Collier Road Gospel Hall occupies a small,
walled site on the northern side of Collier Row Road, midway between
the Lodge Lane and White Hart Lane junctions in Collier Row, to the
north of Romford. This hall was one of five that were opened by the
Brethren in the district between 1933 and 1963. It was registered in
1936, along with Rush Green Hall. Today, the gospel halls are referred
to as a collection of independent evangelical churches, or assemblies.
The Parish Church of the Ascension occupies
the north-western corner of Collier Row Road and Carter Drive. The
church originated in 1880 as a mission for St Edward in Romford. Services
were held first in Hainault Forest School, and later in a mission hall.
The present church was built in 1886. A new parish, taken out of Romford
and St Chad Chadwell Heath, was formed in 1927, and the church was
consecrated in 1928. It later lost parts of its parish to new local
churches.
Collier Row Methodist Church stands in a
plot on the western side of Clockhouse Lane, almost opposite Burland
Road. The church was planned in 1939 but only opened in 1954. An extension,
visible to the left of the photo, was added in 1967. Plans for a new manse
were submitted in 1976. Nearby, Ebenezer (Wesleyan) Church, The Lawn,
Collier Row, was registered in 1877. In the 1880s it was described as
unsectarian. It seems to have ceased about 1890.
The Parish Church of St John the Evangelist
Havering-atte-Bower is between North Road and Elmer Avenue at
the southern end of the village. The earliest 'church of Havering'
was St Andrew Hornchurch. From the thirteenth century there were
also two chapels attached to the royal house in Havering village.
The larger Chapel of St Mary existed by 1201 and was apparently
for public use. The smaller Chapel of St Edward, fell down with
the rest of the house about 1700.
St Mary's was rebuilt in 1374-1377 and in 1578 it
was still connected to the house, with a south doorway and a small
weatherboarded belfry. In 1836 it was enlarged by the addition of a
structurally separate chancel. The building was demolished and replaced
by the present church in 1875-1878. It was built in flint faced with stone
dressings by Basil Champneys, in the Decorated style. It has a nave, chancel
and an offset tower at the south-west corner with six bells.
St Thomas Church Noak Hill occupies an open
and verdant plot on the northern side of Church Road, at the Chequers
Road end, in Noak Hill, Harold Wood, which lies to the east of St John
the Evangelist (see above). Sir Thomas Neave of the nearby Dagnams
estate was the son of the highly successful trader and later governor
of the Bank of England, Richard Neave (1731-1814). In the early 1840s
he decided to built a church at Noak Hill as a memorial to Frances,
his late wife.
The relatively small church was put up in 1841-1842
by George Smith. Designed in the Early English style, it was built
in red brick, with a nave, chancel and shallow transepts, south-west
octagonal tower and spire and a north-east vestry. The main windows
have transoms, and there is some Flemish pre-Reformation glass in the
east window, given by Sir Thomas Neave. The tower was restored in 1971,
and the church remains in St Edward's parish.
Ichthus Goodnews Church stands on a raised
mound at 4 Taunton Road, on the northern side of the road close to the
junction with North Hill Drive in Harold Wood. The church originated in
1950 as Harold Hill Church (see below), when members from Main Road
Baptist Church and Romford Congregational Church opened a joint Sunday
school at Harold Hill. This collaboration continued until 1955, when the
Baptists built the present building as Taunton Road Church.
Harold Hill Methodist Church lay on Harkness
Drive, on the southern side of Dagnam Park Drive, opposite Whitchurch
Road. The church originated in 1950, when members of Harold Wood
Methodist Church started open air services on the new LCC estate. A
school church was built in 1953 with the aid of 'portable' war damage
compensation from the former Grove Methodist Church at Stratford. The
church closed in 1979. The site was cleared and modern housing put up.
Most Holy Redeemer Catholic Church Harold Hill
stands overlooking the eastern side of Petersfield Avenue, at the corner
with Redruth Road in Harold Wood. A priest started work at Harold Hill
in 1949, when the first houses were being built on the LCC estate. A new
parish was formed in 1952 and a year later, with mass attendances averaging
about 1,000, a church hall was opened in Petersfield Avenue. The church,
adjoining the hall, was completed in 1964.