About Us

Our original parish church of St James’ Hatcham was consecrated in 1854 and it is a testament to the faith and foresight of the Christians who have gone before us that we are still serving God and the people of New Cross and Deptford today. The church sits at the centre of the Goldsmith’s University of London campus in New Cross.

The people of St James’ have always adapted to the changing needs of our church and community. In 1982, we moved from the original Victorian building to a smaller, more practical church hall. In 2008, a candle on an Advent wreath caused soot damage, narrowly avoiding a major fire. By 2010, we redeveloped the site into the bright, flexible worship space we have today. During the two-year construction, we were hosted by St James’ School, with worship items transported weekly in the ‘holy wheelbarrow.’ Since its rededication in 2012, the church has provided a beautiful, prayerful, and functional home for our congregation.

Our sister church, St Michael’s, was the result of a vision to create an ecumenical centre in the heart of the Milton Court Estate, Deptford. As well as the worship space, it was built as a community centre, Consecrated in May 1971, it is an ecumenical union of two churches, between St James’ and St Andrew’s Church. St Michael’s has a small and faithful, congregation. As the needs of the local community change and resources dwindle, much prayer is being devoted to how best to uphold the vision of service St Michael’s represents.

In the 1870s St James’ Church, Hatcham, was the scene of bitter religious controversy, at the centre of which was the Reverend Arthur Tooth (1839-1931) appointed vicar in 1868. Tooth was on the Anglo-Catholic wing of the Church of England, and among other innovations at St James’ he founded a Community of Sisters, an orphanage (which served as the choir school of the church) and a Lady Chapel. With others at St James’ he founded the Guild of All Souls, a body which exists to this day.

In 1874, Archbishop Archibald Tait of Canterbury--a prominent low churchman--introduced a bill in the House of Lords “to put down ritualism.” With the support of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli and Queen Victoria the bill passed and was signed into law. The Public Worship Regulation Act made disobedience of a bishop a criminal offense. A new court was established with former divorce lawyer Lord Penzance as presiding judge. Charges against offending clergy could be filed by a bishop “or by a third party”; the evangelically oriented Church Association eagerly stepped forward to fill that role.

Our own Father Tooth fell foul of the Public Worship Regulation Act and became the first clergyman to be imprisoned for his infringements. In 1876 he was formally notified of intended prosecution under the Act, with the charge including 'the Use of Eucharistic Vestments, Lighted Candles, Incense, Mixed Chalice, Eastward Position, Genuflection, Elevation of the Host, the sign of the Cross at the Absolution and Blessing, the singing of the Agnus Dei'.

The threat of the law was backed up by Protestant mobs who rioted regularly at the Church on Sundays between Christmas 1876 and January 21 1877, smashing windows and storming the doors. Tooth ignored a Court order to stop his Catholic practices and the day after the final riot, he was arrested in Borough High Street, and jailed for several weeks in Horsemonger Lane Gaol for contempt of Court. After being released in ill-health, Tooth returned to New Cross and in defiance of the ban climbed in through a window to celebrate Mass one last time.