The church is Grade II listed and the
entry at the English Heritage website [visit
link] tells us:
"Erected in 1817 from designs by J
Hollis. White stone, with balustrade, roof not visible. Square western tower
surmounted by lantern with slender spire above. West front has advanced,
pedimented portico with fluted Ionic columns and steps. Central panelled double
doors under round arch, fanlight. Round arched flanking windows and upper
windows are sashes with labels above."
The Parish of Poplar website [visit
link] tells us:
"On 29th March 1821 the Foundation
Stone for this magnificent Church was laid by the Bishop of London and during
the grand ceremony the first Rector, the Revd. Samuel Hoole,
declared:
“We meet here to found an edifice
which we trust will endure for many generations, dedicated to the worship and
service of our invisible Creator and constant Benefactor; an edifice in
which the doctrine of the Redeemer of mankind may be faithfully inculcated, the
duties of Christian morality earnestly enforced, and the principles of Peace,
Order and Happiness be disseminated among every class of the
Community.”
The true foundations had been laid
425 years earlier, when in 1396, the small village of ‘Popelar’ with Blackwall
had been granted to the Cistercian monks of the Abbey of St Mary de Graces just
by the Tower of London, and came to be known as one of the Tower Hamlets in the
parish of Stepney. The settlements provided some of the labour-force for
the expanding City of London, including the militiamen at the Tower, as well as
crops and livestock from the newly drained marshland. By the time the land
was sold off to private families under Henry VIII, the Blackwall area had also
established a thriving shipbuilding and repairing industry.
St Dunstan’s Stepney was then the
Parish Church and baptismal records from the early 1600’s show that just over
half the fathers in Poplar were occupied in river or sea trades. In 1614
the spice traders of the East India Company set up their main shipyard at
Blackwall with their headquarters in Poplar, served by a company Chapel (now St
Matthias Church) build in 1652 on Poplar High Street.
Despite the ravages of plague, the
population continued to grow, added to which there was an
influx of Huguenot refugees to the area
in 1685 who specialised in silk manufacture and weaving, starting
the continuing tradition of the cloth trade in the East End.
At the beginning of the 19th
Century, to escape the heavy duties levied on cargoes discharged within the City
itself, massive capital expenditure was risked in the building of docks eastward
of the Pool of London. In 1800 the West India Dock was dug out manually
across the northern reach of the Isle of Dogs, principally by Irish immigrant
labourers. The dock companies built the main road in 1803 (now Commercial
Road and East India Dock Road) between Aldgate and Poplar and in 1806 the East
India Dock itself was opened. The new construction work destroyed many
homes and impoverished the lives of the local inhabitants. Subsequent
employment at the docks and wharves was always subject to the vagaries of the
weather and of market forces. However by 1811 the population of Blackwall
and Poplar was over 7,000 and in the next 50 years it increased to
43,000.
A new wealthy class of merchants
began to move into the area and in 1817 Parliament enacted a law which made
Poplar a Parish in its own right. We still have a book sealed in the reign
of George III setting out the rights and responsibilities of the new
Parish. Among its pages is the statement “that the Rector retains the
right to close off the East India Dock Road to prevent noise during the time of
Divine Service”!
The new Poplar Council set about
acquiring a suitable plot of land on which to build a Parish Church with
adjoining graveyard and Rectory. The site eventually purchased consisted
of a house, garden and field owned by Mrs Ann Newby and in 1820 the Council
invited designs for a building that would reflect Poplar’s new independence and
prosperity. Of the 36 that were received, the design by Mr Charles Hollis
was chosen. He had recently been appointed architect of the new parish
church at Windsor, which is in contrasting gothic style. A relatively
expensive church for the period, All Saints’ was built from granite and Portland
stone by Mr Thomas Morris, a local man (whose grave lies outside to the north of
the Church door) using the architect’s original scale model which is on display
in the Church. The whole project cost just over £33,000, paid for out of
the rates and with loans from two parishioners, John Stock and George Green,
supplanted a year or so later by a loan on better terms from the West India Dock
Company. The Church was consecrated on 3rd July 1823, and the living
established under the patronage of Brasenose College, Oxford.
The first Rector used to be driven
to Divine Service from the Rectory in a horse and carriage! His successor
is buried immediately opposite the front door of the Church and gave his name to
Bazely Street (originally known as Bow Lane). The Ionic columns of the
portico are surmounted by a façade of more Corinthian style rising to an elegant
steeple about 160 feet high. The tower supports a peal of ten bells,
originally supplied at a cost of £1,060 and still rung by our own band of bell
ringers.
Inside the Church there were grand
galleries on all sides and a pulpit which could be cranked up and raised in
height for the benefit of large congregations. Above the original organ
(which had been installed at a cost of £675) there were additional galleries to
accommodate the children of the Poor Law Institute. One of the six
Beadle’s staffs which were used to keep the children in order is still on show
in the Church. The status of All Saints’ as a Civic Church was marked by
the royal coat of arms now to be seen on the organ gallery, but which was
originally positioned on the capital over the altar. The small altar was
made of cast iron and contained a chest for valuables; it is now to be
found in the Sacrament Chapel on the north side of the sanctuary. The
altar was embellished at a later date by Martin Travers, who also designed
the tabernacle for the reserved sacrament. Behind the altar was a
stained glass window, the design of which was criticised so much that it is said
the artist committed suicide. It was soon covered by a curtain and
eventually bricked up altogether in the 1890’s, at which time under the
influence of the Oxford Movement the Church took on a High Church Catholic
style. Great steps were built up to the new carved high altar which was
commissioned from Oberammergau by the Rector, the Revd Arthur Chandler, later
Bishop of Bloemfontein.
Thirty years earlier his
predecessor, The Revd Thomas Nowell, had to respond to a different influence -
the sudden collapse in 1866 of some major city investment banks which resulted
in the swift demise of the local shipyard industry, tragically followed by the
great cholera epidemic in the same year. The gentry began to vacate Poplar
for the healthier climes east of London. An elegant brass plaque at the
east end of the Church honours the Rector for his tireless work trying to
improve the social condition of his increasingly poor parishioners. This
tradition of local Church involvement and support continued over the period of
great social change at the turn of the century with the growing political
activism of working people. In the recession years of the 1920’s, which
affected the docks particularly, All Saints’ Church reflected the times again by
simplifying its ritual and decoration; the interior was painted white and
the old adjustable pulpit was removed.
The Church took a leading role in
cementing the community of this targeted area of dockland during the Blitz of
the Second World War. Many of the finest edifices of Poplar were destroyed
and bombs constantly damaged the Church building, although this did not dissuade
hundreds of people from using the Crypt as an air-raid shelter. Late on in
the war however, a V2 rocket devastated the building, destroying the east end
and bringing down the roof. Post-war restoration in the 1950’s saw the
removal of the galleries and the placing of a new organ gallery at the west end,
equipped with choir stalls and housing the large reconditioned organ brought
from Clapham Congregational Church. Structurally the roof had to be
supported by a high steel grid masked by four substantial pillars and the
plaster-covered beams in the ceiling. The restored high altar was placed
under a new and massive baldacchino, but more recently this canopy has been cut
in half and the front section placed against the east wall to form a kind of
reredos. A restoration appeal in the 1980’s was launched to carry out
essential repair work to the tower and outside of the Church, whilst the
redecoration of the inside took place in 1991 through the voluntary efforts of
parishioners and by means of an anonymous donation of labour and scaffolding
from a local builder. The Churchyard was re-landscaped and totally
refurbished with a grant from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 1999.
In 1971 the Parish of Poplar was
formally established as the first Team Ministry in the London Diocese, combining
nine different parishes in an area now recognised as one of the poorest in terms
of overcrowding, unemployment and multiple deprivation, all under the shadow of
the Canary Wharf development. A modern parish centre has been created out
of the crypt space below the Church, from which bodies were removed in 1989 and
re-interred in the Parish Guild Ground at the East London Cemetery. In
order to construct the new crypt centre the pews had to be temporarily removed
and the Church floor broken up. This was replaced by a modern steel and
concrete structure and a new floor incorporating a heating and air-conditioning
system. The Crypt can be used for meetings and conferences - details
of terms can be obtained from the Parish Office. In 1999 the decision was taken
to re-open St Nicholas Church on the Aberfeldy Estate and a growing congregation
now worships there."
The Parish website [visit link]
advises of the times of services:
"Regular services each
week
SUNDAY
08.30 am: Said Mass
09.30 am: Morning
Prayer
10.00 am: Parish Mass
MONDAY
No
services
TUESDAY
12.30 pm: Mass
WEDNESDAY
7.00 pm: All Age Eucharist
THURSDAY
09.30 am:
Mass
FRIDAY
No services
SATURDAY
09.30 am: Mass
During the week
Morning Prayer said daily at 9.00am at All Saints (9.30am on Monday morning)
except Friday."