Bankruptcy, Nepotism and Smoke: the early years of St Michael and All Angels Church

Bankruptcy, Nepotism and Smoke: the early years of St Michael and All Angels Church.
Talk by Tim Walder

7.45pm on Tuesday 11th February
at The Golden Lion
116 Sydenham Road SE26 5JX

The current church of St Michael and All Angels is a less well known landmark in Champion Crescent, Lower Sydenham.

In the light of the recent celebration of the church’s 150th anniversary, this talk makes use of new research and recently discovered images from the church safe to bring to life the dramatic story of this long-standing local institution.

The talk will explore the early years of the Victorian church as the centrepiece of an upmarket housing development, its re-foundation by Augustus Legge and its destruction in the Blitz.  The missionary and social life of the church and its intimate relationship with the Gas Works will be explored, with the community’s resilient survival of the war years.

The talk ends with a discussion of the erection of the replacement building in 1958, an excellent and well preserved example of post-war architecture.