St Peter's Church is a former

Anglican Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...

church in the Bohemia area of the town and

seaside resort A seaside resort is a town, village, or hotel that serves as a vacation resort and is located on a coast. Sometimes the concept includes an aspect of official accreditation based on the satisfaction of certain requirements, such as in the Germ ...

of , part of the

Borough A borough is an administrative division in various English-speaking countries. In principle, the term ''borough'' designates a self-governing walled town, although in practice, official use of the term varies widely. History In the Middle Ag ...

Hastings Hastings () is a large seaside town and borough in East Sussex on the south coast of England, east to the county town of Lewes and south east of London. The town gives its name to the Battle of Hastings, which took place to the north-west ...

East Sussex East Sussex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England on the English Channel coast. It is bordered by Kent to the north and east, West Sussex to the west, and Surrey to the north-west. The largest settlement in East Su ...

, 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 John Howell & Son, known as John Howell, was the leading building and engineering company in Hastings, Sussex in the 1860s. Its founder, John Howell Senior (ca.1825−1893) engineered churches and other public buildings in the area to the desig ...

—builders of several other churches in the area. After the closure and demolition of the nearby St Paul's Church and the merging of the parishes, the legal names of the parish and church were changed to St Peter's and St Paul's Church. The church came to national attention in 2009 when its long-serving vicar was arrested for organising

sham marriage A sham marriage or fake marriage is a marriage of convenience entered into without intending to create a real marital relationship. This is usually for the purpose of gaining an advantage from the marriage. Definitions of sham marriage vary b ...

s. The church was declared redundant by the

Diocese of Chichester The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was founded in 681 as the ancient Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey, until the see was translated to Chichester in 1075. The cath ...

in 2011; since 2010 it has been home to Sonrise Church—an independent Evangelical congregation.

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

has

listed Listed may refer to: * Listed, Bornholm, a fishing village on the Danish island of Bornholm * Listed (MMM program), a television show on MuchMoreMusic * Endangered species in biology * Listed building, in architecture, designation of a historicall ...

it at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.

History

St Leonards-on-Sea experienced continuous rapid growth after it was founded in 1828 by London-based builder and speculator

James Burton James Edward Burton (born August 21, 1939, in Dubberly, Louisiana) is an American guitarist. A member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame since 2001 (his induction speech was given by longtime fan Keith Richards), Burton has also been recognized ...

. The seaside resort, immediately west of the ancient port of Hastings, had a esplanade with high-class buildings facing the

English Channel The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...

, but also extended a long way inland by the late 19th century as housing was built up the wooded valley which formed part of the land Burton bought in 1828. Three Anglican churches were built in the resort's early years— St Leonard's (1831), St Mary Magdalene's Church (1858) and Christ Church (1860)—and a fourth, dedicated to St Paul, was built on the newly developed Church Road in 1868. Further growth around the Bohemia Road, leading to the Silverhill suburb of Hastings, occurred over the next 20 years. Blanche E. Elliott, a worshipper at St Paul's Church, donated £14,300 to allow another church to be founded to serve that area. Its

foundation stone The cornerstone (or foundation stone or setting stone) is the first stone set in the construction of a masonry foundation. All other stones will be set in reference to this stone, thus determining the position of the entire structure. Over tim ...

was laid by Lady Brassey on 4 August 1883. The Hastings-based firm of

were responsible for building the church to the design of James Brooks, "one of the most respected Victorian church architects", whose reputation was forged by his work on well-designed, inexpensive churches in central London in the 1860s. The original design featured a tower and spire, which were never built. The church was ready in 1885, and opened for worship in that year. The eventual cost exceeded £11,000. It was allocated a parish immediately, carved out of St Paul's Church's parish. The two churches served the local area together for the next 80 years, but in 1964 St Paul's was closed and demolished (this has been described as "the most grievous loss among the Victorian churches of Hastings"). The parishes were combined thereafter under the name ''St Peter and St Paul''. (There is an unrelated church named St Peter and St Paul's Church, opened in 1969, in the Silverhill Park suburb of Hastings.) In July 2009, the vicar—who had served the church for 20 years—was arrested at his rectory near the church on suspicion of conducting about 180

s which allowed

illegal immigrants Illegal immigration is the migration of people into a country in violation of the immigration laws of that country or the continued residence without the legal right to live in that country. Illegal immigration tends to be financially upwa ...

to stay in the country. The trial of Rev. Alex Brown and two other defendants began in June 2010 and concluded in September 2010 with the three men being jailed for four years each. About 360 marriages at the church between 2005 and 2009 were eventually identified as sham.

Architecture

James Brooks made his reputation designing "large and economical churches" in inner London, which combined simple, well-proportioned

Gothic Revival Gothic Revival (also referred to as Victorian Gothic, neo-Gothic, or Gothick) is an architectural movement that began in the late 1740s in England. The movement gained momentum and expanded in the first half of the 19th century, as increasingly ...

designs (usually in brick) with interesting architectural touches. These features are also in evidence at St Peter's Church, even though he was working with a less restricted budget than he often had to in London. It is an Early English Gothic Revival-style red-brick building with

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s which feature extensive

plate tracery Tracery is an architectural device by which windows (or screens, panels, and vaults) are divided into sections of various proportions by stone ''bars'' or ''ribs'' of moulding. Most commonly, it refers to the stonework elements that support the ...

. The walls have some

limestone Limestone ( calcium carbonate ) is a type of carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of . Limestone forms whe ...

as well, and the roof is laid with slates and red clay tiles. The plan consists of a two- bay

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. Ove ...

and

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 ...

separated by a chancel arch which almost reaches the church roof—making the interior a unified composition—a clerestory and aisles on each side of the nave, porches on the south and west sides, a side chapel,

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 ...

with an organ-chamber above (reached by a stair-turret) and a

baptistery In Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned structure surrounding the baptismal ...

with a polygonal

apse In architecture, an apse (plural apses; from Latin 'arch, vault' from Ancient Greek 'arch'; sometimes written apsis, plural apsides) is a semicircular recess covered with a hemispherical vault or semi-dome, also known as an ''exedra''. In ...

. The clerestory has tall paired lancet windows and is very tall, making the aisles and their pointed-arched arcades low. There are similar two-light windows to the vestry and its organ-chamber, which is

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d. The baptistery at the northwest end has a vaulted conical roof with moulding in a

dog-tooth In architecture, a dog-tooth or dogtooth pattern is an ornament found in the mouldings of medieval work of the commencement of the 12th century, which is thought to have been introduced by the Crusaders. The earliest example is found in the hal ...

pattern. Both the west and the east windows are composed of large groups of lancets (five and four respectively) with

spandrel A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame; between the tops of two adjacent arches or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fill ...

s and

hood mould In architecture, a hood mould, hood, label mould (from Latin ''labia'', lip), drip mould or dripstone, is an external moulded projection from a wall over an opening to throw off rainwater, historically often in form of a ''pediment''. This mouldin ...

s. The west window, set above one of the entrance porches, also has

mullion A mullion is a vertical element that forms a division between units of a window or screen, or is used decoratively. It is also often used as a division between double doors. When dividing adjacent window units its primary purpose is a rigid supp ...

s and

quatrefoil A quatrefoil (anciently caterfoil) is a decorative element consisting of a symmetrical shape which forms the overall outline of four partially overlapping circles of the same diameter. It is found in art, architecture, heraldry and traditional ...

lights. The interior walls are of uncovered red brick, except in the chancel where much use is made of

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral or rock that is soft, often used for carving, and is processed for plaster powder. Archaeologists and the stone processing industry use the word differently from geologists. The former use it in a wider sense that includes ...

as a facing material. The

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

of the five-bay arcades separating the nave from the aisles are also of brick with stone capitals. Their shape—a continuation of the round piers combined with a cut-off pyramid shape—were described by

Nikolaus Pevsner Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner (30 January 1902 – 18 August 1983) was a German-British art historian and architectural historian best known for his monumental 46-volume series of county-by-county guides, ''The Buildings of England'' (1 ...

as "a true innovation". Fittings include an alabaster

lectern A lectern is a reading desk with a slanted top, on which documents or books are placed as support for reading aloud, as in a scripture reading, lecture, or sermon. A lectern is usually attached to a stand or affixed to some other form of support. ...

and pulpit, considered by English Heritage to be "the most impressive feature". Together with the chancel screen, these fixtures are of pink and grey alabaster and have prominent dog-tooth mouldings and

corbel In architecture, a corbel is a structural piece of stone, wood or metal jutting from a wall to carry a superincumbent weight, a type of bracket. A corbel is a solid piece of material in the wall, whereas a console is a piece applied to the s ...

s. There is also a tall

d reredos depicting the crucifixion of a fully clothed Christ. It was created to Brooks's designs by

Harry Hems Harry Hems (12 June 1842 – 5 January 1916) was an English architectural and ecclesiastical sculptor who was particularly inspired by Gothic architecture and a practitioner of Gothic Revival. He founded and ran a large workshop in Exeter, Devon ...

in 1895. Three

sedilia In church architecture, sedilia (plural of Latin ''sedīle'', "seat") are seats, usually made of stone, found on the liturgical south side of an altar, often in the chancel, for use during Mass for the officiating priest and his assistants, the ...

and an attached

piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman ...

are situated under a hood mould on the chancel wall. Northwest of the church are the former church hall and vicarage (now in secular use as the Streatfeild House Day Care Centre). These may have been designed at the same time as the church by Brooks. The hall has some Gothic Revival touches, principally the pointed-arched windows. The vicarage is also in the Early English Gothic Revival style and has irregular fenestration and tile-hanging.

The church today

St Peter's Church was

at Grade II* by

on 14 September 1976. This defines it as a "particularly important" building of "more than special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 13 Grade II* listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings. Two other Anglican churches in St Leonards-on-Sea, St John the Evangelist's and Christ Church, are also listed at Grade II*; other churches with listed status in the town are St Leonard's Anglican church, St Leonard's Baptist Church, St Mary Magdalene's Church (now

Greek Orthodox The term Greek Orthodox Church (Greek language, Greek: Ἑλληνορθόδοξη Ἐκκλησία, ''Ellinorthódoxi Ekklisía'', ) has two meanings. The broader meaning designates "the Eastern Orthodox Church, entire body of Orthodox (Chalced ...

), the

Roman Catholic Roman or Romans most often refers to: *Rome, the capital city of Italy *Ancient Rome, Roman civilization from 8th century BC to 5th century AD *Roman people, the people of ancient Rome *'' Epistle to the Romans'', shortened to ''Romans'', a lette ...

Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and English Martyrs and the former

St Leonards-on-Sea Congregational Church 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 s ...

further up London Road. Each of these have the lower Grade II status. The parish covered a large area of the north of St Leonards-on-Sea. The boundaries are

St Leonards Warrior Square railway station St Leonards Warrior Square railway station is on the Hastings line in the south of England and is one of four stations that serve Hastings, East Sussex. It is down the line from London Charing Cross. The station is operated by Southeastern bu ...

, Warrior Gardens, Edward Road, Magdalen Road, the railway line between St Leonards Warrior Square and

railway stations, Linton Road, Lower Park Road, part of Alexandra Park, Newgate Road, Tower Road, St Peter's Road and Woodland Vale Road. The Diocese of Chichester declared the church redundant with effect from 1 November 2011. Since the previous year, it had been used by Sonrise Church—an

Evangelical Evangelicalism (), also called evangelical Christianity or evangelical Protestantism, is a worldwide Interdenominationalism, interdenominational movement within Protestantism, Protestant Christianity that affirms the centrality of being "bor ...

congregation—and it was registered for marriages on their behalf in February 2016. Sonrise Church was originally associated with the Christian Outreach Centre movement and was founded on a small scale in St Leonards-on-Sea in September 2000. Continuous growth led to the use of larger buildings in the borough of Hastings, including the former St Mary-in-the-Castle Church, until the church was able to move into St Peter's Church in 2010. Although now an independent Evangelical church
Sonrise Church
belongs to the

Evangelical Alliance The Evangelical Alliance (EA) is a national evangelical alliance, member of the World Evangelical Alliance. Founded in 1846, the activities of the Evangelical Alliance aim to promote evangelical Christian beliefs in government, media and socie ...

Notes

References

Bibliography