Church of the Sacred Heart, Hove facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Sacred Heart, Hove
The church from the east
50°49′47″N 0°10′15″W / 50.8298°N 0.1709°W / 50.8298; -0.1709
Location	Norton Road, Hove, Brighton and Hove BN3 3BE
Country	England
Denomination	Roman Catholic
Website	www.sacredhearthove.org.uk/
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	November 1880
Dedication	Sacred Heart
Dedicated	28 September 1881
Consecrated	25 October 1887
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II listed
Designated	15 September 1999
Architect(s)	John Crawley; Joseph S. Hansom
Style	Gothic Revival
Completed	1887
Administration
Parish	Hove, Sacred Heart
Deanery	Brighton and Hove
Diocese	Arundel and Brighton

The Church of the Sacred Heart is a Roman Catholic church located in Hove, a town that is part of the city of Brighton and Hove in England. It is the oldest Roman Catholic church in Hove and one of eleven in the wider Brighton and Hove area. This church is recognized as a special historical building, known as a Grade II Listed building.

A Look Back: The Church's History

Early Days for Catholics in Britain

For many years, Roman Catholic worship was not allowed in Britain. This changed in the late 1700s. New laws, like the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791, finally made it possible to build Catholic churches.

In nearby Brighton, a Catholic community quickly grew. They built their first church, St John the Baptist's, in 1835. Hove's Catholic community took a bit longer to get started. In the 1830s, they met secretly in a chapel inside a private house.

Planning the First Church

Plans for Hove's first Catholic church began in the 1870s. A priest named Fr George Oldham left money in his will to help start a new church. He passed away in 1875, and the decision to build the church was made the next year.

Finding the right spot for the church was tricky. An early choice on Tisbury Road was changed. Instead, land across from Hove Town Hall was bought for £3,746.

Building Begins

An architect named John Crawley was chosen to design the church. He had designed other churches in the area. However, there wasn't enough money to build his full design right away.

During this delay, a company that owned land nearby worried about the church. They thought a Catholic church might make house prices go down. So, they bought the land back from the church. They then helped find a new location. After looking at other places, land on Norton Road was chosen in October 1879.

John Crawley's plans were approved a year later. Building work officially started on November 3, 1880, when the foundation stone was laid.

Growing the Church Building

At first, only part of the church could be built because of money. Still, when it opened on September 28, 1881, the Church of the Sacred Heart had a chancel (the area around the altar), a nave (the main part where people sit), side aisles, two small chapels, and a presbytery (the priest's house).

John Crawley died just before the opening. Another architect, Joseph S. Hansom, took over his work. He completed the second part of the building in 1887. This added more to the nave, making the church bigger.

More work happened between 1914 and 1915. The north aisle was made longer, and a Lady chapel was added. This new part opened on February 24, 1915, and the church was then considered finished. The land for this last part was bought in 1911 for £400.

People Connected to the Church

Many interesting people have been linked to the Church of the Sacred Heart. These include:

• Barry Sullivan, an Irish stage actor, whose funeral was held here in 1891.
• George Augustus Sala, a journalist, whose funeral took place in 1895.
• Luigi Arditi, a composer who worshipped at the church.
• Eric Gill, a famous sculptor and artist, who became Catholic at this church in 1913.

A Daughter Church

In the early 1900s, St Peter's Church was built in Aldrington. This was a "daughter church" to Sacred Heart. It helped serve Catholics in west Hove who lived far from other churches. St Peter's was finished in 1915 and later became its own separate parish.

Church Design and Features

Building Materials and Style

The Church of the Sacred Heart is built from limestone with special stone decorations. John Crawley designed it in the Gothic Revival style. This style looks like the old Early English Gothic churches from the 1300s.

The chancel has a three-sided apse (a rounded end). The roof, made of slate from Wales, covers both the chancel and the nave.

Inside the Church

The north side of the nave has the Lady chapel at its east end. The south side has a chapel dedicated to Saint Joseph. The church entrance is through a porch at the east end. The window in the Lady chapel is very large with five sections. It is in the Perpendicular style, which is another type of Gothic design.

Inside, the chancel and side chapels have beautiful vaulted ceilings with marble and stone pillars. The walls and arches are made of brick, ashlar (finely cut stone), and stone, mostly from southwest England. The nave roof is barrel-vaulted, meaning it looks like the inside of a barrel.

The apse has a large reredos (a decorated screen behind the altar). The pulpit (where sermons are given) has carvings of Saint Peter and Saint Paul. There is also an alabaster font (for baptisms) with detailed patterns.

Many stained glass windows were created by Nathaniel Westlake. He also painted some murals on the ceilings, including his very last work. A local company, Cox & Barnard, designed a single window in 2001. This window shows Saint Francis in the middle section of the west window.

Music and Organ at Sacred Heart

The Church Organ

The church used to have a large Bevington organ. This organ was taken apart and removed around 1996 or 1997. A new organ was built by the Copeman Hart company. Andrew Reid, who was the assistant organist at Westminster Cathedral at the time, attended a special opening ceremony in December 1998. This new organ has two keyboards and 41 different sounds. It is used for concerts and during church services.

Choral Singing Tradition

The Church of the Sacred Heart has a long history of choral singing. The church's music archives have old scores for Masses by famous composers like Mozart and Haydn, printed around 1870.

In the 1890s, a well-known composer named Augustus Edmonds Tozer was one of the music directors. He put together several collections of church music, including Catholic Hymns and Modern Music For Church Choirs. He also composed his own Masses and sacred pieces.

Sacred Heart Church Today

The Church of the Sacred Heart was officially recognized as a Grade II Listed building on September 15, 1999. This means it is an important historical building that needs to be protected.

Today, the church holds several services each week. There are three Masses on Sundays, plus an evening service on Saturday. Daily Masses are held during the week, and there are services on Holy Days of Obligation. The Sacrament of Penance (confession) is offered on Saturdays.

The 9:30 AM Sunday Mass is a family service with modern worship music sung by the Sacred Heart Youth Choir. The 11:30 AM Sunday Mass includes both English and Latin, with music like Gregorian Chant and Polyphony from the Renaissance period. On most Sundays, the choir sings traditional plainsong music, and the people attending join in.

The Church of the Sacred Heart is one of eleven Roman Catholic churches in the Brighton and Hove area. Its former daughter church, St Peter's Church in Aldrington, and St George's Church in West Blatchington are also in Hove. There are six Catholic churches in Brighton, and one each in Rottingdean and Woodingdean.

See also

• Grade II listed buildings in Brighton and Hove: C–D
• List of places of worship in Brighton and Hove