St Luke: Mountfield Road
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 252 899
The church was built to designs by W.D. Caroë; the foundation stone was laid in 1904 and the church was opened in the following year. The church was evidently a relatively inexpensive project which did not give Caroë much freedom to express his personal style very fully. There are, however, certain idiosyncratic features which mark the building as his.
Visiting and facilities
Building is closed for worship
Building demolished
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Five-bay nave with north aisle and porch (south aisle prepared for but never built); chancel with north organ chamber and south vestries.
Description of Archaeology and History
The church was built to designs by W.D. Caroë; the foundation stone was laid in 1904 and the church was opened in the following year.
Exterior Description
The north side is that usually seen first since it lies along the edge of the road. The aisle has four bays divided by buttresses and within each bay is a four-light window under a segmental arch with widely splayed reveals. From the western bay projects a porch with clasping buttresses at the corners and a shallowly pitched roof. The doorway is, like the aisle windows, within wide splays, and the segmental arch above it is of four orders of receding bricks. A square turret with castellated top divides the porch from the west wall of the aisle.
The west nave has two large three-light windows separated by a central buttress at the foot of which is the foundationstone laid by Francis Alexander Hamilton, JP, of Brent Lodge, Finchley, who paid for the erection of the church and vicarage. This buttress and the two smaller flanking butresses are sheer almost to the top and then have a closely spaced group of offsets, a favourite motif of the architects of this period.
There was to have been a south aisle, and the south wall of the nave is therefore quite plain with four-light windows set in each of the bays. These are separated entirely by plain buttresses.
Because of the vestries on the south side and the organ chamber on the north, little of the chancel save the east wall is visible. The very wide window in this wall is within splays like those which occur elsewhere in the building, and beneath it is a band of quatrofoils like those on the west wall. In the north chancel wall is one window, again with wide splayed reveals, and beside it is the organ chamber, treated externally as a transept with a cross-gable. At the corners are clasping buttresses with tiled heads which are also dominant features.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
c.1910
Four windows with single figures of saints in the north aisle date from c.1910 by Temple Moore.
Stained Glass
c.1910
The cast window, of seven lights, has figures of Christ, St. Luke, Saints and Angels. By Temple Moore.
Stained Glass
c.1933
Chancel south I: St. Luke and two angels
Stained Glass
c.1955
Chancel south II: Christ the Redeemer.
Stained Glass
c.1870
Two windows in the south nave wall date from c.1870, and were brought from St. Mary Finchley.
Interior
Interior Description
Although the south aisle was never built, its arcade does exist within the church, and gives an impression of symmetry to the nave. The four windows within these arches allow much light into the building, and it is certain that, had the aisle been built according to the pattern of the existing north aisle, the nave would have been very dark. The arches of the arcades rise almost to the wall-head, which means that on the north side the clerostory windows are embraced within the arches, while the actual arches which open into the aisle are segmental and emphasised as little as possible. Moreover the arcades are of stone and the inner arches are of brick so that they merge with the wall surfaces. The octagonal piers have fillets up the edges, and at the level of the segmental arches an inner order of mouldings, also with fillets, rises to the pex of each arch of the timber roof structure rest on colonettes which are in the same style; these, in a typical Arts and Crafts style die away at the heads of the piers and sweep outwards at the top, where they are met by the moulded cornice at the top of the wall which also curves outwards at each bay thus forming a corbel for the principal rafter.
The roof of the nave is a simple open timber construction with arch braces at each bay strengthened by iron stays which seem to be part of the original design. Where the stays are attached to the rafters there are big wooden bosses. At the west end of the nave, the lower part of the wall has three blind arched recesses of which the central one is wider than the outer pair; in front of this stands the font, and from this point the floor is gently raked down to the chancel arch. The responds to the chancel arch are splayed, and the arch itself is of seven receding orders of bricks with an innermost moulded order of stone carried on plain corbels. Two steps lead up into the chancel, and there is no screen.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
Of oak in a minial gothic style.
Rail
Of oak in a minial gothic style.
Organ (object)
1910
The organ is by Bishop, c.1910, with nineteen speaking stops and three manuals. The action is pneumatic.
Reredos
c.1920
The reredos is a large rectangular panel of oak divided into three ports with cresting above. It is a War Memorial of c.1920, and the Roll of Honour board on the north side of the sanctuary is in the same style.
Lectern
The lectern is a podestal of oak, older than the church
Font (object)
The font is a round alabaster bowl upon a cylindrical stone stem.
Pulpit
Five sides of an octagon with splayed moulded legs at each angle and traceried panels. By Caroe.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 252 899
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
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