Church of St Mary Magdalene, North Ockendon

Coordinates: 51°32′31″N 0°17′17″E / 51.542°N 0.288°E / 51.542; 0.288

St Mary Magdalene
Denomination	Church of England (Anglican)
Administration
Deanery	Havering
Archdeaconry	West Ham
Diocese	Chelmsford
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s)	The Rev. George Baisley

The church of St Mary Magdalene is a Church of England religious building in North Ockendon, England (and within the Upminster post town). It is a Grade I listed building.^[1]

Liturgy

North Ockendon Church is notable for its regular use of the Book of Common Prayer (1662). Choral Mattins and Choral Evensong are the most regular services, which is virtually unknown in the locality and a rarity amongst Anglican parish Churches.

Music

St. Mary Magdalene's has a well established choral tradition, which involves the weekly use of Anglican chant for psalms and canticles. The organ is a 2 manual instrument in the care of Martin M Cross builders (Grays) and which is unusual in that it's pitch is rather sharp (A=460). The church has had many notable organists, and at times the music department has had several organists sharing the post. The current incumbents are Robert Petheram, Len Williams and Ryan Cannell. The Choir has a regular repertoire of many now largely forgotten Victorian pieces, unique in their strongly chromatic and somewhat dramatised style. The musical tradition of the Church has long been dedicated to the revival of such music.

Bells

The tower has a peal of 6 bells hung for change ringing. They are a descending scale in G major. The band of ringers has since 2006 been the winning team in the annual bell ringing competition which involves other local parishes such as Hornchurch and Upminster.

References

1. ^ "Church of St. Mary Magdalene, Upminster". Havering London Borough Council. http://www.havering.gov.uk/index.aspx?articleid=9477.