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.
Although evidence of Neolithic settlement has been found in the area now occupied by the city,[2] Brighton started to develop as a fishing village in the 12th century. Fishermen's houses were clustered together below the cliffs on the English Channel coast, a parish church (St Nicholas' Church) was built on higher ground to the northwest, and development gradually spread to the land immediately above the cliffs. By the 17th century, four streets named after the cardinal directions formed the boundaries of the village.[3]
Until that time, St Nicholas' Church was the only place of worship in Brighton.[4] Nationally, only the Church of England was recognised as legitimate. Various Acts of Parliament proscribed Roman Catholic and Nonconformist worship: in particular, the Conventicle Act 1664 prevented groups of non-Anglican Christians meeting for worship.[5][6] By about 1660, however, a Nonconformist community had developed sufficiently to be able to found a school. A religious census carried out in 1676 found 260 Nonconformists,[7] 8% of the village's population of 3,340.[8] As restrictions on their religious practices eased, a chapel was built; this was initially used by Presbyterians.[4] It was built in the heart of the old village on a street which was later named Union Street in reference to the chapel.[5] Sources disagree on the date of its founding and construction. Many identify 1683,[4][9][10][11] others prefer 1698,[5][6][12] and 1688 has also been put forward as the date of construction[13] or the date the land was sold to the Presbyterian community.[5] A foundation stone still exists in the south wall, but its date has been identified as either 1683[11] or 1688.[5]
The east wall, in a traditional Sussex style with cobbled stones, flints and red brick dressings
In its early years, the chapel was used exclusively by Presbyterians; but its first permanent minister—Reverend John Duke, who was in charge between 1698 and 1745—allowed Independent Christian ministers to hold services there as well. The name "Union Chapel" was adopted to reflect the coming together of the different denominations.[5] The name "Union Street Chapel" was also used occasionally after the street took that name.[14]
In around 1800, a house was constructed next to the chapel for the incumbent minister to live in, and burials began to be made in the former yard area behind the building. About ten years later, the chapel was extended; the east wall, built of cobbled stones and flints with red-brick dressings in a style found frequently in Sussex, may date from that redevelopment,[14] although other sources state it may have been part of the original 17th-century structure.[6][11]
Brighton grew rapidly, from its original fishing village status to a fashionable town and seaside resort, from the second half of the 18th century, helped by royal patronage, local doctor Richard Russell's advocacy of sea-bathing and seawater-drinking as a cure for various ailments, and improved transport connections to London and other places.[9][15] By the early 19th century, demand for new buildings—especially in the fashionable Regency style—was very high, and a group of three builders and architects, who worked together and separately at different times, became the most significant contributors to Brighton's building stock of the period.[16]Amon Wilds and his son Amon Henry Wilds, together with Charles Busby, were responsible for developments such as Kemp Town, the Brunswick estate, Regency Square, the Royal Albion Hotel and various churches.[17] The Union Chapel was completely redesigned in 1825 in a Classical style with Greek Revival and Egyptian Revival elements, and at least one member of the group was responsible; but there is disagreement over their respective contributions. Most sources identify Amon Wilds as being solely responsible;[10][11][13][18][19][20] others name Charles Busby on his own,[6] in collaboration with Amon Henry Wilds,[1][14] or even together with Amon Wilds senior.[12] Research by English Heritage in 1992 suggested that ascribing the work to Amon Wilds senior was a mistake; that the design was created by Charles Busby in 1825 when he was still in partnership with Amon Henry Wilds; that both men signed it; and that after the partnership was split up later in 1825, Wilds took responsibility for the work.[1]
Memorial tablet to Henry Varley, a preacher during the Glynn Vivian Miners' Mission era
At the time of the reconstruction, the chapel was still in use by both Presbyterians and Independents, but by 1838 it was used solely by the latter. This development came during the 37-year incumbency of Reverend John Nelson Goulty, who became the minister in 1824.[14] Reverend George Wade Robinson, a well-respected preacher (The Philosophy of the Atonement & Other Sermons, E.P. Dutton Co. New York, 1912), poet, and hymn writer (I am His and He is mine, often sung to a tune by Rev. James Mountain), is known to have preached here in the early 1870s. Some interior remodelling was carried out in 1875, and a new minister—Reverend Reginald Campbell—reinvigorated the chapel's fortunes at the end of the 19th century after a period of stagnation.[21][22] Around the same time, another Nonconfirmist chapel in Brighton—the Queen Square Congregational Church, founded in 1853—was experiencing falling congregations, and sought a merger with the Union Chapel, whose ecclesiastical practices were compatible. The churches merged in around 1898; Reverend Campbell was the minister. The name "Union Church" was adopted.[22]
In 1905, the congregation moved permanently to the larger church on Queen Square, after a period in which both buildings were used, and Union Chapel was sold and became an Evangelicalmission hall—the Glynn Vivian Miners' Mission. It was sponsored by Glynn Vivian, a Welsh industrialist. He was converted to Evangelical Christianity while staying in Brighton after suddenly losing his sight, and devoted the rest of his life to improving the working and spiritual lives of miners in Britain and elsewhere.[23] The Union Chapel was the base for this work from 1905 until 1927[1] or 1931,[23] when the Elim Pentecostal Church bought it. It became known as the Elim Free Church or the Elim Tabernacle of the Four Square Gospel, and internal alterations removed almost all the interior fittings from the 1825 reconstruction.[23] In September 1988, the Elim congregation left the building and it was put up for sale again, with the expectation that it would become a restaurant or pub—ending 300 years of religious worship on the site.[1][6][12] The building was acquired by the Firkin Brewery, a pub chain established in 1979 which was experiencing significant growth by the early 1990s. They named it the "Font & Firkin", and installed a microbrewery on site.[24]
Architecture
Engraving by William Alexander showing post-1823 arrangement, attributed to "H. Wilds, Architect"
The building is a dominant presence on the north side of Union Street,[10] now a very narrow pedestrianised passage in the heart of The Lanes, the series of passageways lined with old buildings which formed the centre of the ancient village.[6] The tall, wide, stuccoed façade, facing south, is in the Greek Revival style, with Doricpilasters, a triglyph and a large pediment—in keeping with many of the Wilds–Busby partnership's Regency era buildings in Brighton; but the two doorways and three windows are tapered from bottom to top, a feature associated with Egyptian Revival architecture.[10][12][14][20] The roof is partly gabled.[1] The east wall, facing Meeting House Lane, pre-dates the 1825 work on the main façade; it consists of cobbled stonework and flints in a regular pattern, with red-brick dressings at the corners and around the arch-headed sash windows on the ground floor and the larger rectangular first-floor sash windows.[1][11]
The interior has been changed since the building entered commercial use. There had been a gallery around three sides, reached by a pair of staircases from immediately inside the doorways. The gallery was held up by a series of cast iron columns with decorative capitals,[14] and was the only 19th-century feature to survive during the Elim congregation's occupancy.[23] The pulpit had stood in the centre of three arches in the north wall.[25] Pews were arranged in a semicircle facing it.[10][20]
The building today
After the Elim congregation vacated the building, it was converted into a large pub, the Font & Firkin—part of the former Firkin Brewery chain.[26] This was later disestablished, 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.[24] The pub is still open and now trading as simply The Font.
The building was listed at Grade II on 20 August 1971.[1] 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.[27]
A Guide to the Buildings of Brighton. School of Architecture and Interior Design, Brighton Polytechnic. Macclesfield: McMillan Martin. 1987. ISBN1-869865-03-0.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: others (link)
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 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 Brighton Unitarian Church, previously known as Christ Church, is a Unitarian chapel in Brighton, England. Built in 1820 by prolific local architect Amon Henry Wilds on land sold to the fledgling Unitarian community by the Prince Regent, the stuccoed Greek Revival building occupies a prominent position near the corner of Church Road and New Road in the centre of Brighton, near the Royal Pavilion and the city's main theatres. It has had Grade II listed status since 1952. It is a member of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella organisation for British Unitarians.
The former Holy Trinity Church, a closed Anglican church in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove, now serves as an art gallery. 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.
There are 24 Grade I listed buildings in the city of Brighton and Hove, England. The city, on the English Channel coast approximately 52 miles (84 km) south of London, was formed as a unitary authority in 1997 by the merger of the neighbouring towns of Brighton and Hove. Queen Elizabeth II granted city status in 2000.
Amon Henry Wilds was an English architect. He was part of a team of three architects and builders who—working together or independently at different times—were almost solely responsible for a surge in residential construction and development in early 19th-century Brighton, which until then had been a small but increasingly fashionable seaside resort on the East Sussex coast. In the 1820s, when Wilds, his father Amon Wilds and Charles Busby were at their most active, nearly 4,000 new houses were built, along with many hotels, churches and venues for socialising; most of these still survive, giving Brighton a distinctive Regency-era character, and many are listed buildings.
Amon Wilds was an English architect and builder. He formed an architectural partnership with his son Amon Henry Wilds in 1806 and started working in the fashionable and growing seaside resort of Brighton, on the East Sussex coast, in 1815. After 1822, when the father-and-son partnership met and joined up with Charles Busby, they were commissioned—separately or jointly—to design a wide range of buildings in the town, which was experiencing an unprecedented demand for residential development and other facilities. Wilds senior also carried out much work on his own, but the description "Wilds and Busby" was often used on designs, making individual attribution difficult. Wilds senior and his partners are remembered most for his work in post-Regency Brighton, where most of their houses, churches and hotels built in a bold Regency style remain—in particular, the distinctive and visionary Kemp Town and Brunswick estates on the edges of Brighton, whose constituent parts are Grade I listed buildings.
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.
Sussex Heights is a residential tower block in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built between 1966 and 1968 on the site of a historic church, it rises to 102 m (335 ft) and has 116 flats. As of August 2022, the tower is the 125th tallest building in the UK, and until 2005 it was the tallest residential tower in the UK outside of London. Until 2015, it was the tallest structure in Brighton, however it has now been exceeded by the i360 Tower, which stands at 162 metres.
Billingshurst Unitarian Chapel is a place of worship in Billingshurst in the English county of West Sussex. The cottage-like building was erected in 1754 for General Baptists, hence its original name of the Billingshurst General Baptist Chapel, but the congregation moved towards Unitarian beliefs in the 19th century, and still maintain these. It is a member of General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches, the umbrella body for British Unitarians.
Horsham Unitarian Church is a Unitarian chapel in Horsham in the English county of West Sussex. It was founded in 1719 to serve the large Baptist population of the ancient market town of Horsham—home of radical preacher Matthew Caffyn—and the surrounding area. The chapel's congregation moved towards Unitarian beliefs in the 19th century, but the simple brick building continued to serve worshippers drawn from a wide area of Sussex. It is one of several places of worship which continue to represent Horsham's centuries-old tradition of Protestant Nonconformism, and is the town's second oldest surviving religious building—only St Mary's, the parish church, predates it. English Heritage has listed the chapel at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
Ditchling Unitarian Chapel is a Unitarian chapel in Ditchling, a village in the English county of East Sussex. A congregation of General Baptists began to meet in the 17th century in the village, which was a local centre for Protestant Nonconformist worship, and by the time the present simple Vernacular-style chapel was constructed in 1740 a large proportion of the population held Baptist beliefs. Along with other General Baptist chapels in Sussex, the congregation moved towards Unitarian views in the mid-18th century; this caused a schism which resulted in a new chapel being formed at nearby Wivelsfield. The character of the Ditchling chapel was wholly Unitarian by 1800, and it has continued under various names since then. People associated with the chapel include William Hale White, Henry Acton, Adrian Boult—who was married there—and G. K. Chesterton. The chapel is set back from Ditchling's main street and has an adjoining house and graveyard, all of which contribute to the character of the conservation area which covers the centre of Ditchling village. English Heritage has listed the chapel at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
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.
Gothic House is a Gothic-style building in the centre of Brighton, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Although it has been in commercial use for more than a century, it retains some of its original appearance as "one of the most fascinating houses" built by the prolific partnership of Amon Henry Wilds and Charles Busby. It is the only Gothic Revival building they are known to have designed: they typically adopted the Regency style, sometimes with Classical or Italianate touches. The building is Grade II listed.
Horatio Nelson Goulty was an English architect. He designed several buildings in Brighton and was an important figure in the town's public affairs in the early Victorian era.
John Nelson Goulty was an English Nonconformist Christian pastor. He is best known for his sermons against mandatory tithing to the Church of England and against colonial slavery. After early work at Nonconformist chapels in Godalming and Henley-on-Thames, he moved to Brighton where he became "one of the most important persons" in the 300-year history of the town's Union Chapel. He also helped to found schools and a cemetery in Brighton.
Montpelier Place Baptist Church, originally known as the Baptist Tabernacle, is a former Baptist church in the Montpelier area of Brighton, part of the English seaside city of Brighton and Hove. It opened in 1967 to replace a 140-year predecessor on West Street in central Brighton, but was closed in 2012 and demolished over the 2017–2018 Christmas and New Year period. Houses and flats now occupy the site; the development was completed in December 2019.
Public houses, popularly known as pubs, are a significant feature of the history and culture of the English seaside resort of Brighton. The earliest pubs trace their history back to the 16th and 17th centuries, when present-day Brighton was a fishing village. Several coaching inns were founded in the 18th century as transport improved and communications with other towns developed, and around the same time other pubs became established in the fashionable Old Steine area in Brighton's early years as a resort. Many new pubs, originally beerhouses, were established after an Act of Parliament in 1830 loosened restrictions; two of these "Beerhouse Act" pubs remain in business. In the following decade the opening of Brighton's railway station provided another major boost to the pub trade, and by the late 19th century there were nearly 800 licensed venues in the town. Numbers declined gradually—as late as 1958 there was said to be "one pub for every day of the year"—and by the early 21st century around 300 pubs were still trading, with others having closed but surviving in alternative use.
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.
