St John The Baptist's Church, Crawley
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

St John the Baptist's Church is an
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church in
Crawley Crawley () is a town and Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough in West Sussex, England. It is south of London, north of Brighton and Hove, and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Crawley covers an area of and had a populat ...
,
West Sussex West Sussex is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Surrey to the north, East Sussex to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Hampshire to the west. The largest settlement is Cr ...
,
England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...
. It is the parish church of Crawley, and is the oldest building in the town centre, dating from the 1250—although many alterations have been made since, and only one wall remains of the ancient building. In September 2017, a team from St Peter's Brighton began a new phase in the life of St John's Crawley. St John's offer a variety of services, traditional and informal, and contemporary services. St John's is a
Holy Trinity Brompton Holy Trinity Brompton with St Paul's Onslow Square and St Augustine's South Kensington, often referred to simply as HTB, is an Anglican church in London, England. The church consists of six sites: HTB Brompton Road, HTB Onslow Square (''formerly ...
( HTB) network church.


History

In the Norman era,
Slaugham Slaugham ( or ) is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It is located to the south of Crawley, on the A23 road to Brighton. The civil parish covers an area of . At the 2001 census it had a population of ...
and
Cuckfield Cuckfield ( ) is a village and civil parishes in England, civil parish in the Mid Sussex District, Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northea ...
were the most important places in the north of the county of
Sussex Sussex (Help:IPA/English, /ˈsʌsɪks/; from the Old English ''Sūþseaxe''; lit. 'South Saxons'; 'Sussex') is an area within South East England that was historically a kingdom of Sussex, kingdom and, later, a Historic counties of England, ...
. When Crawley first started to develop as a village in the 13th century, it was in the parish of Slaugham in the
Hundred 100 or one hundred (Roman numerals, Roman numeral: C) is the natural number following 99 (number), 99 and preceding 101 (number), 101. In mathematics 100 is the square of 10 (number), 10 (in scientific notation it is written as 102). The standar ...
of Buttinghill (hundreds were ancient divisions of land covering several parishes). As the new village was distant from the
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
at Slaugham ( St Mary's), several miles south, a stone church was built as a
chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
. It is known to have existed before 1267, when it was passed on in a will, and it was still the daughter church of Slaugham in 1291; but by the early 15th century it was referred to as a "free" church and a "permanent
chantry A chantry is an ecclesiastical term that may have either of two related meanings: # a chantry service, a set of Christian liturgical celebrations for the dead (made up of the Requiem Mass and the Office of the Dead), or # a chantry chapel, a b ...
". The parish of Crawley was therefore established separate from Slaugham at some point, probably by the end of the 14th century, and St John the Baptist's was regarded as its parish church by the time chantries were abolished in the 1540s. Crawley was a small, very narrow, split parish, and did not cover the whole of the village of Crawley: the boundary between it and the parish of Ifield—and between the Hundred of Buttinghill and the Hundred of Burbeach, in which Ifield lay—ran up the middle of the High Street. The detached part of Crawley parish consisted of heavily forested land and one farm near
Pease Pottage Pease Pottage is a village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built-up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham. The village has a motorway service station, named after the villag ...
. The total area of the parish was less than ; Ifield parish was six times larger, in contrast. The first additions to the structure came in the 15th century, when a tall tower was added at the western end, the windows in the
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 ...
were enlarged and a
rood screen The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...
was installed between the
chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the Choir (architecture), choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may termi ...
and the
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 ...
. The nave roof was also rebuilt at this time, and the earliest surviving memorial carvings and stones in the church are also 15th-century. By the 16th century, Crawley's development into a thriving market village meant that its parish was much more important than that of Slaugham, and the connection between their two churches was legally severed. At least 150 people regularly attended the church, but its income was modest and priests frequently moved on to richer parishes. The building fell into disrepair in the 17th and 18th centuries. In the Chichester Diocesan Survey of 1724, it gives:
"4 bells, but onely one in order, 3 being crackt". These bells were melted down, and Thomas Lester of Whitechapel cast 2 bells out of them in 1742. The treble and tenor weighed 3-3-15cwt and 6-0-11cwt respectively. They were inscribed:
1 (Treble): THOMAS LESTER OF LONDON MADE ME 1742 / FRANCIS SMITH CH WARDEN
2 (Tenor) : FRANCIS SMITH CH WARDEN 1742 T.L. FECIT
Lester (master of the Whitechapel foundry between 1738 - 1769) gave Sussex many bells, our closest surviving examples are at Horsham, St Mary the Virgin. Major changes took place in the 19th century. The tower partially rebuilt and heightened by 1814, although the original stone was reused. Some more work took place in 1845, but the greatest changes happened in 1879 and 1880. A new north aisle was added, a porch was built on the north side, the chancel was completely rebuilt and reordered, and an organ chamber was built.
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'' (195 ...
has criticised the resulting appearance of the church, calling it "dully
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...
" and noting that its best feature is the unrestored 15th-century nave roof. At the same time, the church decided to restore their church bells. The two bells by Lester became cracked, and their frame had rotted away. It was decided to install a new peal of 8 bells in the tower by the late Croydon firm Gillett, Bland & Company. The bells are inscribed as follows (A / denotes the end of line):
1 (Treble): CAST BY GILLETT, BLAND & Co, CROYDON, 1880. / GLORY
2: CAST BY GILLETT, BLAND & Co, CROYDON, 1880. / SIR . W . W . BURRELL / HONOUR
3: CAST BY GILLETT, BLAND & Co, CROYDON, 1880. / PRAISE
4: CAST BY GILLETT, BLAND & CO, CROYDON, 1880. / THANKSGIVING
5: CAST BY GILLETT, bLAND & CO, CROYDON, 1880. / JOY
6: CAST BY GILLETT, BLAND & CO, CROYDON, 1880. / SIR . R . B . LENNARD / BROTHERLY LOVE
7: CAST BY GILLETT, BLAND & CO, CROYDON, 1880. / J . B . LENNARD RECTOR / WORSHIP
8 (Tenor): CAST BY GILLETT, BLAND & CO, BELL FOUNDERS & CLOCK MAKERS CROYDON 1880 / R LODER / PRAYER
Bell 8 also has a few floral ornaments inscribed. The bells are hung in an oak bell frame arranged in what's known as an 8.3 layout.
In 1931, bell 3 was recast by Mears & Stainbank after it cracked. At the same time, the tenor was rehung on plain bearings. The rest of the bells were rehung on ball bearings 4 years later by John Taylor & Co. Some of the wheels were replaced in 1985, and the 5th was rehung on a new headstock by Whitechapel in 1999. When the bells were restored in 1880, an Ellacombe and Seage's apparatus were installed so that the bells could be controlled by 1 person, and that they could be rung in silence. The church's location just east of the High Street meant that it was very close to the boundary of Ifield parish. People who lived on or around the west side of the High Street would often attend St John the Baptist's although their parish church was St Margaret's. One such worshipper was
Mark Lemon Mark Lemon (30 November 1809, in London – 23 May 1870, in Crawley) was the founding editor of both ''Punch (magazine), Punch'' and ''The Field (magazine), The Field''. He was also a writer of Play (theatre), plays and verses. Biography ...
, founding editor of the satirical magazine ''Punch''. Having adopted Crawley as his home town, he lived at Vine Cottage on the west side of the High Street, and regularly attended St John the Baptist's instead of St Margaret's. However, his substantial girth caused him problems: he had to sit in the gallery because there were no pews large enough to accommodate him in the nave. The church, graveyard and church walk are reportedly haunted a number of paranormal sightings have happened over the years. The churchyard contains the
war graves A war grave is a burial place for members of the armed forces or civilians who died during military campaigns or operations. Definition The term "war grave" does not only apply to graves: ships sunk during wartime are often considered to b ...
of two soldiers of
World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...
and an
airman An airman is a member of an air force or air arm of a nation's armed forces. In certain air forces, it can also refer to a specific enlisted rank. An airman can also be referred to as a soldier in other definitions. As a military rank designat ...
of
World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...
.
CWGC Cemetery report, details obtained from casualty record.


Architecture

The church is built of Sussex
limestone Limestone is a type of carbonate rock, carbonate sedimentary rock which is the main source of the material Lime (material), lime. It is composed mostly of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different Polymorphism (materials science) ...
. The chancel roof is tiled, but the rest of the church is roofed with slabs of local stone. The south wall of the nave is original, although it has some 15th-century alterations; the nave ceiling is also from this era, and features
wind bracing In architecture, wind braces are diagonal braces to tie the rafters of a roof together and prevent racking. In medieval roofs they are arched, and run from the principal rafters to catch the purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, p ...
and tie beams. The tower, rebuilt in the 19th century, is in three stages and features mediaeval carvings. The
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
is 17th-century; the
altar rails The altar rail (also known as a communion rail or chancel rail) is a low barrier, sometimes ornate and usually made of stone, wood or metal in some combination, delimiting the chancel or the sanctuary and altar in a church, from the nave and ot ...
are from that century or early in the 18th. There is some
stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...
in the 19th-century north aisle and the east end of the chancel. The oldest internal fixture is the marble
font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
, which is 13th-century.


The parish

In October 2017, the parish size was reduced to include Crawley town centre, its northernmost point being where Kilnmead road meets the London road, and southernmost where Goffs Park road meets the Brighton Road. The previous parish covered by the church was much larger than the ancient parish of Crawley. It covered most of the town west and north of the railway line between Gatwick Airport and Crawley railway stations, and up to the boundary of the airport. The boundary was defined by the A23 London Road from its junction with the Horsham Road in Southgate to the edge of the
Manor Royal Manor Royal is an industrial zone within the town of Crawley in West Sussex, England. Manor Royal is in the north of the town near to Gatwick Airport. The area is devoted to light industry and offices and was designed for industry as part of th ...
industrial estate at County Oak; the southern perimeter road of
Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...
—incorporating all the land and buildings in the former village of
Lowfield Heath Lowfield Heath is a former village within the boundaries of the Crawley, Borough of Crawley, West Sussex, England. Situated on the main A23 road, London to Brighton road approximately south of London and north of Crawley, it was gradually ...
; some farmland and residential development east of the
railway line Rail transport (also known as train transport) is a means of transport using wheeled vehicles running in tracks, which usually consist of two parallel steel rails. Rail transport is one of the two primary means of land transport, next to road ...
at Tinsley Green; the railway line from Tinsley Green to Southgate Avenue, near Crawley railway station; and the northern part of the Southgate neighbourhood. There are five extant churches in the parish. St Peter's in West Green predates the New Town, having been built between 1892 and 1893 to a design by architect W. Hilton Nash. Richard Cook, owner of one of Crawley's main building firms, constructed it. It replaced a
chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...
to
St Margaret's Church, Ifield St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in the Ifield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is the ancient parish church of the village of Ifield; the medieval settlement was expanded to form one of the New ...
: although West Green was in the parish of Ifield at the time, it was remote from the parish church. Although 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 cathe ...
would not pay for a separate church, it accepted St Peter's, which was built with private money, when it was offered. The church later gained its own parish, which was then absorbed by the parish of St John the Baptist. St Elizabeth's in the centre of the Northgate neighbourhood was built in 1965, and like St John the Baptist's follows a "Modern Catholic" style of worship. St Richard's is another modern church serving the Three Bridges neighbourhood. A fifth church, St Michael and All Angels, is notionally within the parish but is no longer used for Anglican worship.
William Burges William Burges (; 2 December 1827 – 20 April 1881) was an English architect and designer. Among the greatest of the Victorian era, Victorian art-architects, he sought in his work to escape from both nineteenth-century Industrial Revolution, ...
designed and built this yellow
sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...
13th century-style
French Gothic French Gothic architecture is an architectural style which emerged in France in 1140, and was dominant until the mid-16th century. The most notable examples are the great Gothic cathedrals of France, including Notre-Dame Cathedral, Reims Cathed ...
church in 1867 to serve the village of
Lowfield Heath Lowfield Heath is a former village within the boundaries of the Crawley, Borough of Crawley, West Sussex, England. Situated on the main A23 road, London to Brighton road approximately south of London and north of Crawley, it was gradually ...
, which was then in the parish of
Charlwood Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately north-west of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Sur ...
in
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
. The establishment and rapid development of
Gatwick Airport Gatwick Airport , also known as London Gatwick Airport (), is the Airports of London, secondary international airport serving London, West Sussex and Surrey. It is located near Crawley in West Sussex, south of Central London. In 2024, Gatwic ...
next to Lowfield Heath swamped the small village, eventually destroying it: all buildings except the church, which was listed at Grade II* in 1948, were demolished to make way for warehouses and extensions to the airport boundary. (The church is approximately from the runway.) The Diocese of Chichester stopped using the church for services in 2004; in March 2008 it allowed a
Seventh-day Adventist The Seventh-day Adventist Church (SDA) is an Adventist Protestant Christian denomination which is distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the seventh day of the week in the Christian (Gregorian) and the Hebrew calendar, as the Sabbat ...
congregation to use the building as its place of worship. Horley Seventh-Day Adventist Church was formed as a church plant in May 2005 and was formally established in January 2008.


The Church Today

In September 2017 a team led by Steve and Liz Burston from St Peter's Brighton began a new phase in the life of St John's. There are a variety of services, traditional and informal, contemporary services in order to seek to honour the past, navigate the present and build for the future. St John's Crawley run an Alpha course every term, providing an opportunity to freely discuss some of the bigger questions of life, faith and purpose within a Christian context. They also run social outreach programmes, such as The Bridge Café and Turning Point. As well as Sunday services, there are groups that meet throughout the week, seeking to deepen faith and grow in community. As a church St John's firmly believe in the Christian witness of churches working together across Crawley, both in social mission and prayer. As a result, prayer and church unity are at the heart of their values.


See also

*
List of places of worship in Crawley The Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough of Crawley, in West Sussex, England, has 45 churches, chapels and other buildings Place of worship, used specifically for worship. Other religious communities meet in community centres, schools ...
* Listed buildings in Crawley


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Crawley, St John the Baptist Grade II* listed churches in West Sussex Church of England church buildings in West Sussex
St John the Baptist John the Baptist ( – ) was a Jewish preacher active in the area of the Jordan River in the early first century AD. He is also known as Saint John the Forerunner in Eastern Orthodoxy and Oriental Orthodoxy, John the Immerser in some Baptist ...
Churches dedicated to John the Baptist in England Anglican churches dedicated to John the Baptist