St Peter's Church, West Blatchington facts for kids
Quick facts for kids St Peter's, West Blatchington |
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| 50°50′50″N 0°11′06″W / 50.8472°N 0.1851°W | |
| Denomination | Church of England |
| Website | St Peter's West Blatchington |
| Administration | |
| Parish | West Blatchington, St Peter |
| Deanery | Rural Deanery of Hove |
| Archdeaconry | Brighton & Lewes |
| Diocese | Chichester |
| Province | Canterbury |
St Peter's Church is an Anglican church located in West Blatchington. This area is part of Hove, which is a city in England called Brighton and Hove. The church has parts that date back to the 11th and 12th centuries. However, it was rebuilt in the late 1800s after being in ruins. It was also made much bigger in the 1960s. Because of these changes, not much of the very old building remains today. St Peter's Church serves the people living in the West Blatchington area. This is a residential part of Hove, close to the border with Brighton.
Contents
The History of St Peter's Church
West Blatchington was once a small, isolated village. It sat on the South Downs hills, north of Hove. By the 1800s, the village had become very small. Only the main house (called the manor house), the church, and a few farm buildings were left. The West Blatchington Windmill, which is near the church, was built in 1820.
Early Days: Saxon and Norman Roots
People used to think St Peter's Church was built in the 12th century by the Normans. But in the 1980s, archaeologists studied the church. They found that it actually started in the 11th century, during the Saxon period.
The walls of the church are made of flint stones. These walls still exist today. Inside them, archaeologists found many pieces of old Roman materials. These included broken tiles and stones from ancient furnaces. These materials were likely collected from a nearby Roman villa in the 11th century. Using and recycling old Roman building parts was common for Saxons. The Roman settlement itself was very old. People had lived there since the Bronze Age, and some Neolithic tools were found too. The Roman site had ditches, rubbish pits, a cemetery, and kilns for drying corn.
The wall around the main doorway of the church is quite thin. This is more typical of a Saxon wall than a Norman one. Also, two windows high up in the south wall are blocked. They are built in the Saxon style. However, there are also Norman-style windows in other parts of the church. It seems the original church was changed early on. A separate chancel was added, where the altar would have been moved. Saxon churches usually had their altars in the middle of a rectangular room. Normans preferred the altar at one end, in a special chancel area.
Changes and Decline Through the Centuries
In the early 12th century, Ralph de Luffa, who was the Bishop of Chichester, put the church under the control of Lewes Priory. A priory is a type of monastery. In the 1500s, King Henry VIII took control of the Priory, and it was destroyed. St Peter's Church then joined with St Helen's Church, Hangleton to form one parish.
But the church was already in decline. By 1596, it was no longer used. The area only had one other house where people lived. In the 1600s, the Church Commissioners said the church was ruined. By the early 1800s, only the four walls were left. For many years during that century, farmers even used the ruined church as a hen house!
Bringing the Church Back to Life
The Scrase family had lived in West Blatchington manor for over 400 years. Some people blamed them for not fixing the church sooner. In 1855, Rev. Henry Michell Wagner, the Vicar of Brighton, suggested building a new church, school, and graveyard. He offered to pay for it himself. He needed two acres of farmland. This land belonged to the Marquess of Abergavenny. However, his tenants, the Hobson family (who were related to the Scrases), farmed the land. The Marquess agreed, but the Hobsons refused to give up the land. So, the plan was put on hold.
However, when one of the Hobsons died in 1888, she left money in her will. This money was for restoring the old church. Somers Clarke, an architect from Brighton, was chosen for the job. He had worked on several church restorations in the area. St Peter's Church was reopened for worship on June 29, 1891.
Growing with the Community: The 1960s Extension
Hove grew a lot in the first half of the 1900s. The old village of West Blatchington became surrounded by new houses. This growth was helped when West Blatchington became part of the Borough of Hove in 1928. The rebuilt church was too small for all the new people. So, more changes were planned.
On May 8, 1960, the foundation stone for a large new part of the church was laid. This new section was on the north side. The Bishop of Chichester, Roger Plumpton Wilson, laid the stone. Like at St Leonard's Church, Aldrington, another church in Hove, this extension was almost like building a new church around the old one.
John Leopold Denman was the architect for this project. He used flint for the outside walls. He also kept the old north wall of the church. This helped the new part blend well with the 11th-century and 19th-century parts. The roof has a special design. It has dormer window-style skylights that look like a clerestory. This brings natural light into both the old and new parts of the church. It also connects them physically. The work was finished by 1962. The entrance porch was fixed up again in 1987.
In 1707, money was raised to buy the advowson of West Blatchington. This meant the church could be separate from Hangleton parish. Instead, it joined with Brighton. Until 1744, the benefice (the church's income and position) was held by the Vicar of Brighton. On August 1, 1744, they were officially joined. However, the church became separate from Brighton again in 1940. It was given its own parish once more.
The Architecture of St Peter's Church
St Peter's Church has three main parts. These are from the Saxon/Norman period, the late 1800s, and the mid-1900s. Even though they are from different times, they blend together nicely.
Building Materials and Design
When it was first built, the church was about 35 feet (11 meters) long and 16 feet (5 meters) wide. It was rectangular. It was made of rough flint stones. These stones included pieces of rock and tile from the old Roman site. The original altar was in the center of the church. A chancel was added later, during the early Norman period. Two narrow windows in the west wall of the nave were also added then. These windows are still part of the church today. Most of the south and west walls are original.
The rebuilding in the 1800s kept as much of the nave and chancel as possible. A short bell-tower was added at the west end. It was covered with weatherboarding and had a spire on top. A porch with a gabled roof was added on the south side. The church also got three Decorated-style lancet windows. These are tall, narrow windows with pointed tops. The roof inside was a barrel vault shape, like the inside of a barrel. The bell in the bell-tower was made in London in 1844.
Modern Additions and Interior Features
The changes made between 1960 and 1962 added a larger nave and chancel on the north side. The old and new naves are connected by an arcade. This is a row of arches with five bays (sections). The clerestory-style skylights are above this arcade. The new nave has six bays and a gallery with an organ.
The inside walls are mostly covered with rendered plaster. On the outside, knapped flintwork was used. This means the flint stones were carefully shaped. Brick and stone were also used for decoration around openings. The inside of the church is quite simple. No original fixtures from the ancient church remain. A brass memorial tablet from the 1500s, remembering the Scrase family, was moved. It is now in the south aisle of St Nicolas Church, Portslade.
St Peter's Church Today
St Peter's Church was given a special status called Grade II* listed on March 24, 1950. This means it is a very important historic building. As of February 2001, it was one of 70 Grade II*-listed buildings in the city of Brighton and Hove. There are 1,218 listed buildings of all grades in the city.
The church follows the Reformed Catholic tradition of the Church of England. On Sundays, there is a parish Eucharist service at 10 AM. There is also a Sunday school for children. Once a month, on the first Sunday, there is an all-age service at 4 PM.
The parish of St Peter's was created in 1940. It covers a large area north of Hove, just west of the Brighton border. Much of this area is uninhabited downland (open hills). The parish boundaries include streets like Goldstone Crescent, The Droveway, Nevill Road, and Hangleton Road. It also stretches to the South Downs near Waterhall Golf Course, Mill Road, and Woodland Avenue.
Since 2008, St Peter's Church has been part of the Portslade and Western Hove Group Ministry. This group includes several other churches. These are the Bishop Hannington Memorial Church, St Helen's at Hangleton, St Nicolas' at Portslade, St Philip's and St Leonard's in Aldrington, Holy Cross at Hove, and the Good Shepherd at Mile Oak.
Notable Burials
- Reginald John Campbell, a famous theologian (someone who studies religion), is buried in the churchyard.
See also
- Grade II* listed buildings in Brighton and Hove
- List of places of worship in Brighton and Hove
