Modern Britain

Around 1920, Emmanuel became a mission district, and in 1934-1935 the permanent church was built beside the temporary one, with aid from local Masonic lodges. The building was very much a product of the thirties, designed by M Travers and T F W Grant, and is of red brick, in a simple Tudor style on the outside, while the interior comprises a chancel, aisled nave, Lady chapel, and vestries. Emmanuel gained its own parish out of All Saints in 1935.

The Bloxhall Institute is on the road of the same name, just a couple of hundred metres south of Emmanuel Church. When Sir Courtenay Warner gifted the church their site for Emmanuel Parish Church, he also donated another site on Bloxhall Road for the purpose of building the institute, a mission which was erected in 1912 and which was run by Emmanuel in collaboration with All Saints Church. The Bloxhall institute closed around 1956 and was sold in 1959.

The Church of St Catherine & St Paul (The Cornerstone) is in the Forest district of Leyton, wedged between Leytonstone to the south and Upper Walthamstow to the north, with the beginnings of Epping Forest to the east in the form of Wansted. A very modern building which is sited on the corner of Essex Road and Canterbury Road in the streets behind Whipps Cross Hospital, it is a little hard to see a church in its multifunctional design.

The Mary Fletcher Memorial Church sat at the north-west corner of High Road Leyton and James Lane (now Fletcher Lane), a few metres from Leyton Midland Road Station. Usually known as the Wesleyan Church and School, it was erected in 1877. The design was Gothic, by G Marshall, using Kentish rag and Bath stone. A permanent Sunday school was opened in 1902, but the church closed in 1969 and the site was cleared in 1971 for a petrol station and store.

The Barclay Christian Centre is at the north-west corner of Leyton High Road and Canterbury Road, in front of the bus garage. It was founded before 1885 by J G Barclay of Knotts Green, in a small hall built onto the gardener's lodge at Leyton Green. Around 1896 a London City missioner was placed in charge and in about 1898 the hall was given over to the London City Mission. In 1907 the present hall opened, designed by E Frere. It is still in use today.

Four photos on this page by P L Kessler.