St Augustine's, Queen's Gate

St Augustine's Church, Queen's Gate
51.4933°N 0.1780°W / 51.4933; -0.1780
Location	Queen's Gate, Brompton, London
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic
History
Dedicated	1876
Architecture
Architect(s)	William Butterfield
Years built	1865
Administration
Diocese	Diocese of London
Episcopal area	Kensington Episcopal Area
Archdeaconry	Archdeaconry of Middlesex
Deanery	Chelsea Deanary
Parish	Holy Trinity w St Paul, Onslow Sq and St Augustine, Sth Kensington
Clergy
Vicar(s)	The Revd Nicky Gumbel
Priest(s)	The Revd Paul Cowley MBE

St Augustine's, Queen's Gate is a Grade II* listed Anglican church in Queen's Gate, Brompton, London, England. The church was built in 1865, and the architect was William Butterfield.

History

In 1865 the curate of Holy Trinity, Brompton, the Reverend R. R. Chope, had a temporary iron church put up in his garden off Gloucester Road, and there he would conduct services which, for one writer of the time, were "the nearest approach to Romanism we have witnessed in an Anglican church … if indeed it be not very Popery itself under the thinnest guise of the Protestant name". Finding the temporary church inadequate, a group of influential members of his congregation approached the Church Commissioners later that year with a request for the formation of a new parish in South Kensington to be known as St Augustine's. They offered a 'benefaction' of £100 per annum, stipulating that the first incumbent should be Mr Chope.

As there was no shortage of churches in the neighbourhood, the Bishop of London, A. C. Tait, objected strongly to the proposal and it was not until after he became Archbishop of Canterbury in 1868 that a site was purchased and the new parish formed. It was a difficult site, for although plans had been formulated to extend Queen's Gate to Old Brompton Road, at this time the road went no further than the crossing of Harrington Road. Access to the site had to be made through what is today Reece Mews, and the church plan was aligned with this. This accounts for the strange angle the church presents today in relation to Queen's Gate.

William Butterfield was appointed architect, and the estimated cost of his plan was £18,000. As there was not enough money, it was proposed to build the church in two stages. The nave and aisles were ready for services in 1871. The chancel and sanctuary were completed in 1876. The seating capacity was for 853 people. Gerald Hocken Knight was organist of St Augustine's from 1931 to 1937.

Present day

In 2010, St Augustine's became a church plant of Holy Trinity Brompton (HTB). It was absorbed into its parish in March 2011, with the parish being rename "Holy Trinity w St Paul, Onslow Sq and St Augustine, Sth Kensington". Unusually, given that HTB is a charismatic evangelical Anglican church, St Augustine's has "kept its Sung Eucharist, vestments and incense". It stands within the Modern Catholic tradition of the Church of England.

The Revd Paul Cowley, a curate of HTB was assigned to St Augustine's as its 'pastor'. He had no previous experience of High Church Anglicanism, having trained for ordination at Oak Hill College (a conservative evangelical theological college) and served as a minister of HTB (a charismatic evangelical church). HTB funded an extensive renovation, removing the pews but retaining the reredos and high altar while adding a nave altar in order to celebrate the Eucharist while facing the congregation. With the help of friends at the nearby Brompton Oratory the vestments were sorted and cleaned, although they are not regularly used in Sunday services. The traditional Sunday morning service, with largely unchanged liturgy, has grown nearly ten-fold, and a more informal evening service has also been introduced.