Building    From 1864  To 1952

Upton Chapel

Categories: Religion

During the period 1785 -1862 a group of Particular Baptists used a house in what is now Burrell Street SE11. They rebuilt it in 1801 and then in 1862 they had a new chapel built in Barkham Terrace. This 1872 map shows the chapel flanked by 9 terraced houses and an end gatehouse on either side.

The chapel was named after its first preacher, James Upton. In 1941, following bomb damage to their chapel, the congregation united with that at Christ Church as "Christ Church and Upton Chapel". The chapel was demolished in 1952.

For the record: the Burrell Street building was demolished to make way for the railway which is still there today, crossing Burrell Street.

We could (initially) find no image of Upton Chapel but luckily it does appear on a photo we have already published, on the page for St George's Obelisk, in Barkham Terrace.

2024: Christian Ingham kindly pointed us to this Historic England 1940 photo of Barkham Terrace which shows the Upton Chapel. The source has good zoom functionality and an extensive caption which led us to the ever-informative Lost Hospitals of London which tells the story of the hospital in Barkham Terrace in some details. Here is a summary:

The Catholic Nursing Institute was officially opened on 23rd May 1907. It consisted of a house on the eastern side of Barkham Terrace for use by district nurses and a house on the western side with 12 beds for hospital patients. In 1929 the CNI purchased the whole terrace, excluding the chapel. By 1932 the hospital had expanded into 2 more houses in the terrace.

1939 the whole western side of the terrace was demolished, and the hospital completely rebuilt in 1940. You can see the scaffolding in this photo. September 1940 a bomb demolished half the hospital and severely damaged the chapel. In 1948 the hospital did not join the NHS. Rebuilding was carried out 1952. In 1960 the house on the eastern side was still the centre of the District Nursing service provided by the Sisters for south-east London. The CNI closed in 1984 and the hospital building has manifested as a few different private clinics/hospitals since then.

Looking at the architecture of the western side: the attractive 1940 hospital frontage seems to have survived the bomb; the 6 eastern bays, which replaced the chapel in 1952, are much plainer.

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This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Upton Chapel

Commemorated ati

Christ Church - 1959

In WW2 both Upton Chapel and Christ Church were badly bombed. Both were demol...

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Other Subjects

Notting Hill Group Ministry

Notting Hill Group Ministry

The Guardian obituary for Rev. Norwyn Denny gives "The Methodist minister the Rev Norwyn Denny, who has died aged 85, was a pioneer of the modern urban mission in Britain. His work in Notting Hill,...

Group, Religion, Social Welfare

1 memorial
Church of St John of Tyburn / St Marylebone

Church of St John of Tyburn / St Marylebone

A church was built in about 1200 near the Tyburn Tree, on the bank of the Tyburn River. In 1400 this was demolished and replaced with a church, St Marys, at the location of the plaque. The river, o...

Building, Religion

1 memorial
Samuel Bickersteth

Samuel Bickersteth

Committee chairman. Because of the unusual surname, it is almost certain that he was the same Reverend Samuel Bickersteth who had been vicar of Leeds, Lewisham and nearby Crofton Park. 

Person, Politics & Administration, Religion

1 memorial
Bishop Mandell Creighton

Bishop Mandell Creighton

Born Carlisle. His first career was as an historian. Bishop of London, 1897–1901.

Person, History, Religion

2 memorials
Albert Barff

Albert Barff

Head of the choir school at St Pauls.  When he died he was vicar of St. Giles's, Cripplegate, and Prebendary of St. Paul's. Andrew Behan and kindly researched this entry for us: Born 2 Paradise Pl...

Person, Education, Music / songs, Religion

1 memorial