Church Heritage Record 637081

Cruciform plan. Three-sided west baptistery with clasping twin towers. Clerestoried 5-bay nave with north and south aisles. North and south transepts. Chancel with Lady Chapel to south and organ chamber to north. Fleche above crossing.

[Approximate] Nave 9m (30ft) x 28m (92ft), aisles 3m (10ft) wide, chancel 7m (23ft) x 14m (46ft).

There is believed to have been a small Roman settlement in Streatham during the construction of the London to Sussex coast road, though the name is of Saxon origin meaning the dwellings by the street. Land is recorded as having belonged to the Abbey of Chertsey in Surrey before the Norman conquest. A Saxon chapel here is listed in the Domesday Book. Streatham grew during the Middle Ages as a mid-way point between London and Croydon and following the Great Fire of London many moved their main residences to the area which retained open land well into the 20th century [London Encyclopaedia].

Streatham underwent substantial growth towards the end of the 19th century. The population was recorded as 6,000 in 1841, rising to 20,000 in 1881 and up to 70,000 by the turn of the century [London Encyclopaedia]. The boom was accelerated by the opening of a railway line between West End London and Crystal Palace in 1856 with a station opening at Streatham Hill in 1857.

The Leigham Court Estate (named after the former nearby Manor of Leigham Court) was an area of housing built for the Artisans’, Labourers’ and General Dwellings Company Ltd to accommodate an expanding population. The grid of streets was constructed between 1889 and 1928 involving architects Rowland Plumbe [1838-1919] Harry Bell and Martin Jackson. The area is of social historical interest as amongst the first areas designed to house the middle class at the end of the 19th century, a predecessor to the garden suburbs of the 20th century. It was and remains composed of a variety of properties, details, materials and features to give character and individuality to the streets.

St Margaret’s, designed by Plumbe, was built at the centre of this planned estate. It was built in two phases with the assistance of two ICBS grants. Drawings available on ChurchPlansOnline show Plumbe’s original design with a south-west tower that was never realised, along with the adjacent vicarage and attached north hall. Construction of the nave began in 1899 as recorded by a date stone in the west wall, and was completed in 1900, the date can be seen on iron rainwater hoppers around the west baptistery. The east end, including transepts and chancel, was built in 1906-8 as recorded by a date stone in the east wall. During the second phase, Plumbe was assisted by Frank Morrish Harvey [fl 1864-1914]. The church continued to evolve with contributions to the interior fittings by W D Caröe [1857-1938], also executed in two phases – first the chancel and later the Lady Chapel. Freeman describes Caröe’s contributions as an ‘ensemble of grand-scale, richly carved timber fittings for the chancel and side chapel. In designing these he derived a style mixing High Victorian Gothic with Arts and Crafts flourishes and with the influence of Spanish work also obviously in his mind’.

Plaques record the introduction of electric lighting to mark the Jubilee, and the restoration of the pulpit, reredos and choir stalls in 1969.

The archaeological potential of the site is low. Although the Archaeological Data Service and Heritage Gateway list a high number of entries within a kilometre of the site, these are of low significance to this site but further checks should be made if any proposals for the St Margaret’s site come forward. There are no known designations relating to the ecology of the plot, though it is located within a conservation area and has trees along the south boundary which will be protected by the conservation area status.

St Margaret’s rises above surrounding rooftops, the effect enhanced by its location on raised ground. Its tall brick elevations, high pitched tiled roofs, west turrets and lead flèche over the crossing, add to the church’s presence in the local streetscape. Halls obscure views of the north elevation.

It is a tall building of red brick, with some polychromatic brickwork particularly in the east wall and transept gables, and stone dressings such as to the buttresses and gable coping stones. At the west end the nave elevation is framed by octagonal west turrets capped with short spirelets. The turrets have attached brick shafts at each angle and louvred openings in the top of each facet. A low three-sided baptistery projects at ground level with a window in each angle separated by a buttress which rises above the pediment. A date stone is set within its west wall. Above it a five light window with stone mullions is set back within a recessed brick arch.

Lean-to aisles abut the north and south walls. They have paired windows with buttresses rising between each to gutter height. Beneath them is a plinth with evenly spaced ventilation grates. A continuous hoodmould runs above the window. A clerestory in the nave walls is composed of windows grouped in threes again with a continuous hoodmould. North and south gabled porches are positioned towards the west with steps up to the doors and lanterns extending out from above them. Small single lancets pierce their east and west elevations.

Towards the east end, tall gabled transepts with clasping buttresses project out. The north and south walls are both pierced by three tall lancet lights set beneath a rose window with two lights in the east and west walls. The hoodmould continues around the building. A small porch projects from the south-east corner of the south transept. Chimneys rise from the north transept and north vestry. The chancel has a gabled Lady Chapel to its south and organ chamber to its north sides. A vestry hall is attached to the north beyond these. The east elevation has a three lancet window set within a brick arch, with striped grey brickwork around the lights. A stone cross finial surmounts the east gable.

The spacious interior can be accessed from the south transept or from the north and south porches. Access from the porches opens into internal glazed wood lobbies within the north and south aisles.

The nave has a level woodblock floor laid in herringbone formation and is seated with unfixed oak benches. It is formed of a five-bay arcade composed of chamfered brick arches resting on circular red sandstone piers on octagonal bases, with continuous hoodmoulds. A clerestory level above is punctuated by Purbeck marble shafts between the lancets and has a continuous stone hoodmould above the windows and continuous stone sill beneath. Also running beneath the clerestory is a continuous heating pipe. A continuous brick sill runs beneath the aisle windows.

High above the nave is a timber trussed roof with ornate ogee curved braces with an almost queen-strut structure, and a boarded ceiling above. The principal trusses rest on stone corbels at clerestory level with brick shafts extending down to a moulded stone corbel within the spandrels of the nave arcade below. The aisles have simple lean-to timber roofs. There is an elegant sequence of lines when the length of the nave is viewed from east or west. The original lighting has been changes with illumination now from floodlights fixed in the spandrels of the arcade.

The baptistery at the west end is a low apsidal projection, raised by two steps with a red and black quarry tile floor. It has a lancet in each of the three sides of the apse and Purbeck marble shafts at each angle. The flat west wall of the nave above has five lancets glazed with rectangular leaded panes of cathedral glass.

Pointed arches open from the east end of both aisles into their respective transepts. The upper arch in the east wall of the north transept is screened, partially hiding the organ. The partition was inserted c.1955 and has a coat of arms fixed to it. Access beneath leads to corridors opening into the vestries and organ chamber. The south transept has a simple partition in the east arch leading into the south Lady Chapel with a single step up.

An inserted carpeted platform integrating two steps leads up from the crossing to the choir. Marking the start of the choir is a low brick wall. Soaring high above it is a chamfered brick chancel arch with polychromatic brickwork. The chancel roof is formed of a wood panelled vault with hefty trusses.

The choir is paved in green and blue mosaic floor tiles and has oak choir stalls to north and south with simple carvings on each end and interlocking fret-like woodwork to the choir frontals. A large organ occupies the first bay on the north side with the console elevated above the choir. To the south side, a pointed arched opening divides into two at the lower level, with a central marble pier. In the spandrel above is a blind stone trefoil. The arches open into the Lady Chapel (also accessible from the south transept) which  has woodblock floors. The altar is raised on a step at the east end and is paved with black and white marble tiles. The walls at the east end are oak panelled, c.1911, with a carved frieze along the top edge. A copy of the Ghent altarpiece hangs on the north wall. Wall mounted lanterns.

The sanctuary, which is dominated by Caröe’s large carved oak reredos on the east wall, is paved in black and white marble floor tiles. The altar is raised on three steps. The north and south walls are panelled in oak with that to the south interrupted by a stone piscina (plaque dates it 1903) and a wide wooden sedilia which is in keeping with but pronounced from the panelling. The panelling was installed in memory of M J Cotterell, d.1908 as recorded by a bronze plaque. It is of two tiers with ornate tracery to the upper section. The east wall was panelled earlier, in memory of Sophia Lings, d.1890, who is also commemorated by a bronze plaque. Paired marble shafts with stone floriated capitals sit between each light in the east wall. There are two sets of 2-light windows in the south wall and a 2-light window in the north wall – these also have Purbeck marble shafts between them.