St. Mary’s - A Short History
In 1801 the Parish of Sanderstead, centred on All Saints church at the top of Sanderstead Hill, had a population of 204 and was described as ‘an idyllic village with herdsmen, some cottages, woods, fields finely cultivated and sheep walks well stocked and with distant views of the Royal Castle of Windsor’.
The coming of the railway to Sanderstead in 1884 and to Purley Oaks in 1889 inevitably altered this quiet rural scene. heralded the building of houses along the muddy lanes cut through the farmland. The population of the Parish, was 2,853 by 1911.
It became obvious that with all the new housing springing up round Purley Oaks and Sanderstead stations further provision would have to be made for those who wished to worship regularly and nearer to their homes. A mission district was planned with the long-term vision of a permanent church to be built later, and a separate Parish created.
Land on which to erect a temporary church building was donated by Mr Arkwright from the Arkwright Estate. The original building is now the church hall and is still used today. It was opened in February 1908 by Dr Talbot, the then Bishop of Southwark. An extension to the building was added in 1915 and at the same time plans were made, and fund-raising started, for the building of a permanent church. The original intention was for the church to be built in a 14th-century style with a seating capacity of 846. The inflationary conditions following the 1914-18 war caused the plans to be reduced to a building seating about 500, with further economies in both the style and materials.
Work was started on July 21st, 1925 but it soon became clear that further savings would have to be made. Instead of the proposed four bays and a porch at the west end of the church, three bays of the nave and aisles were built with a temporary west end and porch of timber framing, standing on a low brick wall. Thus leaving one bay and the porch for completion at a later date. The total cost of the building, in 1926 was £9,112,
During the Second World War the church roof was damaged by a flying bomb. During the Sixties the East Window was replaced by the beautiful stained glass scenes illustrating the life of Jesus, and memorial stained glass windows were put into St John’s Chapel. Towards the end of the Sixties the temporary west end of the church was beginning to show signs of movement and so plans were made to complete the church. The completion of the church was marked by a Service of Dedication led by the Right Reverend David Shepherd, Bishop of Woolwich on February 25 1971.
By 1980, shafts of light could be seen through the ageing timbers of the Church Hall's walls, it was obvious that something had to be done. It was estimated that the work could cost as much as £50,000, but by March 1982 around £29,000 had been promised, enough to get the hall re-roofed but not enough for all the work to done by professionals. So a dozen or more members of the congregation worked on the interior every Saturday for an entire year reinforcing the walls with polystyrene and plasterboard and laying a new floor. They went on to build the washrooms at the front and lay the paving.
Thanks to a bequest in 1987 of £98,000 from Hilda Oclee who together with her sister Olive had attended the church since its early days. The first project was an extension to the church hall, which hosts activities ranging from wedding receptions and birthday parties to keep-fit classes, and its regular use by Sanderstead Junior School. So in 1995 the Oclee Room was built on to the hall at a cost of £75,000.
We had always been close to the United Reformed Church and in 1996, the friendship was formalised as the two churches joined together in the Local Ecumenical Project, commemorated in the porch of St Mary’s. Now, built into the two churches’ activities, are regular united services and annual events such as the recent Maundy Thursday and Good Friday celebrations, which members of both the URC and St Mary’s attend.
Services reverted to the Church Hall for a few months in 2001 when the church was closed for a major refurbishment. Funded by the Oclee bequest the floor was replaced, carpeting laid, new chairs installed and the central heating that we enjoy now.
INSTALLATION OF STATUE OF OUR PATRON SAINT
Our Church of St Mary the Virgin has been a place of pastoral encounter for many decades. Out of pastoral encounters often comes a response to God, to his people, to the love experienced. It is out of such an encounter that St. Mary’s is the beneficiary of a gift in the form of a four foot, hand carved, wooden statue of St Mary with Christ Child. The PCC has voted by majority to both accept this gift and to have the figure installed in the St John Chapel of Church. It was, after all, Jesus who entrusted St John and Our Lady to each other at his crucifixion. The St John chapel is therefore a most appropriate place for the statue to be.
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