Unsearchable riches in Thorburn Square

When the first vicar of St Anne's arrived in Bermondsey he had no church building and no congregation, so he started preaching in the open air.

He began with a congregation of 6 but this grew to 200 by the time a temporary iron church was erected.

The first ever recorded baptism in the new temporary structure occurred on 4th April 1866.

In time the congregation grew and funds were raised to construct the building we know today.

It cost £3,500 and opened in 1870.

As for that first vicar, Joseph Wilkinson, he is remembered to this day with a memorial tablet in the chancel (above).

It was placed there 'in grateful remembrance of his labours by the congregation and Sunday School members.' It says that 'during twenty years he faithfully preached the unsearachable riches of Christ' and that is a wonderful epitaph for any clergyman.

St Anne's Church in Thorburn Square