The name St Peter's Church has been borne by two

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 letter ...

churches in the town of

Shoreham-by-Sea Shoreham-by-Sea (often shortened to Shoreham) is a coastal town and port in West Sussex, England. The town is bordered to its north by the South Downs, to its west by the Adur Valley and to its south by the River Adur and Shoreham Beach on ...

in the

district A district is a type of administrative division that, in some countries, is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municipa ...

of Adur, in the

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national id ...

county of

West Sussex West Sussex is a county in South East England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the shire districts of Adur, Arun, Chichester, Horsham, and Mid Sussex, and the boroughs of Crawley and Worthing. Covering an a ...

. The original church with that dedication was the town's first permanent Roman Catholic place of worship; founded in 1875, it was paid for by Augusta, Duchess of Norfolk, a member of the most important Dukedom in England. After its closure, a new St Peter's Church was built nearby. The old building, which still stands and is in residential use, has been listed by

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 ...

at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.

The former St Peter's Church

History

The settlement of Old Shoreham developed inland from 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 Kan ...

and next to the east bank of the

River Adur The Adur ( or ) is a river in Sussex, England; it gives its name to the Adur district of West Sussex. The river, which is long, was once navigable for large vessels up as far as Steyning, where there was a large Saxon port, but by the 11th c ...

. Its focus was the 10th-century St Nicolas' Church. Later development filled the gap between the village and the sea, and the growth of trade from its harbour in the 18th and 19th centuries brought prosperity to what was by then a small town. By the mid-19th century, two large Anglican churches were supported—St Nicolas' Church had been joined by the substantial St Mary de Haura Church—but Roman Catholics had no place of worship. Around that time, a priest began to travel in from nearby

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 H ...

to celebrate Mass at a house in Surry Street; in 1870 this arrangement moved to a former schoolroom on a site between John Street and Ship Street. The land on which this stood had been acquired in the 1860s by the former Vicar of Shoreham, Reverend William Wheeler. He had left the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

and was received into the Roman Catholic Church in 1855, and donated the land to enable a permanent church to be built. The funds to build the church came from Augusta, Duchess of Norfolk. She had married into the

Dukedom of Norfolk Duke of Norfolk is a title in the peerage of England. The seat of the Duke of Norfolk is Arundel Castle in Sussex, although the title refers to the county of Norfolk. The current duke is Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 18th Duke of Norfolk. The dukes ...

, England's most important Roman Catholic family, in 1839; her husband,

Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk Henry Granville Fitzalan-Howard, 14th Duke of Norfolk, (7 November 181525 November 1860) was a British peer and politician. He was hereditary Earl Marshal and the last undisputed Chief Butler of England. Family He was the son of Henry Charles ...

, was the

Lord of the Manor Lord of the Manor is a title that, in Anglo-Saxon England, referred to the landholder of a rural estate. The lord enjoyed manorial rights (the rights to establish and occupy a residence, known as the manor house and demesne) as well as s ...

and lived nearby at

Arundel Castle Arundel Castle is a restored and remodelled medieval castle in Arundel, West Sussex, England. It was established during the reign of Edward the Confessor and completed by Roger de Montgomery. The castle was damaged in the English Civil War a ...

, the ducal seat. Architect Charles Buckler, who was responsible for several Roman Catholic churches in Sussex, was commissioned to design and build the church. The building, described as "large, rather severe ... ndassertive", was consecrated and opened in 1875. A presbytery was added on the east (John Street) side, in a matching style, in 1877. Its capacity was approximately 200, and it cost £5,000 (£ as of ). It was registered for marriages in April 1877.

Architecture

Charles Buckler used the

Decorated Gothic English Gothic is an architectural style that flourished from the late 12th until the mid-17th century. The style was most prominently used in the construction of cathedrals and churches. Gothic architecture's defining features are pointed ar ...

style, imitative of 13th- and 14th-century churches, for his design for St Peter's Church. The structure is of cobbled

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 ...

dressed with

ashlar Ashlar () is finely dressed (cut, worked) stone, either an individual stone that has been worked until squared, or a structure built from such stones. Ashlar is the finest stone masonry unit, generally rectangular cuboid, mentioned by Vitr ...

. It lacks a spire or tower, but there is a bell-tower at the west end of the roof, which is tiled and

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 aest ...

d. There are four large

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 Gothic or Gothics may refer to: People and ...

s in the north and south walls, separated by

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient buildings, as a means of providing support to act against the lateral ( ...

es; until the building's conversion from a nursing home into flats, these had elaborate

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 ...

. As originally built, the church had a four-

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a gulf, sea, sound, or bight. A cove is a small, circular bay with a nar ...

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-typ ...

and two further bays in the

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. ...

, which also had a

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 with ...

. A porch led into the nave on the west side. Inside, below the roof

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so that the assembla ...

es, there was a gallery at the west end. Fittings included a

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular architecture, for ...

and a marble altar.

The building today

The church was closed and sold for redevelopment in 1982. It was converted into a nursing home, retaining most of its ecclesiastical features including the intricate window

. The latter was lost when the building was converted into flats in 2002, being replaced with plain modern windows instead, but there has otherwise been little structural alteration. The flats are named "St John's Court"—a reference to the former name of John Street. "St John" referred to the Knights of St John Hospitallers, who had been active in Shoreham since the mid-12th century. English Heritage granted the former St Peter's Church Grade II listed status on 16 August 1983. Such buildings are defined as being "nationally important and of special interest". As of February 2001, it was one of 106 Grade II listed buildings, and 119 listed buildings of all grades, in Adur district.

The new St Peter's Church

A new church—a low building with a rectangular plan—was built just north of its predecessor after it closed in 1982. Construction started in 1983. The building, which stands on the corner of West Street and North Street, is on the site of a Roman Catholic school which had closed and moved elsewhere in the town in the 1960s. Before that, a 17th-century house stood on the site; its grounds extended some distance to the north. The church is part of the parish of Our Lady Queen of Peace, Adur Valley, which covers three Roman Catholic churches in the area (the others are at

Steyning Steyning ( ) is a town and civil parish in the Horsham district of West Sussex, England. It is located at the north end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of the coastal town of Shoreham-by-Sea. The smalle ...

and

Upper Beeding Upper Beeding is a village and civil parish in the Horsham District of West Sussex, England. It is located at the northern end of the River Adur gap in the South Downs, four miles (6.4 km) north of Shoreham-by-Sea and has a land area ...

in the neighbouring district of

Horsham Horsham is a market town on the upper reaches of the River Arun on the fringe of the Weald in West Sussex, England. The town is south south-west of London, north-west of Brighton and north-east of the county town of Chichester. Nearby ...

). One priest serves all three. Two Masses are celebrated every Sunday, and on

Holy Days of Obligation In the Catholic Church, holy days of obligation are days on which the faithful are expected to attend Mass, and engage in rest from work and recreation (id est, they are to refrain from engaging in work or activities that hinder the worship owed t ...

an evening Mass is said.

Notes

Bibliography

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Shoreham-by-Sea, Saint Peter Adur District Former churches in West Sussex Roman Catholic churches in West Sussex Churches completed in 1875 19th-century Roman Catholic church buildings in the United Kingdom Grade II listed churches in West Sussex