St John's Wood: Service held outside fire-hit church

The cause of a fire that destroyed a Grade II*-listed church might never be known, its vicar has said.

Eighty firefighters tackled the blaze at St Mark's church in St John's Wood in the City of Westminster on Thursday night.

The Reverend Kate Harrison told the BBC forensic fire investigators had said the cause might never be identified.

During a service outside the burnt-out shell of the building, she said the fire would not kill the community.

The blaze ripped through the two-storey building and the roof of the Victorian church caved in. No-one was injured.

The National Churches Trust has described St Mark's as an "architectural and historical treasure". The building, which is more than 170 years old, has links to author Lewis Carroll and Queen Victoria's son Prince Leopold and is near Abbey Road Studios and Lord's cricket ground.

People gathered on Sunday for a service outside the burnt-out church

St Mark's was built in 1846

Ms Harrison said: "The forensic services are going to be looking at trying to discover what caused the fire but we have been warned that we might never know.

"It's really sad, it's like a bereavement what's happened here and I would like answers, I would like to know what happened."

The Reverend Kate Harrison says the destruction of the church feels like a bereavement

She said the church and community would "build back and build back better".

She added: "I mean you can see the spire has survived and that is a real symbol of defiance.

"The community is so much more than the building, always."

Lynn Kyei-Pocwah says the service showed the community pulling together

Parishioner Lynn Kyei-Pocwah, who was at the service, said she was saddened as the church had served the community so well.

She said: "For us, pulling together it shows that we've got faith, we've got hope and our resilience will see us through, we will have a church back."

Local resident Rob Cope said the fire-stricken church reminded him of pictures of bombed-out churches during the Blitz, adding: "The community still exists and people will rebuild around it whatever happens now."

A history of St Mark's church

• Built in 1846 to replace a small temporary building which had been set up to cater for the expanding population of St John's Wood

• Survived being hit by an enemy bomb in 1941 during World War Two, with work to rebuild its spire being completed in 1955

• The interior features several memorials including one commemorating the tragedy of the Herald of Free Enterprise, a cross channel ferry which capsized off Zeebrugge in 1987

• The floor and walls are decorated with ornate mosaics including multicoloured and gold depictions of Bible passages

• Robinson Duckworth was appointed vicar of St Mark's in 1870 after spending four years as Prince Leopold's tutor. Prince Leopold also laid the church's foundation stone when it was built

• Duckworth was immortalised as the duck in the jury box in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and was in the boat when the writer first told his famous story

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