THE BUILDING
to the designs of the architect E.W.Mountford, in the
Victorian Gothic style.
It has been admired
by Sir John Betjman (see further down this page),
among others,
and contains fine examples of metalwork and brickwork.
Looking down on the
site of the Church, Vicarage, Hall and Glebe house
Garratt lane goes across the top of the picture,
Description
of the church at the service of Consecration
The Architecture of the Church is "English Gothic" of the thirteenth
century.
The length of the Nave will be 90 feet and the width 25 feet.
The Chancel will be 40 feet and the width of the aisle 13 feet.
The height of the roof from floor to ceiling is 45 feet, 60 feet to the outside
ridge, and 90 feet to the cross on the summit of the Fleche.
The seating will ultimately be for 800 persons, at present it is for 540, (1990
seating capacity 400).
The Walls are faced externally with red brick from
External stone and internal stone from Doulting
Quarries in
Roofs - covered with Purple Brown Brosely Tiles
Floors - Wood Block
Tiles - Minton
Chancel steps - white marble and pavement marble
Chancel floor - Rouge Royal and Black from Belgian Quarries.
Also at the Consecration Service February 8th 1890 it was noted that:- "A beautiful wrought iron screen is shortly to be
placed on the North and West sides of the South Chapel."
The Altar in the South Chapel was brought with its furniture from the temporary
Church. The faces of the five people depicted on the front show contemporary
men - ? including the Vicar at the time.
The original contract for the building was £5,800. All but £800 of the original
sum was raised prior to the Consecration in February 1890.
Since the 1970's some of the pews have been removed to provide free space at the back of the Church (the Narthex), with a kitchen and toilets; a nave Altar has been installed, and the impressive font has been repositioned in the south transept.
A stone plaque to the north of the main door commemorates the building of
the Chancel and three bays together with the South Chapel, starting in 1889 in
the "vicariate" of Mr Coleman; the
consecration was by Bishop Anthony Wilson of
The doorway to the South of the main door leads to the spiral staircase up the South tower. At the top of the stairs is a door leading to the external gallery between the two turrets. A door leads off the gallery into the loft that runs the whole length of the Church. In the centre of the loft is the elaborate system of extracting the fumes from the old gas lights, discharging them into the atmosphere from the base of the spire.
Looking down through
the clock to
The Clock outside the front of the building, overhanging the pavement and
dated 1910 is commemorated in a brass plaque beside the kitchen "To the
glory of God and in loving memory of his late Majesty King Edward VII The clock on this church was erected by the residents of
Earlsfield,
In the Northern Turret there are two bells. Inscribed on the lower is
"THIS BELL WAS ERECTED WITH THE KING EDWARD VII CLOCK"
In the south-west porch is a plaque to commemorate Mary Wright KNIGHT who
died on
The railings around the Church garden were placed in 1993, a joint venture between Wandsworth Borough Council and the P.C.C.
View from
From the Tootimg and Balham Gazette - 8 / 1 / 71
"A Grand And Uplifting Interior"
Sir John Betjeman‘s Tribute to St Andrews Earlsfield
Sir John Betjeman, poet and authority on church
buildings, was in
Few people recognised him at first in the course of a
letter sent to the Vicar the Rev. D. C. Bratt, Sir
John says:
”I was impressed by the simple dignity and sincerity of the service and the way
I was made to feel at home afterwards. It is good to know that there is such a
warm and friendly place as St. Andrew‘s. It is also nice to see houses all
round and are of human scale and not lonely tower blocks with draughty open
spaces between, as in so much of
I shall always remember how impressive St. Andrew‘s is. Its fine West end,
which was finished I see in 1902, has often impressed me when I have been past
in bus or car.
I was quite unprepared for quite so grand and uplifting an interior and I am
thankful that St. Andrew‘s withstood the fashion of about ten years ago for
whitening the interiors of brick church, to make them look like
sculleries."
THE ARCHITECT
The light yellowish brown stock brick and bands of red
brick, the simple stone piers of the arcades, the delicate iron screens by
Starke Gardner and the magnificent wooden roof over the nave make it almost
cathedral-like, yet it is by no means intimidating, and that is partly due to
the friendly atmosphere and also to the genius of the architect E. W. Mountford.
He designed the handsome chancel of the 18th century church of All Saint‘s, Wandsworth and St. Michael‘s Wimbledon Park Road. He also
designed that very handsome school on the way to
I suppose he is best known for the Old Bailey, and the Library building of
A VICAR‘S COMMENTS
The Vicar, the Rev. D. C. Bratt
comments as follows:
”Relevant to Sir John‘s letter is the fact that certain brickwork at the West
end is in poor state and the District Surveyor has suggested possible removal
of the Towers.
This would affect the Church Clock which is maintained by the Borough Council.
It also justifies the careful stewarding over the past few years to provide reserves
to meet such contingencies.
It also raises the deeper issues of how best to use the resources available in
the changing times. Most of the local churches are faced with alterations to
their building and I suppose in many ways it is a pity that the changes could
not be planned in an overall strategy.
Whatever decisions face us at St. Andrew‘s, I hope we shall have the courage
and vision to do what is wide and right in God‘s sight."
Prepared by Colin Pritchard