This church is one of six now gathered round the original church of St. John’s, Notting-hill, and is allocated to one of the six new parishes into which the old parish has been subdivided. It was built in the year 1856, with funds furnished partly by the incumbent and partly by donations from the immediate neighbourhood. It has sittings for 1,400 persons, out of which 400 are free. There are, in connexion with it, large and exceedingly well appointed schools, numbering 150 boys, 150 girls and 220 infants. The efficiency of these schools has been authoritatively commended.
The present vicar, the Rev. J. Robbins, D.D., of Christ Church, Oxford, was appointed in the year 1862. We had not the opportunity of hearing the rev. gentleman preach, but he read the first lesson, and we consider him quite a model reader. From a firm, distinct, and flexible utterance, and as from a ready appreciation of its sense, Scripture is made to speak its meaning, and to convey real effect in the reading. The general order of service he has adopted is semi-choral. The prayers are monotoned, the chants and responses are Gregorian. The choir is mostly composed of boys, with surplices, educated in the schools attached to the church, and who sing the music about as well as such music can be done. The Creed is, also, in reality, sung and accompanied with the organ. We must confess to a disappointment in the effect produced by the organ, the tones of which did not seem to harmonise with the flow of voices; but we hear this is about to be remedied. To many there would doubtless seem in this service an excess of singing, and that, monotonous in a large degree. But it is the High Church order of things; and St. Peter’s is confessedly High Church. There are various societies attached for the visitation of the poor and the distribution of several charities.
The sermon on Sunday morning, July 2, 1871, was preached by the Rev. C. R. Robinson, M.A., Canon of Rochester, for the Gravesend (or St. Andrew’s) Waterside Mission. Notwithstanding the inclement weather, the church was fully attended by a congregation in the midst of which it was hard to discern a single poor person. The preacher discoursed pleasantly on 1 Peter v. 10, 11—“But the God of all grace,” &c. His account of the origin of St. Andrew’s Mission, of which he himself was the founder about ten years ago, and of his personal interviews with seamen in going to sea and returning, distribution of books, &c., riveted the attention of the audience, and appeared to excite intense feeling in favour of the noble objects of the society. The usual preliminary part of the Communion Service, including the Commandments, the Nicene Creed, Epistle and Gospel, was not read; but the sermon followed the Litany and hymn. The hymn-book used is “Hymns Ancient and Modern” (Novello, Ewer, and Co., Berners-street). Usual services—Sundays: 8 a.m., Holy Communion; 11, Morning Prayer, Litany, and sermon; 12.30 p.m., Communion (choral); 3.30 p.m., Evening Prayer and catechising the children; 7 p.m., Evening Prayer and sermon. Week-days: 8 a.m., morning prayer; 5.30 p.m., Evening Prayer (choral); Wednesday and Friday, Litany, 12.30 p.m.; Thursday, Communion at 7 a.m., and also on saints’ days and holidays. The church is open all day for prayer and meditation, and a public notice at the doors requests “all persons to observe silence.”
ST. PAUL’S KENSINGTON.
St. Paul’s, Campden-hill, is a large iron structure, standing at one corner of Vicarage-garden. As an iron building there is very little to say about it; it is not beautiful—iron buildings never are—but the situation is so very charming, that, plain as the features are of the church, the pleasant nook in which it is placed seems quite to take from its ugliness and lend some of its cheerful pastoral happiness to its iron tenant. One thing strikes us as worthy of notice—the very large open porch at the western entrance offers ample shelter and accommodation to a large dispersing congregation in wet weather, and it has the advantage of offering protection from heat as well as wet, and keeps the west end of the building cool; it is like an open vestibule or lobby.
St. Paul’s was erected as a chapel of ease to the parish church, St. Mary Abbots, Kensington, in the year 1854, so that it was one of the earliest of this temporary method of providing for public worship; and it may be added that, from the present firm and substantial appearance of the structure, it is evident this comparatively inexpensive way of dealing with the question—where larger funds are not at command—may be made to do good service through at least a generation. It affords accommodation for 1,200 people, and but few of the sittings are free, not, we believe, amounting to more than fifty. The church is served by the curates of Archdeacon Sinclair, Vicar of Kensington, and at present, during the re-erection of the new parish church, has double service performed in it every Sunday. The early service at a quarter to ten, and afternoon at half-past three, at which the Archdeacon’s curates officiate, are for the congregation of the Old Church, who, pro tem., are without accommodation, and the services at half-past eleven and seven are given to the congregation of St. Paul’s, when the Archdeacon himself usually preaches. This is of a high-class character, and remarkable for a very large preponderance of gaily-dressed ladies, quite in keeping with our established ideas of a court suburb. The service is Evangelical, the clerical robes of the simplest character, and the chancel without conspicuous ornament of any kind, but that which is the greatest adorning of a church, a reverent and rational performance of Divine worship, without formalism or Ritualistic affectation of voice and manner. We were favoured to hear the venerable Bishop of Bangor, who delivered an impressive sermon, full of Evangelical sentiment, from 1st Epistle of John, c. iii., v. 2: “Beloved now are we the sons of God; and it doth not yet appear what we shall be,” &c. A young clergyman—a stranger to the congregation—read the prayers, Psalms, lessons, and Litany.
The congregation is of course interested in the schools and charities belonging to the parent church, and contribute in a liberal degree to their efficiency and support. These will be fully described in their proper place, when we treat of the beautiful new parish church now in course of erection.
ST. JAMES’S, NOTTING HILL.
St. James’s, Notting-hill, is situated in the Addison-Road North, and is seen to some advantage at the entrance to the road. From its central position, its square tower and sharp pinnacles look grey and old, an appearance which the church loses upon closer inspection. It is built of grey brick, with moulded angle bricks and slight stone dressings, and the low-pitched roofs are covered with slate. The plan of the church consists of a nave and aisles, with an apsidal chancel, the tower forming an excrescent on the south side, about the middle of the nave. This tower acts as a porch on the lower story, and has a ringing floor on the gallery level; these galleries surround the church on three sides, extending to the arcades. In style the church is a revival of the early English, and, like all churches of the period, is full of mistakes, though as a specimen of that age it is perhaps a very fair example. But the efforts of revivalists must not be forgotten; much of our perfection, if it can yet be called so, is due to their endeavours. The iron columns of the nave are worthy of remark, showing how very well iron could be treated even in those days. The roofs are open, and though rather heavy possess some fair effect. The windows are chiefly without tracery, and the stained glass is poor. The pewing is very simple; the pulpit high. The prayer-desk and oak-eagle lectern speak of a desire for better things. The font is poor and too perpendicular. The organ is in the western gallery. The decoration of the nave is not well done; it is evidently the work of an unskilful hand. There is no need for Greek ornament in a Gothic building; surely there is scope enough for the ornamentalist in Gothic work without going to the Greeks for examples.
St. James’s, Notting-hill, is one of the older modern suburban churches, having been built more than a quarter of a century ago, which is a great deal to say as compared with a number of the churches we are now reviewing. It accommodates 1,100 persons, and 500 of the sittings are free, which is in larger proportion than general. It has national schools attached to it, where 135 boys, 100 girls, and 150 infants are instructed according to the principles of the Church of England. These schools are kept up at a cost of about 500l. per annum, about 170l. of which is obtained by Government grant, about 140l. from the children’s fees, and the remainder from subscriptions and offertories. There are Mothers’ Meetings and a District visiting Society, with which is connected a mission woman and a mission-house in Crescent-street, where extra services are held. Also a Maternity Charity, and the “St. James’s Norland and Potteries Benevolent Society,” and an “Auxiliary Church Missionary Society.” Help is also given to the Additional Curates Society and the Bishop of London’s Fund. All these charities and works were well inaugurated in the time of the former Vicar, the Rev. T. P. Holdich, and have been well sustained since his removal—three years ago—by the Rev. George T. Palmer, M.A., his successor, and the present Vicar. An important alteration, however, has been made in the mode of providing the necessary funds. Formerly it was done by special annual charity sermons; but for this method Mr. Palmer has substituted, we are informed with some advantage to the interests concerned, a weekly offertory, or collection taken at every Sunday morning service, which is apportioned among all the charities and calls, according to their relative claims. This covers everything, and beyond it there is nothing but a church-rate, voluntarily given, amounting to about 25l. per annum. From these sources and the pew-rents the clergy are maintained, the church expenses met, and the charities supported. The Curate, up to Michaelmas-day last, was the Rev. P. E. Monkhouse, M.A., which appointment he resigned on accepting the head-mastership of the Notting-hill Proprietary School, in order to devote the whole of his time to the education of the boys entrusted to his charge. Mr. Monkhouse, however, still gives his services to Mr. Palmer, and preaches frequently. His successor is the Rev. I. Cammack. On the occasion of our visit the latter read, or rather monotoned the prayers with a clear voice, and Mr. Monkhouse read the two lessons with good taste and effect. Mr. Palmer himself read in the Communion Service and preached the sermon. In giving notice of the Communion for the following Sunday morning, the rev. gentleman dispensed with the usual form, and simply made the announcement that it would take place at nine a.m. The sermon was founded on 1 Peter iii. 13: “And who is he that will harm you if ye be followers of that which is good!”