Closed or Disused Churches and Places of Worship
| Name | Image | Location | Denomination | Grade | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St Andrew's Church | Brunswick Town 50°49′25″N 0°09′26″W / 50.8235°N 0.1571°W / 50.8235; -0.1571 (St Andrew's Church, Waterloo Street, Hove) |
Anglican | A !I | The Brunswick estate's church was declared redundant on 14 February 1990 because of declining attendances, and is now owned by the Churches Conservation Trust. It was originally a proprietary chapel owned by Rev. Edward Everard, who owned land on the estate's boundary. Construction work, based on Charles Barry's design, started in April 1827. The exterior was the first example in England of the Italianate style, although the interior was less grand. | |
| St Peter's Church | Preston Village 50°50′32″N 0°08′58″W / 50.8423°N 0.1495°W / 50.8423; -0.1495 (St Peter's Church, Preston, Brighton (Closed)) |
Anglican | B !II* | Now owned by the Churches Conservation Trust, the ancient parish church of Preston Village is mostly 13th-century, although it was restored in the 1870s and in 1906 after a serious fire. The flint and stone building, in Early English style, has a chancel, nave, porch, vestry and a shallow-capped tower at the west end. | |
| St Stephen's Church | Montpelier 50°49′36″N 0°09′11″W / 50.8266°N 0.1531°W / 50.8266; -0.1531 (St Stephen's Church, Brighton (Closed)) |
Anglican | B !II* | Originally built as the ballroom of the Castle Inn in 1766 by John Crunden, the building became the Royal Pavilion's chapel in 1821. It was moved to Montpelier Road in 1850 and became St Stephen's Church. The Neoclassical building was converted into a day centre for homeless people in the 1970s. | |
| Holy Trinity Church | The Lanes 50°49′22″N 0°08′31″W / 50.8228°N 0.1420°W / 50.8228; -0.1420 (Holy Trinity Church, Brighton) |
Anglican | C !II | Amon Wilds built a Greek Doric-style chapel in 1817 for an independent Christian sect founded by prominent local resident Thomas Read Kemp. It was reconsecrated as an Anglican church in 1829. Rev. Frederick W. Robertson achieved national fame for his radical, unorthodox sermons in the mid-19th century, and the church was popular with Brighton's high society. It was rebuilt in the 1880s in the Gothic Revival style with a tall octagonal tower and knapped flint walls. The church closed in 1984 and is now an art gallery. | |
| Holy Trinity Church | Hove 50°49′52″N 0°10′19″W / 50.8312°N 0.1719°W / 50.8312; -0.1719 (Holy Trinity Church, Hove) |
Anglican | C !II | The mid-19th century growth of Hove meant that St Andrew's Church was often full. One of its curates planned a new church nearby, and the site for what became the Holy Trinity Church was bought in 1861. James Woodman designed it in a style which, although broadly Gothic, has been interpreted in many different ways. The church had a rare external pulpit. Declining attendances caused it to close in 2007, and it is threatened with demolition. | |
| St Augustine's Church | Preston Park 50°50′18″N 0°08′24″W / 50.8383°N 0.1400°W / 50.8383; -0.1400 (St Augustine's Church, Brighton (Closed)) |
Anglican | C !II | Started in 1896 by G. Streatfield and extended by him in 1914 with guidance from Thomas Graham Jackson, this Perpendicular-style, red-brick church has a 5 1⁄2-bay nave, apse, chancel and Lady chapel. The parish absorbed that of St Saviour's Church, which closed in 1981, but St Augustine's itself closed in 2002. | |
| St Mark's Church | Kemptown 50°49′03″N 0°06′43″W / 50.8176°N 0.1120°W / 50.8176; -0.1120 (St Mark's Church, Kemptown (Closed)) |
Anglican | C !II | This roughcast church, built between 1838 and 1849 for the Marquess of Bristol, was Kemptown's parish church between 1873 and 1986, when it was declared redundant and given to St Mary's Hall, an adjacent girls' school. It has become the school's chapel and concert hall. | |
| St Wilfrid's Church | Race Hill 50°49′54″N 0°07′16″W / 50.8317°N 0.1210°W / 50.8317; -0.1210 (St Wilfrid's Church, Brighton) |
Anglican | C !II | Harry Goodhart-Rendel's church, built between 1932 and 1934, replaced an iron building of 1901. Sir John Betjeman considered the architecturally Eclectic brick building "about the best 1930s church there is", but it had to be closed in 1980 when blue asbestos was found. It has been converted into a housing complex. | |
| Stanmer Church | Stanmer 50°52′13″N 0°06′07″W / 50.8703°N 0.1019°W / 50.8703; -0.1019 (Stanmer Church) |
Anglican | C !II | The former Brighton Corporation bought the Stanmer Estate from the Earls of Chichester after the Second World War. The third Earl rebuilt a 13th-century church in 1838. Declared redundant in 2008, it stands in the extensive Stanmer Park, Brighton and Hove's largest area of parkland. | |
| Beulah Mission Hall | Southern Cross 50°50′18″N 0°12′58″W / 50.8384°N 0.2161°W / 50.8384; -0.2161 (Beulah Mission Hall (Closed), Southern Cross) |
Anglican | D !– | This small mission hall adjoins a house which retains the name Beulah Cottage. Built in about 1905 and now used as a garage, the painted red-brick building still has lancet windows. | |
| Bute Mission Hall | Queen's Park 50°49′27″N 0°07′11″W / 50.8243°N 0.1197°W / 50.8243; -0.1197 (Bute Mission Hall (Closed), Queen's Park) |
Anglican | D !– | The former St Matthew's Church, built on Sutherland Road in 1881, established this mission chapel on the same road in 1893. W.H. Nash's red-brick structure now houses a carpet showroom. | |
| Church of the Holy Nativity | Bevendean 50°50′35″N 0°05′57″W / 50.8431°N 0.0993°W / 50.8431; -0.0993 (Church of the Holy Nativity, Bevendean) |
Anglican | D !– | Between 1953 and 1963, an old barn served as the Bevendean estate's chapel, until architect Reginald Melhuish built a new church in a distinctive Modern style. Consisting of brick and knapped flint, its roof slopes down and sweeps up again to a sharp point. It closed in 2007 and was converted into a community centre. | |
| St Agnes' Church | Hove 50°50′12″N 0°10′23″W / 50.8368°N 0.1731°W / 50.8368; -0.1731 (St Agnes' Church, Hove (Closed)) |
Anglican | D !– | This is a red-brick and stone building of 1913, to which a porch and aisle were added in 1930. The Diocese of Chichester declared the church, near Hove railway station, redundant in 1977, and although proposed for demolition, it was later converted into a gymnasium. | |
| St Alban's Church | Coombe Road 50°50′23″N 0°07′08″W / 50.8398°N 0.1188°W / 50.8398; -0.1188 (St Alban's Church (Closed), Brighton) |
Anglican | D !– | Lacy W. Ridge built this church between 1910 and 1914 to serve the Coombe Road suburb east of Lewes Road—an area historically known as East Preston. It became part of the Parish of the Resurrection in 1974, with the churches of St Martin, St Luke and St Wilfrid, and was closed on 22 November 2006. | |
| Bristol Road Methodist Church | Kemptown 50°49′11″N 0°07′28″W / 50.8196°N 0.1245°W / 50.8196; -0.1245 (Bristol Road Methodist Church (closed), Kemptown) |
Methodist | C !II | Thomas Lainson's Romanesque Revival church of 1873, built on a corner site on Bristol Road with a timber-framed roof and small spire, was closed in 1989 and converted into a recording studio. | |
| Emmanuel Hall | Southern Cross 50°50′11″N 0°13′03″W / 50.8364°N 0.2175°W / 50.8364; -0.2175 (Emmanuel Hall (closed), Southern Cross) |
Methodist | D !– | Now a shop (Shoulders of Shoreham) and with a modern façade, the old tin tabernacle of 1881 survives behind. It was built for Primitive Methodists in 1881 and had a Brighton-based minister. The building was sold in 1943 for £225. | |
| Franklin Road Methodist Church | Portslade 50°50′00″N 0°12′30″W / 50.8334°N 0.2084°W / 50.8334; -0.2084 (Franklin Road Methodist Church (closed), Portslade) |
Methodist | D !– | Portslade's Wesleyan Methodist congregation met in public rooms in the area, including above the Clarence Club, until Messrs Gillam of Southwick built a church in 1907. A Sunday School was added in 1930, but it closed in 1964 and is now in commercial use. | |
| Goldstone Villas Methodist Church | Hove 50°49′57″N 0°10′20″W / 50.8324°N 0.1723°W / 50.8324; -0.1723 (Goldstone Villas Methodist Church (closed), Hove) |
Methodist | D !– | Hove's Primitive Methodist community was founded in 1876, and had established their own chapel within two years. Membership declined in the 20th century and the last service was held in 1933. The Renaissance-style building was converted into offices in 1968. | |
| Gordon Mission Hall | Kemptown 50°49′18″N 0°07′56″W / 50.8217°N 0.1321°W / 50.8217; -0.1321 (Gordon Mission Hall (Closed), Kemptown) |
Methodist | D !– | Three denominations have used this Gothic Revival chapel, built by W.S. Parnacott in 1886, but it is now in residential use. Primitive Methodists occupied it until 1937, then a Plymouth Brethren congregation and the Greek Orthodox community took it on. | |
| Hollingbury Methodist Church | Hollingbury 50°51′35″N 0°07′58″W / 50.8597°N 0.1327°W / 50.8597; -0.1327 (Hollingbury Methodist Church) |
Methodist | D !– | This small brick building opened in September 1952 and was registered for marriages in December 1964. The church had an emphasis on youth work, but it closed in August 2010 and the congregation moved to other Methodist churches. | |
| London Road Methodist Church | Brighton 50°49′57″N 0°08′14″W / 50.8325°N 0.1372°W / 50.8325; -0.1372 (London Road Methodist Church (Closed), Brighton) |
Methodist | D !– | Used for worship until the early 21st century, this Free Renaissance-style building by James Weir friba dates from 1894. Red brick, terracotta and stone are all visible, but the façade was hidden behind cement in 1938 during a major rebuilding. The church had been extended in 1910, including a tower and spire which are no longer in place. | |
| Queen's Park Methodist Church | Queen's Park 50°49′33″N 0°07′38″W / 50.8257°N 0.1272°W / 50.8257; -0.1272 (Queen's Park Methodist Church) |
Methodist | D !– | Architect W.S. Parnacott designed this church, which stood on Queen's Park Road south of St Luke's Church. It opened in September 1891 and held its final service in 1987. It has since been converted into a nursery school. | |
| United Methodist Church | Hove 50°50′03″N 0°09′17″W / 50.8342°N 0.1547°W / 50.8342; -0.1547 (United Methodist Church (closed), Hove) |
Methodist | D !– | A long-established Bible Christian community founded this church, which was built in the Early English style in 1904 and opened in 1905. The 400-capacity building did not thrive, closed in 1947 and was sold to an organisation for adults with learning disabilities. Its marriage registration was cancelled in October 1950. | |
| Clarence Baptist Chapel | Brighton 50°49′25″N 0°08′55″W / 50.8236°N 0.1487°W / 50.8236; -0.1487 (Clarence Baptist Chapel (Closed), Brighton) |
Baptist | D !– | This stuccoed Classical-style chapel dates from 1833. After passing out of religious use, it was converted into a school and then (in the late 1940s) a theatre. At first named Studio Theatre, it is now known as Brighton Little Theatre. | |
| Islingword Road Baptist Mission | Hanover 50°49′52″N 0°07′39″W / 50.8310°N 0.1275°W / 50.8310; -0.1275 (Islingword Road Baptist Mission (Closed), Hanover) |
Baptist | D !– | Used by Baptists before it closed in the early 20th century, this small chapel (now converted into two houses and recognisable only by the small pediment below the roofline) has also been used by Primitive Methodists and an Evangelical congregation. The rendered building dates from 1881. | |
| Jireh Strict Baptist Chapel | North Laine 50°49′35″N 0°08′16″W / 50.8263°N 0.1377°W / 50.8263; -0.1377 (Jireh Strict Baptist Chapel (Closed), North Laine) |
Baptist | D !– | This Regency-style chapel originally had two storeys; a third was added after it passed into secular use in about 1902. The stuccoed building has pilasters on the façade. | |
| Queen Square Baptist Chapel | Brighton 50°49′29″N 0°08′37″W / 50.8246°N 0.1437°W / 50.8246; -0.1437 (Queen Square Baptist Chapel (Closed), Brighton) |
Baptist | D !– | This chapel was used by Baptists between 1856 and 1908, and by the Free Church for another 40 years. Since then it has been in commercial use. It is in the Neoclassical style, with three bays, pilasters and a parapet. | |
| Belgrave Street Congregational Church | Hanover 50°49′44″N 0°07′49″W / 50.8289°N 0.1304°W / 50.8289; -0.1304 (Belgrave Street Congregational Church (Closed), Hanover) |
Congregational | D !– | Thomas Simpson's stuccoed Early English-style chapel was in use by the Congregational community from 1865 until 1939 or 1942. Afterwards, it became part of Brighton Technical College (now known as City College Brighton & Hove). | |
| Rottingdean Congregational Chapel | Rottingdean 50°48′15″N 0°03′29″W / 50.8042°N 0.0581°W / 50.8042; -0.0581 (Rottingdean Congregational Chapel (Closed)) |
Congregational | D !– | The village of Rottingdean was provided with a small Congregational Chapel in the 1890s. The stuccoed building, with arched windows, closed in the 1980s after a period as an independent chapel, and is now a shop. | |
| Sudeley Place Congregational Chapel | Kemptown 50°49′04″N 0°07′02″W / 50.8179°N 0.1171°W / 50.8179; -0.1171 (Sudeley Place Congregational Chapel (Closed), Kemptown) |
Congregational | D !– | Rev. J. Goulty founded this church in 1868. The present building, a Renaissance-style structure of 1891, was used until about 1918, after which it became a cinema—originally the Kings Cliff cinema and later the Continentale. It was converted for residential use after its closure in 1984. | |
| Trinity Independent Congregational Chapel | North Laine 50°49′27″N 0°08′18″W / 50.8241°N 0.1383°W / 50.8241; -0.1383 (Trinity Independent Congregational Chapel (Closed), North Laine) |
Congregational | D !– | Founded as Mr Faithfull's Chapel, which moved from Ship Street, this mid-1820s Neoclassical church by Thomas Cooper also bore the name Pavilion Baptist Chapel before its closure in about 1896. Subsequent uses have included Brighton's music library (until 2003) and an arts venue. | |
| Middle Street Synagogue | The Lanes 50°49′16″N 0°08′34″W / 50.8211°N 0.1428°W / 50.8211; -0.1428 (Middle Street Synagogue, Brighton) |
Jewish (Orthodox) | B !II* | Thomas Lainson's 1874 building in yellow and brown Sussex brick replaced an earlier synagogue on which David Mocatta had worked. The 300-capacity building has an unusually opulent interior, partly funded by the Sassoon family, but high maintenance costs and the existence of three other synagogues in the city led to its closure in 2004. | |
| Brighton Regency Synagogue | Kemptown 50°49′17″N 0°07′51″W / 50.8213°N 0.1309°W / 50.8213; -0.1309 (Brighton Regency Synagogue) |
Jewish (Orthodox) | C !II | David Mocatta built Brighton's first synagogue here in 1826 and extended it in 1837. The 50-capacity Regency style building has a pediment, large three-storey pilasters and an entablature bearing the legend jews synagogue am 5598. After the Middle Street Synagogue opened, it was sold for commercial use, and is now residential. | |
| Roof-top synagogue | Brunswick Town 50°49′25″N 0°09′39″W / 50.8236°N 0.1607°W / 50.8236; -0.1607 (Roof-top synagogue) |
Jewish (Orthodox) (breakaway) | A !I | This is a private synagogue built on the roof of the home of Philip Salomons, consisting of a small octagonal edifice on top of a highly glazed room – in reference to the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem – on the sun terrace of his then private residence. It was the subject of acrimonious debate between Salomons and members of the Middle Street Synagogue, Brighton, since private synagogues violated the Laws of the Congregation. For a time after his death it was turned into a Jewish history museum. It is now part of a privately let apartment. | |
| Park Road Hall | Rottingdean 50°48′14″N 0°03′30″W / 50.8039°N 0.0582°W / 50.8039; -0.0582 (Park Road Hall (Closed), Rottingdean) |
Brethren | D !– | This building is now used as a Montessori school and for community purposes, but was previously registered for Brethren worship. | |
| Stretton Hall | Aldrington 50°50′07″N 0°12′09″W / 50.8354°N 0.2025°W / 50.8354; -0.2025 (Stretton Hall (Closed), Aldrington) |
Brethren | D !– | This small Vernacular-style building closed in the early 21st century and passed into commercial use. Its registration for worship was formally cancelled in December 2009. In 1963, it was identified as being the "city room" (main Brethren place of worship) in the Brighton area. | |
| Union Chapel | The Lanes 50°49′20″N 0°08′28″W / 50.8223°N 0.1410°W / 50.8223; -0.1410 (Elim Tabernacle (Closed), Brighton) |
Elim Pentecostal | C !II | Brighton's first Nonconformist place of worship opened on this site in Union Street in the late 17th century. It became an Independent chapel and then the Union Free Church (founded by the merger of two Congregational churches) in the 19th century; in 1905 it became a missionary church for miners; and in 1927 it became the Elim Church. It is now a pub. | |
| Elim Foursquare Gospel Chapel | Aldrington 50°50′03″N 0°11′31″W / 50.8343°N 0.1919°W / 50.8343; -0.1919 (Elim Foursquare Gospel Chapel (Closed), Aldrington) |
Elim Pentecostal | D !– | The most notable architectural feature of this small 1929 chapel on Portland Road is its Diocletian window. The red-brick building is clad in painted render. It became a nursery school after the congregation moved out in 1994. | |
| Emmanuel Full Gospel Church | Hanover 50°49′55″N 0°07′33″W / 50.8320°N 0.1258°W / 50.8320; -0.1258 (Emmanuel Full Gospel Church (Closed), Hanover) |
Assemblies of God | D !– | This small Vernacular-style chapel has stood on De Montfort Road in Hanover since 1932. It was registered as a Pentecostal place of worship for the Assemblies of God denomination. | |
| Bentham Road Mission Hall | Hanover 50°49′49″N 0°07′23″W / 50.8302°N 0.1231°W / 50.8302; -0.1231 (Bentham Road Mission Hall (Closed), Hanover) |
Free Church | D !– | This small hall is now boarded-up and derelict, but was still in use as late as the mid-1980s. The rendered exterior still shows evidence of its former lancet windows. The building dates from 1881. | |
| Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints | Coldean 50°51′28″N 0°06′27″W / 50.8577°N 0.1075°W / 50.8577; -0.1075 (Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints (closed), Coldean) |
Latter-Day Saint | D !– | Brighton's Latter-day Saints community worshipped at this church in the 1950s Coldean housing estate from 1963 until its closure in the 1990s and the opening of a new building on Lewes Road. | |
| Clarendon Mission Church | Hove 50°49′56″N 0°10′27″W / 50.8321°N 0.1741°W / 50.8321; -0.1741 (Clarendon Mission Church, Hove) |
Non-denominational | D !– | Thomas Simpson's late-19th-century undenominational mission chapel, in yellow and red brick and with some terracotta dressings and a large porch with columns, was bought by an Evangelical group in 1961. This became the Church of Christ the King, which moved to a large building in the New England Quarter in the early 21st century. | |
| L'Eglise Française Reformée | Brighton 50°49′19″N 0°08′58″W / 50.8220°N 0.1495°W / 50.8220; -0.1495 (French Protestant Church, Brighton) |
Reformed Church of France | D !– | The only French Protestant church in Britain outside London is located just off Brighton seafront next to the Metropole Hotel. The small red-brick church was built in 1887 for £1,535 (£126,500 as of 2013) to serve local and itinerant Francophone worshippers (mostly fishermen from France). Brighton's Francophone community has declined from its early-20th century peak, and in June 2008 it was announced that the church would close and be sold. The final service was on 26 July 2008. | |
| Salvation Army Citadel | Portslade 50°49′52″N 0°12′49″W / 50.8311°N 0.2135°W / 50.8311; -0.2135 (Salvation Army Citadel (Closed), Portslade) |
Salvation Army | D !– | Meetings took place above a shop from 1882, but this citadel was in use between 1910 and 1966, after which it was sold and converted for commercial use. The Renaissance-style red-brick building has a staggered gable and stuccoed dressings. | |
| Dependants' Chapel | Aldrington 50°50′10″N 0°11′14″W / 50.8361°N 0.1872°W / 50.8361; -0.1872 (Dependents' Chapel (Society of Dependents), Hove) |
Society of Dependants | D !– | This was one of seven chapels built for John Sirgood's local sect, nicknamed "Cokelers". It opened as a mission hall in 1905 and was converted into a house at the end of the 1970s. | |
| Lewes Road United Reformed Church | Brighton 50°50′09″N 0°07′33″W / 50.8359°N 0.1257°W / 50.8359; -0.1257 (Lewes Road United Reformed Church (closed), Brighton) |
United Reformed Church | D !– | Architect A. Harford designed this building in the Italian Gothic style for the Congregational Church in 1878. It became a United Reformed Church when that entity was formed in 1972, but was later closed and replaced with a new building further down Lewes Road. The façade has been retained, and the building has been converted into 31 self-catering apartments for formerly homeless people. The facility is supported by the Brighton branch of the YMCA. |
Read more about this topic: List Of Places Of Worship In Brighton And Hove
Famous quotes containing the words closed, disused, churches, places and/or worship:
“Thus piteously Love closed what he begat:
The union of this ever-diverse pair!
These two were rapid falcons in a snare,
Condemned to do the flitting of the bat.”
—George Meredith (1828–1909)
“And in a disused shed in Co. Wexford,
Deep in the grounds of a burnt-out hotel,
Among the bathtubs and the washbasins
A thousand mushrooms crowd to a keyhole.”
—Derek Mahon (b. 1941)
“He asked if I would sell my Christmas trees;
My woods the young fir balsams like a place
Where houses all are churches and have spires.
I hadn’t thought of them as Christmas trees.”
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse, and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was. If you can get so that you can give that to people, then you are a writer.”
—Ernest Hemingway (1899–1961)
“I hear as good exclamation on your worship as of any man in the city.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)