Church of St Mildred, Addiscombe, Ashburton, Croydon

Summary

A church of 1932, 1934 and 1937, by Cecil Hare, with additions of 1959 and the early C21.

Description

A church of 1932, 1934 and 1937, by Cecil Hare, with additions of 1959, 2006* and 2020.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in English bond with stone dressings and a gabled and hipped roof with tile covering.

PLAN: nave of five bays with ambulatory walkways to the sides cut through internal buttresses; chancel; eastern chapel, with four porch entrances at the corners of the nave and a low tower above the high altar.

EXTERIOR: there is a projecting plinth with an ashlar offset cap which surrounds the building. There is also a flush band at the level of the window sills to both nave and eastern chapel.

Both flanks of the nave have similar arrangements of five bays of two-light windows with alternating patterns to the traceried heads of quatrefoils or mouchettes. The windows have stone quoins which extend down the walls beyond the window surrounds to meet the plinth. At either side of each nave flank are offset buttresses and beyond these are the four projecting porch entrances which have double doors and shallow gables. Set back from the porches rise square turrets with hipped roofs which have two-light louvred openings to their tops for ventilation.

The western end has a central, three light window with offsets to the stone mullions and mouchettes to the traceried head. The C21 extension overlaps the lower portion of this front and the western porch entrances of the flanks but the former external walling can be read on the interior of the extension and shows a central C21 portal with accentuated Gibbs surround to the western doorway with triple keystone, flanked by lobby and vestry windows.

The eastern end of the building includes the chancel, which is marked externally by the tower. This has to its lower stages, at north and south, the projecting ambulatory passages, above which are tall, three-light windows which light the crossing, with offsets to their mullions. Above these are circles of brick which show where clock dials are intended and above these are three louvred rectangular openings on each side. There is a crenelated stone parapet to each face. The eastern chapel is flush with the flanks of the tower and has a single external bay to each side with a two-light window with mouchette head as seen before in the nave. The east end has a central rose window flanked at the corners by offset buttresses with gablet caps. To either side of the window are horizontal runs of quoins which also have gablet caps and run down the wall. There is a cross to the gable apex.

INTERIOR: the nave has flooring of stone flags and woodblocks. The ambulatory passages which cut through the internal square buttresses at either side have moulded heads to their arches. The porch lobbies at the four corners of the nave each have two sets of half-glazed doors, with the exception of the south-eastern lobby which has been adapted to form storage. The barrel vault springs from the same level as the arches of the lateral bays between the buttresses. The piers which terminate these painted brick buttresses have ashlar facings to the nave. The ambulatory passages continue at either side of the chancel and lead to the eastern chapel.

The Mander organ installed in 1959 stands on a gallery at the west end of the church and has a front screen of copper pipes, placed at either side of the stained glass window and a balustrade of bronze uprights with a curved handrail. Slender piers support the gallery and these have capitals bearing shields on which are inscribed the initials ‘M’ for Margaret and Mildred and the dates 659 and 1959 for their birth and the royal visit. The underside of the gallery has a ribbed ceiling with star-patterned lights. It appears that the present wrought metal screen which fills the upper part of the chancel arch was also introduced in 1959 and includes a figure of Christ flanked by the Two Marys, also with stars to the backgound. An innovation, included from the start, was a film or lantern slide screen which could be lowered from the chancel arch so as to show images or films to the congregation during sermons. This is still in situ, as is its winding mechanism.

The present Lady Chapel at the east end has a barrel vaulted ceiling and blank arches with stone surrounds to the side walls and a plain, round-headed to the centre of the eastern wall.

FURNISHINGS: the font of veined red marble was brought here from the old church in Bingham Road and bears an inscription which reads: ‘TO THE GLORY / OF GOD AND / FOR THE USE / OF ST MILDRED’S / CHURCH. THIS FONT AS GIVEN BY / MARGARET LANGFORD. JULY. 1922.’ The church contains a series of foundation stones, brought from the Corona at Canterbury Cathedral, the former Abbey at Minster in Thanet, the former church in Bingham Road, Croydon Parish Church, St Mildred’s Addiscombe and Addington Palace.

The pulpit and tester were designed and made in the 1930s and the pulpit stands on the stone bowl of an earlier font, apparently brought from Addington Church. The pulpit has two oak panels carved by HD Canning Wright.

The reredos has a central niche with ribbed decoration and a central cross. To either side are panels showing the instruments of the crucifixion and above is a wooden pelmet with further symbols. The concave side walls to the reredos have finials bearing coats of arms and there are angels to the centre. The carved altar frontal also shows symbols of the passion.

Stained glass by Burlison and Grylls, includes the east window, lower side windows in the chancel and the western window which may be signed with the initials of Harry Grylls.

Both the architect and the first vicar are commemorted by inscriptions in the stone piers of the north aisle. That to the architect reads: '+ IN MEMORIAM + / CECIL GREENWOOD HARE / 1875 - 1932 / ARCHITECT OF THIS CHURCH'. That to the vicar reads: 'IN MEMORIAM / CHARLES W BUDDEN / MA MD / FIRST VICAR OF THIS CHURCH / ST MILDRED'S IS HIS MEMORIAL' .

* Pursuant to s1 (5A) of the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 (‘the Act’) it is declared that the portion of the building at its western end completed in 2006 to designs by Armstrong Burton is not of special architectural or historic interest.

History

The church was within the diocese of Canterbury at the time of its building and the dedication to St Mildred is recognition of the Anglo-Saxon daughter of Merewald and St Ermenburga. Mildred was born in Canterbury and then educated in Chelles in France. She returned to Kent and entered the monastery at Minster in Thanet, eventually becoming its Abbess.

The church in Addiscombe which is dedicated to her was initially built further to the east and on the north side of Bingham Road and bears the date 1913. The congregation outgrew this relatively humble building in a vernacular revival style, which is now used by another church congregation. The arrival of a new vicar, Charles Budden, in 1931, prompted plans for the new church. Budden had come from being a priest attached to Liverpool Cathedral and his initial sermon at Addiscombe was on the text 'Arise and Build'. Cecil Greenwood Hare was appointed architect and Down Brothers produced an estimate of £28,000 to build the nave. The foundation stone was laid by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Cosmo Gordon Lang, in October 1932. The Sanctuary was added in 1934 and the eastern chapel in 1937. This may have been designed as a chapel for St Mildred, but it now serves as a Lady Chapel.

Cecil Greenwood Hare (1875-1932) joined the practice of George Frederick Bodley aged 17 and was a pupil there from 1892 to 1895. He worked as an assistant in the practice and then office manager from 1895-1907 and was taken into partnership shortly before Bodley's death in 1907. He inherited the practice which had a considerable reputation for ecclesiastical work, including the Cathedrals at Washington and San Francisco, which were then current work, and his long tenure in Bodley’s office had enabled Hare to observe the evolution of his style. From 1917 to 1924 he was in partnership with A V Heal, another talented pupil from the Bodley office, and the practice also benefitted from the skills of RV Smith, who is credited with considerable assistance in the design process of various buildings by both practices. Nonetheless, the recollections of the vicar, Charles Budden (see SOURCES) and the fact that it is Hare who is recorded in the church as its architect on a memorial stone, confirm his direct involvement in the design. Hare died in 1932, aged 57, during the building process and some of the execution of the first phase of the design immediately fell to Charles Budden, the vicar, who had trained as an architect (see SOURCES, Budden).

In 1959 a further organ, designed by NP Mander to supplement the choir organ, was installed at the western end of the nave in a gallery which was created for it. This was opened during a visit to the church by HRH Princess Margaret in the same year.

A fire in the 1980s caused the building of a new choir organ. In 2018 the reredos was repainted with gold motifs against a grey background which was formerly pink and green and the colour of walls has been altered to a uniform cream with the exception of the vault which an early coloured print shows to have been azure from the start.

A large, single-storey addition* to wrap around the western end of the church was completed in 2006 to designs by Armstrong Burton, including a reception area, choir vestry and meeting rooms. This work retained the external walling of the church at its west end which can be seen from the interior of the extension, including the original northern and southern lobbies. In 2018 the approaches to the high altar and the Lady Chapel were changed to allow improved access by Clive England of the Thomas Ford partnership Sydenham. In 2020 new choir desks and seating were added to the designs of Dovetailors of Leeds. These changes appear to have been undertaken with minimal disturbance to the original flooring and chancel steps, which remain in situ beneath the added stage and ramps.

Reasons for Listing

The Church of St Mildred, Addiscombe is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:

Architectural interest:
* the design, by a noted architectural practice, combines elements of traditional, late-Gothic revival design with contemporary practice in combining the nave and chancel into one religious space;
* the design also makes carefully-judged use of effects of space and light;
* fixtures and fittings are of quality.

Historic interest:
* the building is a notable example of the type of inter-war church which was built in the expanding suburbs around London.

External Links

Historic England Listing

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.