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When Rev Henry Stephens (the first vicar of
Christ Church) came to Finchley in 1864 the plot of land on which
the church now stands was grazing land and Finchley was a rural area
notorious as the haunt of highwaymen. However it was a time of great
change for the area following the incorporation of Ballards Lane
into a turnpike route in 1825 and the arrival of railways in the
area from 1867.
Henry was responsible
for the construction of the first church building which was a
temporary corrugated iron building located on a site immediately to
the south of the current building, although he did not confine his
preaching to this building as he would frequently go visiting and
preaching in the open air, including in front of the Post Office in
East Finchley. However, Henry soon turned his attention to fund
raising for the construction of a permanent building and on 26 July
1867 the foundation stone of the present building was laid.
The first part of the
church to be completed was the nave which was consecrated on 9 April
1869. The nave incorporates the beautiful rose window (see right).
Henry Stephens was inaugurated as the first Vicar of Christ Church
in 1872.
The rest of the building
was completed in stages as funds permitted. The first addition was
the north aisle which was completed in 1874, followed by the south
aisle in 1880. Work on the chancel and vestries began in 1891,
including installation of an organ which had been built in 1881.
Plans were laid for full transepts and a substantial tower with
spire, but these were never built.
The east window in the
chancel (see below) features a star shaped window with a
representation of Jesus with his arms raised in blessing. The lower
vertical stained glass panes show various apostles and saints.
As early as 1885 there
are reports that the church was cold in winter and substantial
effort was used up in trying to remedy this, including the building
of a porch on the west end to try to cut down the draughts that
regularly swept through the building in winter.
As
with any building of its size, providing adequate heating has been
an ongoing problem for successive generations of vicars,
parishioners and church wardens and this was one of several reasons
that resulted in a church development programme being initiated in
1999. The first area to be worked on was the roof, which
was replaced, followed by the heating system, which was partially renewed.
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