Description

790/23/47
31-JAN-74

ENFIELD
LOWER EDMONTON
BURY STREET (North side)
Former Church of St Michael, now Caroe Court

(Formerly listed as: BURY STREET, LOWER EDMONTON, CHURCH OF ST MICHAEL)

GV
II

Caroe Court, formerly the Church of St Michael. 1901 by W D Caröe. Declared redundant in 1982 and subsequently converted into flats.

MATERIALS: red brick laid in English bond with stone dressings and tiled roofs.

PLAN: the orientation of the building is unconventional as the building is aligned north-south with the chancel to the north. Roughly rectangular but with projections to the chancel and west aisle. Nave with aisles, narthex to south elevation, south-west bell tower, chancel and chancel tower, projecting sanctuary beyond. Vestries to the north-east.

EXTERIOR: highly individualistic Arts and Crafts Gothic style with bold, unusual massing. The principal façade is to the south onto Bury Street. This elevation is dominated by a nine-light window with stone and brick mullions, set within a massive arch. There is a lunette in the gable above. An off-centre narthex below the main window has unequal buttresses to either side. There is a slender bell tower at the SW corner with a pyramidal roof and diagonal buttresses at belfry level. The bell chamber is set-back with twin bell openings, above which is a blind decorative frieze in stone. A quatrefoil window below lights the internal stair. To the east of the main window is a massive stepped buttress with a gabled cap, adjacent to which is a low corner turret and clasping buttress.

The buttressed west elevation has three-light windows recessed behind blind arcading; some of these have been lowered to form doors. There is a pseudo-clerestory above of dormer windows. The squat chancel tower has a single stage above the nave roof and projecting turrets and small roofs below eaves level. The parapetted east wall of the chancel projects beyond the building line at the north east corner of the church.

INTERIOR: not inspected as the building has been converted to flats, although photographs prior to its conversion show a simple yet bold interior with a broad nave flanked by very narrow aisles. Architectural details such as the aisle columns and door jambs are picked out in stone, contrasting with the plain plastered walls. Hammer-beam roof. Rood screen moved to Church of St Alban, Ilford.

HISTORY: at the end of the 19th century the church site had been occupied by a small Mission Church and school and it is presumed that St Michael's was constructed to provide larger and more suitable accommodation for a rapidly expanding Lower Edmonton at the beginning of the C20. It was funded by the sale of St Michael Bassishaw in the City of London. As built it had a vicarage to the west (now converted to flats). The former school was converted into the church hall (now 'Maton Hall'). In 1985 original drawings were said to be held by the architectural practice of Caröe and Martin. St Michael's was declared redundant in 1982 and was subsequently sold and converted into flats.

SOURCES: Internal and external photographs of 1969 held by the National Monuments Record (reference AA80/565-576); English Heritage Historians' files Detailed description for the Council for Places of Worship, 13 March 1979 (reference PM 364, DIF/LP); Pevsner, The Buildings of England, London 4: North, p424.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: A striking example of a church by W D Caröe, one of the leading church architects of the late C19 and early C20. The conversion into flats has not unduly altered the building's exterior, which continues to make a positive contribution to the surrounding streetscape. Group value with the former clergy house (qv).

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q26350072

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  The green guide for historic buildings: how to improve the environmental performance of listed and historic buildings
• 
  Department for Communities Listed Historic Buildings of Northern Ireland: Information Guide for the 2nd Survey of Historic Buildings
• 
  Kent: North East and East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Building Small Projects (New Best of Fine Woodworking)
• 
  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)