The Parish Church
The Parish Church is situated in the heart of the village. A church is thought to have existed on this site on the banks of the River Misbourne for over 1,000 years. However, no trace of the first church has been found and the medieval church welcomed its first vicar in 1224. The present Grade II* listed building dates from 1715, replacing the earlier church destroyed in 1708 when the tower collapsed. Originally designed by John Jeffries, it was considerably altered in Victorian times by George Edmund Street, who worked under the great Victorian architect Sir George Gilbert Scott who designed the Houses of Parliament. The architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner described the result of the changes as “Savagely Gothicised”. Further alterations were made in 1966 when it was reroofed. The Millennium Project added the new west entrance, church office, choir vestry, welcome area and created the sacristy next to the Lady Chapel. There is a Parish Church Hall on the west side of the churchyard which is used by the church and is also hired out for private use.
All Saints’ Church
The Grade II listed Arts and Crafts building was designed by Temple Lushington Moore with the intention that it should become the Parish Church for the greatly enlarged village following the arrival of the railway. Only about one third of the original design was completed by the start of the First World War. The full building has never been completed as the planned density of housing in the immediate area was altered after the war and greater development took place in the vicinity of the Parish Church. If you look closely at the outside of the All Saints you can see where the main nave of the church and the south aisle would have been built. All Saints enjoys the support of the ‘Friends of All Saints’ who organise musical events in the church. It has a Church Hall which can be rented for private use.
St Paul’s Church
St Paul’s was a Victorian Chapel of Ease built in 1864 on land given by St Thomas’ Hospital which still owns farmland adjacent to the church. The church was built for the small rural community of Horn Hill as the Parish Church was at a distance. It is a small church, beautiful in its simplicity.
