please empty your brain below
An equally good question would be "when did they start (or stop) building pubs?" Acres of housing were built in the 1930s in southwest London without them.

Alan P. | 28.06.24 - 7:15 a.m. | #

It took twenty years to build any new churches in Milton Keynes.

Sprout Eater | 28.06.24 - 7:35 a.m. | #

Although new churches may not be being built, some buildings have been converted into churches. Some I can think of locally are the old Coronet and Granada cinemas by the Woolwich Ferry, and the Odeon cinema in Welling, all done in the new millenium.

An article from earlier this year reckons 99 cinemas have been converted to religious use across England and not all for Christian faiths, either. A database is here.

Trevor S | 28.06.24 - 8:06 a.m. | #

Fascinating article. Since the lockdown, I’ve been keeping a record of the Anglican churches I encounter in London and when they were consecrated - as you say, until recently they were a good indicator of when the area was developed. Many of those built since the 1960s (once war damage had been repaired) were to replace earlier structures which had burnt down or become otherwise unusable. The only one on a really new estate I can think of is St Francis in Hale Village, the new development near Tottenham Hale station, and even that isn’t a stand-alone building. There’s no shortage of new Pentecostalist churches in converted cinemas, pubs, shops and commercial premises, but in most cases they don’t seem to see building something new as a priority, and don’t tend to have developers or patrons to do it for them. A real social shift…

Baldassaro | 28.06.24 - 8:48 a.m. | #

There's a 1950s estate in Portsmouth which was built with catholic & anglican churches.

Incidentally architects always seem to go slightly mad when presented with the opportunity of building a brand new church..

Adrian | 28.06.24 - 8:51 a.m. | #

Milton Keynes is an interesting example of post war and new town church building.

The existing towns and villages within the new town designated area, such as Bletchley and Stony Stratford, already had church's that new residents could use. This combined with the continued fall in the popularity of religion meant that lots of new churches weren't really required.

The big exception to this is the Church of Christ the Cornerstone in Central Milton Keynes which was completed in 1991 and was opened by the Queen in 1992. It is an ecumenical church with the Church of England, the Baptist Union, the Methodist Church, the Roman Catholic Church and the United Reformed Church all sharing the space.

James S | 28.06.24 - 9:03 a.m. | #

I’d never heard the name Britannia Village before despite knowing the location pretty well. Looks like they don't have much in terms of services with no coffee shop, takeaways or pub. Most large new housing development tend to offer these.

David | 28.06.24 - 9:07 a.m. | #

There is a multi-faith prayer space on the Greenwich peninsula, on the second floor of a building with a mix of uses, that is nominally still run by the CofE team ministry for East Greenwich, but I think now used almost exclusively by Muslim worshippers.

The congregation called Holy Trinity North Greenwich now seem to use the school chapel at the recently built Mary Magdalene CofE school.

Robert Doyle | 28.06.24 - 9:29 a.m. | #

Very interesting article. I think the ease of movement since car ownership became widespread is a factor as well, people aren't tied to their areas like they used to be, expecting everything to be on their doorsteps.

If I was building a new development, even if I wanted to provide a religious space, it would be tricky, without knowing the ethnic and religious mix of the people likely to move in, especially in London. And those people are likely to have existing places they go to anyway.

Mikey C | 28.06.24 - 9:51 a.m. | #

Who actually pays for churches to be built - does the developer foot the bill, does the organisation (CofE, Catholic, whatever) ?

Caroline | 28.06.24 - 9:58 a.m. | #

Interesting. I had never really considered churches being built as part of estate planning before - they were just 'there' and, I assumed, built after the houses by the Mother Church for denomination they served!

Cornish Cockney | 28.06.24 - 10:38 a.m. | #

I find it sad that the Olympic Village doesn't even have a purpose built community centre of modest size - one that could be used as a place of worship for Friday prayers or Sunday mass if people wanted it...

James Scantlebury | 28.06.24 - 10:52 a.m. | #

St Marks Church Biggin Hill was moved brick by brick by its congregation from Peckham, re-opening in 1959.

Malcolm of Kent | 28.06.24 - 10:53 a.m. | #

The question of who pays for a church is an interesting one. Immediately following the Napoleonic wars, the Government did - the so-called Commissioners’ Churches, built to cater for the growing population in towns and to counter the spread of revolution and atheism. In the mid to late nineteenth century, it tended to be rich patrons such as Baroness Burdett-Coutts, who was advised by Dickens on her charitable works. The Catholic Church also relied on donations from, for example, the Dukes of Norfolk, once it was allowed to build churches again. Developers tended to see a church as a normal amenity of a new estate, like shops and pubs, although that often depended on the background of the developer - some estates developed by non-conformists have neither a church nor a pub. These days, I suppose a private developer would consider whether a church would be a selling point for a new development, and I guess in most cases it would conclude that it wouldn’t. I’ll be interested to see what provision, if any, is made at the big new Brent Cross West housing development which is beginning to get underway…

Baldassaro | 28.06.24 - 10:54 a.m. | #

My little corner of England, a little to the north of London, was developed and built on agricultural land in the 1920s. As it expanded, it was provided with twice as many churches as pubs, and a similar ratio still exists today. Regrettably.

Frank F | 28.06.24 - 11:03 a.m. | #

Apart from churches, most developments now also don't include Dentists, a Medical Practice or a School.

mikeH | 28.06.24 - 11:35 a.m. | #

A developer in Manchester told me that schools were a real problem. The local authority wouldn’t support one until there were children to teach, but parents wouldn’t move into the development unless there was a school. He intended to solve the impasse by working with a private trust, but I don’t know what the outcome was.

Baldassaro | 28.06.24 - 12:00 p.m. | #

I suspect that if rules were changed so that new housing estates weren't given permission to be built unless they included churches/doctors/dentists/a decent array of shops so that people can reach them within 15 minutes, it might be met with a heavy amount of opposition from people who (wilfully or accidentally) misread the intentions...

Jamesthegill | 28.06.24 - 12:32 p.m. | #

Well... Barking Riverside development was built in 2017 with a church as a requirement for planning permission.. and schools had to be built as part of the development's planning permission, thd najority of which are church schools. Seems selective journalism.

J | 28.06.24 - 1:10 p.m. | #

Jamesthegill - but would that stop the developers amending the planning once permission is given to reduce the amount of services provided? You know, like developers get out of providing affordable housing by claiming it's not economical to do so.

Andy | 28.06.24 - 1:44 p.m. | #

I was brought up on the Barnhill Estate, Hayes, Middlesex (near Kingshill Ave, which you've previously visited), built around 1950 which had two churches - RC and Methodist. Only the former survives.

Richard Morris | 28.06.24 - 1:57 p.m. | #

I believe in Saudi the general rule is one new mosque per square kilometre of new housing.

MO | 28.06.24 - 5:37 p.m. | #

Obviously not a proper church, but the Eastgate centre in Ebbsfleet was at least designed with Sunday worship options in mind.

Kathryn | 28.06.24 - 7:20 p.m. | #

My house in Manchester is on a small infill development built in 1991 on the site of a former school. A small, architecturally undistinguished church was provided along with private and social housing. I've assumed that the church and social housing were planning requirements. It must be one of the last such as I concur that later purpose-built churches are rare.

Jack Kirby | 28.06.24 - 11:36 p.m. | #

My mum was very active, as a Catholic parishioner, in St Mark's Beckton. When she first moved there church services were held in a portakabin. With lots of new people arriving as Beckton took shape the church played an important role in building community. It really made a difference to my mum who moved there from Stepney in 1982 as a newly bereaved widow. She spent over 35 years (unitl her death) active in that community.

Joan | 29.06.24 - 1:31 p.m. | #

At least one 20th Century low-rise office building in Welwyn Garden City has been repurposed into a place of worship in the last decade, to complement the couple that were built as new churches as part of the new town development.

MilesT | 01.07.24 - 12:47 p.m. | #











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