All Saints', Banstead

Banstead parish church was a delight to visit, though I’m quite glad I don’t have to look after it. It’s a complex, slow-growth medieval church whose compartmented space and fixed pews make it ill-suited to many modern forms of corporate worship – ‘modern’ meaning anything from a mid-twentieth century Parish Communion onwards. The parish history shows the pre-restoration building, jammed with box pews; the Victorian restorations were the initial stage in the development of an early Catholic tradition, with a daily mass being celebrated by the 1920s (according to the guidebooks it didn’t have the sacrament reserved until the 1970s, but they aren’t always right). There has been a mild reordering at some point, probably the 1980s, with new floor tiles and some of the pews being turned inward to face the centre – which is still a very awkward place to put an altar. The tabernacle is astonishing, and the church guidebook says nothing about where it came from or when it was installed. The painted crucifix over the chancel arch is the only remnant of a more extensive image, as old photos reveal.

I wanted to buy a copy of that guidebook, but had no change with me. Still, the booklet stand had a helpful QR code to facilitate payments to the church, so cheerfully I thought I would use that, congratulating myself for being so modern. At first I had to prove I wasn’t a robot, then I got sent a code to input, and finally the bank refused to believe it was me trying to make a payment (of £5!) and asked me to phone them. At that point I gave up and just took photographs from it. Sorry!