Church of St. Gabriel, Bromley-by-Bow

S, GABRIEL, BROMLEY-BY-BOW, MIDDLESEX -  This new church - which has been called the Working Man's church, because its building committee, and indeed the whole population which it is to serve, are artisans, — is designed by Mr Withers, and is built entirely of common bricks at a cost of £9,500. The plan comprises an ample nave, 90 feet by 30 feet, separated by arcades of five from aisles, which are as long as the nave, and each 11 feet 6 inches in breadth; a chancel of two bays, 33 feet long by 29 feet broad; chancel-aisles to the westernmost bay of the chancel, and a vestry at the east eud of the northern chancel-aisle. The building is very correctly arranged; with proper chancel-fittings and fixed open seats in the nave and aisles. The extreme west end of the church is not seated: there is a door at each end of the transverse space so left, and the font stands against the middle of the west wall of the nave. The total accommodation, we may add, is for 972 persons. The style is very simple Geometrical Pointed. The white walling is relieved by occasional bands of red brick. The tracery is made of terra-cotta.  A good effect of height is obtained in the nave; and an excellent octagonal bell-turret, nearly 90 feet high from the ground, caps the west gable, being half supported by a projecting semi- octagonal shaft, in which the bell-rope hangs. The clerestory is very fully developed: each window being of three cinq-foiled lights with two traceried circles under a common hood above. The aisle windows are single lights, with cinq-foliated heads. The arcades are well-proportioned, with cylindrical shafts. The capitals are good, but the bases seem to us needlessly plain. The roofs are simple and open. A constructional reredos, with a large mural cross, adorns the east wall : but we think its form, which is now not uncommon, is unnecessarily ugly. [Ecclesiologist February 1867 page 58]

BROMLEY - On Monday the Lord Bishop of London consecrated the Church of St. Gabriel, Chrisp-street, Bromley, Middlesex. The church has been built from the designs of Mr. R. J. Withers, by Messrs. Dove Brothers, at a cost of £4,700. It affords seats for 753, all being free. The timbered roof o£ the church is handsome and effective. [Building News 26 February 1869 page 191]

St. Gabriel, Bromley, another workman's church, is a plain First Pointed red-brick building, without aisles, and with the division of nave and chancel only marked by a bell-cote, but withal of decidedly mediæval and rather gloomy aspect. It has 753 seats, all free, and cost about £4,600. The architect was Mr. R. J. Withers. [Companion to the Almanac, Or Yearbook of General Information for ...., Volume 43 1870 page 148]

Reference    Ecclesiologist Vol XXVIII February 1867 page 58
Reference    Building News 26 February 1869 page 191 – consecration
Reference    Companion to the Almanac, Or Yearbook of General Information for ...., Volume 43 1870 page 148