At 4am on Monday 7 December 1992, flames were seen coming from the roof of the Church by a passing cyclist. The fire brigade were called, but the fire was out of control and within two hours the Church was ruined. From those ruins on the first morning was taken the church bell, the one that had come from the iron church which started the Parish of Dulwich. Within a few days the fire brigade had dug through and released the door of the safe so that the church plate could be taken out, and twenty items were rescued.

The cause of the fire was determined as arson, by person or persons unknown. As Ted Salmon, Churchwarden at the time of the fire, said:
"Losing a church building is like losing a home. And a fire which destroys a church is all the more traumatic when it happens in the dead of night, and you wake up to find your church-home a smoking ruin. The questions who, why and how remained unanswered, and added to our grief at the loss of a place of worship for ninety-nine years - we were preparing to celebrate our centenary.

And so we mourned, as a congregation and as individuals, reassured by prayers and letters of support from local churches and from many who had worshipped with us in the past and shared our sense of loss. But that loss was also a forceful reminder that the Church is a body of people who have to get on with life and worship. We were the church - and how fortunate we were to have the Parish Hall to move into. After nearly four years that too became home, with some preferring its informality to the church, others feeling uncomfortable and moving elsewhere. But, remarkably, the church family has stuck together." 

There was little that could be salvaged from the old church. The tower was left standing, but was found to be unsafe and had to be demolished. However, the 'Monday Men' led by Bob Hughes rescued the original font from behind the old Church and later installed it in the new. They also made the Great Cross of the new Church from the pitch pine timbers of the old roof. The larger roof members, though heavily charred, remained serviceable in the middle. Bob Hughes reports that:
"It was a pleasure working on this pitch pine, for every cut produced a lovely smell and the grain in the wood had lost nothing of its beauty. After nearly 200 hours of work the cross was ready for the stainless steel channel to be fixed and the gold leaf applied by a friend and adviser in the parish. Having finally polished the cross, weighing nearly half a ton, fifteen feet high and seven foot six wide, it was handed over to the builders for hanging. It is now a symbol for us and for the many generations to come of how Christ came to us, was crucified, but then rose again in glorious resurrection. Praise be to God!"

Some text taken from the booklet "The Church that stood on the Hill" by Arthur R Chandler © 1993
and from the "Celebration Villager" magazine © 1996