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	<title>Arundel and Brighton Archives - Taking Stock</title>
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	<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/diocese/arundel-and-brighton/</link>
	<description>Catholic Churches of England and Wales</description>
	<lastBuildDate>Tue, 27 Oct 2026 16:56:39 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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<site xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">191635069</site>	<item>
		<title>+Arundel &#8211; Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Saint Philip Howard</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5905/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5905/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Saint Philip Howard was designed from 1868-9 and built from 1870-3. The architect was J A Hansom. Comprising of ashlar walls and vaults with a pitched slate roof, it is a picturesque gothic composition with details from later 13th century sources. Stylobate surrounds the cathedral on the north and west sides, interspersed with ashlar piers: square bases, octagonal tops and pyramidal caps with foliate finials.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5905/">+Arundel &#8211; Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Saint Philip Howard</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>The Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Saint Philip Howard was designed from 1868-9 and built from 1870-3. The architect was J. A. Hansom. Comprising of ashlar walls and vaults with a pitched slate roof, it is a picturesque gothic composition with details from later 13th century sources. Stylobate surrounds the cathedral on the north and west sides, interspersed with ashlar piers: square bases, octagonal tops and pyramidal caps with foliate finials.</strong></em></p>
<p>The list description (below) is extremely brief by current standards and uses the pre-1973 dedication to Our Lady and St Philip Neri. Joseph Aloysius Hanson (1803-1882) was in partnership with his younger son J. S. Hansom from 1869 until 1882, so it is likely that the design is that of J. A. Hansom albeit that the execution was by Hansom &amp; Son. The church was built by Henry, fifteen Duke of Norfolk, to celebrate his coming of age in 1868. Built of Bath stone, work began on 27 December 1869 and the church opened on 1 July 1873. It cost almost £100,000 and was funded almost completely by Henry, fifteenth<sup>&nbsp;</sup>Duke of Norfolk.</p>
<p><strong>Description</strong></p>
<p>What is perhaps most memorable about the building is its contribution to what Nairn &amp; Pevsner (<em>The Buildings of England </em>Sussex) called ‘one of the great town views in England’. Approached from the east the town is perched on the hill, with the cathedral at one end and the castle at the other, the Arun valley in the foreground. Hansom encountered difficulties with the foundations, necessitating the sinking of concrete supports as deep as 57ft.</p>
<p>The design provided for a more elaborate east end with radiating chapels. More flying buttresses and more pinnacles, as well as a 280ft high steeple at the north-west corner. The church consists of a sanctuary with narrow ambulatory, a nave and aisles of 6-bays, north and south transepts, with a fleche over the sanctuary, an apsidal south-west baptistery and a north-west porch.</p>
<p>Although the style is decidedly that of the French Gothic of around 1300, notably the tall narrow proportions, it is not exclusively a recreation. The spatial ambiguity of the chapels tucked into the angle between transepts and ambulatory is rather a trait of the English Decorated style. The bands of blank arcading externally, and internally the doubled tracery of the clerestory and the shaft rings and the capitals are more Early English than French.</p>
<p>Some of the tracery design is of Hansom’s own imagination and the idea of a porte-cochere (for the proposed north-west steeple) is a Victorian convenience. The nave is 72ft high, 33ft wide and 97ft long, proportions that give a sense of soaring height on entering the cathedral, crowned by the quadripartite vaulting. The lack of stained glass in the nave somewhat spoils the effect and the harsh light gives a coldness to the rather mechanical detailing.&nbsp; Elsewhere the stained glass was designed by Hansom, to thirteenth<sup>&nbsp;</sup>century imagery, made by John Hardman Powell and put in during the 1880s.</p>
<p>The Stations of the Cross, in memory of John Butt, fourth<sup>&nbsp;</sup>Bishop of Southwark, were put up from 1885 to 1899. The shrine of St Philip Howard is in the north transept. The tabernacle in the Lady Chapel is thought to be the first English tabernacle made after the Reformation; it is the work of Charles Kandler and was made for Thomas Howard, Duke of Norfolk, in 1730. The church became a cathedral in 1965, on the creation of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton.</p>
<p>Ian Nairn, writing in <em>The Buildings of England Sussex</em> in 1965 struggles with the validity of ‘replica’ architecture but acknowledges that it is tremendously impressive in terms of scale, form and siting. As Nairn in fact acknowledges, the thirteenth century borrowings are selective and this is not a replica at all but a nineteenth century belief in the continued relevance of Gothic as a modern building style. The cathedral is unmistakably Victorian and all the more impressive for it.</p>
<p><strong>List description</strong></p>
<p>I GV</p>
<p>Designed 1868-9. Built 1870-3. Architect J A Hansom. Ashlar walls and vaults. Pitched slate roof. Picturesque Gothic composition with details from later C13 sources. Stylobate surrounding cathedral on north and west sides, interspersed with ashlar piers: square bases, octagonal tops, and pyramidal caps with foliate finials. Roman Catholic Cathedral of St Philip Neri forms a group with No 2 Parsons Hill.</p>
<p>Listing NGR: TQ0152607178</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5905/">+Arundel &#8211; Cathedral Church of Our Lady and Saint Philip Howard</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5905</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Ashtead &#8211; St Michael</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/ashtead-st-michael/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/ashtead-st-michael/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>St Michael’s Church is not a building of any great architectural quality.  Nonetheless, with its wood-panelled, centrally planned and light interior, it is a warm and welcoming building, and is well liked by those who worship there.  </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/ashtead-st-michael/">Ashtead &#8211; St Michael</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>A post Vatican II church; with its wood-panelled, centrally planned and light interior, it has a warm and welcoming character, and some furnishings of note.  </strong></em></p>
<p>St Michael’s replaced a temporary chapel and was designed (with the presbytery) by a local architect, Peter French, assistant to Eduardo Dodds and later a partner of Brian Ring, Howard &amp; Partners. Plans were developed from as early as 1961, and in 1963 the parish priest commissioned Stations of the Cross from the sculptor Michael Clark. Delays caused by planning difficulties meant that the foundation stone was not laid until 1 July 1967, and the church was finally opened by Bishop Cashman on 27 October 1968. Joseph Cribb (pupil of Eric Gill) designed the altar and font, both of Welsh slate, and was also commissioned to design a limewood statue of St Michael (he died in 1967, and the work was completed by an assistant). The church was consecrated by Bishop Bowen in June 1976. A parish hall built in 1983, and in 1984 the church was reordered, with the font moved from the original baptistery to the sanctuary, a slate ambo added, the narthex area reorganised and the congregational seating layout adapted.</p>
<p><strong>Description</strong></p>
<p>The church stands among trees and gardens in a leafy suburban setting. It is polygonal on plan, built of brick, with a glazed narthex and projecting canopy sheltering the entrance. Inside the ceiling and walls of the worship area are of panelled wood, there are wooden benches and a parquet floor. The clerestory which runs all round the church is bisected, to the east, by an image made in stained glass representing the Crucifixion, by Amanda Winfield of Goddard &amp; Gibbs (1988). Also by Winfield are two windows in the Lady Chapel (2017). Other furnishings of note by Joseph Cribb and Michael Clark.</p>
<p>Entry amended by AHP 26.10.2026, using information from Monica McAllister&#8217;s parish history (on church website)</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/ashtead-st-michael/">Ashtead &#8211; St Michael</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5906</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Banstead &#8211; St Ann</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/banstead-st-ann/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/banstead-st-ann/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>St Ann’s Church is an unpretentious but serviceable building.  </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/banstead-st-ann/">Banstead &#8211; St Ann</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>St Ann’s Church is an unpretentious but serviceable building.  </strong></em></p>
<p>Prior to the construction of this church the parish worshipped in a temporary hut. The present church, designed by C.W. Glover &amp; Partners, was erected on the same site in 1950. Five years later the apsidal sanctuary was replaced with a square one designed by the architect Justin H. Alleyn. In 1960 the organ loft was added to the building, while the following decade saw the construction of the present porch by W.F.J. Nicholson.</p>
<p>The church stands on rising ground, screened by trees from the noise of the four lane Brighton Road. It is a simple rectangular structure, built in brick with paired lancet windows and a tiled roof. An extension has been built adjacent to the east end of the church making the overall shape of the building into an L.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/banstead-st-ann/">Banstead &#8211; St Ann</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5907</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Battle &#8211; Our Lady Immaculate and St Michael</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5908/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5908/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Our Lady Immaculate and St Michael is a modest building of no great architectural importance. It stands within the Battle Conservation Area and is a building, both for its architectural and historic interest, that contributes positively to the character of the conservation area.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5908/">Battle &#8211; Our Lady Immaculate and St Michael</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>A late Victorian red brick church built by the fifth Earl of Ashburnham, discreetly located behind the frontages on Mount Street.</strong></em></p>
<p>The church of Our Lady Immaculate and St Michael was built in 1886-7. The architect is not known. It was thought to have been Bertram, fifth Earl of Ashburnham who founded and paid for the church, but there is a letter to the Bishop of Southwark from Arnold &amp; Co of 60 Carey Street, Lincoln’s Inn, London, 9 January 1886, &#8220;Herewith is a list of tenders and the architect will, unless we heard (<em>sic</em>) to the contrary from Lord Ashburnham, conclude with the lowest. Kindly notice what a difference between the first and the last!&#8221;</p>
<p>It seems likely that Arnold &amp; Co were solicitors. The presbytery occupies an existing early  nineteenth century double fronted house clad in white painted weatherboard (listed grade II). It is believed that there was hostility in the town to a Catholic church being built, hence the acquisition of an existing house and the erection of the church in the former garden of the house. This theory is born out by the close proximity of the church to the presbytery. There is simply a narrow pathway leading from Mount Street down the side of the presbytery to the church.</p>
<p><strong>Description</strong></p>
<p>The church is of modest proportions, of dark red brick in an Italianate cum Romanesque style, somewhat unusual and not obviously having the appearance of a Catholic church. It is hemmed in with cottages adjoining the (ritual) north wall. The west front is gabled and has a central doorway with three windows above, all round arched and with shafts, but also keystones and all set beneath a broad segmental arch rising from rusticated pilasters. The windows are iron framed. The interior is plastered, with a canted ceiling on corbelled trusses. Three stained glass windows in the nave are by Cox &amp; Barnard of Hove.</p>
<p>Entry amended by AHP 21.09.2026</p>


<p class="wp-block-paragraph"></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/5908/">Battle &#8211; Our Lady Immaculate and St Michael</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5908</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Bexhill-on-Sea &#8211; St Mary Magdalene</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bexhill-on-sea-st-mary-magdalene/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bexhill-on-sea-st-mary-magdalene/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>St Mary Magdalene’s church is correctly listed and graded at grade II.  Arthur Young is not a well-known architect though he had a varied and extensive practice based in London.  He designed Catholic churches in Harrow, Buntingford and elsewhere, and convents in Watford and Bayswater.  He was articled to Philip Lockwood in Brighton and with Mickelthwaite &#38; Somers Clarke, and set up practice on his own account in 1877.  </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bexhill-on-sea-st-mary-magdalene/">Bexhill-on-Sea &#8211; St Mary Magdalene</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>St Mary Magdalene’s is a well-composed Gothic Revival design, of good quality materials and important to the local townscape.  </strong></em></p>
<p id="mwJA">A Catholic mission was established by the Rosminians in Bexhill in 1893. A combined church and school became the parish hall when the present church was built. This took place in 1906-7, the architect being Arthur Young, a Catholic convert. Young had a varied and extensive practice based in London; he designed churches in Harrow, Buntingford and elsewhere, and convents in Watford and Bayswater. He was articled to Philip Lockwood in Brighton and with Micklethwaite &amp; Somers Clarke, and set up practice on his own account in 1877. Young had been articled to Philip Causton Lockwood, the Borough Surveyor of Brighton from 1870-73. He also spent time in the offices of E.B. Ferrey and George Somers Clarke, both of whom did much ecclesiastical work. From 1922 he was in partnership with Allen D. Reid.</p>
<p>The church was consecrated in 1913.</p>
<p><strong>Description</strong></p>
<p>The church is cruciform in plan, squat in appearance but with a picturesque outline of embattled tower, turrets and porches. It is built of Kentish ragstone with Bath stone dressings.  The west porch is a slightly later addition. The interior is quite richly decorated. Stained glass in the chancel and south transept is by Mayer &amp; Co. of Munich. There are other windows which look like the work of Mayer as well as two modern windows depicting saints, by J.E. Nuttgens and Paul Quail. The chancel has a marble pavement, carved oak reredos by Messrs Robinson of London with statues by Herr Stuflesser of the Austrian Tyrol. Altar of Sicilian marble with frontal and sides of Irish and Siberian marble. A painting of the Crucifixion is by August Neven du Mont, a German aristocrat who was living in Bexhill at the time of his early death in 1909.</p>
<p>Entry amended by AHP 26.10.2026</p>
<p><strong>List descriptions</strong></p>
<p><em>Church</em></p>
<p>II<br />
Built in 1907. Architect Arthur Young. Stone building in Gothic style. Cruciform plan with embattled central tower, transepts and north and west porches.<br />
Listing NGR: TQ7456107580</p>
<p><em>Hall</em></p>
<p>II<br />
Contemporary and matching building. 1 storey. 4 windows. Faced with cobbles. Tiled roof. Trefoil-headed windows.<br />
Listing NGR: TQ7459807602</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bexhill-on-sea-st-mary-magdalene/">Bexhill-on-Sea &#8211; St Mary Magdalene</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5909</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Bexhill-on-Sea (Little Common) &#8211; St Martha</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/little-common-bexhill-on-sea-st-martha/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:55 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/little-common-bexhill-on-sea-st-martha/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>St Martha’s is an attractive building, if a little dour internally, with a distinctive west end that is a landmark in an outer suburb of Bexhill.  It has some townscape merit but is unlikely to merit inclusion on the statutory list. </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/little-common-bexhill-on-sea-st-martha/">Bexhill-on-Sea (Little Common) &#8211; St Martha</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>An attractive building built on the eve of the Second World War, its distinctive west end a landmark in an outer suburb of Bexhill. </strong></em></p>
<p>The foundation stone was laid on 11 August 1939 and the building completed in the following year. The cost was £7,114. The architect was Marshall Wood FRIBA of Hooe (a village near Little Common) and the contractors Messrs Goodwin &amp; Sons (<em>Bexhill-on-Sea Observer</em>, 5 August 1939). It is a simple brick church with a striking west (ritual) end reminiscent of Spanish or Italian Romanesque, though the tiled bell stage and pyramid roof give a distinctively Sussex flavour. The base of the tower combines with the narthex into a single composition with soaring blind arches and a Calvary of crosses. The single roof spanning nave and aisles, together with the aisle windows rising into dormers, contribute to the Sussex vernacular character. Inside the nave forms the main space, with a short chancel and narrow aisles.</p>
<p>Entry amended by AHP 27.10.2026</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/little-common-bexhill-on-sea-st-martha/">Bexhill-on-Sea (Little Common) &#8211; St Martha</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5944</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Bexhill-on-Sea (Sidley) &#8211; Our Lady of the Rosary</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/sidley-bexhill-on-sea-our-lady-of-the-rosary/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:57 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/sidley-bexhill-on-sea-our-lady-of-the-rosary/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The church stands in a commanding position at the junction of  Southlands Road and Ninfield Road.  Its portico frontage is impressive but for a 1950s church the design is by no means exceptional.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/sidley-bexhill-on-sea-our-lady-of-the-rosary/">Bexhill-on-Sea (Sidley) &#8211; Our Lady of the Rosary</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>Originally designed as a church hall, the church stands in a prominent position at the junction of  Southlands Road and Ninfield Road. The portico frontage makes it something of  a local landmark.</strong></em></p>
<p><strong>*Update: The church closed in 2019*</strong></p>
<p>Our Lady of the Rosary church was designed by Alex F. Watson of the London practice Hannen &amp; Markham, and was blessed by Bishop Cowderoy in May 1954. The <em>Bexhill-on-Sea Observer</em> reported (8 May 1954) &#8216;The church stands in Southlands Road on a site given by Mr George Ravenshear. Cost of the building, which has a seating capacity of 240, was £12,800 and the contractors were Messrs Godwin &amp; Sons. It was designed as a church hall by Mr A. Watson, a London architect, and will be used for that purpose when a larger and permanent church is built adjacent. But that is looking far ahead&#8217;. The same article states that the &#8216;interior is beautifully decorated with works by leading artists&#8217;. These included the Stations of the Cross, oil paintings by J.E. Nuttgens (who had made a stained glass window for St Mary Magdalene&#8217;s, Bexhill-on-Sea in the previous year), tabernacle, altar cross and candlesticks by Michael Murray and a hanging crucifix and statues of Our Lady and St Joseph by Anthony Foster.</p>
<p><strong>Description</strong></p>
<p>On plan the church is a simple rectangle but with an internal apse to the sanctuary behind which are the sacristies. The west gable projects an additional bay and is supported on four massive piers. The massive effect is heightened by the oversailing gable treated with the returns of an open pediment. The piers are of reinforced brickwork and they support a reinforced concrete cranked beam. The main space of the church is lit from a band of clerestory windows. The walls are of hazel brown facing bricks and the internal joinery is hardwood.</p>
<p>Entry amended by AHP 27.10.2026</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/sidley-bexhill-on-sea-our-lady-of-the-rosary/">Bexhill-on-Sea (Sidley) &#8211; Our Lady of the Rosary</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5961</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Billingshurst &#8211; St Gabriel</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/billingshurst-st-gabriel/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/billingshurst-st-gabriel/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>St Gabriel’s church is representative of Henry Bingham Towner’s work, not without architectural merit but not special beyond local interest.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/billingshurst-st-gabriel/">Billingshurst &#8211; St Gabriel</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><em>St Gabriel’s church is representative of Henry Bingham Towner’s work, not without architectural merit but not special beyond local interest.</em></strong></p>
<p>Henry Bingham Towner (1909-1997) was born and lived his life at Uckfield.  He wanted to become a priest but, deciding that he was not suited to the church, he trained as an architect and set up on his own in Uckfield in 1938.  He specialised in church architecture and designed more than 25 new churches including St Wilfrids, Hailsham (1954), St Thomas of Canterbury, Mayfield (1957), Our Lady of Lourdes, Rottingdean (1957), St John Vianney Bexley Heath, St Teresa of Avila, Chiddingfold (1959), St Gabriel Billingshurst (1961), St Charles Borromeo, Worthing (1962), St Thomas More, Patcham (1963), St Thomas More, Seaford (additions 1969 to church of 1935), St Francis of Assisi, Moulsecomb (additions 1969 to church of 1939), Holy Rood Pevensey Bay (1964),  St Joseph’s Milford (1969), Christ the King, Langney (1970), Holy Family, Lancing (1970).</p>
<p>The land for a Catholic church in Billingshurst was given before the outbreak of World War II but the church was not built until 1961-2. It is an interesting and satisfying composition on a sloping site (cf Rottingdean), nave and sanctuary in one, aisles and north sacristy attachments, with a large raised tower-like section over the nave. This space contains a bell but is unuseable for any purpose and has very poor access. It is a much larger space than is required for its function. The design is let down by the use of reconstituted stone and a disappointingly plain interior. Towner also designed the adjoining presbytery at the same time.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/billingshurst-st-gabriel/">Billingshurst &#8211; St Gabriel</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">5910</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>Bognor Regis &#8211; Our Lady of Sorrows</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bognor-regis-our-lady-of-sorrows/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:53:48 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bognor-regis-our-lady-of-sorrows/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>The Hansom family are among the most prolific and best known of 19<sup>th</sup>"<br />
			 century architects of Roman Catholic churches.  Best known is Joseph Aloysius Hansom (1803-1882), inventor of the ‘patent safety cab’, ‘the Hansom cab’ and designer of Birmingham Town Hall, St Walburga catholic church in Preston, Plymouth and Arundel RC cathedrals.  J A Hansom was in partnership with his younger brother, Charles Francis, between 1954-59 and with his younger son J S Hansom 1869-82.  From 1879 J S Hansom had full charge of the practice and he continued the main thread of Hansom &#38; Son architects.  Our Lady of Sorrows at Bognor is a good example of a large urban church.  The west front asserts itself in its narrow street frontage, the upward thrust of the architecture balanced by the strong horizontal frieze.  Internally what impresses is height, size and an austere quality.  The W C Mangan work seems frivolous and lightweight in comparison.  Despite the extensions by Mangan this is a fine example of a church by J S Hansom, in his own right a Victorian architect of some reputation.  </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bognor-regis-our-lady-of-sorrows/">Bognor Regis &#8211; Our Lady of Sorrows</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><em><strong>A fine urban church by J. S. Hansom, its interior impressing in its height, size and austere quality.  </strong></em></p>
<p>In 1864 the Servite Friars came to London and in 1880 they established themselves in Bognor. They quickly commissioned J. S. Hansom to build a church and monastery. Joseph Stanislaus Hansom (1845-1931) was the son and partner of his better known father Joseph Aloysius Hansom, architect of Arundel Cathedral. Our Lady of Sorrows was built in 1881 (one year before the death of J. A. Hansom). The foundation stone is dated 26 October 1881 and the church was opened on 16 August 1882.</p>
<p><strong>Description</strong></p>
<p>A large urban church, with a gabled frontage, hemmed in by buildings, to Clarence Road, but extending back almost to Albert Road. It is built of yellow brick with stone dressings. The west front is impressive in scale, enhanced by appearing in a street frontage, with a bold plate-traceried rose window and a horizontal pointed-arched frieze.</p>
<p>Inside the essentially single volume space and great height continue to impress. The church does not have continuous aisles but there are side chapels alternately low and full height. Hansom’s plans were not fully realised and a temporary wall was built at the east end of the nave. W. C. Mangan of Preston completed the church in 1955-7; this included the extension of the nave beyond Hansom’s five bays, north and south transepts, Lady Chapel, sanctuary and a new cloister to the south. The more austere stepped Early English lancet windows of the nave give way to Perpendicular traceried windows in the sanctuary. The plain architecture of the interior is enlivened by more elaborately furnished side chapels. More recent renovation and adaptations for the modern liturgy were carried out in 1985 by Messrs Ormesby of Scarisbrick, ecclesiastical design consultants.  This included raising the sanctuary floor and a new altar and lectern. At the same time the church was redecorated and given new lighting and heating systems.</p>
<p>Report amended 09.12.2020</p>
<p><strong>List description</strong> <strong>(the church was listed Grade II in 2015, following Taking Stock)</strong></p>
<p><span style="font-size: inherit">Roman Catholic priory church of 1881 by J S Hansom in Early English Gothic style, with sympathetic additions of 1955-7 by W C Mangan.</span></p>
<p>Reasons for designation: <span style="font-size: inherit">The Roman Catholic church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Bognor Regis, of 1881 by J S Hansom with additions by W C Mangan in 1955-57, is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * Architectural interest: this is a good quality Early English-style Roman Catholic church with a lofty nave by Hansom and tactful later additions by Mangan; the impressive west front with its plate tracery rose window makes a strong contribution to the local townscape; * Architects: the church is the work of two significant Catholic architects: the nave was designed by Joseph Stanislaus Hansom &#8211; the son and partner of his more famous father Joseph Hansom &#8211; and the large scale and bold handling of the Bognor church are typical of their work. The east end was completed in the 1950s to a different but complimentary design by W C Mangan, who was a prolific and successful Catholic architect in the mid-C20. </span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: inherit">History: </span><span style="font-size: inherit">The Roman Catholic mission in Bognor Regis was founded in 1880, when the town was still relatively small and had a worshipping Catholic population of sixty. A large church was built by the Servite Order, with a priory adjoining on the south side. The Order is one of the five original Catholic mendicant orders and was founded in 1233 in Italy. The architect of the new church was Joseph Stanislaus Hansom, who had previously collaborated with his father J A Hansom on the design of the Servite church of Our Lady of Dolours in Fulham, which was completed in 1876. Only five bays of the nave of the Bognor church were completed; the proposed transepts, Lady Chapel and sanctuary were not begun. An early photograph on the parish website shows that the internal walls of the building were originally richly decorated and the temporary east wall was covered with figurative painting. In 1939 W C Mangan of Preston was commissioned to complete the building, but the project was interrupted by the war and work did not begin until the mid-1950s. Mangan added one more bay to the nave, together with a long apsidal ended sanctuary, a north east Lady Chapel and a single storey flat-roofed ‘cloister’ range on the south side linking the church to the monastery building.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: inherit">Hansom’s Servite monastery building alongside the church was demolished in the early 1980s, and replaced by an apartment block. In 1985 the sanctuary of the church was reordered by Ormsby of Scarisbrick. Since that time a parish centre has been built in the former monastery grounds to the south of the church. The Servites withdrew from Bognor Regis in 1994.</span></p>
<p>Details: <span style="font-size: inherit">Roman Catholic church of 1881 by Joseph Stanislaus Hansom in Early English style with sympathetic additions by Wilfrid Clarence Mangan, built in 1955-57. </span><span style="font-size: inherit">MATERIALS: Hansom’s church is built of white brick with dressings of Westwood stone from Corsham in Wiltshire. Mangan’s additions are of yellow brick with Bath stone dressings. The pitched main roofs are covered with Welsh slate. </span><span style="font-size: inherit">PLAN: the main body of the church is a wide and tall aisleless nave with three full-height shallow projections on each side. The long apsidal-ended sanctuary is narrower than the nave, with a Lady Chapel on its northern side.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: inherit">EXTERIOR: the principal façade of the church is the impressive west front facing Clarence Road. The width of the nave is defined by stepped buttresses with image niches in their heads. Between them the lower part of the wall is plain, with a projecting gabled porch in the centre. Above the porch is a continuous band of arcading pierced by small pointed windows. Above the arcading in the head of the gable is a massive rose window in plate tracery. On either side of the nave proper are single bay projections with a lancet window at lower level and the band of arcading continued above. Originally the monastery building stood immediately to the south of the church. The north and south sides are of six bays and have lean-to aisles intersected by three full-height single-bay transeptal projections. On the north side the outer walls of both aisle and projections are blind, with stepped triple lancet windows in the recessed clerestory. This produces an oddly bleak appearance. On the south side both projections and clerestory have stepped triple lancets. The sanctuary is lower than the nave and slightly narrower. The side walls are have three tall two-light traceried windows separated by pilaster buttresses, with two similar windows in the apse. On the north side of the sanctuary is the lower flat-roofed Lady Chapel; on the south side the single-storey, flat-roofed ‘cloister’ with simple rectangular stone mullioned window openings.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: inherit">INTERIOR: the nave is essentially a single volume space of great height. The church does not have continuous aisles but there are side chapels alternately low and full height under pointed arches alternately blind and open. Covering the whole nave is a tall pointed roof, boarded and panelled with the principal rafters brought down onto wall shafts between the bays of the clerestory. The western bay is filled by a timber organ gallery which was installed in 1922 and was enclosed beneath in the 1980s to form a vestibule. The floors are mostly modern parquet, but some earlier boarded flooring survives under the nave benches. The windows are clear glazed throughout. An unmoulded pointed opening in the east wall of the nave leads to the apsidal-ended sanctuary, which has a plaster vaulted ceiling. The raised level of the sanctuary was brought forward into the eastern bay of the nave as part of a reordering in 1985. In the eastern bay of the nave an opening with a four-centred head leads to the Lady Chapel and there are similar openings on both sides of the sanctuary.</span></p>
<p><span style="font-size: inherit">FURNISHINGS: several individual furnishing survive from the original church. They include the altars in the side chapels (St Joseph and St Philip Bonizi on the north side and St Teresa of Lisieux on the south side) and the reredos on the high altar. These were probably designed by J S Hansom. The reredos was re-set by Mangan and separated from the original high altar, which does not appear to survive. The sanctuary furnishings and the stone font probably date from the 1980s. The benches in the nave are probably original.</span></p>
<p>Sources:<span style="font-size: inherit">Parish Website, accessed 17.3.15 from </span><a style="font-size: inherit" href="http://www.bognorcatholicparish.co.uk/oloshistory.php">http://www.bognorcatholicparish.co.uk/oloshistory.php; </a> <span style="font-size: inherit">Other: </span><span style="font-size: inherit">125 years, the Catholic Church of Our Lady of Sorrows, Clarence Road, Bognor Regis, 1882-2007. A brief history, 2007; </span><span style="font-size: inherit">Antram, N and Sladen, T, Taking Stock: An Architectural and Historical Review of the Churches of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, 2005; </span><span style="font-size: inherit">The Builder, 19 November 1881, p.632; </span><span style="font-size: inherit">The Catholic Building Review (Southern edition) 1957, pp.78-81.</span></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/bognor-regis-our-lady-of-sorrows/">Bognor Regis &#8211; Our Lady of Sorrows</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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		<title>Brighton &#8211; St John the Baptist</title>
		<link>https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/brighton-st-john-the-baptist/</link>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[andrew]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 12 Mar 2019 15:56:22 +0000</pubDate>
				<guid isPermaLink="false">https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/brighton-st-john-the-baptist/</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<p>Roman Catholic Church. Designed and built between 1832 and 1835 by William Hallett; sculpture by John Carew.  The ritual east end extended sixty feet in 1875 to designs by Gilbert Robot Blount; further additions between 1887 and 1890; wall decorations by Nathaniel Hubert Westlake from 1890 to 1921. Stucco. Roof of slate. PLAN: sanctuary of one bay; choir of 2 bays with north and south chapels of two bays; aisleless nave; organ loft at the ritual west end; baptistery at the ritual south-west corner of the nave; entry porch at ritual north-west; entrance porch at ritual west end. Greek Revival Style; east end executed in Renaissance Revival style. </p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/brighton-st-john-the-baptist/">Brighton &#8211; St John the Baptist</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<p><strong><em>A Greek Revival design of the 1830s, closely modelled on that of St Mary Moorfields in the City of London, extended by G. R. Blount , notable for its extensive wall decorations by N. H. Westlake. The church contains a monument to Maria Fitzherbert, morganatic wife of King George IV.</em></strong></p>
<p><strong>List description</strong></p>
<p>II</p>
<p>Roman Catholic Church. Designed and built between 1832 and 1835 by William Hallett; sculpture by John Carew.  The ritual east end extended sixty feet in 1875 to designs by Gilbert Robert Blount; further additions between 1887 and 1890; wall decorations by Nathaniel Hubert Westlake from 1890 to 1921. Stucco. Roof of slate.</p>
<p>PLAN: sanctuary of one bay; choir of 2 bays with north and south chapels of two bays; aisleless nave; organ loft at the ritual west end; baptistery at the ritual south-west corner of the nave; entry porch at ritual north-west; entrance porch at ritual west end. Greek Revival Style; east end executed in Renaissance Revival style.</p>
<p>Exterior: ritual west front treated as a temple front with pediment to gabled roof and entablature bearing Latin inscription: Deo sub invoc. S. Joannis Bapt. The wall below has pilasters of the Composite Order to the outside corners; distyle in antis porch of the same order in the centre of the facade. Flat-arched entries to returns of porch; main entrance in centre of porch, flat arched with architrave, entablature and dentil cornice; pediment above with raking dentil cornice. Above centre entrance is a flat arched niche with architrave holding a statue of the Patron of the Church, St John the Baptist; the niche has a sill band which continues across the front walls on either side of the entrance. Above this sill band in the front walls is a flat-arched window with architrave; opening below the sill band set in pedimented aedicule is blocked. The south elevation was formerly hidden by Cell Block and Refectory of Saint Joseph&#8217;s Convent, no 3 Bristol Road, recently demolished; on the north elevation there is one pilaster of the Composite order between each nave window. Porch to north-west of c1890 is single storey, with round-arched entrance in the ritual north face. Entrance framed by a Tuscan pilaster supporting arch with architrave and enlarged keystone, the whole, in turn, set in aedicule consisting of a pair of Tuscan pilasters with exaggerated entasis, entablature and pediment.</p>
<p>INTERIOR:. choir and sanctuary are barrel vaulted with panelled transverse ribs; north and south chapels are cross vaulted. Transverse ribs in the sanctuary spring from pilasters of the Composite order and in the choir from a round-arched arcade on 2 bays, supported by a pilaster to the east wall, a column, and a square pier at the west end of the choir; responds along the north and south walls; all in the Composite Order; the arches have architraves.  Viewed from the nave, the chancel arch and arches to side chapels treated as an arcade of 3 bays, with the.central bay higher and broader than the sides; keystones of each treated as a console bracket; steps down to floor of nave.  There is a segmental-arched window with shouldered and eared architrave and projecting sill in each bay of the sanctuary and choir. There are wood screens separating the north and south chapels from the choir, and a C17 Belgian altar rail, added in 1890. Nave is rectangular in plan with a plain dado and a dentil cornice at the top of the wall; along each side wall are four flat-arched windows. In the north and south walls under the second window from the east end is a segmental-arched door with eared architrave. Ceiling of nave plain, pierced by three ventilation ducts in the form of rosettes, added in 1890. At the west end is an organ gallery supported on 2 cast-iron columns with capitals of acanthus and palm leaves; entablature and painted gallery front which is topped by a wooden screen of thin, turned colonnettes on high socles; these support a nine-bay arcade of round and cusped arches; entablature above. Between each socle is a metal filigree railing. The centre bay of the arcade is the widest and gives a view of the organ.  The baptistery, finished in 1889 and entered through a round diaphragm arch, contains the stone, low-relief sculpture of St John the Baptist and Christ. Executed by Carew ib c1835, which was the original altar piece.</p>
<p>Furnishings, decorations and monuments: the south chapel dedicated to Our Lady, stone altar consecrated in 1875, aediculed niche above with statue of the Virgin and Child. The north chapel dedicated to the Sacred Heart of the same date; aediculed niche above the stone altar holds statue of Christ holding the Sacred Heart. The Baptistery, added in 1889 and entered through a round diaphragm arch, contains a stone, low-relief sculpture executed by Carew in c1835, and served as the original altarpiece; the subject: John the Baptist baptizing Christ; pavement of encaustic tile; round font on acanthus leaf base. Carew also carved 2 Composite capitals which flanked the original altar; it is likely that these were reused in the rebuilding of the east end. Under windows next to the organ gallery is a 3-bayed, round-arched niche in which sits the figure of a saint. The nave benches and pulpit date from 1890, in which year Nathaniel Hubert Westlake began the elaborate painted decorations which cover most of the interior wall surfaces; at the. same time Westlake also designed the windows. Of especial note is the altar piece, an oil painting on canvas, which shows Christ Enthroned and Adored, with prophets and saints attending. The panels between the nave windows form a narrative cycle which depict the Life of the Church&#8217;s patron saint; Westlake&#8217;s last works, dating from 1917 to 1921, arc a memorial to Father Johnston who served as assistant priest, then rector from 1876 to 1916. In the south wall next to the organ gallery, monument to Maria Fitzherbert (1756-1837), the Catholic widow who was married to the Prince of Wales in 1783 and who was disowned by the Prince Regent in 1811, although she continued to frequent Brighton. The monument shows her as widow with the Lamp of Memory ands kneeling before the broken gospels, assuming the form either of Fidelity or Religion.  She is wearing 3 wedding rings as Catholic ecclesiastical law requires.  She was patroness of this congregation. In the same position on the north wall, a memorial to the Rev Edward Cullen (1776-1850), who built the church.</p>
<p>HISTORICAL NOTE:  Hallett based his design closely on the Catholic church of St Mary, Moorfields, London, completed by the architect John Newman between 1817 and 1820. In the late 1880s, designs for a complete remodelling of the church in a Romanesque/Italian Renaissance style were made by S J Nicholl; these were shown at the Royal Academy in 1887 and published in &#8220;The Builder&#8221; for 21 May, 1887 and 1 September, 1888. (Pugh T: The Church of St John the Baptist, Brighton 1835-1985: Hove: 1985-: 11-36).</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk/building/brighton-st-john-the-baptist/">Brighton &#8211; St John the Baptist</a> appeared first on <a href="https://taking-stock.org.uk">Taking Stock</a>.</p>
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