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A Tale of Two Churches
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| . | p14 Nestling in the shadow of its neo-Gothic, nineteenth - century
offspring, Old St Mary’s Church is in appearance more of an old English village
church than a typical inner-city place of worship. Its history goes back nearly one
thousand years. |
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The oldest recorded burial monument (long since gone) is that of Matilda
Elkington, erected in 1473, and the first written evidence of the church’s dedication
to St Mary appears in 1522. The old stone, flint and pebble medieval building was
completely renovated (‘rather new builded’, in the words of a contemporary
observer) by Lord of the Manor William Patten in 1563, only the old nave and south porch
remaining.
In
1855 the churchyard was closed to burials in new graves, although it was still possible to
bury anyone in brick graves and vaults already built. This right was taken away in 1899,
although the last interment was in 1912. Famous residents of the churchyard include the
Presbyterian Divine Thomas Manton, the anti-slavery campaigner James Stephen
(great-grandfather of Virginia Woolf), Alderman William Picket (Lord Mayor of London in
1789), Lady Mary Abney and Victorian poet and writer Anna Letitia Barbauld.
The renowned architect Sir George Gilbert Scott, whose portfolio included the
Albert Memorial, began work in 1853 on the new St Mary’s Church on the site of the
old rectory, and the building was completed, minus its spire, in 1858. By the time the
250-foot spire was added in 1890, the church could accommodate 1100 people. Although
electricity came to Stoke Newington in the 1890s, it was not until 1911 that the old
church converted from gas, its more modern neighbour opting for electricity twelve years
later.