My Open House. St Mary’s Perivale
Not a bad Open House. We got to London Fire Brigade Museum; Ealing Town Hall; Chiswick Town Hall; Â Boston Manor; and Osterley House (magnificent, but too gloomy! put some lights on, National Trust!). William Kent’s Horse Guards, as expected, was way over-subscribed, no help to being featured on the One Show Friday evening. But for me the highlight of all was a genuine, difficult-to-get-to-except-by-car, hidden treasure: St Mary’s Perivale.
This ancient little 12C church has claim to being the oldest in Middlesex. Surrounded by swanky Ealing Golf Course and a less-swanky Premier Inn, it sits south west of the Hoover Building, separated from the Art Deco masterpiece by the Western Avenue. Before reaching the church you see its pretty lych gate (sponsored by the widow of John Boosey of Boosey & Hawkes, who is buried outside the church).
Unless you knew it were here, you would never see it. I was unaware it existed until someone told me a few months ago. Although used for classical music concerts, it has not held services since the early 1970s, although it remains consecrated.
The nave is the oldest part of the church, believed to have been built around 1135, the chancel in about 1250 with the vestry and wooden tower being added early in the 16th Century. Before the 20th Century, the Perivale area never had more than several dozen parishioners. These numbers shot up to over 10,000 with the coming of the railway and the building of light industrial estates, shops and suburban streets. Unfortunately, St Mary’s found itself on the “wrong” side of the greatly expanded and extended Western Avenue, becoming more isolated than ever. Following its closure in the early 1970s it suffered several years of neglect and extreme vandalism.
The Friends of St Mary’s was set up and given a 99 year lease by the Church Commissioners to repair the building and look after it. The organisation is still going strong, holding frequent classical music concerts in the venerable old church. Attending one of these is the best way of accessing the Grade I-listed building. Unless you travel by car, the best way to reach St Mary’s is via Perivale tube station on the Central Line. Looking at the map, I’d guess it’s a 15 minute walk from there.
Hello Mike
I was delighted to read your words about St Mary’s (found via the wonderful Diamond Geezer’s blog) a special place I’ve always loved. It used to be possible to follow a path down from Pitshanger Park over the River Brent to it.
My Godfather was born in Ealing in 1916 and christened here. He was a very special person to me and when he died in his 90th year I organised his service there. I’m amazed I managed to do this if St Mary’s hasn’t been used for a service since the 1970s!
Thanks for reminding me of this special place,
Nicola
Hi Nicola, thanks for that. Sorry I’ve taken a bit of time to respond. All the best.
I’ve just found your message about St Mary’s and thought I would respond. I grew up in Ealing and attended North Ealing Primary School, near the other end of that path from Pitshanger Park. At weekends I would often explore the path and the muddy pools alongside it, near the River Brent (collecting pond creatures in a jam jar). I think that one of my friends who still lives in Ealing is a trustee of the church. I don’t myself remember ever visiting it when I was growing up, which is ironic since I later spent my working life as a parish priest in the Church of England! I was glad to read about your own memory of such a special place.
Richard
Thanks for your input, Richard. All the best.
I was born in Ealing and attended Christchurch Primary School in the Broadway. My late father was a Genealogist and researched and published the history of St. Mary-the-Virgin Perivale in the early 1960’s. I am now revising and updating his booklet. All going to plan I hope the book will be published by the end of this year so please watch out for copies in the local book shops! Incidentally the Church can still be reached via the footpath from Pitshanger Park.
Hilary
Thanks, Hilary, good luck with the book and do let us know when it’s available.
This is a better late than never update on a post I made in 2014. My book was published in February 2015 and is available in Pitshanger Bookshop and Waterstones Ealing Broadway Branch. It will be three years since publication early next year so I am now thinking of ways to keep it fresh on marketing scenes. Hilary Beavis
Can you confirm that Godfrey Assumption Francis HINKSON was buried in the Churchyard in February 1896, having died on 30 September 1895, please? Required for a footnote in an edition of his mother’s letters. Katharine Tynan (1859-1931).
Thanks.
Re my request above: I have found the information required! Godfrey Hinkson was buried on 2 October 1895 not in 1896 as I was led to believe. However, is there still a tombstone?
Sorry for the confusion!
Thanks, Damian. In short, I don’t know. My best suggestion is to contact the people who look after the place. Today it’s just used for musical recitals, but the people who look after it are lovely and I’m sure would respond if you approached them. Try here:
http://www.st-marys-perivale.org.uk/contacts001.htm
Many thanks. I’ll try the website.
Sadly, there have been periods since the Reformation when this gem of a church has been neglected. Not content with declaring the parish church redundant,the Cof E agreed to the demolition of the daughter church of St Nicholas ,a distinctive piece of architecture.Not to mention the destruction of Perivale Rectory in 1958.Next to the old church,and one of the few remaining buildings of historical interest left here.Shame on them!
Thanks Peter, I did not know that. Are there pictures out there of either building?
Just caught up! Sorry for the long delay….. Ealing Local history (Broadway centre) have old postcards of The Rectory,illus.in J.Allen Brown ‘s Chronicles of Greenford Parva, also drawings in John Farthing’ s Mss. Not sure about St Nicholas’s (a rather fine modern church) but no doubt on line. The replacement looks not unlike a doctor’s waiting room under a block of flats.
Just caught up! Sorry for the long delay….. Ealing Local history (Broadway centre) have old postcards of The Rectory,illus.in J.Allen Brown ‘s Chronicles of Greenford Parva, also drawings in John Farthing’ s Mss. Not sure about St Nicholas’s (a rather fine modern church) but no doubt on line. The replacement looks not unlike a doctor’s waiting room under a block of flats. P. s. bought a charming sepia postcard of the old church published by the G.W.R.
I believe I was christened in this lovely church , late in 1945. Venetia Carole M… Do you have a record of that please?
Hi, we don’t keep or access records of this type. You’ll need to contact the local parish concerned.
So thrilled to find this on my newly acquired ‘friend’ google – my granddaughter taught me the required skills. My parents married in this beautiful church in 1946 (?) – we eventually lived in Summerfield road and mum would walk me across pitshanger park through the golf course to visit the church as a small child. Congratulations on restoring it to its former glory.
Thanks, Deborah, great memories. Restoration nothing to do with us, but they did a great job.