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The following article was written by our archivist, Harold Holwell, and gives a flavour of the history of our Church A Fortieth Anniversary of the consecration of a
church in 2001, in a parish founded in the Victorian heyday of Anglo
Catholicism, may seem a little odd. But the great church of S. Alban the Martyr,
Holborn in the heart of London, built by a leading architect of the day, William
Butterfield in 1863, was destined to last for only 78 years and on the night of
16th April 1941 was largely destroyed by firebombs. When the war ended Adrian Gilbert Scott was asked to
produce a new, more economical design and he incorporated several features of
the old building that had survived the fire more or less intact, including the
massive saddleback tower, the east wall and the chapel built in 1891 to honour
the memory of Father Mackonochie, the first Vicar. The new Church introduced the fruits of modern
liturgical changes as well, the high altar was free standing and the tabernacle
built centrally into the east wall. The new church was consecrated in 1961. Until 1952, when it was united with the adjoining
parish of St Peter's, Saffron Hill the parish of S. Alban's was quite small and
at the time of the original church no fewer than 8,000 people were crammed into
a space measuring roughly 500 by 200 yards. There were cows, too, kept for
milking in a shed in Brooke Street and it was a place of appalling destitution,
a rookery of lodging houses, children's brothels, workshops and thieves'
kitchens. Some changes are now evident! Dickens drew on his
knowledge of the area for Oliver Twist, where he describes it as "one of
the lowest and worst that improvement has left in the midst of London".
Indeed the font of the church was built on the site of one such 'thieves'
kitchen' and it was to this church that Fr. Mackonochie was licensed as
'Perpetual Curate" in 1863. Within a year he was joined by the, yet to be,
famous Fr Stanton in his first and only curacy, serving the parish for 50 years
and both Fr. Mackonochie and his successor Fr. Suckling. Within a short period the clergy supported by a
growing band of lay workers, men and women, made their mark on the moral and
spiritual life of the area around Baldwin's Gardens. In the first five years the
number of baptisms and marriages rose and Easter communions from 291 to 569; the
collections from £541 to £1864. The parochial machinery was elaborate and
thorough in a very high degree and the arrival of Sisters from Clewer in 1869
gave great emphasis to this deliberate and sustained act of calculated sacrifice
for the work of the Church. From the beginning Fr Mackonochie made the Eucharist
the centre of the worship of the parish and "High Mass" at 11.0 on
Sundays, which amid various permutations has lasted until the present day. With characteristic avoidance of fuss, he
"surprised everybody and displeased nobody, by appearing at the Altar, on a
weekday morning after Trinity in 1865, in a green chasuble". The use of
incense followed the next year. For music it was Gregorian pure and undefiled (as it
was then understood) for Psalms, Canticles and Office Hymns but modem devotional
hymns were sung to tunes of a modernity of style that sometimes verged on the
rampant. An Oxford musician referred to the St Alban's Tune Book, when writing
to the organist as 'your collection of jigs and groans'! Fr Stanton was to make good use of these in his
simple weekday mission services to the poor of the parish where hymns and sermon
were used to great effect and also in the Three Hours Devotion on Good Friday
(for the first time in the Church of England) introduced here in 1864. As the successors of the Tractarians began to express
the reality of the Real Presence in forms of worship intelligible and
significant to all so persecution by Church and State followed and in this
battle the priests and laity of S. Alban's led from the front. Although
now, like many another parish, we are without Sisters and 3 or 4 Curates it is
on the firm foundations they laid that much of what we do now rests. The PCC and
a band of enthusiastic laity work with the clergy in "ministering together
and at Pentecost this year Lay Visitors were commissioned by the Bishop of
Edmonton for work within the parish. Fr
Mackonochie's emphasis on the Mass as the heart of our worship remains and the
daily lunch‑time mass in his chapel ministers to office workers in the
area as well as to S. Alban's regulars. The musical tradition continues and a
new work was commissioned to celebrate the Anniversary by Richard Popplewell. Outreach
in ministry and mission to the local area has benefited greatly from the 1991
construction of S. Alban's Centre. Many local organisations and charities have
made full use of this meeting point and the Church and Centre have served the
wider catholic constituency in hosting the first Pontifical Benediction for the
newly consecrated Bishops of Ebbsfleet and SSC Synods. The
clergy are much involved with the parish school and each year the Children's
Holiday and the Pensioner's Holiday are held at our holiday home at Tankerton,
Kent ‑ a joy with its seaside location, own private chapel and reserved
sacrament (also available to other parishes and groups! |
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Copyright © 2007
S. Alban the Martyr, Holborn
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