The Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church
THE GUARDIAN ANGELS ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 377, MILE END ROAD
Listed on the National Heritage List for England. Search over 400,000 listed places
Overview
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1088079
- Date first listed:
- 08-Aug-2002
- List Entry Name:
- The Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church
- Statutory Address:
- THE GUARDIAN ANGELS ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 377, MILE END ROAD
Location
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Discover moreOfficial list entry
- Heritage Category:
- Listed Building
- Grade:
- II
- List Entry Number:
- 1088079
- Date first listed:
- 08-Aug-2002
- List Entry Name:
- The Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church
- Statutory Address 1:
- THE GUARDIAN ANGELS ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 377, MILE END ROAD
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
The scope of legal protection for listed buildings
This List entry helps identify the building designated at this address for its special architectural or historic interest.
Unless the List entry states otherwise, it includes both the structure itself and any object or structure fixed to it (whether inside or outside) as well as any object or structure within the curtilage of the building.
For these purposes, to be included within the curtilage of the building, the object or structure must have formed part of the land since before 1st July 1948.
Location
- Statutory Address:
- THE GUARDIAN ANGELS ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH, 377, MILE END ROAD
The building or site itself may lie within the boundary of more than one authority.
- County:
- Greater London Authority
- District:
- Tower Hamlets (London Borough)
- Parish:
- Non Civil Parish
- National Grid Reference:
- TQ 36331 82484
Details
788/0/10149 MILE END ROAD
08-AUG-02 377
The Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Chu
rch
GV II
Guardian Angels Roman Catholic Church, Mile End Road. Roman Catholic church, 1901-3 by F.A. Walters. Perpendicular style. Red brick with Ancaster stone dressings, copper-sheathed fleche, slate roof not visible.
PLAN: aligned north-south, with liturgical east end to north. Entrance to right, beneath tower; presbytery (listed separately) to east. 3-bay nave: gallery at (liturgical) west end, Lady Chapel at (lit.) north-east; two-bay chancel.
EXTERIOR: Main (lit.) west end to street with large seven-light traceried window, set beneath a shouldered gable end. Four openings to crypt beneath. Blocked arched door way with crenellated parapet to left, main doorway to right, with moulded brick arch and Arts and Crafts-influenced bronze grille over, embellished with IHS monogram. Smaller arched doorway with grille to right. Triple arched niches with cusped heads over main entrance, the central one with stone canopy flanked with narrow lancet windows; crenellated hood mould of stone over. Single lancet opening with hood-mould above. Upper part of tower is octagonal, with crenellated parapet, slatted two-light belfry openings to main sides, blind brick arches to angles. Short fleche with pinnacle over.
INTERIOR: three-bay nave with gallery at west end. Moulded piers with broad moulded arches, clerestorey with pairs of plain leaded lights over. Open scissor-trussed roof, the trusses carried on brackets carved with angels holding shields embellished with sacred monograms. Chancel arch flanked on either side by stone niches with statues: to (lit.) north, St Thomas a Becket, to (lit.) south, St Dunstan. Stone pulpit to (lit.) north of arch in the Perp. Style, with relief of eagle to front set within blind tracery. Entrance to crypt to (lit.) south of chancel arch. Chancel with moulded piers; spandrels of arcade with stone reliefs of angels, holding shields decorated with instruments of the passion, coffered ceiling. Lady Chapel to (lit.) north, with organ over. Large crypt below comprising two main chambers.
FIXTURES: items of note include a rood sreen, inscribed REGNAVIT A LIGNA DEUS ('God ruled from the wood'). Panelled openwork altar by Earp and Hobbs. Tabernacle with enamelled gilt door. East window by N.H.J. Westlake, showing Christ in majesty flanked by the Virgin Mary and St Joseph, with SS Margaret of Scotland and Clare in the outer lights. Wrought iron gates to Lady Chapel and to crypt entrance by Bainbridge Reynolds. Total immersion font of stone, or recent date, in centre of nave, designed by Matteo del Preti.
HISTORY: this is the successor church to a mission chapel opened in 1868 by Archbishop (later Cardinal) Manning, which offered the first Catholic place or worship in this area. The present church was paid for by Lady Mary Howard in memory of her sister Lady Margaret; the foundation stone was laid in October 1901 and opened for worship on 25 March 1903. Its architect, F.A. Walters, was a late follower of the tenets of Pugin and one of the leading Roman Catholic architects of his generation; he is best known for his work at Buckfast Abbey, Devon. A carefully designed former mission church, forming a notable group with the neighbouring presbytery (q.v.).
SOURCES: Denis Evinson, 'The Catholic Churches of London' (1998), 232-234; The Builder, 4 April 1903, 368.
Legacy
The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.
- Legacy System number:
- 489665
- Legacy System:
- LBS
Sources
Books and journals
Evinson, D, The Catholic Churches of London, (1998), 232-234
The Builder in 4th April, (1903), 368
Legal
This building is listed under the Planning (Listed Buildings and Conservation Areas) Act 1990 as amended for its special architectural or historic interest.
Map
This map is for quick reference purposes only and may not be to scale. This copy shows the entry on 05-Jun-2026 at 20:48:38.
Download a full scale map (PDF)End of official list entry
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