Description

This list entry was subject to a Minor Amendment on 15/01/2016

TQ2883NE
798-1/76/157

CAMDEN,
CAMDEN ROAD (North side),
Church of St Michael

10/06/54

II*

Church. Nave & aisles 1880-1, chancel 1893-4 by GF Bodley and T Garner. Vestries added 1908. Yellow stock brick with stone dressings; tiled roof. 7-bay aisled nave with clerestory and sanctuary. Decorated Gothic style. North-south orientated.
EXTERIOR: entrance on (liturgical) north facade, where tower originally intended. Liturgical west end fronting road with pointed 5-light traceried window above which a belfry in the gable apex; stone and brick bands flanking window and clasping buttresses at angles. Flanking aisle ends with pointed 2-light traceried windows, right hand with ogee doorway and hood-mould. Flying buttresses over aisles, above which a pointed 3-light traceried window to each bay. Projecting vestries at (liturgical) south-east corner. INTERIOR: of stone with continuous, stenciled waggon roof to nave and chancel, vaulted above north chapel, from liturgical east to west broken by stone arches (necessitating the external flying buttresses). 5-bay nave with aisles, 3-bay chancel with shorter north chapel, south chancel aisle filled by organ and passage to vestries. No chancel arch, a manner much preferred by Bodley in his later churches. Chancel retains altar from 1880-1, reredos bears stencil work from 1880-1 and a later (probably 1939) decorative scheme of Christ in Majesty, set on Bodley's favourite marble steps; sedilia on south wall. Brass in chancel floor to Edward Bainbridge Reynolds (1844-1907), founding incumbent, 1908. Parclose screen between chancel and chapel of 1893-4, filled with stone tracery to Bodley's design in 1898. Chapel with Easter sepulchre having gilded canopy and hanging lamp, altar and reredos with marble panels. Organ in south aisle purchased 1932. The church given dado panelling to Bodley's characteristic design in 1893-4; this links the new and old work. Reading desk (undated) and pulpit (1910) on line of chancel steps. Statue of St Michael, 1939. Floor is several steps below the level of Camden Road, with stone flags to aisles. Vestries in more perpendicular style. Clergy vestry panelled with vestment chests. The choir vestry simpler - retained vestry chest at time of listing, but now no longer in situ.
HISTORICAL NOTE: the "beauty of proportion and whiteness" of the interior determined the young Ninian Comper (later a pupil of Bodley) to become an architect. An intended massive tower was never built. Listed grade II* for interior.

(Survey of London: Vol. XXIV, King's Cross Neighbourhood, Parish of St Pancras IV: London: -1952: 137).

Listing NGR: TQ2898583993

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• St Michael's Church, Camden Town at Wikipedia
• St Michael's Church, Camden Town official website
• Wikidata Q7594751

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Listed Buildings and Other Heritage Assets
• 
  Historic Environment Law: Planning, Listed Buildings, Monuments, Conservation Areas and Objects, Supplement 2014
• 
  Harrow on the Hill: A photographic portrayal of listed buildings and structures (Historic Buildings Picture Guides)
• 
  Drawing up a Local Listed Building Consent Order: Historic England Advice Note 6
• 
  Norfolk 1: Norwich and North-East: Norwich and North-east v. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Gloucestershire 1: The Cotswolds: Cotswolds Pt. 1 (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)