Church of St Faith, Brentford, London

Summary

Church of England church, designed by G F Bodley (1827-1907) in 1905 in Late Gothic style, consecrated 13 July 1907.

Description

Church of England church, designed by G F Bodley (1827-1907) in 1905 in Late Gothic style, consecrated 13th July 1907.

MATERIALS: red brick in English bond with stone dressings and slate roofs (that on the south side has been replaced with modern concrete tiles).

PLAN: nave of seven bays with north and south aisles which continue eastwards, engaging the chancel of two bays (the sanctuary projects beyond them), and forming a Lady Chapel to the north and organ chamber to the south. No tower, just a small bellcote for a single bell on the north side of the east gable. Vestry on the south side. Porch to the main entrance on the north side.

EXTERIOR: the nave and chancel are under a continuous roof and differentiated externally only by the Decorated fenestration: tall, two-light clerestory windows with geometrical cusped tracery (the upper lights formed by trefoils) in the nave and tall, narrow, single-light cusped windows, differently spaced, in the chancel; much larger two light lateral windows in the sanctuary with mullions carried up to the apex of the arch and mouchettes forming upper lights. Three-light window in the east wall with cusped and trefoiled upper lights, taller and narrower two-light window in the west wall - two tall, narrow lights bisected by transoms, tracery lights are cusped and incorporate quatrefoils and mouchettes. Lateral aisle walls are blind except for the Lady Chapel, indicated externally by two four-light rectangular mullioned windows in the north wall and a five-light window under a pointed arch in the east wall. Main entrance on the north side has an arch-braced roof, an original door, also original wrought iron gates in the outer arch. The external door to the chancel on the north side has an original door with ironwork. Good hopper heads to the downpipes with Renaissance detailing, the same design throughout.

INTERIOR: a seven-bay arcade in the nave of diagonally placed piers without capitals, some of the arch mouldings die into the piers - these and the spandrels (which bear shields charged with painted Instruments of the Passion of the Apostles) are of smooth ashlar masonry, the wall space above is plastered. The westernmost bay is detached from the remainder of the arcade. Lower and separate two bay arcades with hood moulds and central foliate stops in the chancel, but otherwise no architectural division between these two sections internally save for the raised floor of the chancel.

The east wall is finished internally in ashlar masonry. The east window is set in traceried panelling with empty niches apparently intended to hold images (they incorporate attached pedestals), decorated with foliate and flower ornament in relief, shields charged with sacred devices and a brattished cornice. The area below sill level is hung with modern curtains, the wall behind is blank.

A boarded barrel-vaulted roof with tie-beams runs the length of the central aisle of the building. The ends of the tie-beams have pierced spandrels and stone corbels, which rest on attached shafts rising from piers of nave arcades to moulded capitals. The boarding of the roof is decorated with a polychrome scheme of abstract and foliate ornament and the sacred monogram along the wall plate; more elaborate decoration in the bay above the sanctuary - ribs with carved bosses forming a grid and diagonal latticework subdivide the surface, the boarding is powdered with painted stars. The lean-to roofs in the aisles have diagonal bracing members containing cusped and traceried decoration in the spandrels and at the junction with the rafters.

The central aisle and the area at the west end of the nave are floored with black and white marble paving; parquet floors elsewhere throughout but the flooring in the chancel is completely obscured by modern carpet.

FURNISHINGS: the church appears to have been seated from the outset by chairs rather than pews and the nave is now seated throughout with typical early C20 wooden chairs. Very elaborate Perpendicular style octagonal Bere stone font at the west end of the south aisle on a very tall, two-tiered octagonal base with quatrefoil frieze on the lower riser. The upper riser, inscribed with ‘Suffer the Little Children to Come Unto Me’, incorporates larger square panels at the cardinal points with cusped and foliate decoration and an inscription recording the donation as a gift in memory of “Arthur Burnell, the infant son of Arthur Charles and Margaret Mead who died 13th Nov. 1900”. Traceried niches to the stem with alternate figurines of angels in high relief and shields bearing emblems of the Evangelists; much elaborate traceried and foliate decoration to the bowl; the wooden cover with a central stem bearing a figurine of an angel supported by ogee cusped members. The original lifting mechanism survives. The prie dieu in the nave is apparently original. Pulpit by the east respond of the south nave arcade is also apparently original and characteristic of Bodley’s fittings, octagonal with traceried panels on a narrow base and with a tall newel post at the top of the steps. The choir stalls and frontals are modern (presumed post-War). Low retable to the altar in the sanctuary. The Lady Chapel has a sanctuary lamp with lifting mechanism and a C19 altar with an elaborately carved wooden front with floral motifs and grapes, from St. James's Palace chapel. Hill organ in one bay of the chamber on the south side of the chancel, installed in 1907 and apparently reusing material from an instrument originally built for St Paul’s, Portland Street, demolished that same year: it has no case and a modern front pipe rack.

STAINED GLASS: Christ in Majesty with angels under elaborate canopies in the east window of the sanctuary (commemorates Wilfrid Peter Hewett, d. 1904) and ‘Suffer the Little Children’ in the baptistery at the west end of the south aisle (commemorates Albert Fortescue), both by Burlison & Grylls, who were often employed by Bodley and installed around the time of construction; also, the Virgin and SS Alban and Martin in the east window of the Lady Chapel by J N Comper, according to 'The Buildings of England', but imitating the style of C.E. Kempe.

History

Designed by G.F. Bodley (1827-1907) in 1905 to serve a congregation in the then rapidly growing suburban infill between Ealing and Brentford, which initially worshipped in a ‘tin tabernacle’ mission church established in the parish of St Paul’s, Brentford. It stands end-on to Windmill Road and is more or less conventionally orientated. The budget was £8,000 and the church was intended to seat 650. The builders were Messrs Dorey & Co and the contract price £7,206. The foundation stone was laid on 23 June 1906, and the church was consecrated on 13 July 1907: later that same year St Faith’s became a separate parish.

Reasons for Listing

St. Faith's church, a late Gothic style brick church with stone dressings, designed by G F Bodley in 1905, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
* Architectural: a late good quality work by Bodley, which, although built to a limited budget, is impressive in height and scale with well chosen stone, wood and painted decoration and with a fine internal spatial quality;
* Fittings and fixtures: these include original pulpit, font and prie-dieu and stained glass attributed to Burlison and Grylls and J N Comper;
* Intactness: no substantial alterations have taken place since the church was consecrated in 1907.

External Links

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British Listed Buildings

History in Structure

Church of St Faith

A Grade II Listed Building in Brentford, London

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Summary

Description

History

Reasons for Listing

External Links

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