St Andrew's Church is a former Anglican church in the Brunswick Town area of

Hove Hove is a seaside resort and one of the two main parts of the city of Brighton and Hove, along with Brighton in East Sussex, England. Originally a "small but ancient fishing village" surrounded by open farmland, it grew rapidly in the 19th c ...

, part of the English 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 ...

. It is in the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

, the national charity protecting historic churches at risk. Although declared redundant in 1990, it was one of the area's most fashionable places of worship in the 19th century, when it was built to serve the wealthy residents of the Brunswick estate and surrounding areas. It is listed at Grade I, a designation used for buildings "of outstanding architectural or historic interest".

History

The area between Brighton, to the east, and the ancient centre of Hove, to the west, was farmland until the 1820s, when Brunswick Town was developed in response to the success of the

Kemp Town 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 ...

estate in Brighton—a planned estate of high-class houses, servants' quarters and other buildings, all in the Regency style. Architect Charles Busby planned and built the Brunswick Town estate, which (together with other nearby residential development) helped the population of Hove to rise from 100 in 1801 to 2,500 in 1841. The only church nearby was St Andrew's, the ancient parish church; this was some distance away and had fallen into near-dereliction. The curate of the (now demolished) St Margaret's Church in Cannon Place, Brighton, Rev. Edward Everard, owned some land near the former Wick Farm, on which the Brunswick Town estate had been built. He was aware that there was no plan to build a church in the estate, so he decided to build a proprietary chapel on his land. Rev. Everard knew Charles Busby, but they had fallen out after a disagreement in 1824 over the commission for the

Sussex County Hospital The Royal Sussex County Hospital is an acute teaching hospital in Brighton, England. Together with the Princess Royal Hospital, it is administered by the University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust. The services provided at the hospital in ...

(now the Royal Sussex County Hospital) in Brighton: Everard was overruled by other members of the planning committee and had to break his promise that Busby would be allowed to design it. Therefore, Everard looked for a different architect to design and build the church, and

Charles Barry Sir Charles Barry (23 May 1795 – 12 May 1860) was a British architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster (also known as the Houses of Parliament) in London during the mid-19th century, but also respons ...

—who had already built the hospital and St Peter's Church in Brighton—was chosen. The church has a blue plaque commemorating Barry. Construction started in April 1827. Everard was granted an

Act of Parliament Acts of Parliament, sometimes referred to as primary legislation, are texts of law passed by the Legislature, legislative body of a jurisdiction (often a parliament or council). In most countries with a parliamentary system of government, acts of ...

on 3 April 1828 giving him and his successors ownership of the church, the right to appoint a curate for the next 40 years, and two-thirds of income from pew rents and other sources. Everard himself acted as the first curate, from the church's consecration on 5 July 1828 until 1838, one year before his death. St Andrew's immediately became popular with the fashionable set, helped by the regular presence of members of the Royal Family and the aristocracy. Among the many Dukes and Duchesses to worship there in the mid-19th century was the elderly

Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge Prince Adolphus, Duke of Cambridge, (Adolphus Frederick; 24 February 1774 – 8 July 1850) was the tenth child and seventh son of the British king George III and Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz. He held the title of Duke of Cambridge from 18 ...

, who often made loud and sometimes eccentric comments and remarks during services. Between 300 and 350 people regularly worshipped at the church in 1851 according to a census taken during that year; there were 420 pews, 340 of which were subject to pew rents. The interior was reordered in 1869, with new open benches installed in place of individual seats. A more radical change took place in 1882, when the church was extended at a cost of £7,000 (£2,000 to buy and demolish an adjacent stable block and £5,000 for the construction work); Charles Barry's son

Edward Middleton Barry Edward Middleton Barry RA (7 June 1830 – 27 January 1880) was an English architect of the 19th century. Biography Edward Barry was the third son of Sir Charles Barry, born in his father's house, 27 Foley Place, London. In infancy he was ...

added a chancel, a sanctuary with

Ionic columns The Ionic order is one of the three canonic orders of classical architecture, the other two being the Doric and the Corinthian. There are two lesser orders: the Tuscan (a plainer Doric), and the rich variant of Corinthian called the composite ...

, an illuminated dome and space for an organ. Although the organ is no longer in place, its case has been retained. A pulpit had been donated in 1918, and more additions were made in the 1920s, including enlargements to the altar case, a pedimented baldacchino above the altar, a marble font with its own baldacchino, new stained glass windows and new, clearer

Venetian glass Venetian glass () is glassware made in Venice, typically on the island of Murano near the city. Traditionally it is made with a soda–lime "metal" and is typically elaborately decorated, with various "hot" glass-forming techniques, as well as ...

surrounding these. The changes cost £4,000. The stated intention was to brighten the interior of the church and "create a little piece of Italy" within the

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 ...

building. The church remained in use until the late 20th century, but was declared redundant on 14 February 1990 because of declining attendance at services. The decline had set in several decades earlier, and the Diocese were considering demolition; the granting of Grade I-listed status on 24 March 1950 meant this could not happen. The

now owns and maintains the building. Squatters caused damage during the 1990s, but restoration work in 2001 and 2002, costing more than £100,000, allowed the building to be reopened for occasional services, special events and community activities. The church was always unparished, having been built as a chapel of ease to St Andrew's in Church Road. Starting September 22, 2013 the Church has been used monthly as the venue for the Brighton and Hove Chapter of

The Sunday Assembly Sunday Assembly is a non-religious gathering co-founded by Sanderson Jones and Pippa Evans in January 2013 in London, England. The gathering is mostly for non-religious people who want a similar communal experience to a religious church, thoug ...

Architecture

The exterior, facing west, is the first example in England of the

Italianate style 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 R ...

being used on a church. Originally, the interior was less grand, with no

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

, simple pulpits and a single gallery, making it a plain, box-like preaching-house. The building materials used for the exterior are brick and ashlar. The entrance door is set beneath a round-headed arched opening between twin

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s, the outer pair of which serve as

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th century encyclopedia, t ...

for the adjacent recessed walls. There is a small domed bell tower with a lead roof and clock faces, containing a bell cast in 1930 as a replacement for an early 19th-century predecessor (this bore an inscription dated 1811). In its present form, the interior consists of a gallery at the west end,

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s on two sides, a

, a side chapel in the southeast corner and a

vestry A vestry was a committee for the local secular and ecclesiastical government for a parish in England, Wales and some English colonies which originally met in the vestry or sacristy of the parish church, and consequently became known colloquiall ...

in the northeast, with Italianate top-lighting and domes. The

narthex The narthex is an architectural element typical of early Christian and Byzantine basilicas and churches consisting of the entrance or lobby area, located at the west end of the nave, opposite the church's main altar. Traditionally the narthex ...

, from where a stone staircase leads up to the gallery, is also top-lit, and now contains most of the church's memorial stones; these were moved there from the body of the church after it was declared redundant. Five, including memorials commemorating

Lord Charles Somerset Lord Charles Henry Somerset PC (12 December 1767 – 18 February 1831), born in Badminton, England, was a British soldier, politician and colonial administrator.Charles Mosley, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volu ...

and Sir George Dallas, 1st Baronet, remain in the nave, however. St Andrew's is the only church in Hove to have

burial vaults A burial vault (also known as a burial liner, grave vault, and grave liner) is a container, formerly made of wood or brick but more often today made of metal or concrete, that encloses a coffin to help prevent a grave from sinking. Wooden coffin ...

beneath it. Space for burials was restricted in the Brunswick Town area by the time the church was built, because of the rapid residential development, and the churchyard at St Andrew's on Church Road was difficult to get to.

, an M.P. who later became Governor of the

Cape Colony The Cape Colony ( nl, Kaapkolonie), also known as the Cape of Good Hope, was a British colony in present-day South Africa named after the Cape of Good Hope, which existed from 1795 to 1802, and again from 1806 to 1910, when it united with t ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the Atlantic Ocean, South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the ...

, was the first person to be buried in the vault, in 1831. A court order in 1854 prevented any more burials being made, and the vaults were used as air-raid shelters during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Andrews Church Waterloo Street Hove Church of England church buildings in Brighton and Hove Hove, St Andrew Churches completed in 1827 19th-century Church of England church buildings Grade I listed buildings in Brighton and Hove Hove, St Andrew Former churches in Brighton and Hove Former Church of England church buildings 1827 establishments in England

History

Architecture

See also

Notes

Bibliography