[Bell Historians] St Mary Matfelon, Whitechapel.

[D Cawley]

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The medieval St Mary Matfelon was rebuilt in 1633. This would be the churc=
h in which the peal referred to was rung. A Faculty was granted on 7th Nov=
ember 1874 to demolish the building, which was in a bad state of repair and=
to build a new one on the site at a cost of =A318000, of which Mr Octavius=
Coope MP gave two-thirds, the parish raising the remainder. The foundatio=
n stone was laid on July 20th 1875 and it was consecrated on February 2nd 1=
877. Then on August 26th 1880, that church was destroyed by fire, exceptin=
g for the tower and spire; its successor was consecrated on December 1st 18=
82. It was gutted by incendiaries on 29th December 1940 and stood roofless=
until 1952 when it was demolished.

Strangely, the Diocesan authorities united the parish with those of St Phil=
ip,Newark Street (now the Royal London Hospital Library) together with the =
parishes of St Jude, Commercial Street (dem 1929) and St Augustine, Settles=
Street (gutted, demolished 1964) as the parish of St Augustine w St Philip=
- after six centuries even the name was dropped.=20=20

I remember the site, which is close to the Whitechapel Foundry, being laid =
out in 1966 as an open space. The site of the foundations of the medieval =
and the Victorian churches are marked out in paving in the grass. Behind i=
s the slender tower of St Boniface RC Church with four Mears bells hung dea=
d and very open to view. These bells were cast for St Boniface and were hu=
ng in the previous church on the site, also bombed in 1940.

The notorious go of the bells was attributed by some to the passage of Dist=
rict Line trains whose tracks run beneath Whitechapel Road, imeediately in =
front of the site of the tower. More likely it is because the tower was ta=
ll and quite slender, and of brick, with a heavy stone spire, The story of=
the stealing of the bells is true and was told to me by the late Harry Par=
kes and confirmed by Bill Hughes, of Whitechapel.

J. R. Jerram records the bells as a ring of eight, tenor 47.1/2", 19cwt in =
E. All originally by Lester & Pack 1754 with the fifth recast by Robert Pa=
trick in 1783. There was also a clock bell by L&P dated 1762.

A footnote states that the bells were destroyed in the 1880 fire, so the so=
-called "slaughterhouse" conditions presumably date from after that event.

Hopefully CJP can come up with fuller details than I have.

DLC
----- Original Message -----=20
From: baldhu2002=20
To: bellhistorians at yahoogroups.com=20
Sent: 24 August 2002 15:22
Subject: [Bell Historians] St Mary Matfelon, Whitechapel.


Whilst browsing through J R Haworth's notebook I came across the=20
following interesting peal record:-

On Tuesday January 7th 1875 Holt's Ten Part peal of Grandsire Triples=20
containing 5040 changes was rung at St Mary's Whitechapel in two=20
hours fifty three minutes.

1. J R Haworth 5. S Reeves
2. W Jones 6. W Tanner
3. G Tanner 7. J M Hayes
4. E. Wallage 8. W Greenleaf

Conducted by J R Haworth.
The last peal on the bells before the demolition of the tower and=20
bells.

There is also a press cutting stating the following:-

"The old church of St Mary, Whitechapel, now in course of demolition,=20
was for over 400 years a chapel of ease to the mother church of=20
Stepney. The monuments in the church, which are both ancient and=20
numerous will be carefully removed and re-erected in a new church, a=20
strange pecularity being that the bulk have been erected by master=20
mariners in memory of their wives. In the churchyard lie the remains=20
of Richard Brandon, the supposed executioner of Charles 1."

What was the reason for the demolition of this old old chuch and its=20
replacement by a new one? The timing of the above peal suggest's the=20
bells ( a 20 cwt 8 by Whitechapel 1754)went a bloody sight better in=20
the old tower. The old boys ( Taffender, Langdon, Peck etc) always=20
said that the St Mary Matfelon bells in the 'new' church were=20
difficult to handle with the brick tower moving all over the shop.
Following severe war damage, I was told, the bells were stolen with=20
the police actually assisting the lorry to back into the churchyard=20
to load up the bells!

Jim Phillips.





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