St Mark's Church is a former Anglican church in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Originally intended as the private chapel of the adjacent St Mary's Hall school, it was partly built in 1838 at the request of Frederick Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol; but arguments over whether or not it should also be open to the public delayed its completion for more than 10 years. It became the parish church of Kemptown in 1873, but declining attendances resulted in a declaration of redundancy in 1986. At that time it was taken over by the school and became its chapel, nearly 150 years after this was first proposed. The Early English-style stone and concrete structure has been criticised by architectural historians, but has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.
Brighton's rapid growth in the early decades of the 19th century resulted in residential development filling in the gap on the cliffs between Thomas Read Kemp's high-class Kemp Town estate and the longer-established area around the Royal Pavilion and Old Steine, the centre of high society activity in the late 18th century. Roads such as Eastern Road and Bristol Road ran from west to east towards Kemp Town, and high-density housing branched off on roads to the north and south. This area became known as Kemptown[sic].[1][2] Kemp owned much of the land in the area, but in the 1820s he sold about 150 acres (61ha) to Frederick Hervey, 1st Marquess of Bristol. He had succeeded to the Earldom of Bristol when his father, the 4th Earl of Bristol (known as the Earl-Bishop), died in 1803.[3] The Marquess, who assumed that title in 1826, was interested in church-building and works of charity. Soon after buying the land, he gave a portion to Reverend Henry Venn Elliott to allow him to build St Mary's Hall School.[3] In 1837, Reverend Elliott began to plan for an Anglican church to serve the area, and the Marquess gave more land next to the school to allow one to be built there. Construction started in 1838, and the Marquess spent about £2,000 (£192,000 in 2022)[4] to ensure a rapid completion.[5] However, disagreements soon arose over these plans: the Diocese of Chichester had not approved the proposal to open the church to the public, and had only given permission for the building to be a private chapel for the school; and the Vicar of Brighton, Reverend Henry Michell Wagner, disapproved of its location—it was considered to be too close to St George's Church. Correspondence and debate carried on for several years between the men involved, and an independent party—the Commissioners for Building New Churches—eventually had to take charge of the project.[5]
Construction was allowed to continue in 1848, after agreement was reached that the church could be used for public worship, and the Bishop of ChichesterAshurst Turner Gilbert conducted a consecration ceremony on 21 September 1849.[5][6] The identity of the architect was not recorded, but sources suggest either George Cheesman Jr.—whose Christ Church in Montpelier Road, Brighton was very similar—or Thomas Cooper.[5][7] Thomas Shelbourne was the builder;[5] he may have had some influence in the design as well.[6] The final cost was £4,800 (£530,000 in 2022),[4] most of which was contributed by the Marquess and Reverend Elliott.[5]
The church had a capacity of more than 1,000, and about half of the pews were free (not subject to pew rents). The others provided income to offset church expenditure until the pew rent system was abolished in 1930.[8] Reverend Henry Venn Elliott's brother, Reverend Edward Bishop Elliott, became the vicar in 1853 and remained in charge until his death in 1875. Although he was buried at St Andrew's Church in Hove, a memorial stone was installed in the chancel.[8][9] It is next to a tablet commemorating the Marquess of Bristol, who had died in 1859.[9] The congregation and others also donated money to fund a new window in the east end as a memorial to him.[10]
In 1848, three bells were installed by Mears & Stainbank (now the Whitechapel Bell Foundry) of London, and three more were added in 1867 when the tower was given the clock which it was intended to have had from the beginning. A vicarage was added in 1888 after the 3rd Marquess of Bristol donated land from his estate,[11] and larger-scale alterations took place between 1891 and 1892, when the new vicar commissioned architect W. Gilbee Scott to add a chancel, vestry, south transept and organ chamber and to alter the galleries. A north transept was never built, although it was planned.[7][11] The new chancel was altered further by the addition of multicoloured paintwork and a marble reredos[11] in 1913,[7] during the short incumbency of Reverend Henry Venn Elliott's grandson, also called Henry Venn Elliott. The 3rd Marquess of Bristol paid for this work.[11]
In 1873, St Mark's became the parish church of Kemptown; St George's Church had originally held this status.[6][10] By the 1980s, however, attendances were falling, and the Diocese of Chichester declared the church redundant as from 1 May 1986.[12] Its parish was merged into that of St George's Church, which also gained the area covered by the parish of St Anne's Church, closed and demolished in 1986.[13] The official name of this parish is now "St George with St Anne and St Mark".[14] The building was then given to St Mary's Hall School for use as their private chapel, arts centre and concert hall.[6][7][11][15] This meant that after nearly 150 years, it was being used for the purpose for which it was originally built.[11][15]
Architecture
The east end undergoing restoration in 2008
Prominent architectural historians have criticised St Mark's Church. Nikolaus Pevsner wrote of its "terrible stone facing",[16] while Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel considered both St Mark's and the very similar Christ Church (now demolished) to have "deplorable architecture [...] combining the smugness of the chapel [with] the peculiarity of the Gothic".[17] The building does not reflect ecclesiastical architectural norms of the mid-19th century, partly because its construction started several years earlier and also because Reverend Elliott and the Marquess of Bristol held traditionalist, old-fashioned views.[3]
The church was built in the Early English Gothic Revival style using a combination of concrete, stone and ashlar. The concrete was used to imitate Kentish Ragstone; the north side is stuccoed to resemble ashlar; and genuine ashlar was used for the late 19th-century extensions.[7] The concrete section has stone quoins at the corners.[5][8] The south façade, facing Eastern Road, has lancet windows and small buttresses, and the north face is identical. The tower, topped with a spire,[16] stands at the west end and also has lancets and corner buttresses; it is flanked by porches. All roofs are of slate.[7]
As originally designed, the nave and its adjacent aisles consisted of one open-plan area demarcated by narrow cast iron columns and piers.[7][16] A stone chancel arch led to W. Gilbee Scott's chancel, with one bay and a window with tracery work. The vestry was on the north side of the chancel, opposite the organ chamber.[7] The galleries, altered and mostly removed during the 1891–1892 work, originally ran round three sides of the interior and were held up by fluted columns.[8]
The church today
St Mark's Church was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 26 August 1999.[7] It is one of 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of Brighton and Hove.[18]
St Mary's Hall School now owns the church. Reverend Henry Venn Elliott founded the school, which opened on 1 August 1836, and commissioned George Basevi to design it. He used the Early Tudor style, and the building cost £4,250 (£426,000 in 2022),[4] over half of which was paid by Reverend Elliott. Many extensions have been built subsequently.[6][19] The school made some internal alterations to the church to allow part of it to be used as an arts centre and concert hall, but its main function is still religious.[6][11][15] More extensive alterations are planned, for which planning permission has been granted; the arts centre area is to be extended and opened to groups from outside the school.[20]
Brighton Polytechnic. School of Architecture and Interior Design (1987). A Guide to the Buildings of Brighton. Macclesfield: McMillan Martin. ISBN1-869865-03-0.
Carder, Timothy (1990). The Encyclopaedia of Brighton. Lewes: East Sussex County Libraries. ISBN0-86147-315-9.
Kemp Town Estate, also known as Kemp Town, is a 19th-century Regency architecture residential estate in the east of Brighton in East Sussex, England, UK. It consists of Arundel Terrace, Lewes Crescent, Sussex Square, Chichester Terrace, and the Kemp Town Enclosures. The estate was conceived and financed by Thomas Read Kemp, designed by Charles Busby and Amon Henry Wilds, and constructed by Thomas Cubitt. Work began in 1823 and it was completed in 1855. It has given its name to the larger Kemptown region of Brighton.
St. Michael's Church is an Anglican church in Brighton, England, dating from the mid-Victorian era. Located on Victoria Road in the Montpelier area, to the east of Montpelier Road, it is one of the largest churches in the city of Brighton and Hove. The church is a Grade I listed building.
St George's Church is an Anglican church in the Kemptown area of Brighton, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was built at the request of Thomas Read Kemp, who had created and financed the Kemp Town estate on the cliffs east of Brighton in the early 19th century, and is now regarded as the parish church of the wider Kemptown area. It is a Grade II listed building.
St Andrew's Church is an Anglican church in Church Road, Hove, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is usually referred to as St Andrew to distinguish it from another St Andrew's Church in Waterloo Street, elsewhere in Hove. It served as Hove's parish church for several centuries until 1892, although the building was in a state of near-ruin until Hove began to grow from an isolated village to a popular residential area in the early 19th century.
St John the Baptist's Church is a Roman Catholic church in the Kemptown area of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was the first Roman Catholic church built in Brighton after the process of Catholic Emancipation in the early 19th century removed restrictions on Catholic worship. Located on Bristol Road, a main road east of the city centre, it is one of 11 Catholic churches in Brighton and Hove. The Classical-style building, which was funded by Maria Fitzherbert and completed in 1835, has been listed at Grade II* by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.
All Saints Church is the Anglican parish church of Patcham, an ancient Sussex village which is now part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. A place of worship has existed on the hilltop site for about 1,000 years, but the present building has Norman internal features and a 13th-century exterior. Several rounds of restoration in the Victorian era included some structural additions. A wide range of monuments and wall paintings survive inside, including one commemorating Richard Shelley—owner of nearby Patcham Place and one of the most important noblemen in the early history of Brighton. The church, which is Grade II* listed, continues to serve as the Anglican place of worship for residents of Patcham, which 20th-century residential development has transformed from a vast rural parish into a large outer suburb of Brighton.
St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Rottingdean, in the city of Brighton and Hove, England. It is the parish church of Rottingdean, which became part of the former Borough of Brighton in 1928. Parts of the structure date from the 13th century, and it is a Grade II* listed building.
St Wulfran's Church, dedicated to the 7th-century French archbishop Wulfram of Sens, is an Anglican church in Ovingdean, a rural village now within the English city of Brighton and Hove. Parts of the structure date from the early 12th century, and the church is listed at Grade I, a designation used for buildings "of outstanding architectural or historic interest".
St Andrew's Church is a former Anglican church in the Brunswick Town area of Hove, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is in the care of the Churches Conservation Trust, the national charity protecting historic churches at risk.
The former Holy Trinity Church is a closed Anglican church in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Established in the early 19th century by Thomas Read Kemp, an important figure in Brighton's early political and religious life, it was originally an independent Nonconformist chapel but became an Anglican chapel of ease when Kemp returned to the Church of England. The church closed in 1984, but was converted into a museum and later an art gallery. Reflecting its architectural and historical importance, it has been listed at Grade II since 1981.
St Mary's Church is an Anglican church in the Kemptown area of Brighton, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. The present building dates from the late 1870s and replaced a church of the same name which suddenly collapsed while being renovated. The Gothic-style red-brick building, whose style resembles Early English revival and French Gothic revival, is now a Grade II* listed building, and remains in use despite threats of closure.
St Peter's Church is a former Anglican church in the Preston Village area of Brighton, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. The 13th-century building, standing on the site of two older churches, was restored in the late 19th century and again after a serious fire in 1906. It was the parish church of Preston until 1908, when the newly built St John the Evangelist's Church gained this status. The Diocese of Chichester declared St Peter's redundant in 1990, and it is now owned by the Churches Conservation Trust. It has Grade II* listed status, reflecting its architectural and historical importance.
St Mary Magdalen's Church is a Roman Catholic church in the Montpelier area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Dedicated to Jesus' companion Mary Magdalene, it is one of six Roman Catholic churches in Brighton and one of eleven in the city area. Built by ecclesiastical architect Gilbert Blount in a 13th-century Gothic style to serve the rapidly expanding residential area on the border of Brighton and Hove, it has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage in view of its architectural importance. An adjacent presbytery and parish hall have been listed separately at Grade II.
The Union Chapel, also known as the Union Street Chapel, Elim Free Church, Four Square Gospel Tabernacle or Elim Tabernacle of the Four Square Gospel, is a former chapel in the centre of Brighton, a constituent part of the city of Brighton and Hove, England. After three centuries of religious use by various congregations, the chapel—which had been Brighton's first Nonconformist place of worship—passed into secular use in 1988 when it was converted into a pub. It was redesigned in 1825, at the height of Brighton's Georgian building boom, by at least one of the members of the Wilds–Busby architectural partnership, Brighton's pre-eminent designers and builders of the era, but may retain some 17th-century parts. It has been listed at Grade II in view of its architectural importance.
Bristol Road Methodist Church is a former Methodist place of worship in the Kemptown area of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in 1873 to an Italian Romanesque Revival design, it served this part of eastern Brighton for more than a century until its closure in 1989, after which it became a recording studio. It is owned by Brighton College, an independent school based nearby. The building has been listed at Grade II in view of its architectural importance.
The English coastal city of Brighton and Hove, made up of the formerly separate Boroughs of Brighton and Hove in East Sussex, has a wide range of cemeteries throughout its urban area. Many were established in the mid-19th century, a time in which the Victorian "cult of death" encouraged extravagant, expensive memorials set in carefully cultivated landscapes which were even recommended as tourist attractions. Some of the largest, such as the Extra Mural Cemetery and the Brighton and Preston Cemetery, were set in particularly impressive natural landscapes. Brighton and Hove City Council, the local authority responsible for public services in the city, manages seven cemeteries, one of which also has the city's main crematorium. An eighth cemetery and a second crematorium are owned by a private company. Many cemeteries are full and no longer accept new burials. The council maintains administrative offices and a mortuary at the Woodvale Cemetery, and employs a coroner and support staff.
John Leopold DenmanFRIBA was an architect from the English seaside resort of Brighton, now part of the city of Brighton and Hove. He had a prolific career in the area during the 20th century, both on his own and as part of the Denman & Son firm in partnership with his son John Bluet Denman. Described as "the master of ... mid-century Neo-Georgian", Denman was responsible for a range of commercial, civic and religious buildings in Brighton, and pubs and hotels there and elsewhere on the south coast of England on behalf of Brighton's Kemp Town Brewery. He used other architectural styles as well, and was responsible for at least one mansion, several smaller houses, various buildings in cemeteries and crematoria, and alterations to many churches. His work on church restorations has been praised, and he has been called "the leading church architect of his time in Sussex"; he also wrote a book on the ecclesiastical architecture of the county.
Henry Michell Wagner (1792–1870) was a Church of England clergyman who was Vicar of Brighton between 1824 and 1870. He was a descendant of Melchior Wagner, hatmaker to the Royal Family, and married into a wealthy Sussex family who had a longstanding ecclesiastical connection with Brighton. Wagner paid for and oversaw the building of five churches in the rapidly growing seaside resort, and "dominated religious life in the town" with his forceful personality and sometimes controversial views and actions. His son Arthur Wagner (1824–1902) continued the family's close association with Brighton.
St Mary's Hall,Brighton, Sussex, England, was an independent secondary girls' school from 1836 to 2009.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply. Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
