St Peter's - Keep your heads ringing

The St Peter's bells are back - and so is the clock tower open day. Dave writes:

After years of silence, St. Peter's hand-wound Victorian clock, built by Smiths of Clarkenwell, who also created the clock of the Houses of Parliament, chimes again!

Whilst the clock was silent there have been many requests by the local community to hear the bells - hoping to give Brockley a village-feel. Now they are sounding again there have been mixed reviews, but St. Peter's is committed to working with the community, celebrating and looking after its heritage. Residents will be comforted to know that the chimes will only sound between 9am and 9pm. If there are any queries then we would love to hear from people! Please email the Church office on office@stpetersbrockley.org.uk.

Or, why not come to St. Peter's Open day, Saturday 28th September, where you can climb the historic clock tower for yourself! You can have a guided tour through all the mechanisms and the different rooms that make up the clock tower by the engineer who has been working to repair it. Finally, you can climb to the very top of the Tower that overlooks London where you will find spectacular 360° views - great for photographers! There will also be lots going on including car washing, tours of the stain glass windows and refreshments.

Time: 10am - 5pm
Location: St. Peter's Church, Wickham Road
Website: www.stpetersbrockley.org.uk

Musings of Chancel

On the Brockley forum, JCambridge has raised an issue which we'd never heard about before and deserves wider attention:

We are currently buying a property in Brockley and have been informed by our Solicitor it is in an area that potentially be subject to Chancel Repair Liability. This is where a local church can force you to pay for repairs, however you have to pay full a full search to find out what church it relates to and whether you are indeed liable. 

Has anyone paid for a search and what was the findings? It usually relates to Medieval Churches and having researched I suspect it could relate to the Premonstratensian Abbey in Brockley that was once on the site of the current St Peters church. 

Greenspaces: St Paul's Churchyard

Sitting just off Deptford High Street, St Paul's church is an 18th century, Baroque masterpiece. The churchyard itself is a walled garden and a retreat from the throng of market day, with low Portland Stone walls that offer a good place to sunbathe.

The gardens look like an isometric video game, with pristine benches, gravestones, lampposts, flowerbeds and square hedges dotted around as if they've been generated at random - an island of twee in Deptford's sea of grit.

This has been added to the Greenspaces map - our guide to local parks and open spaces.

Brockley Welsh church for sale

Another local oddity looks like it will bite the dust. The Presbyterian Church of Wales on Lewisham Way is up for sale for £1.5 million.

The advert notes that:

A pre-application submission has been lodged for a change of use to Residential based upon a scheme comprising five no. 4-storey, 4-bedroom houses arranged in a terrace. Each house is allocated 2 parking spaces and has a rear garden of approximately 8m in length. The total estimated Gross Internal Area of the scheme is 9,600 sq feet.

With thanks to Pam.