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All Saints, West Ewell
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The History
In 1893 West Ewell was a small hamlet in
the Parish of Ewell, consisting a handful of cottages and
a total population of three hundred villagers. The
inhabitants were self contained, most of them making their
living from the land. There was a Mission Room, situated in
the building which now serves as West Ewell Social Club in Chessington Road. But people who wanted to attend the
services in St Mary’s parish church had to walk the distance
of nearly 2 miles across fields or along the narrow country
lanes to Ewell village. During the summer, it was a pleasant
enough walk along Chessington Road (formerly known as Marsh
Lane because it led to Ewell Marsh), but during the winter
it could be a rough journey.
The railway brought prosperity to the
area and with a regular service to and from Waterloo, many
family men who worked in London moved out to Ewell. The
advent of so many new families to the area brought problems
to St Mary’s – which had been built 50 years earlier to
serve a much smaller community. By the 1890s so many people
were attending the services that a proposal was made to
enlarge the church. Mr. Bridges, a Churchwarden, established
a fund and quickly raised over £3000. However, Major Glyn,
who was the patron of the living, refused consent to the
project so Mr. Bridges and some of his colleagues decided to
build a daughter church in West Ewell. A further £1000 was
raised by supporters of the new church, a piece of land was
donated by Mr. Bridge and on the 2nd August 1893
the foundation stone was laid. Although construction of the
new church progressed satisfactory, lack of funds forced Mr.
Bridges to amend the plans. Lack of funds prevented the
building of the Chancel, Sanctuary, South Aisle and Lady
Chapel. The result of the alterations was a church building
that appeared to be out of proportion, the roof being far too
high for its length and width.
On 31st July 1894, All
Saints Church building was completed and dedicated by
the Bishop of Winchester. The task of turning the
building into a place of a caring Christian community was
placed in the hands of the Rev. G.H. Preston (the first
Curate of All Saints) and the Churchwarden, Mr. Bridges. The
very next day, the first of many fetes was held to raise
money for church requirements. A year later sufficient funds
were raised for the purchase of an organ, which was installed
and dedicated in 1895.
Holy Communion
was celebrated every Sunday at 8.00am; Matins and Sermon followed at 11.15am with Evensong at 6.30pm. This arrangement continued until
1931.
In 1896, Thomas Hill, a schoolmaster and
his wife gave the Church its marble font in thanksgiving for
many years of happy married life. The font was dedicated on
Sunday 16th February and immediately afterwards
George Richard Hunt became the first child to be baptised at
the font.
Ever since the church was first built,
discussions had been going on regarding the building of a
church hall in which community activities could be held.
A committee was appointed whose task was to organise the
construction of a hall. The first plot of land purchase
was in Chessington Road but Mr. Bridges thought that the hall
should be built next to the church. The site in Chessington
Road was sold and the site next to the church was purchased
with the proceeds. In 1919 the committee went to Aldershot
to inspect an old Army Hut. This was subsequently dismantled
and re-built next to the Church on the meadow.
In 1923 the new Diocese of Guildford was
created and on the 1st May 1927 the Parish of All
Saints, West Ewell was transferred from the Diocese of Winchester.
Rev. Guy Milsom Jukes came to All
Saints in 1929 and it was during his inistry that on 8th
July 1936 West Ewell became a Conventional District
with the power to appoint its own Churchwardens and to
elect its own Parochial Council. Under this agreement, All
Saints became financially independent from St Marys and a
new era began for the Church in West Ewell. One of the first
problems encountered by the new council was to find a way to
enlarge the church (which was rapidly proving too small for
the Community). Plans were drawn up and presented to the
planning committee of the Diocese. However, with no hope of
the funds being raised by the Diocese or from the Parish of
All Saints, the Parochial Council had to be content with minor
improvements, including the construction of a new Vestry.
Rev. Milsom Jukes retired from All
Saints in January 1939 and his place was taken by the Rev.
Norman Walker. Aged 52 when he came to the Parish, this
ex-Schoolmaster was a man of immense size and power. He was
a man of great determination and under his leadership,
several changes were made at All saints. One of his first
actions was to instigate an All Saints magazine which
quickly had a circulation of 500. Another man who played an
important role in the church was Joseph Coomes, a
Churchwarden ,who spent his years of retirement looking after
the Church and Churchyard. It is largely due to his
influence that electric lighting was installed in 1939.
During the war the Church Hall was
requisitioned by the Borough Council for use as a British
Restaurant and in 1945, when the war was over, was taken
over by the Surrey County Council as a school canteen for Danetree Road School. The future, as far as the Rev. Walker was concerned, meant trying to bring about two of his
main ambitions: the completion of the church
to accommodate 300 parishioners and the other hat of
persuading the Commissioners to accept All Saints as the
Parish Church of West Ewell.
Once again plans
to enlarge the church were drawn
up and approved by the church commissioners in 1950 but,
with the estimated cost being in the region of £20,000, the
dream never materialised.
His second aim was,
however,
successful and on the 11th
October 1952 the Church was consecrated and Rev. Norman Walker
was inducted as the first Vicar of All Saints.
It was a sad coincidence that in the year
in which he realised his ambition, he also mourned the death
of his wife, Minnie. Her death was a tragic loss, not
only for him, but for the whole Parish. It would be hard to
over-estimate the value of the support she gave her husband the Parish of All Saints. It was Mrs. Walker who, in
1939, established the All Saints branch of the Mothers
Union.
In 1960 the need was felt to improve the
facilities of the Church Hall. Three years later, Bill Lynam (a
member of the Parochial Church Council) suggested that a new hall be built on the
Church Meadow, which was the name of the field which
adjoined the Church. It is now the site of the Vicarage.
However, as there was no chance of raising the £3000
required, Bill Lynam asked for the use of a small plot of
land behind the existing hall. Despite opposition, the
hall was eventually built using funds raised by Jumble Sales
and Fetes. The Webber Hall came into existence.
In 1966 it was decided to build a new
Vicarage in Church Meadow. The building was completed in
April 1968. In the 1960s Rev Walker was ageing and without
the support of his wife seemed no longer able to offer All
Saints the leadership it required. This is not a
criticism of the man but a comment on his determination to
carry on until the very end. In spite of advice to retire,
he remained Vicar until his death in 1972, aged 85.
By this time the church building was dark
and gloomy, the antiquated lighting installed some 40 years
earlier was in need of repair, as indeed was the entire
building. The number of parishioners attending the services
had fallen and it was suggested that the entire church
should be demolished and the congregation move to St Marys.
There was no doubt that All Saints was in need of strong
leadership and luckily this arrived in the form of Rev.
Christopher Vallins.
Chris Vallins was ordained Deacon at the
age of 23 and when he came to West Ewell was one of the
youngest Vicars in the country. Although he lacked the
experience of his predecessor, he possessed the same
determination. He immediately set about improving conditions
at All Saints - his first major project being the enlargement
of the church. He was not content with the size of the hall
and set about a massive campaign to raise £60,000 to build a
community centre that could be used by the whole of West Ewell,
regardless of religious beliefs.
In Spite of numerous problems,
Rev. Vallins gathered a team of people who dedicated themselves
to the project and pressed on with the venture in the belief
that what they were doing was both right for the church and right
for the community. The south wall was demolished and the
building extended to make provision for a new
aisle and extra seating together with a new vestry being created. New
heating facilities were installed in the church, which was
also rewired. The old hall was demolished and the new
Community Centre was erected in its place. The entire
project took two years and was completed in 1975.
Many organisations benefited from the
new hall, including Sunday School, Girls Friendly Society,
Brownies, the Church Lads Brigade, Girl Guides, as well as
various clubs and the nursery school.
In 1981 Rev. Laurie Smith became the new vicar
at All Saints. He was a very sincere, prayerful man who
worked very hard to please everyone.
In 1990 Rev Alun Hurd replaced Rev Laurie Smith and
it was during his time as Vicar of All Saints that
the Church was ‘re-ordered’. All the choir stalls
and the large pulpit were removed to make way for a
large carpeted area at the front. The Lady Chapel
was also removed to make way for more seating.
Added to all this, the Sunday choir was dispended of
to make way for a more informal worship group which
included guitars and keyboards. It was very much
‘out with the old and in with the new’.
It was during Alun’s ministry that All Saints moved
from being a more formal middle of the road Anglican
Church to a more informal Evangelical Anglican
church.
In September 2005 Rev Ian Whitham replaced Alun Hurd.
To be continued
All Saints War Memorial
All Saints war memorial started life as a shrine
erected in 1917 outside the Church Rooms in
Chessington Road. It bore the names of all who had
died up to then. Other names of the fallen were
added as the war dragged on. The memorial was moved
to Fulford Road when the Church Rooms were sold in
1934, and put in it's present position in 1975 when
the Community Hall was built.
Clive Gilbert has been trying to find out as much as
possible about the Great War men whose names appear
on the memorial, as well as others in the borough.
He has gathered quite a lot of information but would
like more, especially pictures. All the information
he has gathered so far is available on the Epsom and
Ewell Local and Family History Centre website –
www.epsomandewellhistoryexplorer.org.uk. If you
have any information you would like to share, please
contact Clive Gilbert on 020 8394 0405 or email
clivegilbert@btinternet.com. Thank you.
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