History
The visitor on first entering the District (formally Parish) Church
of St. Alban, Westcliff-on-Sea, is immediately struck by its devotional
atmosphere, its homeliness and its matchless beauty. Tucked away
almost out of sight through the growth of the town around it since it
was built in open fields, it stands far enough away from the clatter
and turmoil of the busy street to form a quiet oasis for the Christian
wayfarer. Its newness as a Parish Church has long since departed for
its walls are now hallowed by the prayers and gifts of four generations
of worshippers whose continuous spiritual presence provides that
indefinable sense of solemnity and holiness which one associates with
our more ancient parochial foundations and cathedrals.
Southend-on-Sea has grown out of four ancient
ecclesiastical parishes all mentioned in the Doomsday Book; Leigh,
Milton, Prittlewell and Southchurch. Southend began to
develop rapidly as a sea-side resort in the closing years of the 19th
century, and the church true to its ancient mission, began to cater for
an increasing population by establishing mission churches, many of which
in course of time became separate parochial foundations. It
is in this way that the Parish of St. Alban the Martyr, Westcliff-on-Sea
(now a District of the Southend Parish), arose out of the ancient Parish
of St. Mary the Virgin, Prittlewell.
The story begins on 23rd September 1890, with the
formation of the St. Mary's Prittlewell Church Extension Committee which
held its first meeting in St. John's Parish Hall under the chairmanship
of the then Bishop of St. Alban's. It was a strong committee
containing men honoured in the history of Southend.
Mr. Frederic Gregson who was to take such an active part in the
subsequent development of the Parish of St. Alban was also an original
member of this committee and acted throughout as its treasurer.
After its inaugural meeting under the Bishop of the Diocese (Chelmsford
Diocese had not then been created) Canon T. O. Reay, Vicar
of St. Mary's Prittlewell, was elected as Chairman of this committee.
A generous offer of £20 per annum for five years by Canon Heygate
for Church Extension in the west end of Southend-on-Sea had provided the
chief stimulus for the formation of the committee. The committee met twice in 1890, eleven times in
1891, and nine times in 1892. Up to the 21st March 1892, that is until
St. Alban's Mission Room was built, the committee usually met at
the offices of Messer's. Gregson in Alexandra Street, although
occasionally we find it meeting at the private house or business
premises of one or another of its members. From 21st March
1892 the meetings took place in St. Alban's Mission Room.
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| Canon T.O. Reay, Vicar of Prittlewell |
The committee's early meetings were naturally largely concerned with
the twin problems of securing a site for a new mission room and church
and the raising of the necessary funds. By June 1891 two plots of land
had been purchased from Mr. Dowsett and Mr. Scudder for £360. This
land now forms the site on which the church and Parish Hall stand
together with the churchyard, but did not include the site of the old
vicarage (rectory) which was purchases for £150 in 1897. Having
secured the site, the committee's next task was to erect a mission room
for temporary use until such time as the permanent church could be
built. Accordingly in August 1891 an appeal was launched for £700 to
cover the cost of the site and building the mission room. This appeal
at the same time gave information about further plans for church
extension after the mission room had been built. Messer's. Humphreys &
Co's contract for £198 for the building of the mission room was accepted
in January 1892 and on 30th March of the same year the new building was
opened for Divine Worship.
Thus a centre was created to meet the spiritual
needs of a growing population at Westcliff, estimated at the time to be
2000 people to whom the mother church at Prittlewell was too
inaccessible. The Rev. A. E. Briggs, Curate of Prittlewell
who had been elected a member of the committee in May 1891, was the
first priest to be put in charge of this new mission centre.
The total cost of the site, the mission room with its furnishings and
fittings and miscellaneous expenses amounted to just under £700.
Of this sum grants amounting to £110 had been received from the
Incorporated Church Building Society, the S.P.C.K., and the Additional
Curates Society. With Canon Heygate's gift of £100 this left
about £500 to be raised locally.
A regular congregation of worshippers began to gather
around the new mission room and various parochial organisations such as
Sunday School and Women's Fellowship began to appear. The
need for a permanent church and an independent parochial existence began
to assert itself. The Church Extension Committee did not
meet between September 1892 and February 1894, during this period
subscriptions were steadily coming in to meet the expenses of the site
and mission room and by October 1893 all debt had been repaid.
On 26th February 1894 a combined meeting of the
Prittlewell Church Extension Committee and the "congregation who usually
worship there" was held in St Alban's Mission Room. The
meeting agreed to use every means in its power to provide a permanent
church on the site, a Ladies Sub-Committee was set up "to collect
funds". There was one further meeting of the committee in
1984 when it was decided that £1000 should be raised before building
started. The committee did not meet again until February
1896, this meeting is interesting as the Rev. E. Kimber was elected to
the committee. He was the third priest placed in charge of
the mission centre replacing the Rev. B. H. Verdon in 1895, he was
destined to become the first Vicar of St. Alban's. The
treasurer reported at this meeting that the amount in the bank towards
the fund for the new church was £26. The need for a
permanent church was stressed and arrangements were made to approach the
inhabitants of the neighbourhood for subscriptions to the building fund.
There was only one further meeting in 1896 at which it was reported that
subscriptions and promises amounted to £258. A bazaar was
held later in the year and produced £70.
The year 1897 was an active one for the committee; it
met no less than eleven times. Early in the year the
building fund amounted to £600. In July an anonymous donor
gave £300 on condition that another £500 was raised within a reasonable
period, and that the St. Alban's Mission District be formed as soon as
possible into a separate and distinct ecclesiastical parish and further
that the first part of the building to be put in hand be the nave.
The conditions were accepted, the Vicar of Prittlewell raising no
objections to the demand for separation. By October 1897 the
building fund had reached a total of £1,290. Advertisements
had appeared in the best building papers inviting architects to submit
plans for the building of a church to accommodate 400 people, 500 if
possible, at a maximum cost of £3,000. Sir Arthur Bloomfield
was invited to undertake the duties of assessor and examined the designs
of nine architects who had submitted plans. He advised
acceptance of the design of Messrs. Nicholson and Corlette of 2 New
Square, Lincoln's Inn, London. Six building firms were
invited to submit tenders for the construction of the nave, aisles and
transepts of the church. Mr. F. Dupont of Colchester was the
successful competitor with a tender of £1,899-10-0.
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| St.Alban's roof under construction. |
On 17th June 1898 the foundation stone under the West
Window was laid by Bishop Festing of St. Albans amid scenes of great
rejoicing. It is difficult in these days with our church
situated in a thickly populated built-up area to imagine the conditions
that surrounded our predecessors at this ceremony a century ago.
We have to imagine a large expanse of land, mainly agricultural, lying
between Prittlewell and Leigh, Hamlet Court Road being nothing more than
a country lane. The importance of the ceremony lies in the
fact that St. Alban's was the first Parish Church to be built in this
empty space between the two ancient parishes
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| The work goes on...still no tower |
The committee
at the time the building was begun held a balance of £1,803. That part
of the building that was then in hand was completed by the end of 1898
and on 5th January 1890 was opened for Divine Worship by the Archdeacon
of Essex. The legal act of consecration was postponed until the
building was free from debt, this was reached by the first Sunday of
1900 and the act of consecration of the nave and aisles was carried out
by the Bishop of the Diocese on 31st July that year. The first portion
of the church to be built had, with its fittings, cost the committee
approximately £2,500. The committee continued its separate existence
until the District of St. Alban's became a separate Parish early in
1901. Its last tasks as an independent committee were to arrange the
delineation of the boundaries of the new Parish, to clear off the debt
of the first portion of the Parish Church to be to be erected and to
establish an endowment fund, it was then merged into the St. Alban's
Church Committee, a body equivalent to a Standing Committee of the
Parochial Church Council. In the Autumn 1903 Messr's Davis
& Leaney who tended £2202 to build the Chancel tower transcepts and
vestries the final bill was £2700. The new additions were solemnly
consecrated in the summer 1904.
An account of our beginning
over a hundred years ago by L. E. Britnor and G. E. Smith published in
1948.
The Prittlewell Church Extension Committee had had a
life of ten years. In that period it had accomplished five
important tasks; the acquisition of sites for the permanent Church,
mission room and vicarage; the building of a temporary mission room; the
completion of the nave and aisles of the permanent church; the
establishment of an endowment fund; and finally the constitution of a
separate ecclesiastical parish. The constitution of a
separate parish was effected by an Order of Council dated 30th January,
1901, and printed in "The London Gazette" dated February 8th 1901.
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| The great west window under construction |
THE HOLY NAME MISSION
As
early as 1903, a year before the completion of the Parish Church, St.
Alban's had established a mission centre in the northern part of its
Parish. A modest beginning was made in that year by renting
a house in New lands Road, where services were held and a Sunday School
established. The success of this venture led to a desire for
a larger and permanent home for St. Alban's Mission, as it was then
called, and in 1905, largely through the munificence of Sister Agnes,
one of the Parish's greatest benefactresses, a site was secured at the
junction of Salisbury and Cliff Avenues for the erection of a permanent
mission building.
An iron structure on a concrete and brick foundation was
built at a cost of £1000 it had accommodation for 160 people and was
consecrated by the Bishop of St. Albans on 11th November 1905.
This new Mission, known as "The Mission of the Holy Name," at once
became the centre of a vigorous and active religious life.
In the early days the Mission was directed entirely by the Rev. F. E.
Rance, a sincere and courageous Priest who attracted all classes to a
spiritual life by his fearless teaching of the Catholic Faith, his
intense human sympathy and self-sacrifice in the cause of winning souls
to Christ.
His task at first was not easy. He had to
struggle against bands of young hooligans who infested the northern area
of the Parish and periodic visits from the Kensitites who came annually
into the Parish in an attempt to disturb the Good Friday Procession of
Witness. It is recorded that when he first launched a club
for young lads, when the new Mission Room had been completed, the
hooligans in the Parish turned up in strength to take a rise out of him
and wreck the whole concern.
Fr. Rance had apparently learnt the art of boxing in his
student days and the first man to start wrecking tactics was promptly
stretched out on the floor. The reputation of "the fighting
parson" was made. Those who had come to scoff remained to
pray and the gang leaders some twenty in all were eventually baptised
and confirmed becoming some of the keenest supporters of the Mission's
social and religious activities.
Henceforth the young lads of the club were known as
"Miss Simpson's Lambs" Miss Simpson was the church worker at the
time and a very loyal supporter of Fr. Rance's work. Her
enthusiasm and magnetic personality drew large numbers of men, women and
children to God and in particular those very hooligans who at first had
seemed such hopeless propositions. The Mission Room became
self-supporting and held a full complement of services which were always
crowded. The intensity of its spiritual life may be gathered
from the fact that once a week an Early Mass was celebrated at 4.30am
this was attended by early workers such as road menders, gardeners, tram
drivers and conductors, milk men and post men.
.
The debt on the Mission building was cleared by 1908 and
the Mission continued to do excellent work down to the year 1922.
In that year owing to the increase in population in Westcliff-on-Sea the
new ecclesiastical Parish of St. Paul's was created out of the parishes
of Prittlewell and St. Alban's, Westcliff-on-Sea, and the Mission of the
Holy Name found itself within the newly created Parish of St. Paul's.
It was therefore impossible to continue it as a parochial activity.
Some people had hoped that the Mission might be transferred to a site in
Station Road at the southern end of the Parish, but the Parochial Church
Council accepted the decision of its General Purposes Committee which
unanimously recommended that the best interest of the Parish would be
served by centralizing the spiritual work of the Parish around the
Parish Church.
This decision was partly due to the fact that expert
evidence had decided that the Mission Room would not survive dismantling
and re-erection and partly due to the excessive price demand for a new
site. The sale of the building was transacted through the
Charity Commissioners who agreed that the proceeds should be devoted to
St. Edward's Hall and the purchase of 6 St. John's Road***.
Sister Agnes agreed to this arrangement.
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| The Holy Name Chapel |
** Since this article was first published
in 1948 the altar in the North Aisle from the Mission Room has been
replaced, I believe the original Mission Room altar was moved to the
platform in the Nave, the Sunday Mass is conducted from this altar.
*** In
2003 the Parochial Church Council of Southend Parish agreed to the sale
of 6 St. John's Road following the death of our Verger Len Eastland who
lived there for over 40 years.
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| Len Eastland, last verger of St.Alban's |
Most the information shown above is taken from
"Saint Alban the Martyr St. John's Road Westcliff-on-Sea The First Fifty
Years 1898 - 1948" by L. E. Britnor and G. E. Smith published Easter,
1948.
VICARS OF ST. ALBAN THE MARTYR
By the 21st March 1892 there was a mission room on land bought from Messrs Dowsett & Scudder for £360 the site of the present church and parish hall. The Reverend A E Briggs was the first priest in charge of the mission room followed by the Reverend B H Verdon in 1893 and the Reverend E E Kimber in 1895. In 1906 he took up the less demanding appointment of rector of Great Whitcombe before becoming rector Ulay and Owlfen, Gloucestershire he died in 1911.
He
was followed by The Reverend C H Rogerswho came from Holy Trinity
Harrow Green where he had also been Vicar and was to serve until his
death in 1929. then came Reverend L
Stokes he had been honorary Chaplain to the forces in World War 1 and
then became Vicar of St Barnabas Walthamstow. He became Rector of West
and East Hanningfield in 1943 and Canon of chelmsford before being
appointed Vicar of Brentwood.
The Reverend J D Mann in came 1965 (The Window
Dedicated to him cost £288 in 1971designed by John Hayward) he was
suceeded by Father George Watson then by Father Ivor Hancock
(1976-1980) then Father Bob White. In 1982 the Parish of St Albans
joined with the United Parish of Southend which had established in 1974
incorporating St Johns St Marks All Saints and St Erkenwalds. In the 90s
The Reverend Roderick Hamer came and was followed by Fr. Kurt K. Barron. The present vicar, Fr.Phil Roberts came to the church in 2002.
Pictures of more recent clergy associated with St. Alban's will appear on the Photo Gallery Page.
VICARS OF ST. ALBAN THE MARTYR
By the 21st March 1892 there was a mission room on land bought from Messrs Dowsett & Scudder for £360 the site of the present church and parish hall. The Reverend A E Briggs was the first priest in charge of the mission room followed by the Reverend B H Verdon in 1893 and the Reverend E E Kimber in 1895. In 1906 he took up the less demanding appointment of rector of Great Whitcombe before becoming rector Ulay and Owlfen, Gloucestershire he died in 1911.
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| Rev. E.E. Kimber |
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| Rev. Leonard Stokes |
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| Fr. J.D. Mann |
Pictures of more recent clergy associated with St. Alban's will appear on the Photo Gallery Page.
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