Description
In 1928 St Michael's Mission Church was built here close to the new Romford Garden Suburb, which was developed between 1910 and 1930s on land once part of the former Gidea Park Estate. In 1931 it was decided to create a new parish of Gidea Park, prior to which the area had been within that of All Saints Squirrels Heath. The parish was established in 1933 and St Michael and All Angels was consecrated in 1938. The red brick building is set within grounds, and fronted by gardens. The Mission Church became the Bishop Chadwick Hall, one of a number of halls within the grounds.
Practical Information
| Previously known as | Parish Church of Gidea Park |
|---|---|
| Site location | Main Road, Gidea Park |
| Postcode | RM2 5EA |
| What3Words | ///cling.honest.among |
| Type of Site | Churchyard |
| Borough | Havering |
| Open to Public | Yes |
| Opening Times | unrestricted |
| Facilities | Car park |
| Public Transport | Rail: Gidea Park; Romford. Bus: Bus: 151, 174, 350, 351, 374, 565, 751, 752 |
| Research Updated | 1 April 2006 |
| Last Updated | 18 October 2026 |
Full description
St Michael's Mission Church was built in 1928 close to the new Romford Garden Suburb (q.v.) at Gidea Park, which had been built from 1910/11 - 1930s on land once part of the former Gidea Park Estate. Remnants of the C18th landscape remain within the garden suburb and adjacent parks. The new suburb was intended as ‘a model of good building and design for all the new suburbs growing up round London'. In 1931 it was decided to create a new parish of Gidea Park, prior to which the area had been within that of All Saints Squirrels Heath. The parish of St Michael's Gidea Park was established in 1933 and a new parish church was built, designed by Crowe and Careless architects, and consecrated by the Lord Bishop of Chelmsford on 21 May 1938. It is a fine red brick building set within its own pleasant gardens, reached from a driveway off the Main Road. The Mission church became the Bishop Chadwick Hall, one of a number of halls within the church grounds.
Further Information
| Grid Reference | TQ526899 |
|---|---|
| Site Ownership | Church |
| Site Management | Church |
| Dates | 1933-8 |
| Listed Structures | Church is locally listed |
| On National Heritage List for England (NHLE), Parks & Gardens | No |
| Registered common or village green on Commons Registration Act 1965 | No |
| Protected under London Squares Preservation Act 1931 | No |
| Local Authority | Havering |
| In Conservation Area | Yes |
| Conservation Area Name | Gidea Park |
| Tree Preservation Order | Not known |
| Nature Conservation Area | No |
| Green Belt | No |
| Metropolitan Open Land | No |
| Special Policy Area | No |
Please note the Inventory and its content are provided for your general information only and are subject to change. It is your responsibility to check the accuracy.
Nearby parks and gardens
Romford Garden Suburb contains features from the C18th landscape of Gidea Park Estate, which were preserved and integrated into the C20th garden suburb. Sold for development in 1893, the estate was then resold in 1897 to Herbert Raphael. In 1910 Raphael, Charles McCurdy and John Tudor Walters, all 3 Liberal MPS, and shareholders in Hampstead Garden Suburb Co., formed Gidea Park Ltd for the purpose of building a new Garden Suburb on part of the east portion, purchasing additional land and arranging with Great Eastern Railway for a new station to be opened. The foundation stone was laid on 28 July 1910 and in June 1911 Gidea Park Exhibition of Houses and Cottages opened. By 1912 159 dwellings had been built, designed by over 100 architects, among them Clough Williams-Ellis, Raymond Unwin and Charles Ashbee. In 1934 a further competition and Modern Homes exhibition was held. The stated intention had been to retain Gidea Hall and its outbuildings, and up to 100 acres were covenanted as open spaces, including Reed Pond Walk Copse and Gidea Park Fishponds.
Romford Golf Club was founded in 1894 by Sir Herbert Raphael. The golf course was designed by Open Champion James Braid and laid out on c.90 acres leased from the eastern portion of the C18th Gidea Park Estate, the Club's first secretary then the tenant of Gidea Hall. Raphael acquired the Gidea Park Estate in 1897 and was instrumental in the development of Romford Garden Suburb, as well as the creation of Raphael Park. A map of 1777 shows two parallel tree-lined avenues running north-east across the site, which on the 1807 estate map is marked The Park with clumps of trees and an avenue along its southern side. The roadway could be the Georgian track to Gidea Hall. There are two gun emplacements on the site, one complete.
The Royal Liberty School, formerly Hare Hall, is on part of an old estate previously known as Goodwins. Hare Hall was built in 1768/69 for John Arnold Wallenger, who then began landscaping the grounds, possibly with advice from Richard Wood, its bridged lakes and winding shrubbery walks much favoured by him. It would seem that Humphry Repton later improved the gardens. In the C19th the estate was used for farming, then purchased for the railway, but later part was back in private hands. After WWI it was mostly developed for housing with a small part of the land and the Hall itself purchased by the Romford UDC in 1921 to house the new Royal Liberty School for Boys. Hare Hall with C19th additions survives surrounded by ancillary buildings and playing fields to the north, but the extent of the estate grounds is greatly diminished. The form of the serpentine lake remains, now almost dry and overgrown, together with vestiges of a raised terrace and fragment of the stone bridge, with fine trees between the house and lake, and around its banks.