Country United Kingdom Churchmanship Anglo-Catholic Parish Old St Pancras Diocese Diocese of London London borough London Borough of Camden | Denomination Church of England Style Neo-Gothic Phone +44 20 7424 0724 Architect George Frederick Bodley | |
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Address Camden Road, St Pancras, London, NW1 9LQ, United Kingdom, United Kingdom Similar Camden Town, St Paul's Church - Camden, St Pancras Old Church, St Mary's Church - Somers T, St George's Cathedral - London | ||
St Michael's Church is the principal Anglican church for Camden Town in north London. The present building, designed by George Frederick Bodley and Thomas Garner in a Gothic Revival style, dates to the late 19th century.
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History
The congregation was begun in 1881 at a building nearby which now houses a betting shop ; a service was held in the shop to begin the celebrations for the church's 125th anniversary in 2002.
The present building was the first London church designed by Bodley and Garner and is built of brick with stone dressings in the decorated Gothic style. The nave was completed in 1881 and the chancel added and consecrated in 1894 under its first vicar, Father Edward Penfold. A north west tower was planned but never built. The interior has a continuous, stenciled waggon ceiling covering both nave and chancel, and a vaulted north chapel. The west front was restored in 2005 and a new roof was completed in August 2007. The church is Grade II* listed, for its interior .
In 1954 the parish of St Michael's subsumed those of All Saints, Camden Town (which had become a Greek Orthodox church in 1948) and St.Thomas, Agar Town, Wrotham Road (whose 1864 building was demolished due to war damage). In 2003 St Michael's became part of the St Pancras Team Ministry, with St Pancras Old Church, St Mary's Church, Somers Town, and St Paul's Church, Camden Square.
Parish work
It has an active ministry to the homeless and refugees in the area, and regularly speaks out on local social issues. It featured in the BBC series The Power and the Glory and hosted the launch of the new 'Faithful Cities' report (on which occasion the Archbishops of York and Canterbury also dedicated the new parish rooms at the side of the church). In March 2008 its priest, Father Nicholas Wheeler (licensed to the parish on 21 September 1996, and also Team Rector of the St Pancras Team Ministry) left to become Anglican Priest Missioner in Rio de Janeiro. He was replaced as Team Rector and priest of St Michael's by Philip North, previously Shrine Administrator at Walsingham who departed at the end of 2014 to become Bishop of Burnley. He was succeeded by Father Thomas Plant.
The church is linked to St Michael's Church of England Primary School.