Title:
UPTON CROSS, St. Peter
Level: Category
Parish Records
Level: Fonds
UPTON CROSS, St. Peter
Scope and Content:
The church of St. Peter, Upton Cross originated as a mission to the church of St. Mary, Plaistow in Pelly Road serving the Upton Manor and Plaistow Park district in the area between the railway, Manor Road, Brooks Road and Browns Road. Services were first held in a barn, then in an iron church licensed in 1877. In 1885 Upton House in Upton Lane was purchased and the first church was built in 1893 in the grounds with the house serving as a vicarage. In 1894 the parish of St. Peter, Upton Cross was created from the parishes of All Saints, West Ham, St. Mary, Plaistow, Emmanuel, Forest Gate and St. Stephen, Upton Park. A mission church, St. George's, in Gwendoline Avenue on the corner of Plashet Road was opened in December 1905 on land given by Sir Harold Pelly for a proposed church of the Venerable Bede. This continued in use, mainly as an additional church hall, in an increasing state of disrepair, until demolished in 1940.
In 1962 the parish was united with Emmanuel, Forest Gate and the church of St. Peter became a chapel-of-ease. The former vicarage was demolished and the site (now Lister Court) sold in 1968. With the proceeds of this sale and the sale of the Parish Hall in Neville Road to the Ramgarhia Sikh Gurdwara in 1971 it was intended to build a new church, hall and priest's house on the Gwendoline Avenue site on the corner of Plashet Road. In 1972 the church of St. Peter was declared redundant, demolished and the land sold. Rising costs forced the abandonment of this scheme in 1975 and in 1980 the land in Gwendoline Avenue was sold.
For a history of St. Peter and of Emmanuel, Upton Cross see Andrew Wilson's That Big Church On The Corner. A History of Emmanuel Church Forest Gate (1995) D/P 592/28/52 and also available in the E.R.O. Library (Pamphlet Box H1C). For records of the joint parish of Emmanuel, Forest Gate with St. Peter, Upton Cross see D/P 592.