Beginnings of St Edward the Confessor Church

The Mission of St Edward the Confessor was opened on Christmas Day 1909 when two Masses were said in a temporary chapel, a space which has since been divided to form the parish office and priest's dining room in the presbytery. King St Edward the Confessor had given the land to the Benedictine Order, and so it was appropriate that the church be dedicated to him. The first priest, Fr William Bendon, moved into the presbytery in 1910. The present parish hall was built in 1911, and used as the temporary church whilst further funds were raised from the growing Catholic community to construct a permanent place of worship.

Designing the Church

Fr Bendon worked on the church plans with architect Arthur Young (1853–1924) for three years. Building commenced in March 1914. The design was to embody beauty, strength, an atmosphere of worship, and the idealism of its sacred purpose. The style of architecture of the building is perpendicular Gothic, and the model was the pre-reformation English parish church. One of the principles of the Hampstead Garden Suburb scheme was that noise should be avoided, even to the prohibition of Church or Chapel or Institute bells. As St Edward's is on the borders of the Suburb, the church has a tower, but no bell.

Building the Church

The First World War was declared on August 4th 1914, and the building was carried on under the greatest difficulties and with unavoidable delays. With so many young men called to serve in the First World War, the building was completed by an older generation of builders using only scaffold and ladders. Building materials were taken to the site by donkey and cart. The church was opened on the Feast of St Edward the Confessor, October 13th, 1915 by Cardinal Bourne.

Description of St Edward the Confessor Church Today

The main feature is the central lantern tower. Square in plan, it rises from the nave on four massive columns to a height of nearly 80 feet. From the tower branch the sanctuary, the nave and the transepts, forming the shape of a cross.

Beautiful carving in wood and stone can be found throughout St Edward's. In the tower a gallery formed by a stone balustrade is decorated with shields thoughtfully utilised to commemorate the period during which the church was built. The decorations include a submarine on the northern wall together with a big gun, and an aeroplane, all indicating the period of the Great War.

Ten statues of the English Saints and Beati occupy the niches of the reredos. The ceiling of the sanctuary is of oak and moulded ribs and carved bosses, the outstretching wings of four life-size angels poised on tall slender columns. Left and right of the sanctuary are two side chapels dedicated to the Sacred Heart and the Blessed Virgin. The crucifix in the Calvary Chapel is a masterpiece of carved woodwork and forms part of a war memorial. The unusual Stations of the Cross, which are oil paintings, were donated by parishioners.

As part of St Edward's 100th anniversary celebrations, six corbels were commissioned to represent important figures associated with the church, including founder Fr Bendon, and the present Cardinal Archbishop Vincent Nichols.

There are several examples of excellent stained glass work, including a memorial to Captain Michael Allmand, who was posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross in 1944 for his bravery. To one side of the nave is the shrine of St Edward.

The church was refurbished in the 1960s after a fire badly damaged the Sacristy and part of the Church. The sanctuary was remodelled in 1996 to reflect the liturgical reforms of the Second Vatican Council, which called for the congregation to be more involved in worship, and for the priest to face the congregation (west) rather than the east wall.