St John the Evangelist's Church, Burgess Hill facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St John the Evangelist's Church |
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St John's parish church from the west
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| 50°57′26″N 0°08′00″W / 50.9573°N 0.1332°W | |
| Location | St John's Road/Lower Church Road, RH15 9AA Burgess Hill, West Sussex |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | stjohnsbh.org.uk |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Founded | 4 November 1861 |
| Dedication | John the Evangelist |
| Dedicated | June 1865 |
| Consecrated | June 1863 |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade II* |
| Designated | 22 April 1950 |
| Architect(s) | Thomas Talbot Bury |
| Style | Gothic Revival |
| Groundbreaking | October 1861 |
| Completed | June 1863 |
| Construction cost | £6,045.3s.3d. (£422,500 in 2025) |
| Administration | |
| Parish | Burgess Hill, St John |
| Deanery | Rural Deanery of Hurst |
| Archdeaconry | Horsham |
| Diocese | Chichester |
| Province | Canterbury |
St John the Evangelist's Church is a special building in Burgess Hill, West Sussex, England. It's a Church of England parish church, which means it serves a local area. This church was built in a style called Gothic Revival, using bricks made nearby.
The church was officially opened in 1863. It was the very first Church of England church in Burgess Hill. Over the years, it helped start other churches in the town. Some were small "mission chapels" and others were "daughter churches." These churches either closed or became independent. St John's Church is also a Grade II* Listed Building. This means it's a very important historical building.
Contents
Discovering St John's Church History
How Burgess Hill Grew Around the Church
Before the mid-1800s, the area where Burgess Hill now stands was mostly open land. It was split between two villages, Clayton and Keymer. Things started to change when new laws allowed this land to be divided up. This happened in Keymer's part in 1828.
Then, in 1841, the London and Brighton Railway opened. The railway line went right through this area. A train station, Burgess Hill railway station, opened on the same day. The railway helped the town grow quickly. More homes were built, and the local brickworks expanded. By 1857, the rest of the land in Clayton's part was also divided. This made the town grow even faster.
Planning and Building the First Church
From the early 1840s, people in the Church of England met in a school on London Road. When the land was divided in 1857, a spot was saved for a new church. This idea had come up in 1854. A local newspaper said that the school and the churches in Keymer and Clayton were too small. They couldn't hold all the people who wanted to worship.
There was a problem until 1861. The land saved for the church was too far from the growing town centre. Even when a landowner offered free land right in the town, people couldn't agree. Some landowners were very upset about moving the church from the original spot. They even put an advertisement in the newspaper to protest! But they didn't win.
Building the church started on the free land. Thomas Talbot Bury was chosen to design it. A building company from Chichester won the job to build it. The Bishop of Chichester, Ashurst Turner Gilbert, laid the first stone on November 4, 1861. The church was finished and officially opened in June 1863.
Early Years and Changes to the Church
For its first two years, St John's was a "chapel of ease." This meant it was a smaller church that helped the main churches of Clayton and Keymer. But in June 1865, it got its own parish. It was then named after John the Evangelist. The church could hold about 700 people. Some of the seats, called pews, were rented out. This money helped pay the vicar, who is the church leader.
Not many changes have been made to the church since it opened. In 1875, Talbot Bury designed a south aisle, which is a side section of the church. A vestry, a room for clergy, was added in 1889. A house for the vicar was built nearby in 1907. This happened after a local doctor gave some land to the church.
Later in the 20th century, a part of the church was separated by a screen. This allowed that area to be used for other things. The church leaders officially approved this change in 1989.
A Special Memorial in the Churchyard
In the churchyard, you can find the grave of Annie Mackintosh. She was the mother of Antarctic explorer Aeneas Mackintosh. Her grave also has a memorial for her son. He disappeared in the Antarctic in 1916.
Exploring St John's Church Building
Design and Materials of the Church
Thomas Talbot Bury designed St John the Evangelist's Church in a style from the 13th century. It uses red bricks, with some yellow and black bricks mixed in. There are also stone decorations on the outside. The bricks are laid in a pattern called Flemish bond. The roof is made of tiles.
The church has a main area called a nave. It also has a chancel (the area around the altar), and side sections called clerestory, north and south aisles, and transepts (arms of the cross shape). There's an entrance porch on the south side. On the northwest, there's a tall tower with a spire on top.
Windows and Interior Features
Many of the windows are shaped like a trefoil, which is like a three-leaf clover. The tower has pairs of tall, narrow windows with trefoils above them. The large window at the front of the nave has five trefoils. You can also see different groups of trefoils and paired or tripled windows in other parts of the church. The upper part of the church, called the clerestory, has groups of two or three quatrefoils, which are like four-leaf clovers.
Inside, the nave has an arched roof supported by eight-sided columns. The chancel roof is similar but more detailed. The north aisle has a cross-shaped roof.
You'll find an oak pulpit, which is a raised stand for sermons. It remembers Simeon Norman, an important person from Burgess Hill in the 1800s. An oak lectern, a stand for reading, was given in memory of another local family. Frederick Crunden, who helped pay for the church and later gave land for the vicarage, also has memorials inside. Other features include a stone and marble altar, a fancy screen in the chancel, and an eight-sided font for baptisms. The original pews, or church benches, are still there. Some of the stained glass windows were designed by the Franz Mayer & Co. company. Another window remembers a local doctor who gave the church its organ.
Church Clock and Bells
The church spire has a clock with four faces. It was put in place in 1887 to celebrate Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee.
The tower holds eight bells, all made by John Taylor & Co. in Loughborough. Three of the bells were made in 1897 for Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. Two more were made in 1900, and the last three were made in 1904.
St John's Church Today
St John the Evangelist's Church has been a Grade II* Listed Building since April 22, 1950. This means it's a very important historical building. In 2001, it was one of 54 such buildings in the Mid Sussex District.
Today, St John's is one of three Church of England parishes in Burgess Hill. St Andrew's parish, started in 1902, serves the east side of town. St Edward the Confessor's parish, created in 2000, serves the west side. St John the Evangelist's parish church now serves the central part of town. This area is between the railway line and the A23 London Road. It also includes some neighborhoods in the south of the town.
St John's Church holds a Eucharist service twice every Sunday morning. They also have a Eucharist service on Wednesdays.
Images for kids
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The former St Alban's Mission Hall
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World's End's former Mission Hall
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St Andrew's parish church
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St John's parish church and steeple seen from Church Walk to the south
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St John's parish church from the southeast
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