Disaster haa overtaken one of our churches in the Home Counties, and grief for it will not be confined to the locality which the building served. St. Lawrence's, Feltham, a partially completed church opened in 1932, has been practically gutted by fire. The interior presents a woeful picture of ruin. charred woodwork and twisted ironwork marking the path of the flames. A rough estimate puts the damage at about ten thousand pounds.
In the early hours on Monday last the housekeeper at the presbytery, Miss MacNamara, saw a glow from her window and discovered the church on fire. She aroused the rector, Fr. Richard Bridgman, who summoned the Feltham fire brigade by telephone; firemen came also from other stations: from Ashford, Hounslow and Staines. The flames had secured such a hold, however, when the firemen arrived on the scene, that the interior could not be saved.
Owing to the heat, it was impossible to enter the church on the discovery of the fire, which seems to have started near the entrance. At present the cause of the outbreak is a mystery. The heating apparatus was not yet in use, so there is no question of the disaster originating from that source.
Sculpture Intact The Feltham church is one of the many churches designed by Mr. Thomas H. B. Scott. Its decorative work includes sculpture by Mr. Philip Lindsey Clark, D.S.O., which fortunately has suffered but little. The reliefs of the Stations of the Cross, also, are intact.