Churches of the British Isles

The lost Katherine Road United Methodist Church once sat on the northern side of the Katherine Road junction with Sandringham Road in East Ham. It opened in 1907 as part of a scheme to replace Bridge Road Methodist Church (see links). It seated over a thousand and was full in its first year. It was damaged by bombing in 1941, and post-war divisions of its circuit left it diminished, closing in 1957. The building was demolished and the site build over with apartments.

Forest Gate Methodist Church is on Woodgrange Road, a little north of the Claremont Road corner in West Ham. It originated in 1878 with an iron building. A permanent church was built in 1881-1882 which proved immensely popular in the area, but it was bombed in 1941. Its members moved to Field Road Church (see below). In 1956 a dual-purpose hall was opened on the Woodgrange site, and the new Woodgrange church shown here was opened in 1962.

The Holy Order of the Cherubim & Seraphim Church is on the north side of West Ham's Earlham Grove, forty metres or so west of the entrance to Sprowston Road. The building opened as the Free Church of England and Reformed Episcopal Church Christ Church, Earlham Grove, about 1893, by seceders from the established Emmanuel Church Forest Gate (see links). Christ Church still existed in 1903 but later closed to allow the building to be re-used.

Forest Lane Congregational Church once stood at the junction with Chapter Lane (probably now Kuhn Way, forty metres west from the Woodgrange Road junction). The second and larger chapel in Forest Gate, it originated in 1825 in services conducted by Jabez Legg. The chapel was built in 1856, plus Sunday school rooms (in the foreground). The area was redeveloped after the Second World War. The site is partially covered by housing and Forest Gate secondary.

Field Road United Methodist Church was at the south-east corner of Field Road and Essex Street in Stratford. It originated about 1861 and, in 1863, a school-chapel was built here. The church was added in 1870, and in 1881-1882 was enlarged, with a new hall added on the Essex and Norfolk street corner. There were further extensions in 1907. Post-war the members joined Forest Gate Church (above). The Field Road buildings were demolished before 1962.

The Healing Church of God in Christ is located a few paces north of the north-east corner of Field Road and Suffolk Street in Stratford, on the east side of Field Road and facing the junction with Dean Street. The site on Victorian Ordnance Survey maps appears to be occupied by housing or service buildings, out of which this building may have been created. Its frontage does bear traces of an industrial past. The THC ministry focuses on the use of cannabis in its services.

St Saviour's Church Forest Gate stands on the northern side of MacDonald Road in Stratford. This church originated in 1880 when an iron mission hall was opened in connection with Emmanuel Forest Gate (see links). The permanent church was opened in 1884, with its own parish. The first vicar, Henderson Burnside, had been one of the first Anglican missionaries in Japan, and he worked vigorously at St Saviour's in support of foreign missions.

New Mercies Church stands on the north side of Bignold Road, close to Station Road in Stratford. The Bignold Hall Brethren meeting started during the 1870s with services in an iron room. Following summer tent meetings, the hall was built here in 1881. It was the largest Brethren meeting in West Ham in 1903, with total Sunday attendances of 430. Part of the premises were bombed during the war, and to replace them a new hall was opened in 1958 on the same site.

The Church of God sits on the east side of Dames Road, opposite Talbot Road in Stratford. Victorian maps show a semi-detached residential building. The Branch Society of Christian Israelites church originated about 1884, when a Christian Israelite began preaching on Wanstead Flats. One Robert Rosier left in his will two houses and land in Dames Road. The small chapel was erected here in 1894-1895. War damage was repaired in 1952. The name change came in 1962.

Nine photos on this page by P L Kessler (from 2010-2011), and one kindly contributed by the London Borough of Newham.