Our History
Tracing Our Church’s Journey
The First Mission Hall
1863-1913
When the Latymer Road Mission began in 1863 the area was very different to that of today. In the early 19th century, a group of pig-keepers had settled there, and they were later joined by Irish brick makers who specialized in the manufacture of tiles and drainpipes. Later the area around Latimer Road became known as “Soapsuds Island” as women became involved in laundry work. The construction of the Hammersmith and City Railway line between 1850 and 1860 led to three hundred labourers settling in the area. Latimer Road had been built by then and the surrounding streets were taking shape. Latimer Road was named after Edward Latymer, who on his death in 1621 left in his will lands for the benefit of the “poore of the towne of Hammersmith and for the education of eight poore boys.” At this time Latimer Road was part of Hammersmith rather than Kensington & Chelsea.
The roads in the area were appalling and on the morning of January 23rd, 1860, the body of a poor woman named Frances Dowling was found lying in the middle of Latimer Road. ‘In returning to her home about 11 o’clock at night she had missed the crossing-place, stumbled into one of the miry pits.’ Cries for help had been heard, but drunken brawls were so frequent that no one troubled to get out of bed to investigate the cause. This incident under the title of “Death in a London bog” was used as an appeal for a Mission Hall.
In 1861 Mr S R Brown was allocated by the London City Mission “to visit the new poor houses north of the Potteries.” At that time no church, chapel or school existed in the district so in 1862 open-air services and house-to-house visitation were organised by Mr Brown, and Mary Bayly organised a Mothers’ Meeting in the laundry drying room in Latimer Road.
It soon became clear that a permanent facility was essential if the work was to be established and a piece of rough swampland was leased from Mr Whitchurch and the Latymer Road Mission was then built to serve as a Ragged School and Sunday School, a meeting place for the mothers and a hall where religious services and social gatherings could take place. The Latymer Road Mission was opened on 23rd February 1863. Dr Gladstone of Pembridge Square was Chairman of the governing committee. (His daughter, Margaret Gladstone was a Sunday School teacher at the Mission. She later married Ramsay Macdonald, the first Labour Prime Minister).
The Mission Hall, with one small classroom attached, stood amid a ‘primeval swamp, blossoming in broken bottles, pots, and pans’, the only means of approaching being a narrow track bordered by white posts, a necessary precaution on winter evenings. Two pathways were made by the mission helpers. One started at Lancaster Tavern, at the junction of Lancaster and Walmer Roads, and the other from Mr Brown’s house in Silchester Road at the corner of Lockton Street. It is believed that the strange bend at the northern end of Blechynden Street was due to the course of these pathways.
In 1866 the school had to be enlarged by the addition of classrooms for temperance (alcohol abstention) work, for a night school and other forms of social service. With the introduction of compulsory education in 1870 the need for Ragged Schools ceased, but the School Board continued to hire rooms at the Mission until the new school was built in Latimer Road in 1880. During this period the other activities continued in the evenings and on Sundays. With the departure of the school ‘The Boys Evening Institute’ was started.
In 1880 the Latymer Infant Day Nursery (crèche) began as one of, if not the first, nurseries in London. It provided a much-needed service for the laundry workers who often had to put their babies out to be “minded in unsatisfactory conditions”. The crèche was open from 7.30am to 9pm.
Charles Smallman
1883 – 1931
In 1883 the building was further expanded, and Charles Smallman became the first Superintendent, a role he fulfilled for over fifty years. Activities and facilities developed to include a gymnasium, a ‘Farthing Bank’, practical classes and what was called the Cocoa Concert, an entertainment on Saturday evenings for which the audience was charged one penny which paid for the cake and cocoa.
Later initiatives and activities included a night school for girls, a girls’ club, two small convalescent homes for children, a Thrift Society, Women’s Sickness Benefit Club, a Wood-Chopping Yard, and a Soup Kitchen in winter which provided meals for schoolchildren and others. There were also free suppers, Christmas treats, summer outings and jumble sales.
At the turn of the century several organisations such as the Cripples’ Parlour, Boot-mending class, Girls’ Guild, Boys’ Club, and Christian Endeavour Society were added.
In 1904, the Mission building was handed over to the Shaftesbury Society (now Livability) and the Mission itself became a branch of the Shaftesbury Society. The Society provided financial grants, assistance and guidance to the Mission and continued to do so until recently. We echo our predecessors in saying “how much the Mission owes … [to the Shaftesbury Society/Livability] can never be fully told.”
The Second Mission Hall
1913-1967
In 1913 a new mission hall was built because the original one had been condemned as unsafe and the work of the Mission continued to thrive. In the early 1930’s the 146th London Company of the Boys’ Brigade was founded and flourished at Latymer for the next 50 years until it moved to St Helen’s Church in the late 1980’s.
During the war years, the chapel in the Mission was strengthened and used as a nursery during the day, for activities run by the Mission in the evening and as an air-raid shelter for local residents during the night. Management of the nursery passed to the local borough and later to the London County Council.
At the time of the Mission’s centenary in 1963, groups running at the Mission included the ‘Old Age Pensioners’ Club’ and Sunday School both of which had over 100 members. There were also the Women’s Meeting, Boys Brigade and Girls’ Clubs, as well as a club for those with physical disabilities. The campaign against the ‘evil of intemperance’ was also continuing through the work of the British Women’s Total Abstinence Union.
The Latymer Mission
1967 – 2023
The 1960’s was a time of huge change in North Kensington with the building of the Westway (the elevated section of the A40) and the Western Spur linking it to Shepherd’s Bush. In 1963, the future of the Mission was very uncertain since its building lay right in the path of the Western Spur. However, under the leadership of the then Superintendent, Frederick Liddle, the current premises in Bramley Road were built and opened in 1967. The new building was in the Borough of Kensington and the work renamed ‘The Latymer Mission’.
Following the move to the new premises the Boys’ Brigade continued to thrive and was the focus of the work at the Mission for the next 20 years. In the mid-1980’s, under the leadership of Geoff Shattock the Mission was renamed the ‘Latymer Christian Centre’ and once again the work evolved by responding to the needs of the local community.
In 1987, a training project was established to help local people into work. Initially funded by the government and supported by the Industrial Society, it went on to become Latymer Training, a very successful training organisation. Led for most of the time by Elisabeth Tootill and her team of staff and volunteers, Latymer Training received recognition for the high quality of the training offered, and it served the community well until it closed in 2001.
In 1990, the Latymer Christian Centre started to provide office and meeting space for diaspora churches. Spanish, Portuguese, Lingala, French and Italian speaking churches have all been amongst those welcomed to the Centre over the last thirty years.
In 1995, the Latymer Christian Fellowship Trust was established as a separate charity from the Shaftesbury Society to oversee the life of the church (Latymer Christian Fellowship) and activities at the Latymer Christian Centre. The last two decades have seen increasing engagement with our immediate neighbours.
In 2015, the church and building were renamed Latymer Community Church to better reflect the vision (to follow Jesus, love all people and make disciples in Ladbroke Grove) and values (biblical, prayerful, evangelistic, experimental and generous) of the church. A wide range of activities have been run and partnerships have been developed, for example with the Eden Network and London City Mission, to maximise the benefits for our local community, particularly those living on the Lancaster West and Silchester Estates. Some activities such as day trips, Daniel’s Den Toddler Group, and jazz nights, as well as the support provided to vulnerably housed and homeless people through our partner, the 240 Project, echo those taking place over 100 years ago! Latymer Community Church provided a refuge and assistance both during and after the Grenfell Tower fire and continued to support the community through online and small group outdoor gatherings during the Covid 19 pandemic.
Our Current Building
2023 to the present
Whilst the current building is coming to the end of its life and closed at the end of August 2023, the church is the people and so Latymer Community Church, by God’s grace, continues to thrive in its temporary home at Notting Hill Methodist Church, until it returns to its new building on the current site in due course.
