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.
As early as 928, when it was first described in writing, Hastings was an important town. Its position on the English Channel coast at the bottom of a narrow valley gave it strategic advantages, and it was a successful fishing port and the chief Cinque Port.[1] The seven medieval churches it supported by the late 13th century had declined to two—All Saints and St Clement's—by 1801,[2] but by then the town was about to enter its most rapid period of growth, which saw it expand well beyond the confines of the Bourne valley. Daytrippers, holidaymakers and permanent residents were attracted by better transport links (especially from London) and the prestige of royal patronage (conferred by visits by various members of the British royal family), and London builder and speculator James Burton conceived and laid out a whole new town, St Leonards-on-Sea, immediately west of Hastings in the 1820s to create an upper-class rival to the old resort.[1]
Silverhill was one of the first suburbs to develop during the 19th-century growth period. Originally part of the ancient manor of Stone,[3] the land belonging to the farm from which the area takes its name was gradually sold off for development from the 1850s, when its owner faced financial difficulties.[4] Development had first been stimulated by the building of two turnpikes in quick succession—one to Sedlescombe in 1837 and another to Battle the following year—which significantly shortened the distance from St Leonards-on-Sea and Hastings respectively to London.[5] Housing, inns, a hotel, a brickworks and a windmill were built around the junction of these two routes.[6]
The first Christian presence in Silverhill was the Silver Hill Independent Chapel, which started in a rented room in 1853, moved to a proper chapel in 1857 and joined the English Presbyterian Church (as Silverhill Presbyterian Church) in 1862.[7] The nearest Anglican churches, at Hollington (Church in the Wood) and St Leonards-on-Sea (St Leonard's Church), were distant, and their vicars antagonised local residents by criticising and threatening them for attending the independent chapel's meetings instead.[8] The Anglican community realised the need to establish a church of their own in Silverhill.[9] Rev. John Cumberlege (or Cumberledge), a retired vicar, lived in a large villa with substantial gardens in the centre of Silverhill. He donated some of his land to allow a church to be built, and also paid for its construction.[10][11] The first St Matthew's Church was founded on that saint's feast day, 21 September 1860; local philanthropist and church benefactor Sarah Waldegrave, Countess Waldegrave (widow of a former Mayor of Hastings) laid the first stone.[9] George Voysey, a local architect, designed the stone, brick and stucco building, which opened for worship on 16 May 1861.[10][12][13]
St Matthew's was in the parish of St Leonard's Church at first, but in 1870 an Act of Parliament separated it from its mother church and gave it a parish of its own. At the same time, Rev. Cumberlege's widow, who held the advowson of the church, donated £3,000 (£305,400 in 2024)[14] to offset the costs of construction.[15] Some of this was used to add a tower and porch to the building in 1874.[11][16] A school had been founded on the south side of the church as well;[10] in 1878 this moved to a larger site on nearby Strood Road.[17]
St Barnabas Church in Hove, also in East Sussex, was built to a very similar Pearson design in 1882–83.
As Silverhill's growth continued, a larger church building was soon needed. (The population of 73 in 1811 had grown to 183 in 1861; by 1881 there were 1,261 residents.)[18] In 1885, land behind the original church was bought, and the rector Rev. Francis Newton commissioned John Loughborough Pearson—a prominent Gothic Revival architect responsible for Truro Cathedral, Brisbane Cathedral and several churches in Sussex and other parts of Britain—to design a new St Matthew's Church on the steeply sloping site.[17] Rev. Newton had seen Pearson's recently completed church at Hove, St Barnabas, and approved of it; the two churches share many stylistic similarities.[13] The new church, built by a Mr Shillitoe, cost £11,201 (£1,287,200 in 2024)[14] exclusive of the planned tower and spire. Although the stump of a tower was added in 1896 by a different builder (C.W. Pelling Hurrell) but matching Pearson's design, money soon ran out and no more was built. A tiny wooden flèche was added to the roof instead.[13][19][20] The stump of the tower was subsequently converted into a porch.[12]
The original church building, fronting the London Road, was converted into the parish hall after the new church opened; it survived until 1959, when a new hall was built on the same site.[20] Meanwhile, the new church was fitted out with a high-quality organ by the Henry Willis & Sons firm, bought for £1,064 in 1890 (£124,600 in 2024),[14][21] and a stone reredos by Aston Webb, which was acquired in 1900 and dedicated the following year.[12][19] Some stained glass memorial windows were added in 1892,[13] complementing others which had been removed from the 1860 church and reinstalled in the new building.[19]
St Matthew's Church extended its reach further northwards in 1912 by founding a mission chapel on Duke Road (at 50°52′14″N0°33′26″E / 50.8705°N 0.5573°E / 50.8705; 0.5573). The first brick was laid on 27 June 1912 and the building opened soon afterwards as St Matthew's Mission Hall.[22] It later closed and was used as an artificial flower factory, but in 1994 it became a place of worship again when the St Leonards Assemblies of God Pentecostal Church—founded nine years earlier as a house church—bought it. The Pentecostal congregation renamed the building "His Place Community Church Centre".[23] They used it until 2013, when they moved into the former Robertson Street United Reformed Church in Hastings town centre;[24] it was later taken over by Calvary Chapel Hastings, a non-denominational Evangelical group.[25]
Architecture
The east end of St Matthew's Church has a polygonal apse with lancet windows separated by stone shafts. The south transept has paired lancets and a sexfoil window.
St Matthew's Church is a large Early English Gothic revival building with elements of the later Decorated Gothic style.[12][26] John Loughborough Pearson regarded it as one of his cheaper churches in terms of its design: he reused structural and decorative elements from earlier commissions (in particular St Barnabas Church in Hove, completed in 1883), and restricted himself to using red brick and small quantities of stone.[13] Nevertheless, the design is successful: it has been described as "well-proportioned and well-planned",[13] "serious",[27] and "outstanding ... imposing ... [and] architecturally inventive".[19] The steeply sloping site, which elevates the east end well above the level of the London Road, is considered to enhance the effect of the design.[28]
The church has a nave with aisles on both sides, a chancel with a polygonal apse at the east end, transepts, a side chapel and a balancing organ chamber leading off the chancel, a porch on both sides at the west end (one incorporated into the stump of the tower, the other with an adjoining meeting room), a vestry and a small flèche of wood with leaded shingles.[19][26][28] There is a clerestorey between the aisles and the roof: instead of windows, it has blank quatrefoil-shaped panels.[19] Red brick laid in the English bond pattern is the predominant material on the outside, although there are some stone dressings as well; inside, both red and yellow brick is used to create multicoloured decorative bands. The yellow brick was made at Sittingbourne in Kent.[19][26]
All windows are lancets.[26] The three in the north transept are very tall and have two quatrefoils above, while in the south transept two narrower windows with intricate tracery are separated by a thick mullion. There is also a quatrefoil and a sexfoil (six-lobed round window) in this wall.[19][27] The aisles have three-light lancet windows, and there is a large lancet topped by a quatrefoil in the west wall of the nave.[19] The Heaton, Butler and Bayne glass firm designed the stained glass in this window in 1892.[13] Each lancet in the apse is separated by a thin stone shaft inside and out.[19][27] This feature was copied from St Barnabas Church, Hove.[13]
Inside, the lack of a chancel arch creates a large single space, enhanced by the nave and aisles having the same roofline. The roof is timber-framed with king posts, tie-beams and double trusses (in the absence of a chancel arch, these form the only demarcation between the nave and chancel). There is also a smaller timber-framed roof in the separate south chapel.[13][19][26][27]
Fittings include Aston Webb's stone reredos—in a triptych form with carved figures and tracery on each panel—an octagonal carved stone font dating from 1888, the high-quality Willis organ of 1890 (housed in its own chamber off the chancel), and a stone pulpit donated by Rev. Cumberlege's widow and designed by Pearson himself.[13][19]
The church today
The 1912 mission chapel built by St Matthew's Church is now used by Calvary Church Hastings.
St Matthew's Church was listed at Grade B by English Heritage on 14 September 1976, and was later regraded at the equivalent Grade II*.[19] (Grade B was part of an old superseded scale of ratings used only for Anglican churches.)[29] As a Grade II*-listed building, it is considered "particularly important ... [and] of more than special interest".[30] In February 2001, it was one of 13 Grade II* listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings.[31]
The parish covers the same territory as it did when it was created in 1870: the boundaries are St Helen's Road (the A2101) in the east; Briers Road, Perth Road and Stonehouse Drive to the north; the postwar Ponswood industrial estate to the west; and the Bohemia suburb to the south (beyond Springfield Road, Tower Road and Newgate Road).[15][32]
St George's Church is an Anglican church in the East Worthing area of the borough of Worthing, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. Built in 1867–68 to serve new residential development in the southeast of the town, the Decorated Gothic-style structure was extended later in the 19th century, and expanded its reach further by founding three mission halls elsewhere in Worthing. English Heritage has listed it at Grade C for its architectural and historical importance.
St Mary's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Slaugham in Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The 12th- and 13th-century church, restored in the Victorian era, serves a large rural area of the Sussex Weald, covering three villages as well as the ancient settlement of Slaugham. It also controlled the church in the market town of Crawley—now one of the area's largest towns—for the first few centuries of its existence. A locally important family built a private chapel in the church in the 17th century, and a series of memorials to deceased family members are considered to be excellent examples of their type. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.
Ebenezer Particular Baptist Chapel is a former Strict Baptist place of worship in Hastings, East Sussex, England. Founded in 1817 by members of the congregation of an older Baptist chapel in the ancient town, it was extended several times in the 19th century as attendances grew during Hastings' period of rapid growth as a seaside resort. It was closed and converted into a house in the late 20th century, but still stands in a prominent position in Hastings Old Town. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
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.
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.
Church in the Wood, officially known as St Leonard's Church and originally as St Rumbold's Church, is an Anglican church in the Hollington area of the town and borough of Hastings, one of six local government districts in the English county of East Sussex. Although Hollington is now a large suburb, consisting mostly of postwar residential development, the church has stood in isolation in the middle of an ancient wood since it was founded in the 13th century—almost certainly as the successor to an 11th-century chapel. Restoration work in the Victorian era has given the Early English Gothic-style building its present appearance, but some medieval work remains. Legends and miraculous events have been associated with the church, and its secluded situation has been praised by writers including Charles Lamb. The church is a Grade II Listed building.
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 Leonard's Baptist Church is the Baptist place of worship serving St Leonards-on-Sea, a town and seaside resort which is part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. The elaborate building was designed by the architectural firm of Thomas Elworthy, responsible for many churches in late-Victorian era Sussex, and serves the residential hinterland of St Leonards-on-Sea—an area which grew rapidly after its early 19th-century founding by James Burton. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade II 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 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. Historic England 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.
Robertsbridge United Reformed Church is a former United Reformed Church place of worship in Robertsbridge, a village in the district of Rother in the English county of East Sussex. Built for Congregational worshippers in 1881 following their secession from a long-established Wesleyan Methodist chapel, it was the third Nonconformist place of worship in the village, whose nearest parish church was in the neighbouring settlement of Salehurst. Like the former Strict Baptist and Methodist chapels in the village, which have both closed, it no longer serves Robertsbridge as a place of worship. Local architect Thomas Elworthy's distinctive design—a "rich" and highly decorated blend of several styles—has divided opinion amongst architectural historians. English Heritage has listed the church 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 served the parish of St Leonards-on-Sea, covered by the Hastings Archdeaconry. Historic England has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
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 Congregational 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.
South Street Free Church is a church in the centre of Eastbourne, a town and seaside resort in the English county of East Sussex. Originally Congregational, it is now aligned to the Countess of Huntingdon's Connexion—a small group of Evangelical churches founded by Selina Hastings, Countess of Huntingdon during the 18th-century Evangelical Revival. The church was founded in 1897 as an offshoot from an earlier Congregational chapel, and initially met in hired premises. Local architect Henry Ward designed the present church in 1903; the "characterful" and "quirky" Arts and Crafts-style building has been listed at Grade II by Historic England for its architectural and historical importance.
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