All Saints Church

All Saints Church Exterior c.1910s
Image courtesy of Bourne Hall Museum

All Saints Church was built in 1893 as a daughter church to St. Mary’s in Ewell village to serve the small community of West Ewell.  This community amounted to roughly 300 people many of whom worked on the land but the railways had brought in many new families to the area.  The hamlet was initially served by a Mission Room which was a chamber above what is now West Ewell Social Club in  Chessington Road (formerly Marsh Lane).   Those wanting to pray in the parish church meant a two mile journey along narrow lanes to St Mary’s crossing parts of Ewell Marsh which could not have been pleasant in wet and wintery weather.

By the 1890s so many people were attending the services in St Mary’s that a proposal was made to enlarge the church. Mr. John Bridges of Ewell Court, a churchwarden, established a fund and quickly raised over £3000. However, Major Glyn, who was the patron of the living, refused consent to the project so Mr. Bridges and some of his colleagues decided to build a daughter church in West Ewell. A further £1000 was raised by supporters on land donated by Mr Bridges from his Ewell Court Estate.   The foundation stone for the new building was laid in memory of the Rev. Alexander Bridges, Rector of Beddington, and honorary Canon of Winchester, on 2 August 1893 by Mrs Bridges but only after this emergency request appeared in the Surrey Mirror of 29 July.

‘The Vicar of Ewell will be grateful for advice as to a short service for laying the foundation stone of a church.’

Although construction of the new church progressed satisfactorily, lack of funds forced Mr. Bridges to cut back on building the Chancel, Sanctuary, South Aisle and Lady Chapel. The result of the alterations was a church building that appeared to be out of proportion, the roof being far too high for its length and width.

On 31st July 1894, All Saints Church building was completed and dedicated by the Bishop of Winchester with Rev. G.H. Preston becoming the first curate with Mr Bridges the first Churchwarden.

Following many fund raising events an organ was bought and installed which was dedicated in 1895.  The font was donated in 1896 by Mr and Mrs Thomas Hill (he was a private school teacher) in grateful thanks of many happy years as a married couple.

Interestingly the first marriage solemnized in All Saints was not until 12th December, 1936 when Ernest Sydney South married Hilda Doris Frewing.  This was shortly after the Bishop of Winchester re-classified the area served by All Saints as a “Conventional District“.

In 1939  All Saints became financially financially independent of St Mary’s and many improvements were made (e.g. hot water heating, flood lighting and a flag pole).

After WW2 there were plans to enlarge the church but there was insufficient funds to carry them out.  The church became a parish church in its own right on 11 October 1952.

The later history of the Church is on their website.

War Memorials 

All Saints, West Ewell 12 Nov 2006
Image courtesy of Clive Gilbert © 2006

Details of the All Saints war memorials are on a separate page.

Borough Memorial Plaque

All Saints Church is “stop 12” on the Ewell Heritage Trail devised in 2005 to celebrate The Rotary Club of Ewell’s 50th Anniversary (and the centenary of Rotary International). Like most of the other points of interest on the trail, it is marked by a Borough memorial plaque, as illustrated below.

ALL SAINTS CHURCH
Built to serve West Ewell
with support from the
Bridges family 1894
Photographs by Roger Morgan © 2023

The Clergy

Links

All Saints Church

All Saints Church Interior c.1920s
Image courtesy of Bourne Hall Museum

Peter Reed 2022