importance as a representative Metropolitan parish, but as forming the centre of the Western suburbs, and on account of the rapidity with which church-building has gone on there of late years.  We now present the first part of our task completed, and in the “Index” with the “Notes” will be found all that it is requisite to know about these churches.  There is other church matter included at the end which may add to the interest of the whole.  Also, a goodly number of engravings and photographs of principal church buildings, additions which will contribute greatly to the interest and value of the book in the Christian household or in professional hands.

The author’s thanks are due, and are hereby warmly and respectfully presented, to those clergy and other gentlemen of all denominations who have freely opened to him original and reliable sources of information.  He is thus enabled to present the work freer from all sorts of inaccuracies than would probably otherwise be the case.  He has, also, gratefully to acknowledge valuable aid from Mr. J. P. Churcher, Architect, of Kensington, who has kindly given the advantage of his professional knowledge in regard to a considerable number of the churches herein described.

The work is now commended to the considerate attention of the public; trusting that the effort may be accepted as some contribution in illustration of Metropolitan churches and church enterprise, treated upon a thoroughly Catholic basis.

There are not wanting signs of a general growing interest in such subjects.  Even the political discussions of the last few years—bearing largely upon the state of the Church—have had, at least, the effect of concentrating public attention upon its fortunes, and of awakening a large amount of sympathy with its varied labours.  Let us hope that this will tend to the happy result of securing a permanent practical regard in the public mind for every thing connected with the progress of Christianity in our midst; and if in some humble degree this great object is advanced by the contents of the following pages it will be esteemed an abundant reward and cause of much thankfulness by

THE AUTHOR.

22, St. Stephen’s Road,
               Shepherd’s Bush, W.

DEDICATION

TO

CHARLES JAMES FREAKE, Esq.

OF CROMWELL HOUSE, SOUTH KENSINGTON,

THIS VOLUME IS (BY PERMISSION)

Respectfully Dedicated,

IN RECOGNITION OF IMPORTANT AND MUNIFICENT LAY ASSISTANCE IN THE
WORK OF CHURCH EXTENSION IN THE SUBURBS,
AND OTHER NUMEROUS CHRISTIAN, CHARITABLE, AND CATHOLIC-SPIRITED EFFORTS
FOR THE GENERAL WELFARE OF THE COMMUNITY,
AND AS AN EXPRESSION OF HIGH PERSONAL ESTEEM BY

THE AUTHOR.

Dear Sir,

It was said of one of old, “He loveth our nation, and he hath built us a synagogue.”  It is no less a pleasure than a duty to recognize genuine patriotism; and wherever it exists in its highest character, it is associated with zeal for the extension of the Church of God commensurately with the nation it loves.  Although, Sir, your habitual modesty would not allow you to invite the commendation, I cannot forbear according it to you, that by the blessing and providence of God you have realized the ideal.  Having contributed largely by honourable enterprise to the extension of the suburbs themselves, you have been mindful of the spiritual interests of the population.  Two handsome churches—St. Paul’s, Onslow Square, and St. Peter’s, Onslow Gardens—are due to your Christian thoughtfulness and generosity.  Some men can only project such works, and leave others to execute and pay for them; but you, Sir, have been endowed with the will and the power to do all these yourself; and you have done them with that unaffected zeal and good will to men, which, as it commands our admiration, will not fail of the blessing of Heaven.  On various other good works of Christian charity for the education and improvement of the physical condition of the poor, I need not now dwell.  They are well known to your neighbours, and to all who daily share their benefits, and will not be forgotten in time to come.  For these reasons I have deemed it appropriate to dedicate to you this work, in the subjects of which you take so deep and practical an interest.  Praying that your useful life may be long preserved to us an example and blessing to many,

I am, dear Sir,
Yours sincerely,
WM. PEPPERELL.

Charles J. FREAKE, Esq.

THE CHURCHES OF KENSINGTON:
INCLUDING SOUTH KENSINGTON, BROMPTON, AND NOTTING-HILL.

KENSINGTON PARISH CHURCH

At the moment of our writing, St. Mary Abbotts, Kensington, is, in a literal sense, without a parish church.  The old one has passed away, and the new one is in course of erection.  There is, however, the church, with its long, chequered, and interesting history and associations of the past, and, we trust, its equally interesting and still more glorious future.  The Venerable Archdeacon Sinclair, the present vicar, his churchwardens and friends must feel themselves the subjects of peculiar and pleasurable feelings as being the chief actors in the great change now coming over the site lately occupied by the old church, and thus placing themselves on a line with a long and eventful history.  We must go back far into the middle ages for the origin of the parish church of Kensington, and to the days of dark Papal rule in the land.  In the time of Henry I. we read of this church being bequeathed, on his deathbed, by Godfrey de Vere, Lord of the Manor, to the Monastery of Abingdon.  It was, however, shortly after claimed by and restored to the Diocese of London, in which it has ever since remained.  This was in the thirteenth century.  The first endowment of the Vicarage was in 1260, and from time to time it received consideration from various monarchs.  In 1520 Queen Mary accorded to it a portion of the 7,000l. granted by Henry VIII. in augmentation of the living of incumbents and scholars in England.  The history of the old Saxon church is bound up with that of the manor, which was bestowed, inclusive of the rectory, upon various noblemen by royal grants under several reigns.  The collation of the vicarage has belonged to the Bishops of London, pleno jure, about 390 years.  While the Reformation was yet struggling against Papal tyranny, as though we were to have a forecast of the Evangelical type and freedom which have marked this church in after times, it possessed a martyr.  Not one, indeed, led, as far as we know, to the stake, but cruelly driven from his position and living, and possibly to temporal ruin.  In 1527 Sebastian Harris, the curate, was proceeded against for having in his possession a translation of the New Testament and a book entitled Unio Dissidentium, containing the doctrines of Luther.  He was, for this criminal offence, cited to appear before the Vicar-General in the long chapel, St. Paul’s Cathedral, and required there to make oath that he would not retain these books in possession any longer, nor sell them, nor lend them, nor