The Dorset Gardens Methodist Church is a

Methodist Methodism, also called the Methodist movement, is a group of historically related denominations of Protestant Christianity whose origins, doctrine and practice derive from the life and teachings of John Wesley. George Whitefield and John's ...

church in the Kemptown area of the city of

Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove () is a city and unitary authority in East Sussex, England. It consists primarily of the settlements of Brighton and Hove, alongside neighbouring villages. Often referred to synonymously as Brighton, the City of Brighton and H ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. Although it is a modern building—completed in 2003—it is the third Methodist place of worship on the site: it replaced an older, larger church which was in turn a rebuilding of Brighton's first Methodist church. Between them, the churches have played an important part in the history of Methodism in Brighton.

History

On 26 August 1808, Brighton's first Methodist church opened on the west side of Dorset Gardens, a street running northwards from St James's Street—a main route eastwards out of Brighton. The opposite side of Dorset Gardens had been developed with large houses in the 1790s. The church, which followed the

Wesleyan Wesleyan theology, otherwise known as Wesleyan– Arminian theology, or Methodist theology, is a theological tradition in Protestant Christianity based upon the ministry of the 18th-century evangelical reformer brothers John Wesley and Charle ...

Methodist doctrine, was built in red brick with rounded windows and a square entrance porch, Three of the four interior sides of the square building were galleried, and the church's choir occupied one section. In about 1840, a hall, gas lighting, new entrance (leading on to Dorset Gardens itself) and pipe 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. Another red-brick building, somewhat larger and with an

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

tower, was designed and constructed by

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

-based architect C. O. Ellison in 1884, with a new organ and electric lighting added in 1894. The brick was set off by

terracotta Terracotta, terra cotta, or terra-cotta (; ; ), in its material sense as an earthenware substrate, is a clay-based unglazed or glazed ceramic where the fired body is porous. In applied art, craft, construction, and architecture, terracotta ...

dressings at regular intervals, and the overall style appears to have been influenced by

Renaissance architecture Renaissance architecture is the European architecture of the period between the early 15th and early 16th centuries in different regions, demonstrating a conscious revival and development of certain elements of Ancient Greece, ancient Greek and ...

. A large extension was built on the south side in 1929, and it is this part of the site upon which the present church stands. This was opened in April 2003, three years after the 1884 building was demolished, and cost £1.6 million. Between 1967 and August, 1975, Frank Thewlis was minister at the church, preaching on Sunday mornings. He also preached weekly at the

Brighton Dome The Brighton Dome is an arts venue in Brighton, England, that contains the Concert Hall, the Corn Exchange and the Studio Theatre (formerly the Pavilion Theatre). All three venues are linked to the rest of the Royal Pavilion Estate by a tunnel t ...

Concert Hall on Sunday evenings during that period. The church is licensed for worship in accordance with the

Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 The Places of Worship Registration Act 1855 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom which governs the registration and legal recognition of places of worship. It applies only in England and Wales, and does not cover the Church of Englan ...

and has the registration number 61833.

Architecture

At street level the church protrudes onto the pavement and is constructed of squared cut

knapped Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing w ...

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

; the upper storeys are constructed in red brick and concrete with large areas of glass and a mostly tiled exterior. The interior has many rooms and configurations, and the top floor is partly lit by a glass-faced tower. The design, created by a

Worthing Worthing () is a seaside town in West Sussex, England, at the foot of the South Downs, west of Brighton, and east of Chichester. With a population of 111,400 and an area of , the borough is the second largest component of the Brighton and Ho ...

-based firm, won a local award in 2003.

The church today

As well as weekly

services Service may refer to: Activities * Administrative service, a required part of the workload of university faculty * Civil service, the body of employees of a government * Community service, volunteer service for the benefit of a community or a p ...

and prayer evenings, a wide range of community activities take place weekly or monthly, including exercise classes, Scout meetings, Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and a weekly lunch club for the local HIV-positive community.

Footnotes

Bibliography

* {{Authority control Churches in Brighton and Hove Churches completed in 2003 Methodist churches in East Sussex 19th-century Methodist church buildings 21st-century churches in the United Kingdom 21st-century Methodist church buildings

History

Architecture

The church today

See also

Footnotes

Bibliography