History of All Saints’

The following account of the history of All Saints' church was written by Ken Cooper, who was a member of our church for many years, up till his death in 1997.

Around the site of Isleworth Parish Church many historical events have taken place, alas not without tragedy.  The boundaries of this parish stretch from the Grand Union Canal at Brentford End.  Brentford End is now mainly occupied by Syon House and the Gardening Centre; this land was originally known as Olde England.  Here was a natural ford where Julius Caesar in BC54 crossed the river on his way to St. Albans.  To protect the ford and his escape route he established a garrison and probably erected a compitum or wayside chapel.  The earliest recorded date of a church at Isleworth is AD695 when the Bishop of London, in a charter to Barking Abbey, mentions that King Aethelrid had given to the Abbey land and called it Gisl-heresuuyrth, the original name for Isleworth.

The Church of Isleworth is mentioned in Doomsday Book.  When William the Conqueror parcelled out his land to his knights, this parish was given to Walter de St Valeri, the living being under Norman domination for the next 140 years. With the growing discontent regarding foreign patronage the land was sold to William of Wykehsm, Bishop of Winchester, and became part of the endowment for his newJy founded college.  In the annals of Winchester College dated 1398 reference is made to the Tower of Isleworth.  This is the oldest part of the present building.

Henry V procured by Act of Parliament the parish of Isleworth from the Duchy of Cornwall and settled it upon a Swedish order of Bridget-tines who built Syon Monastery.  The original site of the monastery was at the extreme end of the parish at Twickenham Park (later renamed St Margarets).  Although the foundation stone was laid and buildings commenced little progress was made, for the monks and nuns (it was a mixed order), coveted the land surrounding this Church, and in 1417 they moved from Twickenham Park to this area.  Henry VI who possessed qualities more befitting a priest than a King, made further grants to Syon Monastery, and it became one of the richest in the country.  By a unique arrangement the Vicar of this Church received grants for his personal clothing and received all his meals free at the monastery.  The Church became renowned for its preaching by the scholarly lecturers from the monastery.

With the reign of Henry VlII monastic institutions were declining in popular esteem; Henry’s quarrel with the Pope over his divorce brought the first tragedy to Isleworth.  His first wife, Catherine of Aragon, had a great admiration for Syon and enjoyed the company of such intellectual scholars as Richard Reynolds, Richard Whytford and John Fisher.  With Richmond Palace so close on the opposite bank of the river, she introduced her daughter Mary to the monastery, and as early as 1520 we find a payment of 2 shillings for conveying the Princess by water from the Palace of Richmond to Isleworth Syon and back, while 3s 4d was paid to My Lady of Syon’s servants for quails and rabbits.  Elizabeth Barton, the nun or maid of Kent, was for a time an inhabitant of Syon and it was here she was interrogated by Sir Thomas More regarding alleged visions and her denunciation of the King’s marriage to Anne Boleyn and his divorce from Queen Catherine.  It was little wonder that Syon Monastery was one of the first of the large monasteries to be suppressed.  The monks and nuns were accused of being coadjutors of the Maid of Kent and together with Richard Reynolds, the priest of Syon, and the Vicar of this Church, the Reverend John Hale, they were imprisoned in the Tower and later executed at Tyburn for refusing to accept the King’s supremacy.

After the suppression, the buildings of Syon became Crown property including this Church and it is still to this day under the patronage of the Royal Chapel, Windsor.  The tragedies of Richard Reynolds, the Vicar of Isleworth and the Maid of Kent, and eventually Sir Thomas More, were only the beginning of further unhappiness.  Queen Catherine Howard was imprisoned here in 1541 and 1542.  Although confined for infidelity, under Henry’s orders she was still to be treated as a queen.  During her imprisonment at Isleworth she made several visits to Isleworth Church.  It was from Isleworth Stairs opposite the Church the Royal barge took her on the fateful journey to the Tower.

Upon the death of Henry VIII his bier was conveyed to Isleworth where his re­mains were guarded overnight, the journey to Windsor being resumed the following day.  The large train of knights and noblemen, four miles long, followed the horse-drawn hearse, the mourners resting in the old monastic buildings.  Henry had died from a disease which his physicians could not (or would not) diagnose.  The King had been dead a fortnight before his swollen body made the journey from West­minster along the rough road to Isleworth, and it arrived in a state of corruption, causing much consternation and fear among the mourners.  Historians record the body was received at the door of the church by the bishops, and it is generally presumed  to be the church within the monastery, but this church had not been used for religious functions over the previous 13 years.  By tradition it is known that the route over which a body of an English monarch passes, there for evermore shall be a right of way.  Strange that this right of way which bisects the Syon estate should terminate at Isleworth Parish Church.

Under the present courtyard, which was the nave of the previous churches there is a labyrinth of vaults.  In one of these vaults William Chase, Esquire. was buried.  An inscription placed in the north aisle of the Church marking this spot, the follow­ing brass plate was inserted: “Of your charity pray for the soule of sometime sergeant to King Henry VIII of his most honourable house­hold of his hall”.  Above the plate was the brass knight now in the new church.  The other brass in the church also had a plate in Latin dated 1452.  “By his will dated Oct. 12, 1452, Geoffrey Goodlocke desired that his body should be buried in Isleworth Church”.  Margaret Dely, nun of Syon Monastery, was also buried in one of the vaults and a small brass was, until the fire of 1943, upon the first pew of the Church, which by tradition had always been the Duke of Northumberland’s private seat.

History was made with the demolition of the monastic buildings, and the erection by Protector Somerset of his castellated fortress which is the basis of the present Syon House, the family residence of the Duke of Northumberland.  Tragedy once again came to the parish with the embarking from Isleworth Stairs in the Royal barge, of Lady Jane Grey, the nine day Queen, to be beheaded at the Tower.  This pious lady must have visited Isleworth church on numerous occasions before her execution.

By the end of the 17th century Isleworth had become a very fashionable area in which to live, the mediaeval church became too small, and a new church was embarked upon.  Our church records reveal that Sir Christopher Wren was asked to submit plans, but these were too expensive for the parish and it was not until the church received a legacy of £500 from Sir Orlando Gee, whose monument is in the new church, that building was begun in 1706.  An up and coming architect, who lived in Richmond, John Price, was given the task to build a modified version of the Wren design.  In 1867 a Gothic chancel was added, from funds mainly donated by the Farnell family, who owned the local brewery, which is now part of the Watney-Mann Group.

In 1943 the whole Church, except for the tower was destroyed by two boys, who set fire to five churches in the course of a few days, destroying ours and Holy Trinity, Hounslow, completely.  The insurance money was quite inadequate, and was further reduced by the cost of a temporary church which was put up in the ruins in 1950, so it was a good many years before we were in a position to think of rebuilding.  When eventually we were able to, we made a false start, just as our 18th century predecessors had done, for we decided first on a restoration and engaged an architect who specialised in Wren churches for this.  Unfortunately his plans proved to be unacceptable but we had gone so far with them that they cost us £4,000 - and this before we had laid a brick!  At the second attempt, the Church Council appointed Michael Blee in 1963 and gave their wholehearted approval to his plans, though unhappily they met with a great deal of opposi­tion from the Diocesan Advisory Committee who were still wedded to the idea of a full scale restoration, so that it was not until March, 1967 that we received a faculty. This extra delay was expensive in a time of rising costs, and that we have now completed the Church is due entirely to our efforts and the generosity of our well-wishers, for we have had no grants from central funds and the loans which we eventually received have been, overall, at near commercial rates.

The brief given to our architect, Michael Blee, was to design a church in which 50 to 100 people could celebrate the Parish Com­munion, but which could be expanded to hold 250 to 300 people for the occasional great service, and to incorporate as far as possible as much space for secular functions as for religious.  In addition there was to be a small chapel for weekday services and private prayer, which could be warmed independently.  It was his conception to use the lower half of the 18th century walls to form a courtyard from which rooms for secular use open.  At the end of this court­yard was a fountain with a triple cascade; these were the waters of baptism which appeared to flow from the font, which could be seen beyond them, through the glass screen which forms the west wall of the Church, and which is entered by afromosia doors on either side of the pool.  The Church itself is almost square and is very interest­ing in construction, for the roof is, in effect, four separate roofs carried on columns quite independent both of each other and the walls.  Shaped like inverted pyramids and panelled in Columbian pine, these four roofs give the effect of vaulting, while the glazed space be­tween them let in the light along both axes of the Church, and also along the walls.  The central lancet window of stained glass is by Keith New.  This window was given in memory of one of the young members of our Church who was tragically killed.  The brief to the artist for this window was two lines from T S Eliot: “But to apprehend The point of intersection of the timeless with time is an occupation for the saint,” which are much in keep­ing with the character of the boy it commemorates.

At the west end of the Church are two galleries which are exten­sions of the roofs of the court­yard cells; the choir and organ were originally in the north gallery, and the south is available for over­flow congregation on the occasions when this is necessary.  Under the galleries are folding doors open­ing into the cells.  On the north side are the choir vestry, the priest’s office and a small work­shop, though since the partitions between these consist mainly of cupboards it would be a simple matter to make any different div­ision that may be required (note: currently work is underway to do just this).  On the south side (the river side) the cells are in fact one long room with folding doors at the further end to make a small creche if so required, while beyond are the kitchen and the lavatories.

Leaving the Church by the south gallery you come to the Joshua Chapel, which is set aside for prayer and quiet.  It takes its name from a little boy who died when he was only two and a half; his parents used to bring him to our family service and though they had no connection with Isleworth, they had such faith in our plans that when we were in difficulties they gave the chapel in his memory.

If you return to the court-yard you can leave the Church through the Tower archway.  This is the oldest part of the present Church dated from the 14th cen­tury, and is built of Kentish ragstone.  Towers of this nature were built as a parochial for tress, being used as look-outs for invaders.  If you climb the winding staircase to the battlemented parapet you will observe the twisting course of the river for many miles and on a clear day it is quite easy to see the church of Harrow on the Hill.  Ascending to halfway down the tower, on your right is the belfry door which is original.  The adze marks are still to be seen on the wood and the iron hinges are roughly forged.  The ten bells have one of the finest peals in Middlesex, the tenor has a diameter of 46 inches and weighs 18 cwt.  The Tower Clock was installed in 1774 by Messrs Thwaites of Clerkenwell.

A feature of this Church since 1707 has been the ornamental Sundial.  It was erected to the memory of Susanna, wife of Colonel Nicholas Lawes who was Governor of Jamaica.  Its markings were so arranged to show the time in Isleworth, Jamaica, Jerusalem and Moscow.  The inscription reads “Watch and pray, time passeth away like a shadow”.  The old Sundial was beyond repair and a new one has been installed on the front of the Lady Chapel.

The burial ground contains the remains of many famous people.  Richard Robinson who left money for distribution annually to the poor also directed in his will that the Vicar should on each anniversary of his death, preach a sermon on charity.  The fee to be withheld should he fail to carry out this request.  Judge Haliburton who entered the House of Representatives in Novia Scotia returned to live at Isleworth.  He was a prolific writer who assumed the nom-de-plume of ‘Sam Slick’.  His adventures of the wandering Yankee clockmaker were written over a period of 20 years.  Lawrence Manley, a Yeoman Usher of Queen Elizabeth I’s chamber, was renowned for keeping of Bears, which at that time were used for bear bating, a sport abolished during the Commonwealth.  Anne Tolson, whose memorial is in the new church, left money to build the Tolson almshouses.  These were just a few of the internees.

The plague of London which broke out in 1664 and reached greatest severity in 1665, spread to Isleworth.  Including previous outbreaks it is calculated the churchyard received 223 bodies as the result of plague.

Our earliest Church registers are dated 1566, and are now housed in the Hounslow Reference library.  In these registers it is recorded that Lady Elizabeth Percy, daughter of the 11th Earl of Northumber­land was married in this Church to Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, who became known as the “Proud Duke of Somerset”.  He was a prominent seatholder in 1705.  Their two daughters were also married in Isleworth Parish Church.  John Busch, in 1789 returned to England and lived at Isleworth, having attained a unique reputation as a landscape gardener to the Czarine of Russia, his grave is by the Park Road entrance.  Peter Oliver the miniaturist was also connected with this Church.  His wife Anne left an endowment for the Isleworth Charity School, which has been associated with the Church since 1715.  The name was changed to Isleworth Blue School and the modern building is now located in the centre of the village.

As you leave the Church you may turn to your right towards the famous riverside inn, “The London Apprentice”.  Here the street narrows and you will see on your right Richard Reynold’s House, although not the original structure, but the possible site of this Tudor martyr’s residence.  A few yards further along you come to a road bridge under which flows the artificial river (known as the Duke of Northumberland’s River), cut by the monks of Syon to provide them with fresh water and to turn the race for their flour mill.  Turn right before crossing the bridge into Mill Plat, here along by the high wall you will discover some of the oldest houses in Isleworth.  The Sir Thomas Ingram almshouses are dated 1664. Retrace your steps to the road bridge and proceed along Church Street to the castellated building in the centre of the road.  This was the old Blue School, one of the first charity schools in this country started around 1630.  The building has recently been restored and is now used as offices.  The building opposite (formerly “The Northumberland Arms” and then “The Inn on the Square” but now housing) is an old coaching inn and it was here the Isleworth Courts Leet were held.

Ken Cooper