HISTORY OF THE CHURCH

The Church

The first known record of the church of St Mary Magdalen is in about 1293, when it was recorded that "Mary Magdalen Chapel is in the hands of the Prior and Convent of Bermondsey". Very little is known of the parish until the late 17th C, when, in 1680 the church was deemed unsafe and most of it was pulled down and rebuilt - the only surviving remnants of the building from before then are some of the late mediæval tower, encased in later plaster, and four possibly gothic arches in the chamber behind the organ. The new building was completed by 1690 and is essentially what is seen today, although a significant difference was the portico at the west end (on pillars, projecting into Bermondsey Street), above which was the school.

Soon after, the North gallery was erected (in 1705?), and in 1794 the South gallery was added, thus blocking the magnificent south doorway. Both galleries are supported on narrow pillars which are out of character with the stone pillars of the church structure. Further structural work was done in 1829, including removal of the school and portico, and it is believed that the exterior was rendered at this time. This was followed by "beautification" of the interior in 1852, according to a plaque in the foyer. The last major changes were done in 1883 when the chancel was lengthened and the single stained glass window was installed (replacing the former three separate windows), together with the present pews.

Of particular note are the churchwardens' pew (of uncertain age), the marble font which dates from 1808 but has a bowl of completely different style (probably much older), and two brass candelabra which date from 1699 and 1703, and are used with real candles at all Christmas services each year. Both were the gift of the Ellwood family, and one has the name "Winefrid Ellwood" instead of the correct "Winifred Ellwood". Click here for some internal photographs.

The church survived the Blitz of World War II, despite its location in a very heavily bombed area. Following the war it was restored by 1952, at a cost of £13,500, of which the War Damage Commission paid £4,000. Much of the work done was not related to war damage but was in fact required by the discovery of death watch beetle in the roof timbers.

In 1971 a fire damaged the internal area at the western end including the organ case and some of the north gallery. Much of the woodwork there is modern replacement, and in the course of the repairs the whole church was redecorated. The exterior was re-rendered in about 1990. There are plans currently in hand to renovate/modify various parts of the church and, ultimately, re-decorate again. Some work has been done internally, such as repainting the wooden pillars to the galleries in 2007-08, and the external doors were stripped and re-painted in the summer of 2005. The current task is the repair and repainting of the doors and windows on the roof, which can hardly be seen from the ground; however, their repair is much needed as the painted softwood was in very poor condition and one clerestory window had a tendency to leak in heavy rain.

The side of the rectory garage in Bermondsey Street, beside the church, is an interesting trompe d'oeil:

Honestly, this is a flat wall! Date unknown - the building behind is from the late 1960s. However, there was a real building of this design on this site as evidenced by an etching in the church, so presumably this trompe d'oeil was designed to commemorate that.

The tree is a new innovation, thanks to Southwark Council. Historically there is no evidence of trees growing beside the road at any time in the past

This page updated 22 July 2008

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