Teddington, St Alban's Church 1899

Photo ref: 43552

More about this scene

It became quickly clear that St Mary's Church was too small for the parish. In 1865 the Church of St Peter and St Paul on Broad Street was opened; it became independent of the parish in 1880. In South Teddington a mission church was formed in 1880, which later became St Mark's Church in the 20th century. When in 1884 the young Reverend Francis Boyd became the Vicar of Teddington, it was apparent that even with these changes the capacity of St Mary's Church would never cope with the new dimensions of the parish. He developed a vision for a church of cathedral proportions, and raised money for it. The new church, St Alban's, was built on the land opposite St Mary's Church. Its design followed that of a 13th-century church in France, and it was constructed in white stone rather than brick. The money ran out towards the end. The west end was boarded up, and the aisle was left with five rather than the seven bays initially planned; the pulpit ended up more than half way down the church. Despite this reduction in size, the church building does have a cathedral scale, and was sometimes referred to as 'Thames Valley Cathedral'. It was and remains the largest indoor space in the borough. The green copper roof was visible from a distance, and in the 20th century it became a landmark for pilots landing at Heathrow.