A BOX OF DELIGHTS IN MIDDLESEX

'It has been described as looking like a Generating Station'*

An interior that makes the heart stop

With a year of being encouraged to travel less the Curious Coast team have journeyed closer to home, still in the spirit of being ‘curious’. 

 

We went to a remarkable church, All Saints Hanworth. Consecrated in 1957, All Saints is a box of delights most of which was created by Nugent Cachemaille-Day, an architect widely recognised as designing some of the most revolutionary 20^th-century churches in the UK.  

 

And what a joy for we were lucky to be welcomed by Fr. Sergiy Diduk who took great pains to ensure our visit was special.  Its West Door on the busy Uxbridge Road welcomes you into a treasure house of stained glass, sculpture, carvings and woodwork. In the main body of All Saints huge concrete spans support a roof and lantern of stained glass and give the place huge space and presence, a concrete apse decorated in gold with seraphim images.  

 

And there is countless detail to discover for example Cashemaille-Day fashioned a remarkable font through his rummaging in junk shops. The result is a 19c copy of a 14c North German image of The Virgin.

 

Discover more about the Architect here http://www.modernism-in-metroland.co.uk/blog/the-bricks-of-faith-the-churches-of-nf-cachemaille-day a remarkable resource of Modernist buildings and places.

 

And the delights of All Saints here http://www.allsaintshanworth.com

All Saints Church, Uxbridge Road, Hanworth TW13 5EE 

 From the church's guide produced in 2017