The demolition and rebuilding of the Sacred Heart church in Mill Hill - A guest blog by Chris The MillHillian

During the early 1990’s Fr Aiden McGing CM became the Parish Priest of the Sacred Heart Church. He had spent most of his priestly life in teaching and this was his first appointment as Parish Priest, this was unusual for a man of his age but he actively settled into the job with much enthusiasm having served as a curate there prior to his appointment. His predecessor, Fr Joe Cunningham asked me in my capacity as Diocesan Building Surveyor to set out a schedule of works with costs to bring the building up to scratch. 

The survey revealed so much that had to be done but the old longstanding problem of subsidence and structural defects presented the main problem that had never been successfully tackled. Engineers were engaged to carry out a full review with Mr Tom Bedford from the parish discussing his various attempts to stabilise the structure in bygone years. 

Having filed the report to Fr Cunningham, it was left to his successor Fr McGing to follow up on this. We had a chance meeting at the back of the church one morning and I was asked about the report. Having explained that a total overhaul would be like taking the wheels off an old car to bolt a new car to it, he asked what I would recommend. I immediately suggested that he formed a building committee to fully interrogate the option to repair or rebuild with full cost analysis for both. 

He quickly followed up on this and decided to let his parishioners decide on whether to replace the Church with explanations of what had prompted this enquiry. He was very surprised to find that the voting was 95 percent in favour of a rebuild. This encouraged him to arrange an architectural competition to choose the most acceptable design out of six requested from different architects. The successful practice was the PRC partnership. The tenders were within budget and the works soon got underway after completion of the planning process and procurement. 

Check out these historic pictures of the demolition and rebuilding

The buildings were completed together with the option to rebuild the church hall in 1996. It weighed heavily on me having a hand in witnessing the church I loved being demolished as it was rightly an impressive landmark on the Broadway. Nearly all my many siblings and relatives were baptised there and received the sacraments. My brother was ordained a Priest there in 1974 and many of the relatives had their funerals there including our beloved Nana (my Grandma) who was the Sacristan. 

The old church was of interest from an architeectural standpoint. The front elevation designed by the Priest Architect Fr Benedict Williamson in 1922 was inspired in its architectural detailing from Egyptian architecture which became fashionable in the 1920’s following the discovery of Tutankhamuns tomb in the valley of the King’s in Egypt. The building was just seventy years old when this redevelopment came about and it needs to be known that the people who voted for a new building did so more our necessity but many favoured the architectural feature of the front facade and reluctantly had to see it go. 

 Investigations revealed that the foundations of the building were eight feet deep which was deep for that time but sadly not deep enough as the London Clay below was forever wet and sticky due to underground streams in the locality. The church was built over an old pond. That coupled with some weaknesses in the structural design with lack of movement joints would require much to correct and none of it visible on completion. 

The roof was also heavily infested by dry rot and the windows were rusting away. The new church and presbytery buildings are all built on deep concrete piled foundations without a crack in sight, so expectations are that these replacement buildings will survive much longer than three score years and ten of the old Church. If anyone is interested in seeing similar examples of the old church in London there are two in Fulham of similar period by the same architect as well as the significant church of St Ignatius in Stamford Hill designed for the Jesuits. When walking in to the church in Stephendale Road Fulham it felt like being back in the familiar surroundings of the Church of Sacred Heart and Mary Immaculate. 

 Chris Fanning the Mill Hiller

Editors Note: You can see old Sacred Heart in all it's former glory in The False Dots video "Sunday in the 70's"

-----------------------------------------------

Guest blogs are always welcome at the Barneteye

The history of Fanning Builders in Mill Hill. A guest blog by Chris The Millhillian

Fanning Builders were founded by brothers George and Jimmy Fanning in Mill Hill after being demobbed  from the army after World War two. They found plenty of building work in Mill Hill, undertaking many bomb damage repair jobs and other projects. Their first yard was located in the old Bunns Farm buildings (now known as Bunns Lane Works) situated at the junction of Flower Lane and Bunns Lane next to the old railway sidings and coal depot with the entrance opposite Mill Hill Park. The firm eventually moved out of there in the early fifties and their buildings were taken over by Laurie Tichborne who co founded Macmetals, a car crash and metal work repair shop. There were other business owners in that yard including Lynn Products making kitchens for local councils, Smiths Coffee roasters (now based in Hemel Hempstead), Higginsons Joinery, Daleys fire places and Blake engineering. It was an industrious workplace with a strong smell of freshly ground coffee and cellulose paint wafting across the park land.

The move was to occupy larger premises on the sloping railway sidings of Mill Hill Station fronting Bunns Lane. Most of the buildings were old wooden site huts and the office building was constructed at street level to designs submitted to Hendon Council by George. They operated there until the yard was taken over by the council for use as a car park and the old Station Masters House, Garden, sidings and station yard and buildings were all demolished and built over in 1973. There were no toilet facilities at the yard so staff would use the toilets at the station which were also basic. The joiners shed was heated with off cuts of wood in an old iron burner and the hot water was fed to iron radiators rescued from jobs.

 The yard man Joe, who was the uncle of George and Jimmy,  a Lancastrian. Joe would chop up all the old scrap wood and sell it at the gate for firewood for about 6 pence a bag. This paid for his beer at the service men’s club in Hartley Avenue.

At Christmas the men knocked off early and went to the yard for a Christmas booze up and ham sandwiches from a barrel supplied by the Brothers. There was a Christmas club, so each week the staff contributed to a fund and the firm matched the funding which was put into Premium bonds and shared out at Christmas including any prize money. Joe would create a crib in the shop window with a light which was always fascinating for the children to look at. Each summer was a firms coach outing to Southend which was a boozy and jovial affair.

 

There was quite an industrial set up in Mill Hill situated all along the railway sidings where several businesses thrived. There were builders merchants such as C. J. Hunts just by the bridge, the roof tiling suppliers were along the railway siding’s behind Millway, several garage repair places, joinery shops and next to Fanning's yard was Ace shop fitters. There was the Rawlplug factory in Hale Lane, Middlesex Reboring engine restoration at the bottom of Lawrence Street, an iron fabrication place called Rocar welding in Bunns Lane and an asphalt roofing company in Daws Lane. Builders really had it all on their doorstep except for specialist stuff such as cast iron but that was brought at the Thames Bank iron Company in St John’s Wood.

 

Tea breaks were often taken in local cafes as parking outside was always possible, there were a few choices such as, the cafe across the road, the Ivy in Daws Lane, San Remo in Staton Road and my favourite, the old Forge at the bottom of Lawrence Street. This was run by Phil Matthews who lived there as a boy with his brother Geoff, sons of the last Blacksmith. Builders vans all parked up on the green to pile in for a cup of tea poured from a large metal pot. Geoff was was carpentry foreman, very skilled and bit of a character who told many a yarn particularly about Mill Hill. He would hold court filling us with his mixture of angst and witty humour, the original stand up comedian.

Fanning Building Supplies closes in 1972

When the yard was shut down the company moved over to a more concealed yard in Daws Lane but it seemed like the builders had gone forever. The brothers split the premises in the mid sixties leaving Jim Fanning to run the building Company and George Fanning to run Mill Hill Building Supplies. They were offered alternative premises in Graham Park but George sold out to Lawfords and Jim wanted to remain closer to Mill Hill centre.

 In those days parking was always possible outside any property we worked on and that was just about every road in Mill Hill. Lorry loads of sand were simply poured at roadside as well as several thousand bricks and rubbish was piled along the pavement verge to be collected and loaded to a tipper lorry as seen in the attached photo and then dropped up at the landfill site at Hendon Wood Lane and later in Radlett. Fanning Builders Ltd closed in 1987 and Jim retired and moved away as he was battling with cancer. He had six sons who all spent time working on the firm during the summer holidays. I became his apprentice bricklayer and my first job was working on the fabric at the UK optical building- now demolished. There are still some examples of my brickwork in different places.

 
It was great being a builder in Mill Hill getting to know so many people and all over town. Very fond memories for us all.

---------------------------------------------------------------

Chris the Mill Hillian worked at Fanning Builders and was a resident for many years.
Guest blogs are always welcome at The Barnet Eye.

Memories of the M1 coming to Mill Hill - A Guest blog by Chris The Millhillian

Bunns Lane station car park site 1968

I was informed that you had recently posted pictures of Mill Hill and made reference to the days when the motorway came to town, I remember it well. It certainly changed our small town for ever and that peace that went with it at the time when the six lanes suddenly started appearing aloft on huge concrete pillars and beams constructed at the end of the Broadway. This certainly marked a noticeable change in the character of the town.

The old Midland Railway Cottages. Hunt’s boilers Merchants, the florist shop and several small shops in station Road were demolished very quickly as well as the railway bridge to make way for a huge hole which was dug in the ground. The best thing about it was that there was no more flooding under the old circular arch Victorian railway bridge and double decker buses could then travel on to Edgware, rather than turning around at Mill Hill.

I played on the motorway site with the other local boys who lived up a few doors from you in Millway. We accessed the site from the end of their garden and watched as the old allotments disappeared. I remember when the lanes were just laid with a gravel surface waiting for the concrete road surface to be poured. There was a huge pile of sand by Lilley Lane Foot Bridge and I was told that some kids jumped off the bridge onto it and sustained injury for their efforts.

My brother and I used to look at the futuristic picture placed under the emerging motorway bridge showing the modernistic bus station and supermarket soon coming to town in what is now the M&S supermarket car park. Your Dad’s MacMetals yard was also affected by the new motorway as it ran alongside and the old coal depot was used to house motorway construction workers in big grey sheds.

My brother took quite a few cine pictures of Bunns Lane and the Broadway and filmed a journey he made with in a truck travelling along the new motor ay,  passing behind your house whilst riding on the gravel surface,  proceeding to tip hard core for free as all local builders were invited to do that.

I attach a picture taken around 1968 of Fanning builders yard with its Thames Trader lorry parked outside. I hope that the Hendon Times will  at some point upload the picture of your family in January 1963 building an igloo in the back garden.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Guest blogs are always welcome at The Barnet Eye. Chris the Millhillian was born and raised in Mill Hill.