User:Hassocks5489/Concessions

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The English city of Brighton and Hove, made up of the adjacent but formerly separate towns of Brighton and Hove along with surrounding villages and estates such as Moulsecoomb, Patcham, Preston and Rottingdean, has a long history of Christian worship. There has been a church in Brighton since the 11th century, possibly on the site of the present St Nicholas Church (whose structure still contains 14th-century elements);^[1] and St Andrew's in Hove also has ancient origins.^[2] As well as many of the Christian denominations, many other faiths and religious traditions are represented, and a wide range of dedicated buildings exist as places of worship.

Contents 1 Anglican 1.1 Churches with separate articles 1.1.1 The Wagner churches 1.2 Other churches 1.2.1 !!!Do articles for these!!! 2 Roman Catholic 3 Baptist 4 Religious Society of Friends 5 Methodist 6 Unitarian 7 United Reformed Church 8 Evangelical 9 Reformed Church of France 10 Jehovah's Witnesses 11 Salvation Army 12 Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria 13 Greek Orthodox Church 14 Jewish 15 Closed or disused churches 16 References

[edit] Anglican

[edit] Churches with separate articles

One of the oldest buildings in the city is St Nicholas' Church. Until the end of the 18th century it was also Brighton's only Anglican church,^[3] and it served as the parish church of Brighton until 1873.^[4] Although the surviving structure is partly 14th-century, a church is known to have existed in Brighton at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086, and most sources assert that it would have been on the present site, on high ground to the northwest of the original fishing village.^[5] Only the tower at the west end and some interior structures survive from the 14th century, but the tower incorporates stones from the Norman era, and inside the church is a well-preserved Norman font.^[5][3]

St Nicholas' Church was the only building in the village (now known as Brightelmstone) to survive a French raid in 1514, in which every other structure was burnt down.^[6] Storms in the early 18th century caused more damage,^[7] and by the mid-19th century the church was in a neglected and poorly-maintained state. Ecclesiastical architect Richard Cromwell Carpenter rebuilt it in 1853 as a memorial to the recently-deceased Duke of Wellington, Arthur Wellesley; architectural ideas of the time placed little emphasis on retaining mediæval designs and structures.^[3][8] More work took place throughout the rest of the century, including the installation of a large set of stained glass windows, mainly by the designer Charles Eamer Kempe.

St Peter's Church became Brighton's parish church in 1873. Designed by Charles Barry in the Gothic Revival style, it was built between 1824 and 1828 at a prominent location described at the time as "the entrance to the town".^[9] The large church, oriented from north to south, combines Portland stone with an 1898 extension in Sussex sandstone. It was announced in February 2007 that the church, which is costly to maintain and whose regular Sunday congregation is 90 (although Christmas services attract 2,000), was being considered for closure and redundancy by the Diocese of Chichester.^[10] This aroused much debate and opposition in the city, but in December 2007 the Diocesan Pastoral Committee recommended to the Church Commissioners (who manage the Church of England's property assets) that closure should go ahead. A final decision is expected in 2008.^[11]

The development of the Montpelier and Clifton Hill areas west of Brighton railway station in the early 19th century led to the establishment of St Michael's Church in 1862, replacing an older, smaller building nearby (St Stephen's Church). Originally a chapel of ease from St Nicholas Church, it was given its own parish in the early 20th century.^[12][13] The large Italianate building is sometimes known as "The Cathedral of the Back Streets".^[14]

St Andrew's Church in Church Road, Hove was the original parish church of Hove (and later Hove-cum-Preston, a combined parish which existed from 1531^[15] to 1878^[16]). Of 12th-century origin,^[17] it fell into disrepair but was rebuilt from 1834 to 1836 after the population of Hove started to grow. Architect George Basevi produced a "Neo-Norman" exterior but preserved many of the Norman-era internal fittings.^[17][18] Two decades later, St John the Baptist's Church was built nearby on a prominent site on one corner of Palmeira Square. Opened in 1854, it served for worshippers in the Brunswick area of Hove, an exclusive residential area developed from the 1820s. It provided extra capacity and eased the pressure on both St Andrew's and the popular church of the same name in Waterloo Street, near the seafront, which had been built when the Brunswick estate was laid out.^[19] St Patrick's Church, on the Hove side of the border with Brighton, was also built to provide extra capacity in this area. Opened in 1858 and originally dedicated to St James, its parish was amalgamated with that of St Andrew's on Waterloo Street^[20] before the latter was closed in 1990.^[21] The congregation at St Patrick's declined in the late 20th century, and it was considered for closure. However, it has been redeveloped as a night shelter and social centre for homeless people. Anglican worship still takes in part of the church, but most of the interior has been given over to facilities required to help homeless and vulnerable people.^[22]

The continued rapid development of Hove in the late 19th century, and the splitting of the Hove-cum-Preston parish into the pre-16th century entities of the Parish of Hove and the Parish of Preston, led to the first vicar of Hove, Rev. Thomas Peacey, calling for a church to be built near Hove railway station. (The population of the surrounding, previously undeveloped, area rose by 10,000 in the fifteen years from 1865.)^[23] John Loughborough Pearson, who built Truro Cathedral in Cornwall, designed St Barnabas Church and built it in just over a year (1882–1883). The knapped flint Early English style church is topped by a tall, narrow spire.^[24]

Loughborough Pearson was also responsible for All Saints Church, which became the new parish church of Hove in 1892, replacing St Andrew's. The foundation stone was laid in 1889, and built and opened in stages: the core section of the nave and side aisles were consecrated in 1891. Major additions were made in 1901 and 1924, although a proposed tower was never completed. Before construction work on the church started, a vicarage had been built on the same site by Loughborough Pearson, to serve the newly restored Parish of Hove.^[25] Sussex sandstone was the main material used on the outside, and stone and oak predominate inside. The nave is very wide, and the height of the church dominates one of Hove's main crossroads.

To the west of Hove, the parish church of Aldrington is St Leonard's. The small village, with mediaeval origins, declined and became totally depopulated by 1800, and the original church fell into disrepair. Hove's rapid growth during the 19th century reinvigorated the area, however, as development rapidly spread westwards towards Portslade. St Leonard's was rebuilt in 1878 by Richard Cromwell Carpenter's son, Richard Herbert Carpenter in the mediaeval style, and was extended to the north in 1936. Aldrington parish became part of the district of Hove in 1893.^[26]

The Kemp Town estate was laid out on the cliffs east of Brighton in the early 1820s. It was named after its creator and promoter Thomas Read Kemp, and designed by the prominent architectural partnership of Charles Busby and Amon Wilds. In 1824 Kemp enlisted Busby to build a church for the estate; Busby (along with Wilds) had already built one chapel for Kemp — the Holy Trinity chapel in Ship Street — after Kemp temporarily left the Church of England and founded his own sect. on 1 January 1826, St George's Church was opened. Construction work had cost £11,000 and taken two years.^[27][28] The church was given its own parish in 1879; this was extended twice in the 20th century following the closure of St Anne's Church and St Mark's Church nearby.^[29]

Patcham's parish church is All Saints Church. Its nave and parts of the chancel date from the 12th century, and a church was known to have existed on the site at the time of the Domesday Book. Extensive 19th-century restoration has affected its mediaeval character, but it has a Grade II* listing. Patcham became part of the then Borough of Brighton in 1928, having previously been a separate village.^[30] The Church of the Ascension, a modern church serving the Westdene suburb west of Patcham,^[31] and the former Church of Christ the King in South Patcham, closed in 2006, are within the parish.^[32]

Bishop Hannington Memorial Church is a more modern building, although it is also listed at Grade II. It was built between 1938 and 1939 by Edward Maufe, the architect of Guildford Cathedral. The name commemorates James Hannington, first Bishop of East Equitorial Africa, who was murdered in Uganda in 1885.^[33] An older, smaller church, the Holy Cross Church in Aldrington, lies within the parish.^[34]

[edit] The Wagner churches

St Paul's Church was opened in 1848 and consecrated in 1849,^[35] and is the oldest of the six churches built on the instruction of Rev. Henry Michell Wagner (Vicar of Brighton from 1824 until 1870) in which Anglican worship still takes place. Three earlier churches have been demolished or sold.^[36] Completed just before Wagner's son, Arthur Douglas Wagner, was ordained, it was intended as his own church, at which he could start his ecclesiastical career. In the end, Arthur Wagner stayed at the church from the date of his ordination in 1850 until his death in 1902.^[37] The Church of the Annunciation is another Wagner church, built to serve the Hanover district which at the time (1864) was a poor, densely populated area with no church. It became so popular that it had to be extended in 1881 (with difficulty on the narrow site surrounded by houses). Both the original construction costs and the rebuilding were financed entirely by Rev. Arthur Wagner.^[38] Arthur Wagner also had sole responsibility for the construction of St Bartholomew's Church. He had overseen the creation of a temporary church building on Providence Place, close to London Road and Brighton railway station, in 1868; after his father died in 1870 and left Arthur his estate, he resolved to build a much larger and more notable church to serve the same area.^[39] The original plans of 1871 were amended and then scrapped, although the foundation stone was laid on 8 February 1872; Wagner submitted a new and much bolder design in September 1873, for a building with dimensions of 170 feet (52 m) long, 46 feet (14 m) wide and 135 feet (41 m) high.^[40] The enormous height, greater than that of Westminster Abbey and giving it the highest nave of any parish church in Britain,^[40][41] is increased further by a 9 feet (3 m) gilded cross at the southern end, giving an overall exterior height of 144 feet (44 m). St Martin's Church was built by Arthur Wagner in 1875 using £3,000 set aside by his father for the purpose of building a new church. A building committee, set up by Henry Michell Wagner before his death, allowed Arthur Wagner and his half-brothers to choose the site themselves.^[42]

[edit] Other churches

St Matthias Church is the main church in the parish and benefice of St Matthias, which also includes St Richard's Church in Hollingdean. The churches serve a large area of northeast Brighton, running northwards from the East Coastway railway line between London Road and Moulsecoomb stations.^[43] St Matthias, built in 1907 and situated on Ditchling Road, is an Early English red-brick church with a circular tower and short spire; St Richard's is a modern structure in the Vernacular style.^[44]

• Good Shepherd, Mile Oak
• Good Shepherd, Dyke Road
• Holy Cross, Woodingdean
• Holy Nativity, Bevendean
• St Andrew, Moulsecoomb
• St Andrew, Portslade
• St Cuthman, Whitehawk
• St John the Evangelist, Preston
• St Luke, Kemptown
• St Luke, Seven Dials
• St Mary Magdalene, Coldean
• St Nicholas, Saltdean
• St Richard, Hangleton (in parish of St Helen)

[edit] !!!Do articles for these!!!

• Chapel Royal, Brighton (Prince's Place)
• Holy Trinity, Hove
• St Helen, Hangleton
• St Margaret, Rottingdean
• St Mary, Kemptown
• St Nicolas, Portslade
• St Peter, West Blatchington (also see here)
• St Philip, Hove
• St Wulfrun, Ovingdean
• Stanmer Church, Stanmer

[edit] Roman Catholic

There are 11 Roman Catholic churches in the city: four in Brighton, two in Hove, and one each in Moulsecoomb, Patcham, Rottingdean, West Blatchington and Woodingdean. All are in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton.^[45] Additionally, Portslade comes under the parish of Southwick with Portslade, whose church (St Theresa of Lisieux) is located in Southwick, across the border in the Adur District of West Sussex.^[46]

St John the Baptist's Church in Kemptown is the earliest surviving Roman Catholic church in the city. Built in 1835, it replaced an 1807 building in nearby High Street which in turn superseded a small mission chapel established in 1798 above a shop. This had been the first place of worship for Catholics in Brighton.^[47] It became only the fourth Catholic church to be consecrated in England since the Reformation, although many hundreds of churches had been built since the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 allowed this to happen.^[48] St John the Baptist's is a stuccoed building in the Classical style, and is listed at Grade II*.^[49]

St Mary Magdalen is Brighton's second oldest Roman Catholic church. It was partly opened in July 1861, and completed in February 1862 with the construction of the nave. Catholic architect Gilbert Blount, who later worked on an extension to St John the Baptist's,^[48], designed and built the church, which opened formally on 16 August 1864 after the nave was extended and a stone spire was added. The 13th-century Gothic-style building, mostly in red brick with stone dressings, is listed at Grade II along with the accompanying clergy house and parish hall (originally a school). Services include a weekly Mass in Polish.^[50]

A mission chapel was erected on a site at the bottom of Elm Grove, northeast of Old Steine, in 1869. In the 1870s, a widow, Catherine Haddock, donated £10,000 of bonds to build a new church in memory of her late husband. The new church, named St Joseph's, took 27 years to complete and cost £15,000. The original design, by William Kedo Broder, was published in 1880, by which time the sanctuary and part of the nave had already been built. After Broder fell from a train and died in 1881, the plans were modified and reduced in scope, with a planned tower and spire not being built. Additions were made in 1885, 1901 and 1906, and the church in its present form opened on 6 May 1906. The tall stone-built church has a green slate roof, and is primarily of Kentish Ragstone with dressings of Bath Stone. It is listed at Grade II*.^[51] The modern, Vernacular-style St Francis of Assisi Church, Moulsecoomb, built in the 1930s^[44] and used as an Anglican church until 1953,^[52] is now administered from St Joseph's.

The Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction of Nevers, a group of French nuns, moved to Brighton in 1903 and established themselves in the Withdean area within the parish of St Joseph's. As the community grew, and because of the distance from St Joseph's Church, a new church was needed in the area. Land was acquired close to Preston Park in 1907 and building work began on 9 August 1910. St Mary's Church celebrated its first service in 1912. The building, which does not have listed status, is also of Kentish Ragstone and Bath Stone with a slate roof, and is in the Gothic style. A new sanctuary was added in 1978.^[53]

The Church of the Sacred Heart in Norton Road, Hove, dates from 1880, when it was built as a chapel of ease from St Mary Magdalen's Church. Father George Oldham of that church had left money in his will for this purpose; he died in 1875. John Crawley, a London architect, designed the first (eastern) section of the church, and it was built in 10 months from November 1880. Crawley died just before the opening date of 28 September 1881; his architectural practice was taken over by J.S. Hansom, who made plans to extend the church at the western end. It reopened in 1887 after further building work. Another enlargement, at the northern side, took place in 1915; this included a lady chapel. A presbytery had been added on the south side a few years earlier. The church has a Grade II listing.^[54]

St Peter's Church is in the Aldrington area of Hove. The present building, listed at Grade II, was built in 1915, although the present church hall was used as a place of worship for 13 years before that. The church, described by English Heritage as "startling" because of its tall campanile and its basilica-style prominence, was reportedly designed by architects Claude and John Kelly, a father-and-son partnership, possibly with involvement from J.A. Marshall, chief assistant to Westminster Cathedral's designer John Francis Bentley. The church was opened at a cost of £9,000 in August 1915. The exterior is predominantly red brick with slate roofs; there are many marble interior decorations and fittings. The entrance, with a rose window above, is in the western end, next to the campanile.^[55]

Elsewhere, St George's Church in Court Farm Road, Hove, serves West Blatchington and Hangleton. It is a modern, low brick building with a shallow green-tiled roof.^[56] The Church of St Thomas More dates from 1963 and was built to serve the Patcham area, which had seen rapid residential development. It was not allowed to have a bell tower, as such a feature might dominate the adjacent and longer established Anglican Church of Christ the King; but it was built with a timber geodesic dome, and a large steel cross was erected in 1991. The low, square building incorporates brick, concrete and large areas of glass, including some stained glass.^[57] The Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Queen of Peace is a modern (1957) interpretation of the Sussex style of Gothic architecture, having a flint exterior with stone dressings—although the structure is of brick, and the flint is merely a facing. Designed by Sussex-born ecclesiastical architect Henry Bingham Towner, who was also responsible for the Catholic churches in Patcham and Moulsecoomb (and more than 25 others in Sussex and surrounding counties), it is in an elevated position on the edge of Rottingdean. A stained glass west window was added in 2000.^[58] The church is responsible for the administration of St Patrick's Church in Woodingdean^[59]—a modern brick building in the Vernacular style.^[60]

St Mary Magdalene Church

St Joseph's Church

St Peter's Church

Church of the Sacred Heart

[edit] Baptist

The Gloucester Place Baptist Church dates from 1904, although an earlier church (built in 1856) stood on the same site. The present building was designed and built by architect George Baines, and makes extensive use of flint with some red brick sections.^[44] The church faces east, and has a large arched window above the entrance door. Flanking the door are a pair of squat towers; the southern tower rises level with the top of the arched window, and is capped by a small roof with a spire, but the northern one has been cut down in size after being damaged during the Second World War.^[61] Situated on the A23 London Road close to Old Steine and St Peter's Church, Gloucester Place Baptist Church offers a Sunday morning service, Bible study classes, a film discussion group and various activities for children.^[62]

Montpelier Place Baptist Church, a modern brick building with a green roof, was built in the 1960s on the site of an older church, at Montpelier Place near the Brighton/Hove boundary.^[44]

Holland Road Baptist Church in Hove, near Palmeira Square, dates from 1887, and was formed by a group of Christians who attended regular meetings at a nearby gymnasium; they received funding to build their own church.^[63] Only the Gothic western frontage, in pale yellow stone,^[44] can be seen from the street, but a tall tower topped with a spire is a prominent landmark. It was built with a capacity of approximately 700; a 100-capacity hall has was added at the start of the 21st century, and is regularly used by the local community and groups associated with the church. Another nearby building has been acquired for redevelopment.^[64]

Stoneham Road Baptist Church is a small two-storey building with adjacent one-storey section, built in 1904 in a residential area near Aldrington railway station.^[44] It started a few years earlier as a mission church with assistance from the Holland Road church.^[65] A planning application to demolish the building and replace it with housing was withdrawn on 17 November 2004, and the church remains open.^[66]

Florence Road Baptist Church is a large flint-built church near London Road railway station. Dating from 1894, its style is Early English revival,^[44] with many lancet windows of different sizes (all with heavy red brick facings) and a tall, narrow spire. Situated on a corner site at Florence Road/Southdown Avenue, both the northern and western faces are prominent.

The Galeed Strict Baptist Chapel is on Gloucester Road in the North Laine area, close to Brighton railway station. The exterior is simple Neoclassical, with a symmetrical south-facing frontage featuring three evenly-spaced doors and three first-floor windows above them. An inscription below the pediment reads GALEED A.D. 1868 — the year the church was constructed.^[44]

Portslade Baptist Church on South Street was built in 1960 to replace a large Gothic chapel of 1892 on Chapel Place.^[44] The new building, in the old Portslade Village area, is a simple one-storey brick building with a tall, steeply sloping tiled roof, a small annex and a large crucifix above the entrance.

The Oasis Christian Fellowship Church is in the Hangleton area of Hove. The Oasis Christian Fellowship was founded in 1995 and moved into the church it currently occupies in 1998; previously it housed another Baptist congregation.^[44] Although described as an evangelical group, the Fellowship is part of the Baptist Union of Great Britain as well as the Evangelical Alliance.^[67] The church building is similar to that of the Portslade Baptist Church, having a steeply sloped tiled roof and dark brickwork with white rendered walls and entrance. There is a large crucifix above the entrance porch.

Gloucester Place Baptist Church	Montpelier Place Baptist Church	Holland Road Baptist Church	Stoneham Road Baptist Church
Florence Road Baptist Church	Galeed Strict Baptist Chapel	Portslade Baptist Church	Oasis Christian Fellowship Church

[edit] Religious Society of Friends

A meeting house for the Religious Society of Friends has existed in Brighton since 1690, and the present Friends Meeting House was built on land off Ship Street in 1805.^[68]

The Quaker community in Brighton had been prevented from congregating in public by the 1664 Conventicle Act, but some freedom was granted after the 1689 Toleration Act was passed under William and Mary's joint sovereignty. By 1690, the community acquired a former malthouse and some adjoining land, which became their first permanent meeting house and a burial ground respectively.^[68] When some pleasure gardens were laid out next to the meeting house in the 1790s, the community sold the grounds to the Prince Regent and the building separately (this was immediately demolished by its new owner). They used the £1,800 funds to buy a plot of land east of Ship Street for £1,000 and build a new meeting house, accessed by a narrow passageway next to two cottages which came with the land.^[68][69] A two-storey, red-brick structure with a pediment and three rounded windows in the south face, it had an attached caretaker's cottage and opened for worship in 1805.^[69] A new graveyard was added, although its size was significantly reduced when Prince Albert Street was built in 1838. A new burial ground, then in the parish of Rottingdean to the east of Brighton, was created in 1855.^[70] In the mid-20th century, an extension was built to house educational facilities; this is now used for various cultural activities as well.^[71]

[edit] Methodist

The Dorset Gardens Methodist Church in Kemp Town dates from 2000, but is the third Methodist place of worship to stand on the site; its predecessor was built in 1884, and this in turn replaced an 1808 building which was the first Methodist church in Brighton or Hove.^[44][72] This building, in red brick with rounded windows and a square entrance porch, was set back from St James's Street, a main road in Brighton, and was opened on 26 August 1808. Three of the four interior sides of the square building were galleried, with the church's choir occupying one section. Later, a hall, gas lighting, new entrance (leading on to Dorset Gardens itself) and organ were added. The Minister at the time (1855) did not want the church to have an organ, however, and was not present at the dedication ceremony.^[72]

Another red-brick building, somewhat larger and with an Italianate tower, was designed and constructed by Liverpool-based architect C. O. Ellison in 1884, with a new organ and electric lighting added in 1894.^[72] The brick was set off by terracotta dressings at regular intervals, and the overall style appears to have been influenced by Renaissance architecture.^[44] A large extension was added in the 1930s, and it is this part of the site upon which the present church stands. This was opened in April 2003,^[73] three years after the 1884 building was demolished, and cost £1.6 million.^[74] The new church is built in red brick and concrete^[44] with large areas of glass and a mostly tiled exterior; the four-storey interior has many rooms and configurations, and the top floor is partly lit by a glass-faced tower. The design, created by a Worthing-based firm, won a local award.^[74] A wide range of services and community activities take place weekly or monthly, including exercise classes, Scout meetings, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and the local Member of Parliament Des Turner's monthly constituency surgeries.^[75]

Hove Methodist Church, standing at a prominent location at the junction of Portland Road and St Patrick's Road, dates from 1896. Designed and built by architect John Wills in a Romanesque Revival style^[44] in red brick with white stone facings and dressings, it features a large rose window in the south face. Below this, a porch with twin pointed roofs and multi-coloured glass has been added in recent years.^[76] The interior fittings still reflect their 19th-century origins, however, with a gallery and pulpit still in place, and a traditional layout of pews.^[77] There are various weekday and Sunday services and other activities.^[78]

In Preston, north of the city centre, Stanford Avenue Methodist Church was built and opened two years later, in 1898. Designed by E. J. Hamilton, who was also responsible for a former (now closed) Methodist church in Hove and the original Salvation Army citadel in Brighton, it is in an Early English revival style^[44] with red brick, much use of red and white stone facings and many lancet windows, including a triple lancet surrounded by red-edged white stone above the entrance. As well as regular Sunday services, including some featuring Holy Communion,^[79] there are many community activities during the week.^[80] A prayer chapel and, since early 2007, prayer garden have been available for use by regular worshippers and the local community.^[81][82]

Other Methodist churches, located in suburban parts of the city, are the Hollingbury Methodist Church, a small brick building opened in 1952, constructed in a vernacular style and fitting in with the surrounding residential development;^[44][83] Woodingdean Methodist Church, a similar building on The Ridgeway in Woodingdean;^[44] and Patcham Methodist Church, built in 1935 but since refurbished, with pale brickwork, a low roof and large areas of glass at the front.^[44][83]

[edit] Unitarian

Since 1820, Brighton's Unitarian community has worshipped in the Brighton Unitarian Church, a Grade II-listed Greek-style building close to the Royal Pavilion.^[84] New Road, as it is now known, was built on the instruction of the Prince Regent. The main north-south road leading out of the old town ran next to the Pavilion, with noise and traffic disturbing him and making access to his stables difficult. He asked the architect of his stables to build a new road further to the west, and closed the original route.^[85] New Road was pedestrianised in 2007.^[86]

A congregation of Baptists with Calvinist views had been established in Brighton since the 18th century. A rift developed from 1791, when William Stevens, a newcomer, introduced Universalist views.^[87] In 1793^[84] or 1795,^[87] Stevens and 18 others (including the original pastor) were expelled. From 1797, a small but steadily growing congregation met at Stevens' house; by 1806 they had moved to a small chapel in Jew Street, near the Baptists' meeting place in Bond Street. A Unitarian missionary popularised the theology among the congregation, and assistance from the leader of the Unitarian community in nearby Ditchling, John Chatfield, allowed a meeting room to be bought. This opened in 1812.^[87][88]

When the Prince sold the land he owned west of the new road, the congregation paid £650 for a plot on which a new chapel could be built. £200 was donated by Chatfield, who also made all the arrangements. The prolific architect Amon Henry Wilds, whose career in Brighton was just beginning, designed the stuccoed, temple-style building on the instruction of Dr Morell, a classical scholar who became the first minister at the chapel. Its design reflects the Temple of Thesæus in Athens.^[84][88] The east-facing entrance consists of four Doric columns surmounted by an entablature and pediment. Ancient Greek writing quoting the letter of St Paul to the Romans — "To God only wise, be glory through Jesus Christ" (Rom 16:27) — originally featured on the pediment, but it was removed later in the 19th century to prevent confusion: some even believed the writing was Hebrew and the building a synagogue.^[84][88]

The church was full to its 350 capacity on its opening date of 20 August 1820.^[84][88] After several changes of name, it has been known as the Brighton Unitarian Church since the 1940s.^[84][89] Now with a reduced capacity of 100,^[90] there is a weekly Sunday service.^[91] Rebuilding and refurbishment work was carried out in 1966^[85] and 2004.^[92]

[edit] United Reformed Church

The Hove and Portslade Pastorate includes three churches in the Hove area: Central United Reformed Church in Blatchington Road, Hove; Hounsom Memorial Church in Nevill Road, Hangleton; and Portslade United Reformed Church. The churches share one minister.^[93]

The Central United Reformed Church was formed in 1980 from a merger between Cliftonville and St Cuthbert's Churches.^[93] Cliftonville, centrally located in Hove at the junction of Ventnor Villas and Blatchington Road, was built as a Congregational Church in 1867 by H.N. Goulty. It is a stone building in the Early English revival style. St Cuthbert's was a Presbyterian church at the junction of Cromwell Road and Davigdor Road, dating from 1904 and built in the Decorated Gothic style with terracotta dressings.^[44] In 1972, the Congregational Church and the Presbyterian Church of England merged to form the United Reformed Church. The Central United Reformed Church moved into the Cliftonville church premises;^[93] the vacant premises of St Cuthbert's were demolished in 1984.^[44] In its present form, the church has services on most days of the week,^[94] and has links to many community groups and organisations, including Boys' and Girls' Brigade companies.^[95]

Portslade's first Congregational church was a tin mission hall in 1875. For a time, services were also held on a barge anchored in nearby Shoreham Harbour. A proper church, of flint with red brick dressings, was built near Portslade railway station in 1903; this was superseded by a new brick building with stone facings in 1932. This was built next to the original church, which then became the church hall.^[96][44] (In the photograph, its gable end can be seen above the red car.)

The Hounsom Memorial United Reformed Church is on the southern edge of the Hangleton estate. It is a small, modern brown-brick building with a tall, narrow arched window in the main tower, which is flanked by two sets of entrance doors.

In Brighton, many former Congregational churches closed before the founding of the United Reformed Church, but three remain in use. The oldest and most central is the Brighthelm Church and Community Centre in North Road. Although the building currently in use dates from 1987, Presbyterian worship on the site started in 1844.

The first building on the site of the Brighthelm Church and Community Centre, on the corner of the present-day North Road and Queens Road, was the independent Hanover Chapel, opened in 1825 with a capacity of 1,200 and at a cost of £4,000.^[97] In 1847 it was taken over on a 99-year lease by the Presbyterian community, which had been established in Brighton since 1698.^[98] The chapel had a burial ground in front of it, but no more burials took place after 1854. The congregation bought the freehold (including the burial ground) in 1861, and a parish hall was built within the grounds in 1863. For the next century, the chapel was known as the Brighton Presbyterian Church, although its official name was the Queen's Road Presbyterian Church after the road of that name was built.^[99] In 1972, a Congregational church (the Union Chapel) in nearby Queen's Square was closed, and the two churches merged.^[100]

In 1987 the new church was opened; it faces north, with its back to the burial ground (now a garden). The original chapel was incorporated as part of the church complex, but was considerably redeveloped internally. It nevertheless retains the Grade II listing which it was awarded in 1952.^[101] It is a west-facing, two-storey, white stuccoed structure with a symmetrical, twin-pedimented frontage and two entrance doors flanked by columns.^[102] The 1987 structure is of two-tone brick with large textured concrete projections, and has five storeys; along with an an adjacent office block, it hides the original chapel from the street.

Elsewhere, the Lewes Road United Reformed Church is a modern building in Hollingdean, and St Martin's United Reformed Church is based in Saltdean. This started as a Presbyterian church in the 1940s. The church authorities bought some land on the estate in 1940, and the first church was opened on 20 November 1941. The congregation moved to a new building in 1949, and the present church was completed in 1956.^[103]

[edit] Evangelical

Calvary Evangelical Church is an independent evangelical Christian church, set up in the former Brighton Railway Mission building.^[104] The Brighton Railway Mission itself was founded in 1876 to serve the spiritual needs of workers at the nearby locomotive works, and soon moved into the existing Methodist Church building on Viaduct Road – close to Preston Circus to the north-east of the city centre. Since 2006 the church premises have also housed the Brighton and Hove City Mission.^[105] The name of the church refers to Calvary, the hill on which Jesus was crucified.

Regular meetings are held in the church on Sundays. There is a morning prayer meeting followed by the main morning service at 11.00am, with a crèche and Sunday School available for children. Another prayer meeting is held in the evening, followed by an evening service. Other events, such as special Eucharists for born-again Christians and monthly lunches are held. Other meetings take place weekly in private houses.^[106] Since April 2006, the church has placed all of its weekly sermons online as Godcasts. Its regular Saturday discussions, sometimes held by guest speakers, are similarly available.^[107][108]

The Church of Christ the King, a Newfrontiers evangelical church serving the city and surrounding areas of Sussex, is based at the Clarendon Centre in Brighton's New England Quarter, near the railway station.^[109] The converted warehouse has housed the congregation since 1991.^[110] Founded with 38 people in 1978 as the Brighton & Hove Christian Fellowship, with assistance and supervision from Newfrontiers leader Terry Virgo (a native of Brighton), early meetings were held in a school in Hove. A renaming to Clarendon Church took place when the church moved to a mission hall in Clarendon Villas, Hove; the Odeon cinema in the centre of Brighton was also used as a venue until the former electrical warehouse near the A23 London Road was acquired. The building has been converted into a three-storey centre for worship and informal gatherings.^[110] As with the Calvary Evangelical Church, sermons and other spoken-word resources are available for download as podcasts.^[109]

[edit] Reformed Church of France

L'Eglise Française Reformée is the only French Protestant church in Britain outside London, where there is a building dating from 1893 in Soho Square.^[111] Brighton's dates from the previous decade, and is centrally located in Queensbury Mews, a small street just behind Brighton seafront and next to the Metropole Hotel.^[112]

In 1548, Deryck Carver, a French-speaking Flemish man from a town near Liège, sought refuge in Brighton from the persecution he was experiencing from the ruling powers of the time in respect of his Calvinist beliefs.^[112] He had been a lay reader; as well as establishing Brighton's first brewery, the Black Lion,^[112] he held Bible reading sessions at his house in Brighton for the next few years until Roman Catholicism was re-established as Britain's state religion by Queen Mary I in 1553. At this time, such meetings of Protestants were banned, and Carver was arrested and committed to trial in London for continuing to hold them. He was burnt at the stake in 1555.^[113]

The meetings had been attended by many fishermen from both England and France, beginning the tradition of French Christian worship in Brighton. In the 17th and 18th centuries, this was maintained in a Presbyterian chapel in the centre of the town, which was attended by many Francophone worshippers. Calvinists, meanwhile, met secretly in private houses until an official church was formed for the Francophone population in 1858. The first two pastors were French, as were many members of the committee formed later to assist the church council.^[114] Services were initially held in various public buildings in the town, but in 1887 the pastor oversaw the building of a dedicated church for the congregation. Money was raised from the congregation itself, Protestant congregations in France and people within Brighton's religious community, with the final cost of the site and building materials being £1,535.^[115] Designed in red-brick Gothic style by the architect W. G. Gibbins, the church has three pairs of lancet windows in the western face, a pointed-arch entrance door and rose window in the southern face, a slate roof and a small copper spire on top of a square turret.^[115]

At the start of the 20th century, there were around 2,000 French speakers in Brighton, many of them Protestants,^[115] but the community is now much smaller. There is, however, a weekly service at 11.00am on Sundays.

[edit] Jehovah's Witnesses

There are three Jehovah's Witnesses Kingdom Halls in use in the city as of 2008. One is at Osmond Road on the Brighton/Hove border near Seven Dials; another is at Reynolds Road in Hove; and there is one in Woodingdean.^[116] The three buildings are all modern, of a similar vernacular style, and constructed predominantly in brick.

There is a former Kingdom Hall in Portslade, on Trafalgar Road close to Fishersgate railway station. It was sold in the 1990s, and is now in commercial use.^[117]

[edit] Salvation Army

The Army have been established in Hove since 1879, at a Congress Hall in Conway Street, near Hove station.^[118] The building has a large, mostly blank western face fronting Sackville Road.

Two Salvation Army places of worship were built in Brighton later in the 19th century; both have been demolished, but a replacement has been built on the site of the earlier building. In 1883, architect E.J. Hamilton was commissioned to design and build a Congress Hall for Brighton's Salvation Army members. A site at Park Crescent, between the London and Lewes Roads, was chosen. Consisting of grey brick and stone dressed with terracotta facings, the building featured towers and battlemented parapets,^[119] and was considered a landmark of the area. Catherine Booth, husband of the Army's founder William Booth, opened the Hall in 1884.^[120] By the end of the 20th century, the Hall was in poor condition, with the slate roof giving particular concern. Residents of Park Crescent, whose houses overlooked the site, raised objections to the closure and demolition, but Brighton and Hove Council authorised it. Many of the decorative internal and external features were saved by the demolition contractors. The 200 members moved to the nearby Preston Barracks site while the demolition, site clearance and construction of the new citadel took place; some of their regular activities and community work had to be stopped temporarily.^[120] A new octagonal citadel was built on the site in 2000–2001 by architect David Greenwood. Members of the public were encouraged to donate to the fund by "buying a brick". The new building has several halls, rooms and other facilities.^[119][120]

A second citadel opened in 1884^[119] or 1891^[118] in Edward Street on the edge of Kemptown. Built on the site of a former riding school, it had a central parapet and battlemented towers on each side, and was stuccoed. It was demolished in 1965 and replaced with an office block.^[118][119]

Elsewhere in the city, there is an Army hall in Bevendean. The Brighton Bevendean Corps are based at Leybourne Road at the eastern end of the estate.^[121] The Army also had a presence on the Moulsecoomb estate from the 1930s to the 1950s.^[118]

[edit] Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria

Main article: St Mary and St Abraam Coptic Orthodox Church, Hove

St Mary and St Abraam Church in Davigdor Road, Hove is one of nine Coptic churches in the British Isles.^[122] It is based in the former church of St Thomas the Apostle, an Anglican church built in 1909^[123] and declared redundant on 20 July 1993.^[124] The Coptic Orthodox Church bought the building, and its leader, Pope Shenouda III of Alexandria, travelled to Hove and performed a dedication ceremony on 23 September 1994.^[125] The red-brick church is in the Early English style.^[123]

[edit] Greek Orthodox Church

The Greek Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity has also been established in a former Anglican church — St John the Evangelist on Carlton Hill. This was originally a slum district on high ground known as the East Cliff, north of the Kemp Town development and south of Hanover.^[126]

The church was built as part of Rev. Henry Wagner's drive to provide more places of worship in Brighton's poor districts, in which most of the seats would be free rather than subject to pew rents. The need for such action was urgent in his early years as Vicar of Brighton: by 1830 about 18,000 poor people lived in the town, representing nearly half the population, but only 3,000 rent-free pews were available in the existing churches.^[127]

St John the Evangelist was the third church built under Wagner's curacy, after All Souls Church (Eastern Road; built 1833–1834; demolished 1968) and Christ Church (Montpelier Road; built 1837–1838; demolished 1982).^[127][128] The architects and builders of Christ Church, Brighton-based firm Cheesman & Son, were employed again, with George Cheesman junior being responsible for the design. Unlike its Gothic-inspired predecessor, however, St John the Evangelist was built in the Classical style.^[128] Built in brick with some stone dressings, the church has a white-painted southern frontage, facing Carlton Hill; none of the other elevations are easily visible. A deep central recess is flanked by two prominent wings with entrance doors^[129] and large stone pilasters, above which is a pediment with an embedded clock. The large crucifix above the entrance is a recent addition.^[128][130] Built at a cost of £4,660 (including £908 for purchase of the site), the church was consecrated on 28 January 1840 by the Bishop of Worcester and former Vicar of Brighton Robert James Carr, who was visiting Brighton at the time and stood in for the unwell Bishop of Chichester. More than half of the 1,200 seats were free.^[131]

The church always found it difficult to attract a large congregation; reasons claimed for this include the awkward location of the church, the attraction of cheap taverns and gin shops in the area and the controversial introduction of a Ritualist, High Church style of worship in the 1860s and 1870s. A further problem was a long and expensive closure in 1879, while structural repairs were made.^[132] It was declared redundant on 11 November 1980 and sold to the Greek Orthodox Church on 13 December 1985.^[124] Some interior alterations have been made, including the installation of a new altar screen.^[129]

[edit] Jewish

For more than 100 years, the Middle Street Synagogue was the centre of Jewish worship in Brighton and Hove. However, there was a Jewish community in the area for nearly a century before the construction of the synagogue in 1874.^[133][134] A Bavarian settler, Emanuel Hyam Cohen, established a Jewish school on the seafront in the 1780s and a place of worship in 1792. The latter moved from Jew Street (off Bond Street) to West Street in 1808, but there is no record of the nature of the buildings; meetings may in fact have taken place in private houses.^[134] A dedicated synagogue was built in 1824 on land leased from a hotel, and enlarged by David Mocatta (architect of Brighton railway station, and member of the prominent Jewish Mocatta family) in 1836. This building was used until the new synagogue was opened in Middle Street in 1875.^[135]

Construction started on 19 November 1874, with Chief Rabbi Nathan Marcus Adler in attendance.^[135] The architect, Thomas Lainson, had been responsible for many buildings in Hove, including a Congregational church. After ten months of work at a cost of £12,000, the dedication ceremony took place on 23 September 1875 and the synagogue was opened.^[136] It was much larger than its predecessor, with a capacity of 300.^[137] Architecturally, it was built in the Neo-Byzantine Revival style in pale Sussex brick. The arched windows are surrounded by contrasting red and blue bricks and tiles, and are flanked by red marble columns.^[136][137] There is a large rose window in the west-facing frontage. In 1892, the building became the first synagogue in Britain to be electrically lit.^[138] In view of its architectural merit (it has been described as Brighton's second most important historic building, behind the Royal Pavilion),^[133] it has attained Grade II* listed status.^[139]

Although the Jewish community in the city numbered 4,000 by 2004, it fell out of regular use at that time, although it is still opened occasionally for tours of the interior,^[133] especially during the annual Brighton Festival.^[139] Urgent structural repairs, including a new roof, were required by that time. A combination of fundraising concerts, auctions and a grant of several hundred thousand pounds from the government agency English Heritage enabled restoration work to take place.^[133] The building is now open to the public on some Sundays, and there are regular prayer sessions.

Three more modern synagogues, all in Hove, are now used by worshippers in the city. The Hebrew Congregation Synagogue at the junction of Holland Road and Lansdowne Road was opened in 1938 and was designed in a style reminiscent of the Jugendstil movement, similar to Art Nouveau.^[140] It follows the Ashkenazi tradition.^[141] The Brighton & Hove Progressive Synagogue is a short distance to the east on Lansdowne Road. It was converted to its present use in 1946, having been a gymnasium; meetings had previously taken place in private houses.^[138] As well as regular services (including special services for children), a variety of events take place throughout the year, including concerts.^[142] The Brighton & Hove Reform Synagogue, on Palmeira Avenue, is part of the Movement for Reform Judaism,^[143] which represents the Reform Judaism community in the United Kingdom. Reform Judaism is one of two forms of Progressive Judaism. A plaque installed near the entrance door indicates that the foundation stone was laid on 17 July 1966 (or in the Hebrew calendar, 29 Tammuz 5726), and that the synagogue's original name was the Brighton and Hove New Synagogue.

[edit] Closed or disused churches

The former Holy Trinity Church (or Holy Trinity Chapel) in Ship Street, one of Brighton's oldest streets, has early 19th-century origins. Thomas Read Kemp, born in nearby Lewes in 1782, was heavily involved in Brighton's political and religious life in the first decades of the 19th century, until he left the country in 1837 to escape his debts. Previously an Anglican, he split from the Church of England in 1816 and founded an independent sect, for which Amon Wilds built a chapel the following year. Situated on the west side of the northern section of Ship Street, which was then a separate entity named Ship Street Lane, it featured a pediment and a square tower, under which was a glass dome which illuminated the interior, and a stuccoed exterior.^[144] Although Kemp converted back to Anglicanism in 1823, the chapel remained independent until 1826: a recently ordained priest, Revd Robert Anderson (the brother of the incumbent at St George's Church in Kemp Town) bought it and converted it via a private Act of Parliament into a private Anglican chapel.^[144][145] It was consecrated on 21 April 1826 and altered internally, achieving a seating capacity of 800 by 1829.^[146]

The chapel became very fashionable for several decades afterwards, with Revd Anderson and one of his successors, Revd Frederick W. Robertson, being popular and successful preachers. Robertson in particular had a significant impact on life in Brighton, undertaking missionary work in the town, founding a working men's institute and preaching unorthodox but effective sermons.^[147]

The next alteration to the chapel came in 1867, when a chancel was added.^[148] The Church of England bought the building for £6,500 in 1878, and it was altered significantly in the following years by Somers Clarke, a Brighton-born architect. The eastern face, fronting Ship Street, was reclad in flint and restyled in Gothic Revival fashion, with a much taller octagonal tower replacing the existing square structure. This contrasted with the stuccoed south face, which had been hidden behind a house until the 1867 rebuilding but which now abutted the newly widened Duke Street.^[149]

The church was always unparished, and experienced declining congregations throughout the 20th century. Originally proposed for closure in the middle of the century, it survived until December 1984, although its last perpetual curate had left in 1971.^[150] Since 1996, the building has been used as an art gallery by the organisation Fabrica.^[151]

St Andrew's Church in Waterloo Street, Hove (unrelated to the former parish church of the same name in Church Road) dates from 1828, when the Brunswick estate was built.^[152] It remained in use until the late 20th century, but was declared redundant on 14 February 1990 because of declining attendance at services.^[21][124] It was originally a proprietary chapel owned by Rev. Edward Everard, the curate of St Margaret's Church in Brighton; no church had been built in the Brunswick estate, and he owned land on its boundary.^[152][153] Charles Barry, who had started work on St Paul's Church in Brighton in 1824, designed the church, and construction started in April 1827. The exterior, facing west, was an early example (possibly the first in England)^[154] of the Italianate style, although the interior was less grand, with no chancel, simple pulpits and a single gallery.^[153][154] Everard was granted an Act of Parliament on 3 April 1828 giving him and his successors ownership of the church, the right to appoint a curate for the next 40 years, and two-thirds of income from pew rents and other sources. Everard himself acted as the first curate, from the church's consecration on 5 July 1828 until 1838, one year before his death.^[153][154] The church was extended at a cost of £7,000 in 1882 (£2,000 to buy and demolish an adjacent stable block and £5,000 for the construction work);^[21][155] Charles Barry's son Edward Middleton Barry added a chancel, a sanctuary with Ionic columns, an illuminated dome and space for an organ. Although the organ is no longer in place, its case has been retained.^[153][155] More additions were made in the 1920s, including enlargements to the altar case, a pedimented baldacchino above the altar, a marble font with its own baldacchino, a new pulpit and new stained glass windows. These changes cost £4,000.^[21][153] The Churches Conservation Trust now owns and maintains the building; it is occasionally opened to the public.

St Wilfrid's Church was an Anglican church on Elm Grove, designed in 1932 by H. S. Goodhart-Rendel and built over the next two years.^[156] Goodhart-Rendel was a former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects, who was also responsible for a large office building (Princes House) in the centre of Brighton^[157] and for various similar buildings in London. He combined his enthusiasm for 19th-century church architecture with modern structural ideas and materials in a way consistent with the architectural concept of Eclecticism.^[156] The area which later became the parish of St Wilfrid was from 25 August 1901 served by a tin-built temporary church on the site of the present building, with the congregation having outgrown a series of rented rooms and halls in the area. When the parish was created in 1922, an extra 2,000 people came within its boundaries and a permanent church was required. £15,000 was raised by parishioners and from other sources, and services were held in the nearby parish hall (built in 1927) while the new church was built. This was consecrated on 25 November 1933 by the Bishop of Chichester, George Bell.^[158] Goodhart-Rendel built the church with double-thickness, two-tone brick walls and a reinforced concrete roof.^[156] It achieved Grade II listed status and earned praise from John Betjeman. However, asbestos was discovered in the interior fittings, and after much debate (including the threat of demolition) the church was closed in 1980 and converted into a housing complex.^[158]

The Elim Free Church (or in full, the Elim Tabernacle of the Church of the Four Square Gospel) in Union Street, in the Lanes, was home to Brighton's Elim Pentecostal Church congregation until 1988.^[159] At that time, a new church was built on the site of the former Albion Brewery in the Hanover area.^[118] The building has late-17th century origins, with the earliest structure on the site being a chapel which opened in 1683, 1688 or 1698 (sources disagree).^{[159][160][161]} Originally used for Presbyterian meetings, it was Brighton's first Nonconformist place of worship. It passed through various owners in the next 300 years, becoming an Independent chapel and then the Union Free Church (founded by the merger of two Congregational churches) in the 19th century; in 1905 it became a missionary church for miners; and from 1927 until 1988 it was the base of the Elim Church.^[159] The building was altered significantly in an 1825 reconstruction (often attributed to Amon Henry Wilds, but possibly also with Charles Busby's influence),^[162] with a triple-bay stuccoed façade and Doric pilasters below a triglyph and a pediment.^[160][162] This main frontage faces south on to the narrow Union Street; the eastern side wall (on Meeting House Lane) was not given the same architectural treatment, and may date from the original construction,^[159] or alternatively from a small-scale enlargement of the building undertaken in 1810. The wall is in a traditional Sussex style: cobbled with stones and flints and surrounded by red-brick dressings.^[162] After the Elim congregation vacated the building, it was converted into a large public house, the Font & Firkin — part of the former Firkin Brewery chain.^[163] The chain closed down, all of its pubs were sold and all in-pub brewing was stopped; the Font & Firkin was the last ex-Firkin pub in Britain to stop, in 2003.^[164]

[edit] References