{"id":43,"date":"2019-05-29T21:56:37","date_gmt":"2019-05-29T20:56:37","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/?page_id=43"},"modified":"2024-08-23T08:19:30","modified_gmt":"2024-08-23T07:19:30","slug":"history","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/history\/","title":{"rendered":"History"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The History of Saint Andrew’s Church<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

By the 1870s, Slip End was an expanding village in the parish of \nCaddington, and Pepperstock in the parish of Flamstead. More \nsignificantly, it was on the doorstep of Stockwood Estate, the home of \nthe Crawley family, an important Bedfordshire landowner. Slip End had \ncome about because of the establishment of a brickmaking industry and \nthe clearing of land which need agricultural labour. St Andrew’s came \nabout because of the interest of the Crawley family. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Origins<\/strong>
\nWe can but guess what other factors lie behind the planting of a church \nin Slip End. In an age of denominational competition, was the church at \nCaddington jealous or concerned at the popularity of the Baptist \nchurches at Woodside and Pepperstock and the Medhodist chapel at Slip \nEnd? Their attendances were very high. How deliberate was the decision \nto build a mission church, virtually opposite the Methodist church?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Iron Room<\/strong>
\n Our earliest factual record is that a “Mission Chapel” was built at \nSlip End in 1878. At this stage, you may be confused as to why we are \ncelebrating St Andrew’s Centenary in 1989. The church building was \nerected in 1889, which story we tell later, but before this there was a \nchapel on a different site. Known later as the `Iron Room’ this chapel \nwas St Andrew’s first home; a corrugated iron building with tongue and \ngroove boarding inside. It looked for all intents and purposes like a \nchurch. There was a porch with a bell (now at Wardown Museum<\/a>),\n wooden frames for seating and a platform at the front with a vestry \nbeyond. First used as a church, after 1889 it was used solely as a \nSunday school and between the wars as a Youth Club. After the war it \nfell into disuse, presumably through need of repair and became a \nbuilders yard. Finally it was demolished and the site is now the car \npark to the Frog and Rhubarb<\/a>.\n In the early years the mission chapel was to be serviced by curates \nfrom Caddington and laymen. In a letter from the Ecclesiastical \nCommissioners in June 1879 they refer to an application by the Vicar of \nCaddington for a grant of \u00a360 to help pay for an assistant curate. When \ndid services begin? We cannot be sure. The register does not begin until\n 1882, and the first service recorded there on October 8th seems a \nspecial one, and therefore presumably a `first’. Untypically there were \nthree services which were conducted by the Rev’s Storey and Harrison, \nwhereas the services there afterwere two each Sunday conducted by others\n on a more regular basis. The collections were three times greater tan \nwhat was to become normal and the number of communicants higher. So, if \nservices began in 1882, what was going on in the years in between? It is\n to the Crawley family that we turn to provide the clues.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crawley Connection<\/strong>
\nJohn Sambrooke Crawley gave the land, and presumably built the mission \nchapel. The Crawley family were well established, tracing their family \nhistory back to the 14th century. J. S. Crawley had two well documented \ninterests, farming and church building. He restored the chancel of St \nMary’s parish church, built and endowed Holy Trinity East Hyde, and \ncontributed generously to the building and endowment of St Thomas’ \nStopsley, Christ Church Luton (since demolished), St Matthew’s, St \nPaul’s Luton (built a year after St Andrew’s), St Andrew’s Blenheim \nCrescent, St Saviour’s and Holy Trinity Biscot. In addition he built \nfour church schools and a hospital. It was then in character that he \nshould pioneer a church at Slip End. Of his nine children, three girls \nnever married and these three Crawley ladies took a keen interest in \nestablishing a Sunday school at Slip End. It is likely, then, that the \noriginal emphasis at the mission chapel was the Sunday school which \nEthel, Helen and Florence organised. Many of the estate cottages were at\n that time at the Slip End side of Stockwood Estate, and so the children\n of the servants and estate workers would have been core of the Sunday \nschool. If the services did not begin until 1882, the childrens’ work \nbegan long before that. In the first ten years there were over two \nhundred baptisms, not only of those who lived on the estate but also \nmany local children . The first baptism is recorded on March 6th 1879. \nContrasting with the many baptisms are just four confirmations and low \nadult attendance at services. A Font was given by the “children of Slip \nEnd” in 1888. It is ornate and was not cheap, being made of stone. These\n facts taken together seem to suggest not just that the Sunday school \nwas where the work of St Andrew’s began but wherein lay its strength. \nThe foundations were being laid more by the interest of the Crawley \nfamily in their Sunday school work than in the outreach of Caddington \nbased Clergy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Building of St Andrew’s in 1889<\/strong>
Very\n little is known about this, probably because it was the particular \ninterest of the Crawley family. The `Crawley Papers’ kept at the County \nRecords Office do not furnish us with any information. It is no suprise \nthen that an error of dating crept in at an early stage. Kelly’s \nDirectories of the 1890s record that the church was built in 1890. We do\n not know whether they were the first to make the mistake, but \nthereafter the majority of histories give 1890 as the date of the \nchurch. They are wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We can’t be sure when the work began, but the church was completed \napart from interior lighting by the time of its dedication on 24th \nDecember 1889. The land was of course given by J. S. Crawley and with \nhis daughters they supervised the building themselves, using their own \nmen from the Stockwood Estate as the builders, and only contracting out \nthe more specialised aspects of the work. A local firm, J. R. Brown \n& Sons were hired as the architects. We can guess that because Mr. \nCrawley used his own men as labourers the building was spread out over a\n long time. The dedication on Christmas Eve was more likely due to \nfinding a date when a busy Bishop of Ely and his Archdeacon were free \nthan due to wanting to use the church for Christmas. By the dedication \nservice everything was in place apart from the lighting. The organ was \nin place, the pulpit and Font had been removed from the mission chapel, \nthe gardens were laid out to trees and shrubs, and the bells were rung.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is possible that J. S. Crawley had set his heart on building the \nchurch long before. St Andrew’s being on the doorstep of his Stockwood \nEstate, was to become his church, and was built as a chapel-at-ease \nrather than as a parish church. This gave him licence to build to his \nown taste and the building tells us much. Unlike many Victorian church \nbuildings, St Andrew’s was built to `Early English’ design, not gothic; \nmodest and simple rather than grand and majestic. The ornate stained \nglass in the nave and the East End are later additions. The reredos \n(obscured now by a curtain) was simple, with only one symbol, a cross. \nExamining motives, we would think that he would be tempted to build a \nchurch grand and glorious, to display his wealth and generosity: this \ntemptation he obviously resisted. There was nothing in the church inside\n or out which attempted to deflect the eye from the preacher. He was \nhappy with this design and presumbly happy too that a relatively \nuneducated man, a preacher and `low church’ in tradition should be the \nfirst incumbent.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the late spring of 1889 the Vicar of Caddington, the Rev. Thomas \nPrescott died. He had taken little or no interest in the mission chapel \nat Slip End and possibly was cool about the erection of a church \nbuilding. It may be that on his death J. S. Crawley made the decision to\n build St. Andrew’s and wasted no time in doing it. In the Interregnum \nthe Dean and Chapter of St Pauls who chose as `Patrons’ the Vicars of \nCaddington, decided to divide the Parish into two. Such things take time\n but they presumably secured this intention before appointing the next \nIncumbent to Caddington. It was already known in 1889 that St Andrew’s \nwould become a Parish church. The legalities sorted out, J. S. Crawley \nconveyed the site and building over to the Ecclesiastical Commissioners \nin March 1892, the ground was consecrated for burial purposes in April, \nand the church consecrated on July 1st. This meant that Philip Hyne was \npromoted from Curate to Incumbent Vicar and was able to conduct \nmarriages and burials. All this was approved `by order in council’ and \npublished in the London Gazette on 23rd August 1892. The chapel-at-ease \nwas now Woodside Parish Church: Caddington was now carved in two. The \nnew church of St. Andrew’s was the chosen place of worship for the \nStockwood estate and Crawley family.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Philip Hyne<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Rogues Gallery<\/strong>
St Andrew’s is fortunate to have framed photographs of all the Vicars this hundred years. The first Vicar, Philip Hyne<\/strong>,\n was to make his mark on the place. He was to remain in Slip End for \nfifty two years, even though the endowment (annual allowance) was modest\n by 19th century standards. Why did he not move on? We will probably \nnever know. In 1879 he trained at St Aidan’s college, having had no \nOxbridge pedigree normal to most Church of England clergy. He was \nordained in 1881 and served first as a curate at St Andrew’s Cathedral, \nAberdeen and in 1883 moved to Kensworth, nearby. When he moved the short\n distance to Slip End, it was again as curate, but in 1892 St. Andrew’s \nbecame a parish in its own right and so he received the title `Vicar’. \nIt was 26th May 1886 when he came to Slip End and on May 30th preached \ntwice at the mission chapel. He recorded the texts he used in the \nregister and occasionally the attendance and the collections. There was \nMattins and Sermon at 11, Sunday school at 2.30 and Evensong and Sermon \nat 6. The pattern was to vary little over the years. At first Mr Hyne \nwas to live in Summer Street, opposite the Working Mens Club. From all \naccounts he was a good preacher, but he did not get on well with the \nchapels and he was thought of as being a class apart. In 1903 a new and \nvery grand Vicarage was to be built for him which took him a little \nfurther out of the village and can only have underlined the class \ndifference.In February 1936 he was taken ill during a service and took \nfew services after that. His handwriting changes quite significantly and\n his last appearance was in October 1937. There is no sign of a farewell\n or a thank you or a send off. He retired in Luton and died shortly \nafterwards. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

None of Philip Hyne\u2019s successors were to remain a long time at Woodside Vicarage: there is nothing very significant in that. Clergy with a `benefice\u2019 were not required to move but many of them did. Gordon Edward Quinion<\/strong> came in December 1937 and remained almost four years. He was a graduate of Selwyn college, Cambridge and the intellectual among Slip End\u2019s line of Vicars. He was ordained in 1927; Woodside was his 4th post and he was to hold two more after. A bachelor, he was handicapped with failing eyesight. There are some today who remember him losing his sight completely while preaching in the pulpit and having to be helped down. At the end of the War he flew to Utrecht, Holland for an operation on his sight: we presume it was successful.The war years inevitably disrupted church life. Between the wars the church choir had a boost as men and women from Luton who sang with the choir at Luton Hoo came to Woodside after it was disbanded. Much of that tradition was to be put to one side during the war. The same is true of the clergy. A Mr Bentley, who was Vicar of St. Matthew\u2019s became `Curate\u2019 at Woodside, also had a wife and family but was a sick man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bernard Matthew Lambert<\/strong> came in May 1943 and remained a respectable eight years. In his early thirties when he came, he was a graduate of Kings College London and was ordained in 1932. Woodside was his fifth post, the first three having been in London. There was presumably a shortage of clergy at this time and in 1944 he was also curate in charge of Caddington until 1950. During the war, St Bartholomew\u2019s Hospital in Kent had moved residence to Stockwood House where it was known as the Alexandra Hospital for children. Mr Lambert was chaplain there for seven years. After leaving Slip End he was to take up 2 further posts in London.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next Incumbent was Hugh Warwick<\/strong>, like Quinion a bachelor \nand when he came his parents moved in with him. He was the youngest of \nthe incumbents and the only other Oxbridge graduate, from St Edmunds \nHall. He was ordained in 1946 and was curate for six years in North \nLondon before moving to Slip End. He remained five years and suffered \nfrom ill health. Towards the end of his time he married a nurse from the\n Alexandra Hospital. From Woodside he went to hospital chaplaincy with \nSt Bartholomew’s for 2 years and then back to St. Albans where he held \ntwo further posts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kenneth Ashworth<\/strong> was the next Vicar and was to leave his mark \nin a number of ways. A graduate of Birmingham University, ordained in \n1936, Woodside was his thirteenth post (four of them were \nconcurrent!),but his longest stay, ten years. His wife taught for a \nwhile at East Hyde Village School. Kenneth Ashworth is remembered not \nonly for his preaching but also for his regular columns in the \nNewspapers and his initiation of local activities, most notably the \nFriendship Club. Like a few of his predecessors he suffered poor health \nbut lived on well into retirement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The next incumbent is Dennis Cooper<\/strong>. He was ordained when he \nwas 46 and Woodside was his last parish up to retirement. Dennis \nremained thirteen years, becoming Vicar of East Hyde (they have been \njoint appointments since) and towards the end of his time moved into the\n New Vicarage built next door to the old one. Dennis was well known for \nhis participation on the Parish Council and the Luton Rotary Club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Michael Withey<\/strong> is the third bachelor among the list. A \ngraduate of the open University he was ordained in 1974 and Woodside \nwith East Hyde was his third post, remaining for nearly seven years. \nWhilst here, Michael Withey was appointed as chaplain in the Territorial\n Army. He is remembered for his parachute jump near Ipswich which was \nsponsored in aid of church fabric, and a fierce alsatian dog which kept \nguard in the Vicarage! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"The next incumbent was David Bolster<\/strong>, who was in post longer \nthan any of his predecessors except of course, Philip Hyne. A graduate \nof Exeter and London Universities, he was ordained in 1984 and came here\n in May 1987, leaving in July 2001. His wife, Mary, is a nurse and they \nhave three children. Like Dennis Cooper, David Bolster was ordained \nlater in his career, Woodside is his second post. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Joy Daniel<\/strong> took over from David and was the first female incumbent to be appointed at St Andrews. She was installed on 4th June 2002 and stayed until 12th September 2010, when she retired from full time Ministry. She trained for the Ministry at Oak Hill Theological College. She served first as a Deaconess, and then Deacon before Female Ministers were allowed to be Ordained Priest. She was Ordained Priest in St Albans Abbey on 23rd April 1994, and served at St. Hugh\u2019s Cockenhoe before coming to St. Andrew\u2019s as Priest in Charge.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"Our previous incumbent was Cathy Pullinger<\/strong>. Cathy is a graduate of York University where she became a Christian and got married to Iain. In some ways she followed in the footsteps of Joy and also trained at Oak Hill Theological College. She was ordained Deacon in September 1993 and Priest in June 1997. She has served in St Paul\u2019s Luton and then at St. Hugh\u2019s as a SSM, before being licensed as Priest in Charge at St. Andrew\u2019s.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At present our ‘priest in charge’ is Rev Nick Mwandia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Photographs of all past incumbents hang in the `Rogues Gallery’ in the vestry of St. Andrew’s Church.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The History of Saint Andrew’s Church By the 1870s, Slip End was an expanding village in the parish of Caddington, and Pepperstock in the parish of Flamstead. More significantly, it was on the doorstep of Stockwood Estate, the home of … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=43"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1864,"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/43\/revisions\/1864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.slipend.co.uk\/st-andrews\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=43"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}