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This image comes from an 1888 engraving
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The land on which All Saints church was built was donated by the Lord of the Manor, Nigel de Mowbray, nearly a 1000 years ago. It was probably built in the 1190s.
A South Chapel was added in 1837 but the original Saxon nave was significantly extended between 1861 and 1898 under the auspices of the Lambert family and Lord Egmont, then Patron of the Living. These 'restorations' under the direction of G E Street, the noted architect responsible for London's Law Courts, included the North and South Aisles, West Tower, and vestry, resulting in the building we see today.
Although many of the memorials are those of the Lambert family being 'particularly attentive to their relations' which included a Lord Mayor of London, there are many more of equal distinction such as the unique and touching 17th century wall-tablet to an infant in his 'swaddling cloaths' complete with ruff!
 The Buckle family who provided the church's vicars for over 80 years are memorialized in several windows and the NADFAS Church Recording Project, begun in 2006, has revealed the fine quality of the stained glass windows. Not only is there one by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co's earliest commissions (1863) employing the talents of Rossetti, Philip Webb and Morris himself, but also an unusual design by Hardman & Co famed for providing the stained glass in the Houses of Parliament. The twenty stained glass windows represent the work of the most famous designers and makers of stained glass in an era when the art was at its zenith: a very rare distinction in a small parish church.
The original churchyard which now includes the Garton World WarI memorial, was enlarged in 1861 and again in 1904.
In 2007, The Banstead History Research Group published The History of All Saints Church Banstead written by Geoffrey Robinson. It is a very well illustrated and researched book of 60 pages. Click here for further details.
Click here to access the All Saints Church website
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 St Ann's Church (Roman Catholic)
A Catholic Church was started on a site bought in 1930 on the Brighton Road,
in a former army hut provided by Father Chrystal of the Epsom Church.
A presbytery was built in 1936 and from 1938 until 1944 the hut was also
used for a school.
The Church was built in 1954 and is named after the mother of the Virgin Mary.
The photograph below shows the interior of the church in 2005. |
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| photographed by Mark Stanley. |
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St Paul's Church (C of E)
From 1923 the old Nork estate was the subject of rapid building development and members of the Church of England felt there should be a church in the area.
In 1928 formal consent was given for the building of a church and hall on land in Warren Road.
St Paul's Church was opened in 1930, initially as a 'daughter' church of All Saints Banstead. The then vicar of All Saints, the Rev, A W Hopkinson drew a sketch which became the basis for the design of the original St Paul's church.
The church was slightly damaged in 1944 during WWII. It was not till 1958 that work on a major new extension was started.
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© Copyright Roger Miller and
licensed for reuse
under this Creative Commons Licence. |
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Banstead Baptist Church (Tin Tabernacle)
In March 1895, William Hodson purchased a 'parcel of land situate in the Parish of Banstead in the County of Surrey being part of a field ... called the Town Field or Pound Field ... having a frontage of sixty feet to the road leading from Sutton to Banstead Station'.
The ‘Pound Field’, in this sheep farming village, was where the lost sheep were brought for safety and to be reclaimed by their rightful owner.
In June 1896, four Christian businessmen from Sutton, William Hodson, John McCall, Ransome Wallis and Walter Goff, became trustees of the land and erected a Mission Hall on the understanding that '... all buildings thereon to be erected forever hereafter appropriated and used as and for a place for an Undenominational Gospel Mission Work'.
The Mission Hall was later registered as the Baptist Free Church for the purpose of solemnising marriages but was known as Banstead Evangelical Free Church.
Although it became called Banstead Baptist Church in 1960, it retains its original covenant obligations and that is why we are not a part of any denomination.
On 8 September 2013 these church buildings were rededicated to God and named ChristChurch Banstead.
The church welcomes everyone in the Name of Jesus Christ and especially people who do not usually go to church.
Click here to enlarge photo. |
Banstead Tin Tabernacle
Group photo dating from about 1936.
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Banstead Methodist Church
The old Methodist church.
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No Wesleyan chapel had been created in Banstead by 1930, in spite of the rapid growth of the village. Wesleyans in Nork walked to Burgh Heath, where there was a chapel which during the week was used as a school.
The present Church site in The Drive had been bought in 1926 by the London Mission and Extension Committee of the Wesleyan Church; but in the 1930s services were held at No.28 Green Curve and then at the Hillcrest Tearooms in Eastgate.
In 1934, after the union of the Wesleyan and other Methodist Churches, it was decided to build a Methodist Church. After much fund-raising a stone-laying ceremony was held in September 1934, and the Church was eventually opened on Saturday 9th February 1935 by Lady Stamp who was presented with a commemorative key.
Amazingly, some 80 years later, this key came up for auction and was purchased by the Banstead history webmaster who has had a lifetime interest in locks and keys.
Over the years the congregation greatly increased. A Church Hall (the Vallins Hall) was added behind the Church. This survives today and was further extended in 1961, however the church had to be demolished due to structural problems.
The new Church in the round style was built in 1971.
At the rear of the church is the headquarters of the Scout Group which is sponsored by the church.
www.bansteadmethodist.org.uk |
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United Reformed Church
 A handful of Congregationalists decided in the late 1930s to establish a church in Banstead.
In 1940 the first service was held in the Village School. By 1942 the average attendance was 21, and in 1943 a Banstead Congregational Church Council was set up. In 1946 the Fellowship Council had itself constituted as a Congregational Church, and a Covenant Service took place. After this, church meetings took place in various premises.
The need for a church building was increasingly felt, and on the 10th of June 1950 the Foundation Stone of the new church was laid, in Woodmansterne Lane. The church was completed in 1951. In 1957 the new church building was erected. In 1972 the Union of the Congregational and Presbyterian churches took place, and the church became reborn as the United Reformed Church.
A large extension was later added to the side of the original building. Both the original and the extension can be seen in this photograph taken in 2006. The extension is on the right hand side.
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