St Martin's Church, Muirfield Road
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Then
Built on Muirfield Road in the early 1950s, St Martin's was home for many years to Brownies, Cubs, Guides, Scouts, the Boys' Brigade and youth clubs. It stood on the corner of Chilwell Gardens and was registered for weddings in December 1955. The Watford Observer photographed its annual fete in July 1963, and that December the appeal to save Oxhey Chapel listed the minister of St Martin's Presbyterian church among its signatories. The Watford Observer also photographed the crowning of South Oxhey's Rose Queen in 1964, and a resident recalls that this yearly event was run by the leader of St Martin's Brownie pack and held at the church. The Rev. Dick Schad was minister while his son, the novelist John Schad, lived on the estate from 1965 to 1981. An extra wing was added to the original building before it came down.5,158,165,176,184,185,506,586,631,707
Now
The first church was replaced in 1989 by a new St Martin's on part of the site, with the houses of St Martins Close around it. In 1996 its minister, the Rev. Mark Ambrose, told the Watford Observer that falling collections, which he partly blamed on the National Lottery, could leave the estate without a permanent minister. The newer building is now hardly used as a church and serves mainly the Community Learning Partnership. The congregation, now United Reformed, shares St John's church in Northwood.
Mentioned in
- Oxhey Chapel: The 1963 appeal Before the Estate
- Life on the Estate: Churches Life on the Estate
- Churches: St Martin's, Muirfield Road Life on the Estate
- Clubs, sport and events: Boys' Brigade, Scouts and Guides Life on the Estate
Position from OpenStreetMap. See Sources and method.