Diameter: 16" Bell 1 of 1
Founded by Naylor, Vickers & Co
Dove Bell ID: 58136 Tower ID: 22411 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
St Gabriel North Acton
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 203 815
St Gabriel’s is a large brick building with considerable presence in its suburban location. It was built from 1929-31 to designs by Earnest Charles Shearman, whose particular style has been described as 'Mediterranean Gothic', with apsidal chancels, passage aisles, elaborate tracery and ambulatory ways. For St Gabriel's, it is the height that dominates. The roof is pitched and continuous along the length of the building although the eaves are higher around the apsed chancel.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Aisled nave, apsidal chancel, narthex, south lady chapel and north vestry.
Description of Archaeology and History
St Gabriel is one of five churches built to a similar design by the architect Earnest Charles Shearman in London during the first third of the 20th century. The churches were Wimbledon, St Matthew 1909 (bomb damaged in 1944 and eventually replaced by another design by Comper); Kentish Town, St Silas 1912; Ealing, St Barnabas 1916; St Gabriel in 1931 and Isleworth, St Francis of Assissi in 1935.
Shearman (1859–1939) employed a particular style which has been called ‘Mediterranean Gothic’ and is demonstrated in all of the above churches with apsidal chancels, passage aisles, elaborate tracery and ambulatory ways. Shearman’s design is undoubtedly a successful one although not all of the examples above were finished to full effect. St Gabriel itself is unfinished, it lacks a full complement of windows which detracts from the whole and has large sections of blind brickwork.
Building started in 1929 and was completed in 1931. Shearman also designed the two storey parish rooms to the immediate north west of the church which were erected either at the end of the building of the church or a year later. A later single storey parish hall was constructed in 1964 to the west of the church and parish rooms.
Exterior Description
Externally it is the height of St Gabriel’s that dominates. The roof is pitched and continuous along the length of the building although the eaves are higher around the apsed chancel. The apse is very tall and the only openings are skinny pointed lancets set in the upper half of the brickwork as a clearstorey. The apse is divided into narrow segmented panels by very thin buttresses, little more than a brick’s width, with three stone offsets which also have a decorative banding function. The seven clearstorey windows are positioned right around the apse onto the north and south chancel walls and each is alternated with a blind panel of brickwork.
A low flat vestry is located to the north of the chancel with domestic windows and doors. To the south is the Lady Chapel with a flat roof at roughly half the height of the chancel and apse. The east end is a bald brick wall demonstrating the incomplete nature of this building. There are two two light cusped lights to the south, each under a pointed arch with mouchette tracery detailing. On either side and between the openings are low buttresses, slightly wider than before, with three offsets. Stone banding between the upper two offsets is virtually continuous at this level on the south elevation.
At the junction of the chancel with the nave there are capped square towers which were perhaps intended to have further turret decoration. These towers are on both the north and south sides of the chancel and two taller examples flank the west gable end.
The transepts have pitched gables merging into the nave roof and then a further gable set lower and in front of this. The south side is completed with a enormous showy rose window. A thick stone mullion and transom divide the rose into quarter sections with mouchettes and an almost floral effect to the main quatrefoils. The transept has buttresses on either side rising to full height and a central lower one which divides the wall. There is an entrance door and a thin lancet at the lower level of the transept.
To the west of the transept on the south side there are five clear bays of the nave displayed in the brickwork. The nave windows are high, as a clearstorey, but large with two lights, flamboyant tracery and slightly depressed arches and only appear in the first, third and fifth bays. Four hefty flying buttresses extend onto the flat roof of the aisle below and, although barely visible from the ground, each has tiny arch creating a passage way which mimics the passage aisles internally. The aisle continues the height level of the Lady Chapel and has only one large window at the fourth bay, which projects slightly, of four equal cusped lights and similar flamboyant tracery as used elsewhere.
Building Fabric and Features
Stained Glass
There are seven upper lancets in the apsed chancel which all have decorative stained glass.
Building Materials
Brick
External walls mostly faced with dark purple brick and internally the bricks are Fletton and remain unplastered
Bath Stone
Dressings
Slate
Roofs
Interior
Interior Description
The nave is vast and austere. Including the narthex, the nave has six bays. The nave arcade is of brick without capitals which gives a simple lean, effect. The arcade is joined to the outer walls by sharply pointed strainer arches which create narrow ambulatories on either side of the building.
Demonstrating yet more money saving strategies, the clearstorey windows on each side face a blank on the opposite. Those on the south side occupy the first, third and fifth bays with the sixth being the transept with the rose window set back. The north side has two light windows in the second and fourth bays from the west and a single lancet in the transept. The north aisle below has no openings as there were plans to extend from here which were not realised.
The nave roof is boarded and has six composite trusses springing from stone corbels between the clearstorey bays creating pointed arches.
Looking eastwards there is a double chancel arch, each reaching to the same height but one rising from the wider transepts and the other, much narrower, the width of the apse, set immediately behind.
There is a vestry to the north of the chancel, accessed from a door at the east end of the aisle. The Lady Chapel to the south has two narrow arches from the east end of the aisle, one used for storage and the other the main access point from the nave.
The apse roof has a timber frame in the shape of a fan. The apse walls are painted, unlike the nave, and surrounded with the tall lancet clearstorey windows all of abstract stained glass. At ground level there are three blind arched recesses in the easternmost curve of the apse. Further to the west there is another recess to the north and an open archway to the Lady Chapel. Further west there are larger arches on both sides, the north blind with a small door inset to the vestry and the south open through to the Lady Chapel .
The east end is all raised on two steps up from the nave and the altar a further five. A low brick wall capped with stone divides the nave and chancel and to the north of this there is a blind section of wall which has a reredos positioned to create a small chapel.
The Lady Chapel is a pleasant space with two large windows of clear glass.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
1931
A long framed box altar in three sections each with inlaid panels creating a simple geometric pattern.
Pulpit
1931
The limestone pulpit is set against a column with steps from the west. The pulpit consists of five panelled sides of what would be octagonal on plan. Each panel has a pair of blind cusped arches with trefoil detailing above. The base of the pulpit has small projected ledges with carved figures.
Lectern
Modern plain reading desk
Lectern
Stored at the west end is a large wooden eagle book rest standing on a large square wooden base with decorative cusped details on each face.
Font (object)
The font is positioned directly in front of the doors from the narthex. There is some suggestion that it may have been given from Westminster Abbey but no evidence in support of this claim. The font is octagonal, rather dwarfed by a substantial shaped plinth and step. The bowl has shields and symbols around the edge of each face and below on the stem there are eight small cusped niches for statuettes several of which are damaged or missing.
Organ (object)
Small electronic console
Painting
2003
Painting in Lady Chapel by the Revd John Pelling
Rail
1931
Simple plain wooden rail in the chancel. Wooden rail on iron scrolled stanchions in the Lady Chapel.
Bells
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 203 815
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
Quinquennial Inspections
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