary Matfelon. About that time it became a parish in its own right, but its priest for many years was a nominee of the
Rector of
Stepney
Stepney is an area in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets in the East End of London. Stepney is no longer officially defined, and is usually used to refer to a relatively small area. However, for much of its history the place name was applied to ...
. The church's earliest-known priest was Hugh de Fulbourne in 1329. Last rebuilt in the 19th century, the church was firebombed during
the Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
leading to its demolition in 1952. The nave's stone footprint and graveyard – its headstones removed – are the basis of
Altab Ali Park on the south side of the thoroughfare.
[Ben Weinreb and Christopher Hibbert (eds) (1983) "Whitechapel" in ''The London Encyclopaedia'': 955-6]
History
A building going by this name or its aliases stood for at least 670 years until its last form was demolished. For all or most of its time, the place of worship stood where Adler Street meets White Church Lane and Whitechapel High Street. The original form was the white chapel or, more formally, the chapel of St Mary, Stepney.
The white chapel stood by 1282 at some distance outside the bars at Aldgate, to which the high street leads.
[ It was created as a chapel-of-ease for a western tranche of that sprawling parish. The building was the nexus by 1320 of its own parish: St Mary Matfelon, Whitechapel, whose vicar and ]vicarage
A clergy house is the residence, or former residence, of one or more priests or Minister (Christianity), ministers of a given religion, serving as both a home and a base for the occupant's ministry. Residences of this type can have a variety of n ...
were reserved as the gift of the rector of Stepney.[ This was the second-oldest church in Stepney after St Dunstan's, Stepney.
The church's name may have commemorated a founder or benefactor with the surname Matfelon. A wine merchant named ''Richard Matefelun'' is recorded in the area in the 13th century.
In 1511, a parishioner, Richard Hunne, after a dispute with the priest over his infant son's funeral, sought to use the English ]common law
Common law (also known as judicial precedent, judge-made law, or case law) is the body of law primarily developed through judicial decisions rather than statutes. Although common law may incorporate certain statutes, it is largely based on prece ...
courts to challenge the church's authority. In response, church officials arrested him for trial in an ecclesiastical court
In organized Christianity, an ecclesiastical court, also called court Christian or court spiritual, is any of certain non-adversarial courts conducted by church-approved officials having jurisdiction mainly in spiritual or religious matters. Histo ...
on the capital charge of heresy
Heresy is any belief or theory that is strongly at variance with established beliefs or customs, particularly the accepted beliefs or religious law of a religious organization. A heretic is a proponent of heresy.
Heresy in Heresy in Christian ...
. In December 1514, while awaiting trial, Hunne was found dead in his cell, and murder by church officials was suspected.
By 1673, the historic definition of the parish of Stepney was divided into nine separate parishes. The third documented iteration of the church was built on the site largely at the expense of Octavius Coope MP; it was opened and re-consecrated on 2 February 1877.
In 1797, the body of sailor Richard Parker, hanged for his leading role in the Nore mutiny, was given a Christian burial at Whitechapel after his wife exhume
Burial, also known as interment or inhumation, is a method of final disposition whereby a dead body is placed into the ground, sometimes with objects. This is usually accomplished by excavating a pit or trench, placing the deceased and object ...
d it from the unconsecrated burial ground to which it was originally consigned. Crowds gathered to see the body before it was reburied.
On 26 August 1880, a fire devastated the church, leaving its thin tower, vestry
A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government of a parish in England, Wales and some English colony, English colonies. At their height, the vestries were the only form of local government in many places and spen ...
and church rooms intact. It was rebuilt and opened once more on 1 December 1882, this time with a capacity for 1,600 worshippers and including an external pulpit for sermons, some of which were given in Yiddish
Yiddish, historically Judeo-German, is a West Germanic language historically spoken by Ashkenazi Jews. It originated in 9th-century Central Europe, and provided the nascent Ashkenazi community with a vernacular based on High German fused with ...
.
Monkton Combe School near Bath, Somerset
Bath (Received Pronunciation, RP: , ) is a city in Somerset, England, known for and named after its Roman Baths (Bath), Roman-built baths. At the 2021 census, the population was 94,092. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, Bristol, River A ...
maintained a strong evangelical missionary relationship with this church, beginning in 1906 under the auspices of the then Rector, A. M. Robinson, an Old Monktonian. Old boys served as curates and ran the Boys' Club and the Men's Bible Classes. The school sent regular financial donations and other support to what they called the "Whitechapel Mission". The school's ''Monktonian Magazine'' of February 1911 has an article "An OM at Work" describing the church, its congregation, and mission in detail.[ It describes the school as "a kind of fairy godmother" to the boys.][''Monktonian Magazine'', February 1911, pp 187-189] In 1920 the mission transferred to St Luke's, Hackney.
During the Blitz
The Blitz (English: "flash") was a Nazi Germany, German bombing campaign against the United Kingdom, for eight months, from 7 September 1940 to 11 May 1941, during the Second World War.
Towards the end of the Battle of Britain in 1940, a co ...
, on 29 December 1940, a Luftwaffe
The Luftwaffe () was the aerial warfare, aerial-warfare branch of the before and during World War II. German Empire, Germany's military air arms during World War I, the of the Imperial German Army, Imperial Army and the of the Imperial Ge ...
fire raid destroyed the church. It was left in disrepair until it was demolished in 1952.
The site of the church became St Mary's Gardens in 1966; it is now a public park called Altab Ali Park; an outline of the footprint of the church is all that remains of it. Among those buried on the site are the mutineer Richard Parker, the hangman Richard Brandon, the philanthropist Sir John Cass
Sir John Cass (February 1661 – 5 July 1718) was an English merchant, Tories (British political party), Tory Member of Parliament of England, Parliament and philanthropist. He was also a key figure in the Royal African Company, which was invo ...
, and "Sir" Jeffrey Dunstan, the " Mayor of Garratt". The clockmaker Ahasuerus Fromanteel was buried at the church in 1693. The wildlife artist Marmaduke Cradock was buried there in 1717.
The 'White Chapel'
Whitewash
Whitewash, calcimine, kalsomine, calsomine, asbestis or lime paint is a type of paint made from slaked lime ( calcium hydroxide, Ca(OH)2) or chalk (calcium carbonate, CaCO3), sometimes known as "whiting". Various other additives are sometimes ...
made of lime and chalk was used to paint the outside of the original church in the Middle Ages, resulting in a bright white finish. It is commonly believed that this prompted locals to call it the 'white chapel'. The church's prominent position on the westerly junction of Whitechapel Road made it a landmark, and it became the name of the area.
Architecture
The "thoroughly repaired" late Stuart church (before its 1877 complete rebuilding) and some of its history are described in a book of 1829:
This church is of some antiquity, as appears by Hugh de Fulbourn being rector thereof in the year 1329. It was originally a chapel of ease to the church of St Dunstan, Stepney, and is supposed to have obtained the epithet of White from having been white-washed or plastered on the outside.
The first church erected on the spot after it ceased to be a chapel of ease of Stepney parish, was dedicated to St Mary Matfelon; a name which has given birth to many conjectures respecting its signification, but which is probably derived from the Hebrew
Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...
word Matfel, which signifies both a woman lately delivered of a son, and a woman carrying her infant son; either of which significations is applicable to the Virgin Mary
Mary was a first-century Jewish woman of Nazareth, the wife of Saint Joseph, Joseph and the mother of Jesus. She is an important figure of Christianity, venerated under titles of Mary, mother of Jesus, various titles such as Perpetual virginity ...
and her holy babe.
The old church being in a very ruinous condition, it was taken down in 1673, and the present edifice was soon after erected in its stead. This is a coarse and very irregular building; the body, which is formed of brick, and ornamented with stone rustic work at the corners, is ninety-three feet in length, sixty-three feet in breadth; and the height of the tower and turret is eighty feet. The principal door is ornamented with a kind of rustic pilasters, with cherubs’ heads by way of capitals, and a pediment above. The body is enlightened with a great number of windows, which are of various forms, and different sizes, a sort of Venetian, oval and square. The square windows have ill-proportioned circular pediments; and the oval, or more properly elliptic windows, some of which stand upright and others cross-ways, are surrounded with thick festoons. The steeple, which is of stone, rises above the principal door, and is crowned with a plain square battlement. It was sometime since thoroughly repaired.
Libellous altarpiece 1713
Richard Welton was admitted rector of St Mary's on 30 June 1697.[ Welton had strong Jacobite sympathies, and regarded the Whig clergymen as apostates.][ About the close of 1713 he had a new ]altarpiece
An altarpiece is a painting or sculpture, including relief, of religious subject matter made for placing at the back of or behind the altar of a Christian church. Though most commonly used for a single work of art such as a painting or sculpture, ...
placed in the church, representing the Last Supper.[ The painter, James Fellowes, was instructed to portray Bishop Burnet in the semblance of Judas Iscariot, but, fearing the consequences, he obtained permission to substitute Dean White Kennett with the words "The Dean the Traitor" underneath.][ ]John the Apostle
John the Apostle (; ; ), also known as Saint John the Beloved and, in Eastern Orthodox Christianity, Saint John the Theologian, was one of the Twelve Apostles of Jesus according to the New Testament. Generally listed as the youngest apostle, he ...
, depicted as a mere boy, was considered singularly like Prince James Edward, and Christ himself was identified by some with Henry Sacheverell.[ Crowds flocked to see the altarpiece, among them Mrs Kennett, who recognised her husband with indignant astonishment.][ Kennett took proceedings in the court of the bishop of London, John Robinson, and on 26 April 1714 obtained an order for its removal.]
Upon the death of the last Stuart monarch, Queen Anne, Welton refused to take the oath of allegiance to the new Hanoverian king George I in October 1714. He was therefore deprived of his offices on 3 March 1715.
Description of a Sunday service at St Mary's 1896
The following description of a Sunday service appeared in ''East London Sketches of Christian Work and Workers'' by Henry Walker, published by the Religious Tract Society in 1896:
The church of St Mary Matfelon - to give it the old historic name - is itself a message of beauty and graciousness in such a quarter. Its noble spire rises two hundred feet in height, far above the houses of the populous and struggling district around, a striking and commanding feature visible far and wide. The beautifully-toned bells are filling the air with their inviting peal. Through the crowded streets of loungers, well-to-do church-goers of the middle classes are wending their way to morning service. We enter with them, and find ourselves in a large, spacious, impressive, and richly-decorated building. The church, it should be said, is the grateful and lavish gift of a former parishioner: the lofty roof, richly-coloured walls, and the sculptures and stained-glass windows betoken alike the costliness of the offering and the giver's conception of a great church for East London. As St Mary's, Whitechapel, is one of the foremost in popularity and equipment for parish work, and one of the best attended of the great East End churches, everything that may account for its reputation will well deserve attention.
The church seats thirteen hundred people. The services are fully choral; the Psalms are chanted both morning and evening, the congregation being led by the surpliced choir. The musical service, though keeping pace with the increasing capacities of present-day congregations, is always well within congregational lines. The growing delight in singing as an act of common worship which now characterises all Christian denominations, and which is a great feature of all East London places of worship is indeed amply provided for at St Mary's, and that, too, in a way which shows how Evangelicalism is able without compromise to take full share of the latitude which is now so commonly assigned to congregational utterance in church.
Sunday evening at St Mary's is a still larger and more notable demonstration of church-going, and the scene is one of the most encouraging sights which East London can show. The church is filled with at least a thousand persons of the working and poorer classes of Whitechapel. The beautiful and impressive service is an experience not to be forgotten. The sermon, too, is redolent of the place and the people. In the evening the vicar applies himself to the actual circumstances and difficulties of the congregation he knows so well. Here it may be mentioned that the population of the parish is twenty thousand, and that every family of this large number, Jew and Gentile alike, is regularly visited by the rector and his assistant clergy. Mr. Sanders can accordingly put his hand at once on the ills amidst which his people live.
Mr. Sanders' picture of the underpaid industries of Whitechapel and the results in bodies and souls of the unfortunate workers contributes important data for a view of the problem from the Christian standpoint, and seldom have the responsibilities of society in this matter been stated with greater power and wiser sympathy. ...
Sunday afternoon is also an occasion for meetings in church for closer dealings with the industrial classes. The Pleasant Sunday Afternoon movement, in its higher aspects, has been commenced with much success. A gospel address from one of the clergy, the services of an excellent orchestra, reinforced by the fine organ of the church, with popular hymns and sacred solos, attract a class who seldom otherwise see the interior of a beautiful church, or hear sacred music in which they can join, or get into close personal touch with the clergy. The imprimatur which the rector of such a parish has freely given to this new development of the Sunday afternoon service is naturally felt in East London to be a great encouragement. Certainly in no part of London could crowded streets give a better mandate for these social gatherings as conducted at St Mary's.
Notable people
Thomas Lord Busby, a portrait artist and engraver, was baptised at St Mary’s in 1782.[''Register of Baptisms, St Mary’s, Whitechapel'']
Thomas Lord Busbey, 10 November 1782
ancestry.co.uk, accessed 30 July 2021
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Mary Matfelon
Mary
Buildings and structures completed in 1329
Buildings and structures demolished in 1952
Buildings and structures in Whitechapel
Former buildings and structures in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets
Mary
Former Church of England church buildings
Former churches in London