All Saints, Margaret Street

[@rebeccahayes1007]

This is the most beautiful church I've ever seen. The Catholic revival is my favourite period of church interior design, this one is jaw dropping.

[@hereticatious]

That's dead right - when I first went in there - it was just breathtaking. I needed a minute or two to take it in.

[@alan-y4n4r]

I used to attend All Saints, Margaret Street during the 1955 - 56 period when I was in the RAF. A friend from St. Mary Cray, in Kent, introduced me to the place. I was in my late teens at the time. He also introduced me to Nashom Abbey (CofE) and Westminster Cathedral. It was the start of my long journey. Within two years I had become a Catholic as in my RAF service I found that it was difficult to come to terms with the CofE as they had so many variations of practice and beliefs. But, nevertheless All Saints, Margaret Street has fond memories for me.

[@lloydsspace]

As a (Roman) Catholic this church is absolutely ideal. The vicar did a good job explaining the art and its theological meaning.

[@albertsmyth9616]

Couldn’t agree with you more (as a fellow Roman Catholic - in communion with the See of Peter). I think the church is very beautiful indeed and one could obviously spend hours just walking around it quietly drinking in the visual manifestation, explanation, of Christianity.

[@Paul9443]

Same here.

[@hereticatious]

Fr Alan is a genuine intellectual and an entertaining one at that - when I make the videos - I'm not aways paying as much attention as I should to what is being said - but fortunately I get to see it all again (many times actually) when I edit it together. There's some deep and profound thinking here - more next week on All Saints, but in a couple of weeks - genuinely I think the video will blow your socks off. Subscribe, watch and let me know how cold your feet are? Thanks for watching.

[@hereticatious]

In part two - you'll begin to see how breath taken I really was. I probably should have been quieter :-)

[@TheTerryE]

Of course, it is NOT a "Roman Catholic" church; it's Church of England.

[@kesmarn]

The priest/tour guide was very patient in explaining ideas that were once considered to be common knowledge. But then, it's amazing how many things my children have to explain to me. And how grateful I am for their patience!

[@hereticatious]

Definitely a priest first - though he definitely could make a living otherwise. He was incredibly patient - you'd be amazed at the ignorant questions I ask that stay on the cutting room floor..

[@kesmarn]

@@hereticatious As the saying goes: "The only ignorant question is the one that isn't asked," 🙂

[@paulsturgul5829]

This video is wonderful! All Saints Margaret Street is my favorite church in all of London. I was in London last month over Easter and spent much time at this beautiful church. Great commentary from very knowledgeable and friendly Fr. Alan. I can't wait to return!

[@hereticatious]

My videos are only as good as the people prepared to present to me - and when I met Fr Alan - I genuinely wanted to skip. Thanks for watch and for your kind words.

[@johnthornhill8551]

Thanks for the vid. Very much looking forward to visiting at the Weekend. ❤

[@Paul9443]

Wow that's... I'm speechless. Very beautiful!

[@hereticatious]

Honestly - I was too - thanks so much for watching.

[@paullewis2413]

I’m embarrassed to admit that as an architectural historian I’ve never visited this church. Thanks for the upload, now I’m going to make amends in the next few weeks 😊

[@hereticatious]

Well worth a visit - let them know I sent you :-)

[@philpackwood1011]

I love this Church! I watch mass on youtube every Sunday and visited briefly in March while in London.I also visited the London Oratory and St Marys Bourne street, so much beautiful holliness in an afternoon.

[@hereticatious]

Interesting - I've already reached out to the London Oratory, but I'm looking to add St Mary's Bourne Street to my list. Thanks for the suggestion.

[@jamesmuddiman8374]

Amazing church watched the Catholic Mass by chance today and was intrigued and surprised how beautiful it was.

[@denisebutler4289]

What a stunner, really looking forward to next week.

[@hereticatious]

You said it. He's got a sort of Richard Curtis vibe don't you think. The church is pretty good too.

[@patrickdempsey9886]

Such a beautiful church inside and out very rarely found usual you get beautiful inside disappointing out side or vice versa stunning building keep up the good work God Bless

[@hereticatious]

I like the outside and the inside - though it really is hemmed in. Thanks for the comment.

[@ardiffley-zipkin9539]

Interesting video. Thanks. I look forward to the next part.

[@hereticatious]

I have such fun making these videos - but its even better when people actually watch them - thanks!

[@minui8758]

8:48 the flying serpents are from Herodotus famous work The Histories. He reported that flying snakes lived in the Arabian and Sinai deserts - the same desert where Moses was exiled. You are right that they are just like the dragon myths because they are based on ancient peoples discovery of fossilised dinosaur and giant snake bones. I don’t know for certain but I also can’t imagine the early Margaret St clergy were unfamiliar with Ancient Greek literature and the flying servants are generally a very well known image - probably the most famous of the Histories apart from maybe the chariot driving sheep and the gold digging ants of India

[@hereticatious]

I've got a half done script for a special on Dragons. Hmm... watch this space.

[@ashleymilum1712]

Thanks for the insight. Please can you ask Father Allen where he got his glasses? Very keen to get a pair myself.

[@hereticatious]

Hopefully he'll see this comment and let you know.

[@kaloarepo288]

St Mary's church Studley royal near Fountains abbey in Yorkshire is another amazing neo Gothic Victorian era church and here the architect was the wonderful William Burges. One of the most stunning ecclesiastical interiors anywhere!

[@hereticatious]

Fountains Abbey holds very dear memories - If I can find a way to go back I will. Which put's Studley on the list.

[@RandallWarren-ug2di]

8:43-The flying snakes in the mosaic at the back of the church are seraphim because the word for snakes is seraphim (burning ones-probably how the snake bite feels), the same as the order of angels which are also called seraphim.

[@hereticatious]

That's a great observation - I've a video planned on Dragons in Christian Iconography - this insight is going straight in. Thanks and thanks for watching.

[@RighteousReverendDynamite]

Reminds me of A. Pugin's first church commission of St. Giles in Stafforshire; a shiny multicolored gem of a church. An article about an Orthodox priest in American mentioned that decorating a church interior especially with a lot of vibrant color was supposed to remind the devout that when you are in a church, you are almost in Heaven, and should brighten your spirits and give you a goal to reach it. Pugin did a lot for not being a formally trained architect... yet on his deathbed he designed Great Britain's most famous landmark, St. Stephen's (Now Elizaeth's) Tower (which houses Big Ben the great bell). As he was a Catholic, he was not allowed to be credited for his work under Barrie. He died the same day as Wellington so his obituary was not going to be on page 1 to say the least. Most people do not know of him or that he designed it. (Almost in a way, who was the architect for the White House in Washington, DC? [James Hoban]). Thanks for the video, this Ascension Day! May the English rekindle their faith and strengthen their Nation and Spirit again. It was nice to see that during the Coronation of King Charles III, during the Gospel reading, the earliest surviving Gospel brought by St. Augustine from Rome to Kent was presented to the attendees. It was, I believe, owned by Pope Gregory himself. Our society needs to finally understand that "coolness" is not a holy virtue and is ever changing and shallow. Popular media and celebrities have ridiculed Christianity for 60+ years to no good end and without anything to substitute for it. Our old churches are being turned into mosques and madrassas (as a point of triumph in their eyes like the Hagia Sophia) and nobody blinks an eye. Our youth are not armed with institutional or theological knowledge to hold fast against this trend. Do we not remember the hours of sincere and desperate prayers of the armed forces and civilians during our deliverance from the long evil of WWII? Our home parish is also "All Hallows" and I wish the priest would give a "Memorial Minute" of the Saints of the day as their stories are inspiring and should be better known than some backstory a minor character from the latest "greatest" "you gotta see it" Netflix cable drama show. Hopefully Blessed Captain Chaplain Emil Kapaun, US Army, Medal of Honor (Posthumus) Korean War POW will be canonized one day as a Saint. He was a truly brave man and chaplain who served all his flock in the worst conditions.

[@hereticatious]

I think the Christian church can absorb a bit of leg pulling - with wit, they might even benefit. However I'm certainly with you that the stories of the Saints are great - I've a playlist of my videos here kzbin.info/www/bejne/eX-seHSdat6Nm9U&pp=gAQBiAQB

[@vsts2004]

Great and highly informative video - thank you both. This church should DEFINITELY feature on anyone's visit to London who has an interest in high Victorian culture and architecture and its associated romantic/catholic revival. I particularly love the fabulous decoration on the main arcade spandrels: glorious technicolour kaleidoscopes of circular motifs and circles contained within them (Proverbs 8.27?), some intersecting, others not, and always totalling, significantly, 7 or 8. All within a background of infinitely mixed and varying designs on the theme of cross. These are easily missed when admiring the typological tile friezes by A.Gibbs, the ascension mural, Gibb's stained glass, and, of course the totally unmissable chancel. Apparently Beresford-Hope (Sponsor) and Butterfield (Architect) frequently fell out badly - yet together created something of great beauty that luckily survived the blitz to which many other London churches succumbed. For a secular contrast, try Scott's St.Pancras station. Both buildings were adored by Betjeman, if I am informed correctly!

[@hereticatious]

Thanks for the kind words. Do you have a source for the Beresford-Hope and Butterfield dispute? I'd be interested in reading a recommend book about this stuff - most of the Journals I looked at danced around the personal perspective. You are right about Betjeman - Fr Alan discussed him - but I couldn't find a way to fit him in (though watch this space).

[@SuperLatecomer]

Recall reading somewhere that Laurence Olivier was a chorister here and it played a part in stimulating a taste for ritual and performance which underpinned his later career. Am I mistaken? Certainly his father was a minister.

[@hereticatious]

Great knowledge - I cover that in NEXT weeks video - please, please subscribe so there is no chance of you missing a single gory detail (it's not gory).

[@jackmorrison7379]

Stumbled upon your channel from some algorithm recommending it. I'm glad I did as this tourist walked past this place several decades ago but it looked locked and I didn't go in. Sorry I missed it. Butterfield and those others later really went overboard to make a point I suppose. To modern eyes whether Anglican, or R.C., this all seems, well, a bit much. I was getting an Eastern Orthodox vibe though there is no iconostasis. I imagine the then majority of Victorian low church Anglican establishment was horrified by this church. Today, your country has only a remnant Christian presence in the native born population.

[@hereticatious]

Great comment. When I look at these unbelievable buildings - I feel slightly that they are old masters in a gallery that few visit, and fewer properly value. I don't find the resurgence of the church a particularly appealing or likely scenario - so we, as a society need to find a way to appreciate, value and preserve these remarkable assets. Oh and thanks for watching.

[@williamofdallas]

What a great video. Right on

[@hereticatious]

Plenty more where that came from and more coming!

[@jackpayne4658]

William Butterfield always reminds me of Nicholas Hawksmoor. Completely different styles, of course, but both architects took the fashionable motifs of their time and made of them something risky, dramatic, and very personal. Two flavours of architectural Marmite.

[@hereticatious]

This is a brilliant observation. You need to look behind the style to see the similarities. There's lots of Hawksmoor on the channel - Look at St Anne's Limehouse kzbin.info/www/bejne/l4XNpGyCZrSGjJI and St George in the East kzbin.info/www/bejne/o4i3YYCXmtScecU for example and there's more coming. Don't forget to subscribe if you haven't already. Thanks for watching.

[@user-pq1qw5ed6m]

My 7x great grandfather was Isaac Alexander Gibbs. The maker of the stained glass windows and mosaics in this church.

[@hereticatious]

Genuine wow! There's a story to be told about the various artists supporting the victorian church building revival - unfortunately I don't know enough (yet) to tell it.

[@nancymarshall6014]

I have seen Fountains Abby..and York Minster Abby..didnt get a chance to see London....The structure of these buildings and histroy iare very old. and Beauitful.

[@hereticatious]

Fountains Abbey! I have great childhood memories swimming in the surrounding river.

[@m0bob]

The last time I went inside All Saints, Margaret Street was in the late 1970s. I used to work for a company named Mowbrays and they were located at 28 Margaret Street. I had to collect the Church Times order from the publisher so they could be sold in the shop, but I also had to drop one copy off at All Saints for the clergy. If my memory is correct, the curate was a young American guy. I must return to All Saints soon.

[@hereticatious]

I worked about five minutes away in the late 80's and didn't even know the church was there! It's such a busy area - but just out of the mainstream to be missable.

[@martinwright4125]

gorgeous! i would love to visit here. in the u.s. we have some beautiful interiors of churches, and some beautiful exteriors; however, we just don't have interiors such as these. these jewels are the beauty of the english and europe in general. probably, never to be seen in america, due to costs and prohibitive desires.

[@hereticatious]

I think I've managed to find something terrific in every church I've visited so far - but this one is certainly special. Check out this one St Mary Le Strand - also in central London kzbin.info/www/bejne/jWjHqn6FibadhaM

[@RighteousReverendDynamite]

St. Pope Leo the Great also turned away Attila the Hun and his army from Rome after meeting with him at Lake Garda in 452. He was proclaimed a Doctor of the Church. He also strengthened the primacy of the Bishop of Rome as head of the Western Church. He was the first to be buried within the walls of the Old St. Peter's Basilica. The portraits of the Apostles show each one holding the instrument of their martyrdoms. The use of the 4 figures to represent the Evangelists comes from Revelations. St. John, who wrote about Jesus's divinity, was symbolized by an Eagle. That is why rostrums in Churches had been carved since Medieval times in the shape of an Eagle.

[@hereticatious]

Thanks for the info on Leo. Interestingly the identification of the particular evangelists with the particular four living creatures is a moveable feast en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetramorph - though it seems to have settled down now.

[@etracktrading]

👋🏻😁👍

[@nickbarber2080]

Pity the poor cameraman...well done to get all the details in!

[@hereticatious]

Big hugs right back at you.

[@aelbereth6690]

Amazingly interesting church. Completely over the top, but in a gorgeous way informed by a genuine faith. I like the vicar's enthusiasm - a little vague in his attempts to explain Christian theology, but this is after all the Church of England, and most Catholic priests these days wouldn't do nearly as well. I am distracted though by his uncanny resemblance to the comedian Harry Enfield - I keep waiting for him to say something absurd!

[@hereticatious]

Any vagueness may be a result of my editing - watch next week - that may fill in the gaps.

[@BigAidsIII]

This is one of the Assistant Priests, and he has a double first from Oxford, the second in Theology. Watch his sermons, often put on the ASMS social media. He preaches brilliantly considering he's not writing an academic essay and is actually talking to people.

[@nickbarber2080]

Oh...and if you like this,you might also like St James the Less,Thorndike St Westminster...

[@hereticatious]

Suggestion always gratefully accepted - I'm checking it out now.

[@wendyfield7708]

What isthe U word?

[@hereticatious]

You have to understand my evil plan - I say it right at the end of the episode (almost exactly 15 minutes in). But to truly get the answer you'll need to watch NEXT weeks video (see what a scamp I am). To be sure to see that - please subscribe. Pretty please!

[@kathrynblack9152]

The things on the top of the pillars are capitals, not captials. Nevertheless, the added commentary is appreciated as I belong to a faith that doesn't use any of this sort of ornamentation.

[@hereticatious]

Argh good spot on the miss spell.

[@johnmcgrath6192]

Beatiful but the floor is distracting. I see a lot of chairs. I wonder if they are ever filled.

[@hereticatious]

Ever filled? - I don't know for sure - but these churches tend to do all right especially on the "big" days. In person though - the floor is not distracting (except that in a way the whole place is delightfully distracting) - it really works as a cohesive whole. More so than comes across in pictures perhaps. Thanks for watching.

[@AlanRimmer]

come on a Sunday and you'll find they largely are

[@dianastevenson131]

Yes they are. I attended evensong for the Assumption recently and it was difficult to find a seat.

[@peterescott651]

Fr Rimmer fumbling on Melchizedek - king-priest of Salem (Jerusalem) who had no known parentage to who Abraham offered sacrifices (all in Genesis). In the NT, the letter to the Hebrews, Jesus' priesthood is compared to Melchizedek's unique priesthood.

[@hereticatious]

You should know that I ask those showing me round explicitly NOT to prepare - part of the fun is seeing how much we can work out just by looking. It's not an exam. From where I sit Fr Alan's knowledge is completely remarkable.

[@AlanRimmer]

very fair - I need to go back to my books!

[@davidcope5736]

rather brave at the time to have leo dressed in papal finery

[@hereticatious]

You're right - though Comper is a bit later than Butterfield - and I think the situation continued to ease because enforcement of Public Worship Regulation Act 1874 caused such embarrassment at the top of the church. Keep watching - I have more on this on the channel shortly.

[@williamboo9017]

The red black and yellow makes me think of king snakes

[@hereticatious]

If you can prove it was on Butterfield's mind - I'll make a video about it.

[@jack2453]

Click bait fail. What U word???

[@michaeltres]

"Ugly". The narrator says it at the end.

[@cathydrumobich9045]

Fr Alan is a wonderful tour guide but he mispronounces the name of St. Mary Magdalene. Magdalen College, Oxford is pronounced without the "g" as "maudlyn." But the saint's name has been pronounced with the "g" -- as Mag-da-lene -- since at least the 17th century. They are two very different pronunciations. The college persists in the old way but in correct British English it should be pronounced Magdalene.

[@johnmulvey5121]

Fr Alan is nice and clear but why does the other man do the High rising terminal so much - ''up talk'' ,so difficult to listen to. makes him sound gormless which of course he is not .

[@hereticatious]

If you're talking about me - don't be so sure!

[@lindasolomon4235]

Hope it stays Christian.

[@hereticatious]

I think you're fairly safe there.

[@ruskinyruskiny1611]

To much Vicar not enough Church.

[@johnrozee2648]

a bit much to take in on video ( not a criticism just so much going on), clearly needs an actual visit. Reminds me of that other high Victorian palace of delights, Crossness pumping station. i suppose the buildings have a similar purpose - they both deal in sh*t

[@hereticatious]

It does have to be seen to really get it - but I had a bash. Crossness does have structural polychromy - and remarkable ironwork - but fewer pretty pictures. All Saints smells better too.

[@muellkoerbchen]

I really don‘t know, why on earth this video was recommanded to me, but it was quite amusing to watch and listen to this Barbourian pinky ring wearer. I studied Protestant theology in Germany some years ago, and a rather young theologian like him is completely unthinkable in the German Lutheran and Reformed churches. Thank God they are all on the way to utter Unimportance. - The part about the Preraffaelites was very interesting though. Best wishes, and please get some hair wax. 😉🫶🏻

[@PGHEngineer]

What on Earth is wrong with you?

[@dizwell]

​@@PGHEngineer He studied Protestant theology in Germany. Enough to knock the sense of humour out of anyone...

[@johnmcgrath6192]

Sour. Yoiu do not do Protestant theology in Germany a favor wiuth this comment.

[@muellkoerbchen]

@dizwell: Yes, right. I am the least humourous person in Germany, in fact on Earth.

[@muellkoerbchen]

@johnmcgrath6192: So, first of all it seems that I made you feel bad and upset with my remarks. Therefore I apologize. I really mean it. I went a bit too far, seems to me. But, I was really very much astonished to find your Video… I did not mean to hurt or ridicule you really. Maybe I should erase my comment? But then we wouldn‘t have any communcation would we?! Secondly, I did not mean to speak in a positive way about German Theology! I left theology and in fact the Landeskirche (Protestant church) 3 years ago. - finally: „Our imperfect communion shouldn't prevent us from walking together“!