The building of All Saints' Church was begun in 1852 for the Reverend Dr Samuel Walker. Walker was a wealthy property speculator one of several buying up land in the area that was then to be known as Kensington Park.[3]
Engraving of William White's design for All Saints, complete with spire
Walker's property speculation in the area was a financial failure and he sold his interests to others speculating on property in the newly emerging area of Kensington Park.[5]
As a result, the church-building was left unfinished for a number of years during which time in some quarters it received the epthet "All-Sinners-in-the-Mud".[6]
All Saints was eventually completed in 1861 at a cost of £25,000, without its spire,[4] for the incumbency of Reverend John Light of Trinity College Dublin.[7]
All Saints suffered serious bomb damage in The Blitz of World War II,[9] along with neighbouring buildings including Pinehurst Court, at 1–9 Colville Gardens. The first bombs fell on 26 September 1940, and the church was hit again in March and June 1944. The Lady Chapel and the south transept chapel were destroyed.[4] Restoration work was completed in 1951.[10]
Clergy
From 1931 to 1961 the vicar was the outgoing and gregarious Fr John Twisaday, who established the high church worship tradition at All Saints. The present vicar is Fr Philip Corbett SSC, who was inducted in 2019.
1866: interior looking east with the organ briefly glimpsed in the south aisle.
1862-3. The church's first organ was built by Gray & Davison having first been displayed at the 1862 International Exhibition.[13] It was located in the south transept of the church. This position led to some criticism:
The north transept of All Saints', Notting Hill, was designed by Mr. White, specially for the reception of the organ, and with this end in view he fenestrated it with a large traceried rose placed high up in the wall [...] the authorities caused the organ to be placed in the south transept, thus completely blocking up a very beautiful four-light window. The effect of the opposite transept, with the blank wall space left perfectly bare, is very unpleasing. [...] The organ in question, by Gray and Davison, occupies an elevated position, and has the somewhat unusual appendage (for a modern instrument) of a choir organ.[14]
1902. A new three-manual organ by Norman and Beard was installed,[15] in the north chancel and north transept.[16]
1952. The organ was reconstructed by Percy Daniel & Co, Clevedon, with the pipe-work placed inside the tower speaking into the church via an opening onto the west gallery.[17]
^'The Ladbroke estate: The 1850s. Land purchase and development by Blake and Dr. Walker, 1850–3'. Survey of London: Volume 37, Northern Kensington. 220-235. Originally published by London County Council, London, 1973. Online resource, accessed 29 October 2023.
^'The Ladbroke estate: Building boom and collapse in the early 1850's. Land purchase and development by Blake and Dr. Walker, 1850–3'. Survey of London: Volume 37, Northern Kensington. 220-235. Originally published by London County Council, London, 1973. Online resource, accessed 29 October 2023.
^Walters, Michael, ed. (1995). "Gilbertian Gossip". Gilbert and Sullivan Newsletter Archive. Department of Mathematics, Boise State University. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
