The witch's hat

James Alexander Cameron, a second-year PhD research student at the Courtauld Insitute of Art researching sedilia, the seats for the priest, deacon and subdeacon found in the walls of many of England’s parish churches, recently visited the Suburb and St Jude's.  

He posted his reactions - and links to his photos - on his blog stainedglassattitudes.wordpress.com

"I don’t need this “Open House” nonsense to get in interesting buildings, I left the queuing to hoi polloi and went on a guided tour of Hampstead Garden Suburb, in which we got to tramp through a newly-moved-in-resident’s back garden which was rather exciting. I feel it is above and beyond my call of duty to upload and label my pictures of the various properties (this is also the third time I’ve been round with a Pevsner) so I’d just like to say I think I decided that day I would like to live in this one, with a Neo-Elizabethan glazed bay, the most (please).

The centrepiece of course to the suburb is Nedi’s bizarre witch’s hatted, at the very least stylistically bizarre and at worst downright reckless (barrel vaulted nave with open timber aisles?? What are you thinking, you fool?!) St. Jude-on-the-Hill. The most amazing thing about the church are the paintings, over seemingly every inch of wall and ceiling space, by Walter Starmer, 1919-30. If you’ve never heard of him that’s probably because much of his career was spent here. The New Testament is absolutely ransacked for subjects: Christ’s ministry, but also His parables and aphorisms. There are some clever formal parallels, such as Christ dragging His Cross mirroring Him riding a donkey on the other side of the vault, as well as the spectacular, where by looking up and spinning round, one can recreate “Woman, behold thy son, son behold thy mother“. All of Starmer’s paintings are a bizarre stylistic oddity: still with Victorian Arts and Crafts ambition and ornamental motifs, but infused with a proto-cinematic realism akin to Tissot’s Gospel Illustrations, yet still with the broad heroic gestures of history painting, with a whiff of the Art Deco. It’s a marvel it ever got finished."

Making Sense of Suburbia on Saturday 11 May 2013

The Architect and his Wife: Saturday 12 May 2012

Henrietta Barnett's birthdays

Samuel and Henrietta Barnett by H. von Herkomer (Toynbee Hall)

Today is the 160th birthday of Henrietta Barnett.

Henrietta Octavia Weston Rowland was born in Clapham on 4 May 1851. She married Samuel Augustus Barnett (born 1844) in 1873 who shortly afterwards became vicar of St Jude's, Whitechapel. There they founded Toynbee Hall and the Whitechapel Art Gallery. On her 56th birthday in 1907 Henrietta turned the first spade of earth for the construction of Hampstead Garden Suburb, and in October 1909 she did the same for the site of this St Jude's on Central Square.

For her 6oth birthday - a century ago today - Henrietta was presented with the tower and spire of the church "to symbolise the aspiration of the founders of the Suburb". It was dedicated on her 62nd birthday by the Bishop of London.

Henrietta died on 10 June 1936. At her funeral here on 15 June the Archbishop of Canterbury suggested that what was "most remarkable in this one life was the way in which high ideals were translated into most practical action. . . . [and] the most conspicuous incident in her own life of this close union of the ideal and the practical was this Garden Suburb."

The Church of England commemorates Samuel and Henrietta together on 17 June each year - the anniversary of the former's death, and of therefore the couple's first 'birthday in heaven.

The current Bishop of London will be at St Jude's this Sunday 8 May at 1030 to celebrate the centenary of the consecration of the church on 7 May 1911 - a date almost certainly chosen because of its proximity to Henrietta's 60th birthday. All are welcome.

A server in the 1960s

Ed Zanders as a server at St Judes c. 1965. Ed lived on the Suburb from 1954 to 1969. His A Suburb Childhood is a personal memoir of those days written for the Suburb centenary year in 2007. He has recently given three paintings by his mother Beth to the church.

Ed describes his time as a server at St Jude's:

"St Jude's church became a significant part of my life from 1960 to 1969. My mother and I used to join the congregation at Sunday services and then I became an altar boy or server. This was rather like an apprenticeship starting as boat boy, who carries the incense in a metal container to pass to the Thurifer who distributes the incense. The next stages were Acolytes holding candles, Crucifers with a cross, the Thurifer and finally Master of Ceremonies. I enjoyed the ceremony under the direction of Frank Parlett, a kind man of whom I have fond memories. Easter was always busy, with special ceremonies held over four days culminating in the Sunday which was enlivened with trumpets as well as the choir and organ. Being Thurifer involved lighting charcoal squares in the thurible which was a metal container on a chain with holes to let out the smoke from burning incense. In keeping with my pyrotechnic tendencies, I used to set up the maximum amount of charcoal possible, adding spoonfuls of incense to create a massive cloud of smoke that I would then pass over the congregation in an attempt to liven things up.

Disruptions to the services stay in the mind as well; the electrical system was always a bit unreliable, and one evensong the lights went out completely. Luckily there were enough candles burning to keep the service going, but by complete coincidence, just as "let there be light" was being read out, the lights came back on without any human intervention. The other incident was the more painful sight of a poor server colleague who managed a projectile vomit right across the area in front of the altar. The mess was hastily cleared up by the verger with a mop and bucket.

When I started going to St Jude's, the vicar was Bill Masters, a man with a larger than life personality and a great sense of fun. He left in 1962, later becoming Canon of Gibraltar. His successor was Robin Dunhill, a member of the tobacco and luxury goods family. Both of these clergymen and their curates presided over a thriving church with a great musical tradition.

The organist and choirmaster was Charles Proctor, a rather serious and intimidating man, who nevertheless produced some wonderful ecclesiastical music. This was not surprising, since he was originally talent-spotted by Proms founder Sir Henry Wood and had a long career as a composer, organist, conductor and teacher at the Trinity College of Music. St Jude's has obviously maintained this tradition and is a well-known North London venue for concerts and recordings."

Ed serving at the high altar. Fr Robin Dunhill celebrating.

Ed's sister Angela at the Crossing

UCL Visit 2011

Students from Professor Adrian Forty's class at University College paid their annual visit to St Jude's this morning.

The Vicarage over there is also a Lutyens building (photo by Adrian Forty)

Tom O'Brien kept an eye on things while enjoying the sunshine.

New Year's Eve 2010