Tours | Categories (New, Hot) | Map
Alcohol - Ancient - Animal - Architecture - Art - Aviation - Boxing - Celebrity - Charity - Children - Church - Cinema - Comedy - Crime - Dance - Death - Disaster - Drugs - Fashion - Food - Gambling - Ghost - Grave - Health - Historical - Industry - Justice - LGBT - Literary - Look Up - Medical - Military - Motoring - Murder - Museum - Music - Nature - Naval - Paranormal - Pioneer - Poetry - Police - Politics - Pub - Public Amenities - Quirky - Religion - Retail - Ripper - River - Royalty - Science - Sculpture - Sex - Signs - Society - Sport - Subterranean - Technology - Theatre - Train - Transport - Tube - TV - Weather -
Contact Us
IN THE NEWS
TOUR OF THE MONTH
ON THIS DAY IN LONDON
21st June 1978 Andrew Lloyd Webber and Rice's musical Evita, premiers in London
21st June 1944 Born today: Ray Davies, London, singer/guitarist (Kinks-Come Dancing)
21st June 1937 The first TV broadcast of a tennis match from Wimbledon was of a first round match between Bunny Austin and George Rogers.
21st June 1930 Born today: Peter Marshall, police commissioner (London)
21st June 1921 Born today: Jean Kent, London England, actress (Adv of Sir Francis Drake)
The Church of the Good Shepherd
This is a church that was built for the Agapemonites...
Location: Upper Clapton, London
Description: A Church built for a Victorian free love cult!
The Church of the Good Shepherd (orignally called the Church of the Ark of the Covenant) was built in 1892 for a sect called the Agapemonites. This group had been founded in the 1840s by a man called Henry James Prince. During that decade he created a community for his followers in Spaxton, Somerset where they could practice their unconventional views on marriage, morality and the messiah.
The London church which cost 20,000 was opened in 1896 by Prince's sucessor John Smyth-Pigott. The building looks like a typical Victorian church except for the huge sculptures of the symbols of the Evangalists around the door and around the steeple. The interior has stunning stain glass by the Victorian illustrator, Walter Crane.
The sect's presence in North London, came to an end not many years after it was built when in 1902 Smyth-Pigott claimed he was the messiah and that he could walk on water. Venturing out to the ponds on Clapton common to show eveyone he could perform this miracle inevitally led to his failure at water walking and the police had to protect him from the angry mob that were not impressed that this self proclaimed messiah was a fake. So Smyth-Pigott fled the area and went back to the town of Spaxton.
The church is now owned by the Ancient Catholic Church. Occasionally it is possible to get a look inside however even the exterior is worth a visit!
Architecture
Ranking This Month: 163/2774
Pages Hit This Month: 83
Link to This Page: http://www.shadyoldlady.com/location/1881
Credits: http://www.churchofthegoodshepherd.co.uk/
|
This is a church that was built for the Agapemonites... |
The Shady Old Lady points out that you can drag this map using mouse. Or visit our full massive map.
Whitechapel Bell Foundry», 3.8km
London's smallest church», 7.4km
The Last Hanged Forger», 17.km
Choirboy Laurence Olivier», 6.5km
The Black Madonna of Willesden», 8.0km
St Botolph's Church Aldgate», 4.0km
Hawksmoor's St George's Church», 4.5km
The Union Chapel», 2.4km
Gypsy Smith Memorial», 3.7km
Oldest Church in London?», 4.2km
mapping London's most interesting and unusual places and history
