Kingsbury: The Bells of St Andrew’s ring out again

 Guest post by local historian Philip Grant

 

A typical English Church Bell. (Image from the internet)

 

If you think you’ve heard church bells ringing recently, you might have believed you were imagining it. But the chances are that you were hearing the chimes from the bells at Saint Andrew’s, in Church Lane, Kingsbury. After being silent for around twenty years, the eight bells in the tower above the church are ringing out again, especially on Sundays.

 

St Andrew’s New Church, Kingsbury.

 

The peal of eight bells was cast by C.J. Lewis of Shepherds Lane, Brixton, in 1880. They were a gift to the church from Mrs Imbert-Terry, in memory of her daughter. The Imbert-Terrys were from a French landowning family, who lived at Chester Terrace on the edge of Regent’s Park, and worshipped at St Andrew’s. It was then a fashionable Victorian church in Wells Street, in London’s West End. If you don’t know the story of how the church, with its bells, came to be where it is today, you can read my article about Kingsbury’s Recycled Church on the Brent Archives local history website.

 

A record of some notable bell-ringing events on the St Andrew’s bells in Victorian times.
(From “St Andrew’s Church, Wells Street, 1874-1897”, reprinted in the 26 November “Order of Service”)

 

Musical bell ringing, or change ringing, has been going on (mainly in Britain or countries with a British tradition) for centuries, and is now a hobby for pleasure as well as part of church life. It needs a team of ringers, and a fellow Wembley History Society member, now living in the USA, recently wrote:

 

‘I was an avid Church Bellringer when I lived in the UK.  I learned to ring while at University, and rang at Kingsbury, St Andrew’s during the University vacations, and also for the year I still lived in Kingsbury after I graduated.  When I rang there in the 1980s the bells were “rough-going”, and I heard that they’d subsequently become unringable.’

 

I believe the reason why the St Andrew’s bells stopped ringing was that the structure of the church spire was found to have become too weak. The whole “ring” of eight bells weighs 4.25 tonnes, with the largest “E flat” tenor bell weighing more than a ton. They could not risk any bells becoming dislodged, and falling on the bellringers far below!

 

So that the bells could ring again, they’ve been fitted with an electronic chiming mechanism. This allows them to be rung by a hammer hitting the bell, rather than the original manual method of pulling on the bell rope, and the bell being swung round on a large wheel. The bells were rededicated by the Bishop of Fulham, following a Mass for the Feast of St Andrew on Saturday 26 November.

 

The Bishop rededicating the bells at St Andrew’s on 26 November 2022. (Photo by Irina Porter)

 

A peal of bells was rung straight after the rededication, and will ring out every Sunday at around midday, after the main morning service at the church, and on other special occasions. Every day, at 8.30am, 12noon and 6pm, a single bell will ring the “Angelus”. This is a call to prayer, common in the Catholic Christian faith, and also followed by some C. of E. “Anglo-Catholic” churches like St Andrew’s. The Angelus is three chimes of the bell, rung three times with a short break between each, to remind the faithful to say three prayers, three times a day.

 

Martin has kindly recorded the peal of bells at St Andrew’s, and put it into a video, so that you can enjoy them, even if you are not within earshot of the church when they are ringing.

 

 

Towards the end of the video, you will also hear singing from the Romanian Orthodox congregation at St Andrew’s Old Church. If you don’t already know the long and fascinating history of that heritage building, hidden away in the churchyard just behind “new” St Andrew’s, you can read it in this illustrated article on the Brent Archives local history website.

 

A team of church bellringers, ringing a “change”. (Image from the internet)

 

It is hoped that work can be carried out to strengthen the spire at St Andrew’s, so that the bells can be rung manually again, as well as mechanically. This would allow anyone, from whatever faith, or none, to come and learn the art of bellringing, and enjoy this traditional musical hobby (and way of keeping fit!).

 

The church has recently been awarded a grant from the National Lottery Heritage Fund, and will be launching a project, “Rekindling St Andrew’s” aimed at sharing the church’s history and facilities with the wider local community. I’m sure that many people will enjoy the chance to take part in secular activities within the beautiful Victorian interior of this Grade II* listed building – and some, in time, to have the opportunity of making the bells ring, in teamwork with new friends. 

 

Look out for news of this project in 2023, and in the meantime, enjoy the bells of St Andrew’s!

 

Philip Grant.

 

Is there any protection in Brent for 'locally listed' buildings?

 

This is the entry in a list of local listed heritage assets in Brent compiled by Brent Council in 2020. LINK The public may assume that once listed there is protection from development and that the council will have a default position of protecting the borough's heritage as part of their duty to the community.  It is not as easy as that as the Altamira (1 Morland Gardens) controversy shows, the approval of tower blocks next to Alperton Station (according to the list itself a local landmark) and the close call on the demolition of Willesden Green Victorian Library.

This is what the Council website says about such assets (my emphasis):

We have identified a number of non-designated heritage assets and included them on a ‘Local List’ of buildings or structures of architectural or historic Interest.

View the descriptions of all the locally listed assets in Brent (.pdf, 9.48MB).

These assets include monuments, sites, places, areas or landscapes identified as having a degree of significance meriting consideration in planning decisions.

While not statutory listed, these buildings and structures are of good quality design or are historically significant. They are important local landmarks in their own right and make a significant contribution to the character and appearance of their area.

The inclusion on the local list simply means that we will take into account the heritage asset’s special local architectural or historic significance when considering a planning application.

Brent Council Planning Officers 'took into account' the impact of a development on the local listed Beis Yaakov Primary School, Edgware Road, of a 19 storey replacement for the existing car showroom and multi-storey car park. Using 'non-designated' rather than 'locally listed' for the building appears to diminish its value : 

In terms of the impact on the Beis Yaakov Primary School, the GLA Stage 1 report considers that the taller elements do not appear overbearing on the asset in townscape views as the building height transitions down towards the boundary. The design of the proposal is considered to be a significant improvement on the existing car park, and more harmonious with the brick facades of the locally listed building. Consequently the GLA considered that there would be no harm to this non-designated heritage asset.

It is important to note that the nearest part of the School building is a recent addition that is not of any historic or architectural significance and that the consented scheme at Park Parade immediately to the north of the School would also feature a tall point block as part of a large and bulky building stepping forward of the School to align with the street frontage. As noted above, the School buildings would be largely obscured by this scheme in RV1. Brent's Heritage Officer considers that any harm caused to the significance of the heritage asset and its setting, as a result of the visual impact of the seven-storey
height of the nearest element in relation to the School building as shown in RV1, would be very limited given the relative significance of this element of the School building.

The proposal would bring forward redevelopment of an allocated site that currently makes a negative contribution to the street scene, providing new housing including affordable housing in addition to new commercial workspace. These benefits are considered to outweigh the very limited harm to the non-designated heritage asset in this instance.

Barnet Council in its submission on the application took a different view:

 Objection: (1) detrimental to residential amenities of residents in Barnet, in
particular occupants of lower levels of Blocks A and B of Zenith House; (2) detrimental impact on streetscene and wider local area due to height, massing and imbalanced nature; (3) separated access for affordable housing element goes against principles of inclusive design, having detrimental impact on shared community.

Cynics may well say that Brent  Council objects to developments along its border with Barnet and Barnet to those in Brent!  

Brent Planning Committee granted consent to the application.

There are many buildings across the borough on this list and it is well worth looking through for buildings near you. Given the amount of development in the borough and Brent Council's lack of respect for heritage you may need to mount a campaign at short notice!

There is some confusion between 'locally listed' 'non-designated' heritage assets and those on the national register.   Brent has just one Grade 1 building listed by Historic England, the 12th century St Andrews Old Church in Kingsbury.

The Grade 2 buildings are Church of All Souls, Harlesden; Church of St Andrew, Willesden; Church of St Mary, Willesden; Hundred Elms Farm Outbuilding, Sudbury; Gaumont State Cinema (now a church), Kilburn; New Parish Church of St. Andrew, Kingsbury; Sudbury Town Underground Station, Sudbury; The Old Oxgate Farmhouse, Cricklewood; Viaduct, North Circular Road, Stonebridge.