St James Church Alperton

The church was built to replace temporary previous arrangements, which had included a missionary's tent, and at one point, a church made out of corrugated iron from 1896. A chapel belonging to the Baptists had been in place since 1828, but Alperton was not made an Anglican parish in its own right until 1904, and had previously been served by St John the Evangelist Church, Wembley. However, the process was not entirely smooth, and there was an ongoing boundary dispute between the two parishes which continued from 1911 to 1954.

By the early 20th century, a movement of population from the Wealdstone area had made the construction of a more lasting structure a necessity, which was designed by the architect William Pite, brother of Arthur Beresford Pite in the Gothic Revival style. The church was described as being constructed from yellow stock brick, with a dressing of stone and red brick. The church featured the customary main body of the nave and chancel, a transept on the south end of the building, and, in addition, a baptistery in the north west, a chapel in the north east, and a porch – the narthex. St James Church also had its own bell tower which was described as a ‘turret’. There was also an associated…