St Michael & All Angels Church
Though Sunday services had been held in the school since 1878 there were many people in Woolmer Green who thought it was high time that the village had its own church. This was a wish particularly dear to the heart of the Revd Edwin Hoskyns, who was a curate at Welwyn when part of the school was consecrated as a church.
The problem of finding a suitable site for the new church, which was to be dedicated to St Michael and All Angels, was soon solved when Lord Lytton presented the Church authorities with the plot of land at the junction of London Road and Mardleybury Road, which was to prove an ideal site with easy access for the majority of the villagers. The church was designed by Robert Weir Schultz (1860–1951), a modest example of late Arts and Crafts. The estimated cost was £2500 and the contract was given to Mr E Lawrence of Datchworth. The foundation stone was laid in September 1899 by Lady Lytton who used a silver trowel for the task.
It was originally felt that the church should have a tower but it proved impossible to raise the necessary funds. By October 1899 only £1500 had been promised so the decision was taken that only the walls and the roof of the church should be built, and the internal fittings left to be proceeded with as the money came in. It was suggested in the Parish Magazine that the children of the parish should contribute towards the cost of the font: ‘Each can give very little, but the pennies and halfpennies of 350 children will quickly mount up, and all alike will feel they have a share in the new building.’
The church was to be named St Michael and All Angels in the hope that it would be consecrated at Michaelmas, 29 September 1900. However, it was not until 3 November 1900 that the consecration of the church and burial ground took place. The people of the village no longer needed to ‘marry and bury’ at Datchworth or Welwyn.
The church screen is a significant example of late Arts-and-Crafts design and carving. It is said that the school bell was bought for the church in 1931 at a cost of £10.
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