St Paul's, Bow Common

St Paul's Bow Common is a 20th-century church in Bow Common, London, England. It is an Anglican church in the Diocese of London.[1] The church is at the junction of Burdett Road and St Paul's Way in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It replaced an earlier church that was designed by Rohde Hawkins in 1858 and financed by William Cotton of Leytonstone. Consecrated by Bishop Charles James Blomfield, this church was largely destroyed in the Second World War, and demolished in the 1950s.[2]

St Paul's Bow Common
Church of St Paul's Bow Common
View of St Paul's Bow Common
Locationcorner of Burdett Road & St Paul's Way, Bow Common, Tower Hamlets, London E3 5AR
CountryUnited Kingdom
DenominationChurch of England
Websitewww.stpaulsbowcommon.org.uk
Architecture
Architect(s)Robert Maguire and Keith Murray
Stylenew brutalism
Years built1958–60
Administration
DioceseLondon
The interior

The modern church was built in 1958–60, and the building is listed Grade II*. Its architects were Robert Maguire and Keith Murray .[3] The Revd. Gresham Kirkby, a Christian Anarchist, was also involved in the design, and continued as parish priest until 1994,[4] being succeeded by Revd. Prebendary Duncan Ross, who retired in October 2013.[5]

The lettering around the porch reads 'Truly this is none other but the house of God. This is the Gate of Heaven' (Genesis 28:17), and was carved by Ralph Beyer. The 800 square foot mosaic is by Charles Lutyens. Made from coloured Murano glass tesserae, and taking five years to make, the mosaic is likely to be the largest artist-created contemporary mosaic mural in the British Isles.[6] The church is currently home to Lutyens's 'Outraged Christ'.[7]

On 7 November 2013, the church won the National Churches Trust Diamond Jubilee Award for best Modern Church built in the UK since 1953.[8] The awards were judged by architecture critic Jonathan Glancey, chief executive of the Twentieth Century Society Catherine Croft, president of the Ecclesiastical Architects and Surveyors Association Sherry Bates, and trustee of the National Churches Trust Richard Carr-Archer.[9]

The building was described by the judges as the ‘embodiment of the ground swell of ideas about Christian worship’ and a ‘hugely influential signpost for future Anglican liturgy’.[10]

The current vicar is Mother Bernadette Hegarty.

References
  1. "St Paul Bow Common". Achurchnearyou.com. Retrieved 22 September 2012.
  2. Weinreb, Ben, and Hibbert, Christopher (1992). The London Encyclopaedia (reprint ed.). Macmillan. p. 776.CS1 maint: uses authors parameter (link)
  3. Elain Harwood, 'Liturgy and architecture: the development of the centralised eucharistic space', The Journal of the Twentieth Century Society | Twentieth Century Architecture 3: The Twentieth Century Church (The Twentieth Century Society, 1998) p.71-2 | St Paul's Bow Common is illustrated on the cover of the journal
  4. "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2013-11-15. Retrieved 2013-11-25.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  5. Trust, National Churches (6 November 2013). "The UK's Best Modern Churches: St Paul's Bow Common". Vimeo.com. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  6. "Charles Lutyens Intro". Charleslutyens.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  7. "Charles Lutyens Introduction". Charleslutyens.co.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  8. "UK's Best Modern Church is St Paul's at Bow Common". 13 November 2013. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  9. "Best Modern Churches winners announced — The Twentieth Century Society". C20society.org.uk. Retrieved 16 April 2019.
  10. Mark, Laura. "In pictures: UK's best modern church revealed". Architects Journal. Retrieved 16 April 2019.

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