St Saviour's Priory is an autonomous religious house within a movement called the Society of St Margaret. It was founded by Revd. Dr John Mason Neale (one of the key figures of the 19th century Anglo-Catholic movement), in 1855, as an order of women in the Church of England dedicated to nursing the sick.
The original accommodation building of 1887-8, by C.H.M. Milcham was known as the Mother Kate Home after a former nun, and was demolished in the 1970s. The buildings of the priory are arranged around a quadrangle bounded by Queensbridge Road, Dunloe Street, Yorkton Street and Haggeston Park. The chapel occupies the northwest corner of the site and in plan is a long narrow oblong shape with a short cloister arm running east-west along the south side which ends in a sacristy. The chapel is the centrepiece and oldest surviving part of the priory and is of great architectural importance. It was designed by J. Harold Gibbons (1878-1958), an architect who continued the traditions of the Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts movement into the 20th century.
The foundation stone for the chapel was laid in December, 1925 and the chapel was blessed by Bishop Taylor in October, 1926. It cost £4000, a sum that had taken the sisters nearly 30 years to raise. Internally there are five-bay blind arcades recessed into the walls on each side, and the space is roofed with a wooden tunnel vault. This is a pointed arch in section. Up a small stair behind the arch is a further upper chapel, the Chapel of the Blessed Sacrament. The windows, present only on the south side have simple transoms and mullions, although the lights incorporate decorative leading as well as some small stained figurative panels. At first, because of lack of money the interior was very plain with borrowed benches, alter and tabernacle. The only ornament was the statue of St Margaret of Antioch, carved in Oberammergau.
Gibbons' design is relatively modest, the exterior built in purple blue brick up to sill level, with red brick above. High on the east external wall is a stone rood looking down to the street. The chapel contains some important fittings of great quality. Most important are the oak choir stalls with their richly adorned canopies and unique series of 42 carved misericords, executed by a former sister, depicting animals and flowers.
The upper chapel was completed in instalments and has a marble alter with a crown of thorns, a gilded and painted dome and gilded wrought-iron gates by W. Bainbridge Reynolds, a respected metalworker. The canopy over the alter is by Laurence King and was installed in 1959, and the statue of the Virgin and Child is by Martin Travers, both noted 20th century ecclesiastical designers.
In 1976, the convent was extended with a large red-brick block, designed by Laurence King (1907-81), who had previously designed the canopy in the upper chapel. He was a prolific post-war church architect. St Saviour's Priory is now an Anglican community of ordained and lay women, running retreats, workshops and specialist services for refugees and asylum seekers.
HISTORY
Three sisters of the Society of St Margaret, East Grinstead arrived in Haggerston in 1866, to help the great number of poor in the area, who were suffering at that time from a cholera outbreak. Most of the community converted to Catholicism in 1868, and Sister Kate, who was elected Mother decided to move the remaining sisters to a new location. They arrived at the present site on the corner of Queensbridge Road and Dunloe Street in 1870, occupying a range of old buildings. The sisters built St Saviour’s Priory in the late 1880s, naming it the Mother Kate Home. The original accommodation building of 1887-8, by C.H.M. Milcham survived until the 1970s. It was used in the Second World War as an air raid shelter. It is now an Anglican community of ordained and lay women, working with the marginalized in East London.
Historical Interest
A rare example in Hackney of a religious community in purpose-built accommodation. St Saviour's Priory is a surviving physical representation of the movement in the later 19th century of religious and other charitable bodies coming to Hackney and the East End, to relieve the suffering of the poor and vulnerable.
Architectural Interest
The chapel and surviving pre-war priory buildings at St Saviour's were designed by J. Harold Gibbons (1878-1958), a significant representative of traditionalist designs in 20th century English ecclesiastical architecture. Built in 1925 and opened for worship in 1926, it is the first complete church building by Gibbons, an architect whose reputation has grown in recent years as someone who carried the Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts movement into the 20th century. Seven churches by Gibbons are nationally listed, including St Francis of Assisi in Bournemouth (Grade II, 1928-30).
The 1970s red-brick block was designed by Laurence King (1907-81), a prolific post-war church architect.
Environmental Significance
The chapel is an architectural gem in a somewhat down-at-heel part of Hackney. It lies within the Hackney Road Conservation Area.
Aesthetic or Artistic Merit
The interior of the chapel contains important examples of church furnishings and fixtures and fittings by important craftsmen and women. It features a collection of intricate carvings of native animals and flowers by one of the nuns, Sister Laetitia, who learned to carve at evening class. She designed and made 42 misericords (carvings under hinged seats), as well as other decorations in the chapel.
The chapel contains two windows by stained glass artist, Margaret Edith Aldrich Rope, known as 'Tor' (1891-1988). She was a personal friend of Gibbons and an important stained glass artist in the Arts and Crafts tradition. Between 1931 and 1947, the artist designed a series of eight windows depicting 'East End Everyday Saints' for St Augustine’s church off the Hackney Rd, portraying miracles enacted within a recognisable East End environment. Two windows, St Paul and St Margaret (1932) from the closed St Augustine’s Church, are now in the entrance of St Saviour’s Priory. The canopy over the alter is by Laurence King and was installed in 1959, and the statue of the Virgin and Child is by Martin Travers, both noted 20th century ecclesiastical designers.
VISITS: No, written assessment by Dr Ann Robey, architectural historian and heritage consultant, based on archival and secondary research, and extensive information provided by Edmund Harris to London Borough of Hackney
LISTED: 11 Sep 2015
Ad hoc additions - Buildings added after the bulk adoption resulting from the Love Local Landmarks project in 2012
These buildings were identified by the Love Local Landmarks surveyors, and added to Hackney's Local List in 2012.
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