St Botolph's Church, Heene facts for kids

Quick facts for kids St Botolph's Church
The church in 2023
50°48′49″N 0°23′12″W / 50.8136°N 0.3867°W / 50.8136; -0.3867
Location	Lansdowne Road, Heene, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 4SG
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	11th century (original church); 1873 (new church)
Dedication	Saint Botolph
Dedicated	By 1534
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	21 May 1976
Architect(s)	Edmund Scott
Architectural type	Early English
Groundbreaking	1873
Completed	1879
Demolished	1770s (original church)
Administration
Parish	Heene
Deanery	Worthing
Archdeaconry	Chichester
Diocese	Chichester
Province	Canterbury

St Botolph's Church is an Anglican church located in Heene, a part of Worthing in West Sussex, England. The first church here was built in the 11th century. It was a small chapel connected to the main church in nearby West Tarring. Over time, this old church fell apart and was no longer used by the 18th century.

In the 1800s, Worthing grew very quickly as a popular seaside town. This led to new homes being built in Heene. Because of this growth, a brand new church was needed. This new church, also named St Botolph's, was built to serve both Heene and the fancy new area called West Worthing. The church was designed by Edmund Scott in a style called Early English Gothic. It stands right next to the small remains of the old church. The new church is a Grade II listed building, meaning it's an important historic place. The old ruins are also listed separately.

The Church's Story

Heene started as a small village by the coast during Saxon times. It was about 1 mile (1.6 km) west of Worthing. Around the year 1086, a big survey called the Domesday Book showed that a Norman nobleman named William de Braose, 1st Lord of Bramber owned land here. He was known for starting several churches.

We know there was a church in Heene in the 11th century. However, its exact spot is a mystery. The coastline often changed due to erosion, so the sea might have destroyed it. A new church was built in the 13th century. This church was a "chapelry," meaning it was a smaller church linked to the main parish church of St Andrew's in West Tarring. All the money collected for the church in Heene, called "tithes," went to West Tarring. St Andrew's Church also handled all the church business for Heene. The right to choose the priest for St Botolph's was held by the Archbishop of Canterbury. This showed how important St Andrew's Church was.

The church seen from Manor Road

St Botolph's Church started to have problems in the 1600s. The village of Heene was always quite small. In 1086, only 14 people lived there, and by 1524, there were 32. The Black Death in the 1300s also caused many deaths. In the early 1600s, the landowners in Heene changed how the land was used. They forced many villagers to leave. With fewer people, there were not many worshippers left. In 1622, the remaining villagers asked for the church to be closed and taken down. They preferred to go to St Andrew's Church instead.

Between 1660 and 1680, St Botolph's Church became very run-down. By 1680, people were allowed to worship at St Andrew's instead. The 13th-century building had a main hall (nave), a special area for the altar (chancel), and a tall tower (steeple). By 1766, it was completely ruined. No services had been held there for about 80 years. Most of its stones were then used to help fix St Andrew's Church. By 1770, the chancel was gone, and by 1778, only a small part of the nave wall remained. A font from the 1300s was also still there.

Heene began to grow again in the early 1800s. This was because nearby Worthing was becoming a popular town. By 1839, a small planned area called "Little Heene" was built. More houses appeared along the road to Worthing by 1850. In 1863, a company bought most of the land in Heene. Within two years, they started building a new housing area and seaside resort called West Worthing. This new town grew very fast and needed its own church. So, in 1873, the company gave land next to the old church ruins for a new building.

Edmund E. Scott was chosen to design the new church. He was an architect from Brighton. He designed the main hall with side sections (aisles), a chancel, a small cross-section (transept), and a tower with a spire. The tower and spire were added in 1879. As West Worthing became a popular and fancy place, the church needed more space. Between 1903 and 1905, R.S. Hyde made the south aisle and transept bigger. In 1982, the north aisle was also extended and given a new entrance.

St John the Divine Church was originally a mission chapel of St Botolph's.

A separate church area, called a parish, was created for St Botolph's in 1875. The church building was finished in 1879 when the tower was built. Eight bells were also put in the tower. In the same year, a temporary church hall was built nearby. A brick hall replaced it in 1898.

A style of worship called "High church" or Anglo-Catholic became popular at St Botolph's. This style uses more traditional ceremonies and music. It had caused some arguments at St Andrew's Church in central Worthing earlier. However, at St Botolph's, it seemed to be accepted without any problems. The church leaders wanted services that were a bit different from other churches in Worthing. They wanted daily services and a focus on traditional worship.

In 1900, St Botolph's Church started a mission hall in a new area of West Worthing called Ripley Road. This chapel was finished in 1901 and was named after St John. St Botolph's managed it until 1937. Then, it was rebuilt and became its own separate church, called St John the Divine. It was given its own parish in 1955, using parts of the St Botolph's and St Andrew's parishes. The building was made larger in 1965.

The right to choose the priest for St Botolph's was held by the Archbishop of Canterbury until 1930. Even though the church was independent from St Andrew's, this right stayed with the Archbishop. In 1930, it was passed to the Diocese of Chichester. The house for the church's priest, called the rectory, was rebuilt next to the church between 1958 and 1959.

What the Church Looks Like

When Edmund Scott first built St Botolph's Church, it had a main hall (nave) with side sections (aisles). It also had a special area for the altar (chancel), a south cross-section (transept), and a tower with a pointed roof (broach spire). The church was built in the Early English style. It used flint stones and red brick, with stone details. The changes made by R.S. Hyde between 1903 and 1905 simply made the transept and south aisle longer. They kept the same style. The roofs are covered with slate tiles. Inside, the church has red and light brown bricks, with some darker stone parts. The church has an altar designed in 1935. It also has beautiful stained glass windows made by different artists from the 1880s to the 1970s.

St Botolph's Today

St Botolph's Church was made a Grade C listed building on May 21, 1976. Grade C was an older way of ranking important churches. Today, it means the same as Grade II. This means it's a building of special historical interest.

You can still see the small remains of the old 13th-century church. They are in the church grounds, to the east of the current building. English Heritage, which also listed these ruins as Grade II, noted that they are "somewhat scanty" and "much weathered." This means there isn't much left, and they are very worn down by time.

The parish of St Botolph's covers an area in the southern part of Worthing. About 7,000 people live within its boundaries. The area is marked by the railway line to the north, Shakespeare and Wordsworth Roads to the east, the English Channel coast to the south, and Grand Avenue to the west.

See also

• List of places of worship in Worthing
• Listed buildings in Worthing