Time Walk
A Side Street With an Unfinished Masterpiece
A quiet residential street hides one of South London's great unfinished churches. Walking along Trent Road today, the dominant presence is Corpus Christi Church, a large Gothic building whose truncated west end still shows it was never completed as planned.
Beneath the brick and stone stands an older layer: a Georgian house called Bethel House, built in 1768, long before the church that now defines the street. That buried history is the starting point for the street's name.
Name Origin
A Name the Records Don't Explain
The sources used here say nothing about why the street is called Trent Road. No lease, map or building record among them gives a naming explanation, so the origin of the name itself remains unexplained in this evidence base.
History
From Mission House to Bentley's Church
The story begins away from Trent Road itself. In 1880 a Catholic mission was established in Brixton under the care of Rev. Hendrik van Doorne, a Flemish priest. The following year a large house on Brixton Hill, No. 4 Gwydyr Houses, was bought for £2,610 and renamed Corpus Christi House, with one room fitted out as a small temporary chapel.
A permanent church needed a permanent site. In 1885 the architect John Francis Bentley suggested buying Bethel House, with its large gardens, for the purpose. The house, built in 1768, had formerly been occupied by Thomas Bailey, founder of the Trinity Homes on Acre Lane. It was bought for £3,550 and became the site of Corpus Christi Church.
Bishop Butt laid the foundation stone on 14 July 1886. The first part of the building, its chancel, two eastern chapels and sacristies, was completed by the contractors Laurenson and Sons and opened by Bishop Butt on 12 June 1887. The church was never finished to Bentley's full design; the Survey of London describes it as "an unfinished church" of "sensitive and highly complex" Gothic design. The transepts followed only in 1904, after Bentley's death, when his original drawings were modified and the rose windows reduced in size. A primary school attached to the parish opened on Trent Road in 1902.
Corpus Christi Church on Trent Road has stood unfinished since the 1880s: J. F. Bentley's design was never completed, and the transepts that were eventually added in 1904 came only after his death, built to modified drawings with smaller rose windows than he intended.
"an unfinished church" ... "sensitive and highly complex" Gothic designSurvey of London, Vol 26, General introduction
Culture
Glass That Survived the War
People
A Priest, an Architect, a Bishop
Rev. Hendrik van Doorne, a Flemish priest, had charge of the Catholic mission in Brixton from 1880, the mission that eventually took root on Trent Road. John Francis Bentley picked out the site and designed the building and its glass, though he did not live to see the transepts built in 1904. Bishop Butt laid the foundation stone and opened the first completed part of the church eleven months later. Before any of this, Bethel House had belonged to Thomas Bailey, founder of the Trinity Homes on Acre Lane.
On the Map
Trent Road Then & Now
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is it called Trent Road?
The sources used here do not explain the origin of the name. No record among them gives a naming explanation for Trent Road.
What is Trent Road known for?
Trent Road is best known for Corpus Christi Church, an unfinished Gothic church designed by J. F. Bentley, first used in 1887 on the site of a 1768 house called Bethel House.
When was Corpus Christi Church on Trent Road built?
Its foundation stone was laid by Bishop Butt on 14 July 1886, and its first part opened on 12 June 1887. The transepts followed in 1904, after the architect's death.