Christ Church is an Anglican church in the Ore area of the town and borough of Hastings, one of six local government districts in the English county of East Sussex. It is one of three Anglican churches with this dedication in the borough. The Decorated Gothic-style church, in the centre of a village which has been surrounded by suburban development, was built in 1858 to supplement Ore's parish church, St Helen's. The most distinctive structural feature, a corner bell turret, has been described as both "outstanding" and "very naughty" by architectural historians. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
The ancient Cinque Port and fishing town of Hastings evolved into a seaside resort in the 19th century. The arrival of two separate railway routes from London (one via Lewes, the other via Tunbridge Wells)[2] and improved road links helped this; the population doubled from about 11,000 a few years before these developments to 23,000 20 years later.[3] The town, previously focused around the seafront area, grew inland, and Ore—a small linear village on the road to Rye—was gradually absorbed into the urban area. It was first recorded in the early 12th century, although its Anglo-Saxon name (derived from ora, meaning a ridge or slope) suggests earlier settlement, and a parish church was built on high ground to the northwest, near Ore manor house, in the 12th century.[4] There were a few cottages around it until the mid-19th century,[5] but by that time the focus of Ore's development had moved decisively to the area around the main road and Fairlight Down (assisted by the construction of a barracks at Halton and the conversion of the road to turnpike status).[6]
As well as being distant from the growing village, St Helen's Church was small and in a ruinous condition. A replacement church was planned (and eventually built in 1869);[5] but before that the rector of the church, Rev. W.T. Turner, decided to found a new church closer to the centre of population. Ore had become a poor, working-class area affected by unemployment and poverty (the workhouse was twice replaced with a larger building), and he wanted to provide greater spiritual support to the growing population.[7]
Architect and engineer Alexander Dick Gough was commissioned for the work. Closely associated until 1848 with Robert Lewis Roumieu, who was known for curious and distinctive Gothic designs, Gough's ecclesiastical work often showed unusual touches and was sometimes criticised in the influential journal The Ecclesiologist. Most of his churches were in London; Christ Church was his only commission in Sussex.[8][9] He submitted his design in 1858, and the church was built over the course of the next year at a cost of £4,268 (equivalent to £432,700 in 2021).[1][10] The foundation stone was placed by local philanthropist and church benefactor Countess Waldegrave on 23 November 1858. At first, the church was an unparished chapel of ease.[11]
The church roof originally had vents to allow fumes from its gas lighting to escape, but these have been removed.[7] Early in the 20th century, a carved timber reredos was added inside.[12] A World War I memorial was erected next to the entrance porch soon after the war ended,[7] and the original north transept was later converted into a vestry to form a memorial to victims of World War II.[12] The church had been damaged by wartime bombing in February 1943, although it was soon repaired. The distinctive corner turret was comprehensively restored in 2003: work was carried out on its clock, bell, spire and the weathervane.[13]
Architecture
Christ Church is an "intact and distinctive Gothic Revival church".[12] Its style is Decorated Gothic, and sandstone rubble and Kentish ragstone are the principal building materials.[12][14][15] The roof is tiled with slate. The most distinctive feature of the exterior[12] is the thin octagonal turret, bearing a clockface, containing a bell and topped with a spire and weathervane.[13][15]Nikolaus Pevsner described this Victorian flourish as "very naughty".[16] The plan consists of a chancel, nave of five bays and with an aisle on the north side (on a brick base), organ chamber, two vestries (one originally a transept) and two porches with gables.[12][15] The exterior has buttresses all the way round, some with steeply gabled upper sections.[12] The church is oriented north–south, at right-angles to liturgical directions.
The windows, all lancets, have intricate tracery. The (liturgical) west window is large, with seven lights, and the east window is similar. Stained glass was added to two nave windows by the Heaton, Butler and Bayne firm in 1930.[10][12] The interior is noteworthy for its intricate naturalistic foliage carvings, especially on the capitals in the nave, on the corbels and on the chancel arch.[12][16] Above both the chancel arch and the (liturgical) east window are painted decorative friezes; the latter was renewed in the early 1990s.[12] Other internal fittings include three sedilia, a wooden pulpit, a simple octagonal font and a wooden reredos with tablets showing the Ten Commandments, Lord's Prayer and the Nicene Creed.[10][12]
Christ Church was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 14 September 1976;[12] this defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest".[17] In February 2001, it was one of 521 Grade II listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings.[18]
The church is one of three active Anglican churches in the borough of Hastings with the dedication "Christ Church", and the earliest. The others are at Laton Road in the suburb of Blacklands (1878–81) and on London Road in St Leonards-on-Sea (1875).[14]
The parish of Christ Church covers the suburb of Ore east of the railway line, north and east to the borough boundary, and south to Frederick, Mount and Edwin Roads.[19] It has merged with the former parish of All Souls Church at Athelstan Road, Clive Vale,[20] which closed in 2007.[21]
On Sundays, there is one service at 10.30am (using Common Worship, and including a Kids group). [22] Daily prayer services on weekday mornings are supplemented by a Book of Common PrayerEucharistic service on Wednesday mornings.[23]
↑ Allen, John (26 April 2010). "Architects and Artists F–G". Sussex Parish Churches website. Sussex Parish Churches (www.sussexparishchurches.org). Archived from the original on 2 August 2013. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
↑ "Ore Chapel". Hastings News. Hastings Chronicle (republished 2010). 1 October 1858. Archived from the original on 11 July 2011. Retrieved 7 May 2010.
Holy Trinity Church is an Anglican church in the centre of Hastings, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. It was built during the 1850s—a period when Hastings was growing rapidly as a seaside resort—by prolific and eccentric architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, who was "chief among the rogue architects of the mid-Victorian Gothic Revival". The Decorated/Early English-style church is distinguished by its opulently decorated interior and its layout on a difficult town-centre site, chosen after another location was found to be unsuitable. The church took eight years to build, and a planned tower was never added. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Hastings Fishermen's Museum is a museum dedicated to the fishing industry and maritime history of Hastings, a seaside town in East Sussex, England. It is housed in a former church, officially known as St Nicholas' Church and locally as The Fishermen's Church, which served the town's fishing community for nearly 100 years from 1854. After wartime damage, occupation by the military and subsequent disuse, the building was leased from the local council by a preservation society, which modified it and established a museum in it. It opened in 1956 and is now one of the most popular tourist attractions in the town and borough of Hastings. The building, a simple Gothic Revival-style stone chapel, has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.
St Leonards-on-Sea Congregational Church is a former Congregational church in St Leonards-on-Sea, part of the town and borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Considered "one of the most ambitious Nonconformist buildings in Sussex", the sandstone building of 1863 forms a significant landmark on one of the Victorian resort's main roads—despite the loss of its copper spire in the Great Storm of 1987. Unlike most churches of its denomination, it did not join the United Reformed Church when that denomination was formed in 1972. It fell out of religious use in 2008 and had stood empty and was at risk of demolition. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance. Bought by a new owner in 2012 it was almost completely renovated, but was then sold again in 2019. The new owner plans to open the church to the public as an arts and antiques centre with a cafe in the tower.
St Luke's Church is a United Reformed church in the Silverhill suburb of Hastings, a town and borough in East Sussex, England. The congregation was originally independent before taking up Presbyterianism, and worshipped in a private house from its founding in 1853 until a permanent church was provided in 1857; this was one of the oldest Presbyterian places of worship in southeast England. The growth of the community has resulted in several extensions since then, and severe damage caused by the Great Storm of 1987 was quickly repaired—except for the loss of the building's distinctive spire. The church, along with most other Presbyterian congregations, joined the United Reformed Church when that denomination was formed in 1972. It is one of four United Reformed Churches in the borough of Hastings.
St Matthew's Church is an Anglican church in the Silverhill suburb of Hastings, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. The present building, a large brick structure of 1884 by ecclesiastical architect John Loughborough Pearson, replaced a much smaller church founded in 1860 when Silverhill began to grow from an agricultural area with scattered cottages into a suburb of the increasingly fashionable seaside resort of Hastings. Although a planned tower was never built, the "imposing" church dominates its steeply sloping site; and although its architect—a leading Gothic Revivalist—considered it one of his lesser works, it has been described as "outstanding" and "architecturally inventive". English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
All Saints Church is an Anglican church in the hamlet of Highbrook in Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The tiny settlement, in the parish of West Hoathly, was distant from the parish church in that village; two wealthy sisters accordingly funded the construction of a new church to serve the local population. Richard H. Carpenter and Benjamin Ingelow's stone building, with a prominent spire, opened in 1884 and was allocated its own parish. The "handsome" church, designed in the 14th/15th-century style of the Gothic Revival, has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.
St Mary Magdalene's Church is a Greek Orthodox place of worship in St Leonards-on-Sea, a town and seaside resort which is part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene and built in 1852 for Anglican worshippers in the growing new town of St Leonards-on-Sea, a seaside resort which had been laid out from the 1820s, the church's prominent position on the skyline overlooking the town was enhanced in 1872 by the addition of a tower. No longer required by the Anglican community in the 1980s, it was quickly bought by the Greek Orthodox Church and converted into a place of worship in accordance with their requirements. The alterations were minimal, though, and the building retains many of its original fittings and its "archaeologically correct Gothic" exterior which reflected architectural norms of the early Victorian era. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and English Martyrs is the Roman Catholic church serving St Leonards-on-Sea, a town and seaside resort which is part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. The present church, which combines a plain, unadorned Gothic Revival exterior with a lavishly decorated interior featuring extensive early 20th-century paintings by Nathaniel Westlake, is the third building used for Roman Catholic worship in the seaside resort. James Burton's new town of 1827, immediately west of Hastings, was home to a convent from 1848; public worship then transferred to a new church nearby in 1866. When this burnt down, prolific and "distinguished" architect Charles Alban Buckler designed a replacement. The church remains in use as the main place of worship in a parish which extends into nearby Hollington, and has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.
St John the Evangelist's Church is the Anglican parish church of the Upper St Leonards area of St Leonards-on-Sea, a town and seaside resort which is part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. The present building—a "very impressive and beautifully detailed" church in the Gothic Revival style, with a landmark tower—combines parts of Arthur Blomfield's 1881 church, wrecked during World War II, and Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel's 1950s rebuild. Two earlier churches on the site, the second possibly designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, were themselves destroyed earlier in the 19th century. The rich internal fittings include a complete scheme of stained glass by Goodhart-Rendel's favoured designer Joseph Ledger and a 16th-century painting by Ortolano Ferrarese. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Christ Church is an Anglican church in the town and seaside resort of St Leonards-on-Sea, part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Opened as the town's third Anglican church in 1860 to serve a rapidly developing residential area and to accommodate poor worshippers who could not afford pew rents at the fashionable St Leonard's and St Mary Magdalene's Churches, the original building was superseded by a much larger church built next to it between 1873 and 1875. Prolific ecclesiastical architect Sir Arthur Blomfield's simple Gothic Revival design forms a landmark on one of St Leonards-on-Sea's main roads, continues to serve a large area of the town and maintains a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. It has been described as Blomfield's "finest achievement in Sussex" and "one of the main centres of Anglo-Catholic worship in Southern England". The interior fittings are the best of any church in the borough, and the design has been called one of Blomfield's most successful. St John the Evangelist's Church, founded as a daughter church nearby in 1865, also continues to thrive as a separate parish church. English Heritage has listed Christ Church at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
St Peter's Church is a former Anglican church in the Bohemia area of the town and seaside resort of St Leonards-on-Sea, part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Founded in 1883 in response to the rapid residential growth of this part of St Leonards-on-Sea, the "outstanding late Victorian church" was completed and opened in 1885. Architect James Brooks was towards the end of his career but still produced a successful, powerful Gothic Revival design, which was built by prolific local firm John Howell & Son—builders of several other churches in the area.
St Mary's Church is the Anglican parish church of the Hampden Park suburb of Eastbourne, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. Originally linked to the church at nearby Willingdon, it later became a separate parish church. The first building was destroyed by a bomb during World War II, and Edward Maufe was commissioned to design a replacement church; the hilltop building, finished in 1954, has been called "one of his most charming designs". English Heritage has listed it at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
St Leonard's Church is an Anglican church in the St Leonards-on-Sea area of Hastings, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. The main church serving James Burton high-class mid 19th-century new town of St Leonards-on-Sea was designed by Burton himself just before his death, and it survived for more than a century despite being damaged by the cliff into which it was built; but one night during World War II, the sea-facing building was obliterated by a direct hit from a damaged V-1 "doodlebug" which had crossed the English Channel. The Gilbert Scott brothers' bold replacement church was ready in 1961, and along with a sister church at nearby Bulverhythe it continues to serve the parish of St Leonards-on-Sea, now part of the Hastings conurbation. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
St Leodegar's Church is the Anglican parish church of Hunston, a hamlet in the Chichester district of West Sussex, England. The dedication—rare in England and unique in Sussex—has also been spelt St Ledger historically. A ruinous church dating from the 12th century was dismantled and rebuilt by prolific ecclesiastical architect Arthur Blomfield in 1885, but some old features were retained. The building, an Early English Gothic Revival structure of stone, was criticised by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner but was built on a "generous" budget and has some elaborate structural features such as a double belfry.
All Souls Church is a former Anglican church that served the Clive Vale suburb of Hastings, a seaside resort town and borough in the English county of East Sussex, between 1890 and 2007. The "large [and] serious town church" has been described as one of the best works by prolific ecclesiastical architect Arthur Blomfield. Built almost wholly of brick, inside and out, it dominates the streetscape of the late Victorian suburb and has a tall, "dramatic" interior displaying many of Blomfield's favourite architectural features. The church also has Heaton, Butler and Bayne stained glass and an elaborate reredos. Falling attendances and high maintenance costs caused it to close after a final service in November 2007, and the Diocese of Chichester officially declared it redundant soon afterwards. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Matthew Edward Habershon, known as Edward Habershon, was an architect practising in London and south-east England. He specialised in neo-gothic buildings, especially churches and chapels. With his brother W.G. Habershon he designed St John the Baptist's Church, Hove, now a Grade II building. With E.P.L. Brock he designed a number of churches including St Leonards-on-Sea United Reformed Church, also listed at Grade II. He designed St Andrews church in Hastings, where Robert Tressell's large mural was created. In 1862 he was involved in the relocation of London's burial grounds, moving more than one thousand hundredweight of human remains.
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