Stanmer Church

Parish church
name=Stanmer Church


caption=The church from the southwest, facing Stanmer Park
dedication=None
denomination=Church of England
parish=Stanmer with Falmer
deanery=Rural Deanery of Brighton
archdeaconry=Chichester
diocese=Chichester
province=Canterbury
vicar=Canon Andrew N. Robinson AKC

Stanmer Church is an Anglican church in Stanmer village, on the northeastern edge of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The ancient village stands within Stanmer Park, the former private estate of the Earl of Chichester, which the Brighton Corporation (the predecessor of the present city council) acquired for the benefit of Brighton's citizens after the Second World War.cite book |last=Fines |first=Ken |title=A History of Brighton & Hove |origyear=2002 |location=Chichester |publisher=Phillimore & Co |isbn=1-86077-231-5 |pages=p147 ] The church and a stately home, Stanmer House, stand outside the village but within the park's boundaries.

History

Stanmer's recorded history goes back to 765, when the village and its lands were given to the South Malling monastery in nearby Lewes by the King of Sussex. The village belonged to the Church for several centuries thereafter, being part of the Episcopal See of Canterbury by the time of the Domesday Book. Ownership transferred from the Archbishop of Canterbury to King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.cite web|title=Stanmer Church, Stanmer Park, Brighton, Sussex|url=http://www.westgallerychurches.com/sussex/stanmer/stanmer.html|accessdate=2008-08-30|publisher=Edwin Macadam and Sheila Girling Smith|date=2001–2008|work=West Gallery Churches website]

A church was built in the Middle Ages; records of it go back to 1232. It stood on open land outside the village.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p213 ] It had no known dedication,cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p214 ] little is known about the building, and the only remnants from the era are some yew trees in the churchyard and several memorial tablets and tombstones.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p215 ]

The church and its associated land were returned to the Archbishop of Canterbury in 1555, not long after the Dissolution. The Pelham family began a long association with the village and church in the 16th century; they took ownership of the whole estate and its lands in the early 18th century. The Grade I-listed Stanmer House was built for them in 1722, and the family became an earldom in 1801 when Thomas Pelham had the title Earl of Chichester bestowed upon him. The Earls demolished the houses and buildings of the old village and created an "estate village" northeast of the church. In 1838, the third Earl of Chichester, Henry Thomas Pelham, decided to demolish the old church and build a new one on the same site. The architect is not known, and as with the original church there is no dedication; the building is always referred to simply as "Stanmer Church".cite web|title=Images of England — detailed record, Stanmer Church, Stanmer Park, Brighton|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=481279&mode=quick|work=Images of England|publisher=English Heritage|year=2007|accessdate=2008-08-30]

The Brighton Corporation bought the Stanmer Estate in 1947 as part of its policy of land acquisition, and in 1952 the boundary of the Borough of Brighton was extended to incorporate the parish.cite book |last=Fines |first=Ken |title=A History of Brighton & Hove |origyear=2002 |location=Chichester |publisher=Phillimore & Co |isbn=1-86077-231-5 |pages=pp147–148 ]

Architecture

Stanmer Church is in the Early English style. It has a simple cruciform layout, with a chancel, nave, north and south transepts and a tower at the west end topped with a thin shingled spire. An entrance porch is incorporated within the ground floor of the tower. A peal of bells cast in 1791 are housed within the tower.cite web|title=Stanmer Park—Stony mere: a very ancient site|url=http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__6607.aspx|accessdate=2008-08-30|publisher=My Brighton and Hove (c/o QueensPark Books)|date=2006-03-22|work=My Brighton and Hove website] Knapped flintwork was used to build the exterior, although the structural quoins are of stone. The church has a slate roof.

Inside, stone walls and carved wooden fittings predominate. Jude Jones, the designated carpenter and estate foreman of the Earls of Chichester and also an active member of the church in the 19th century, designed and constructed all the wooden fixtures. The chancel roof is panelled and has moulded rib vaults and intricately decorated ceiling bosses. The nave roof of four bays also has trefoil-headed panelling.

A gallery at the west end houses an organ built in 1839. A plastered stone reredos, also with trefoil-headed panels, dates from the mid-19th century. It is flanked by panels depicting the Ten Commandments, designed by Jones. He was also responsible for the pulpit, altar and lectern. His son, Francis Jude Jones, succeeded him in his roles in the Stanmer Estate and was also a capable carpenter, designing a new set of entrance doors in 1965 as a memorial to the 7th Earl of Chichester.

Five memorial tablets and stones were moved from the old church. The oldest non-Pelham memorial dates from 1626, and commemorates Deborah Goffe, the mother of William Goffe (one of the judges at the trial of King Charles I). Another commemorates Sir John Pelham, his wife and their son, all of whom died in the 16th century. They are shown kneeling below the family coat of arms. Other memorials to the Pelhams are housed in the south transept.

Churchyard

The churchyard contains an unusual wellhouse, rebuilt at the same time as the church,cite web|title=Images of England — detailed record, Wellhouse in the churchyard, Stanmer Park, Brighton|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=481281&mode=quick|work=Images of England|publisher=English Heritage|year=2007|accessdate=2008-07-29] with a rare vertically-mounted donkey-wheelcite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p216 ] dating from the 18th century or possibly earlier. Donkey-wheels are a smaller version of the more common horse-gin. The animal walks a circular path around the well, turns a wheel attached to a pump, and thereby draws water from the ground. Before mechanical power was available, horse or donkey power was sometimes used in areas where aquifers lay a long way below the surface; this was the case on the chalky South Downs, and both types of wheel were common in Sussex in the 18th century. By 1968, however, only three donkey-wheels and five horse-gins survived.cite web|title=Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society Group Newsletter No. 2 – October 1968|url=http://www.snowing.co.uk/sias/newsletters_siasg/newsletter_siasg_2.htm|accessdate=2008-08-30|publisher=Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society|year=1968|work=Sussex Industrial Archaeology Society website] The wellhouse is in need of repair and maintenance, having been damaged by a falling tree in 2007.cite web|title=Brighton's listed buildings are left to "decay"|url=http://archive.theargus.co.uk/2008/4/25/255186.html|accessdate=2008-08-30|publisher=Newsquest Media Group|date=2008-04-25|work=The Argus website]

Several members of the Pelham family are buried in the churchyard, mostly on the south side of the church.

The church today

Stanmer Church was listed at Grade II on 2 November 1954. The wellhouse has a separate listing, also at Grade II; this was granted on the same date.

Stanmer Church is within the joint parish of Stanmer and Falmer. The church at Falmer is dedicated to St Laurence, but it lies across the border in the adjoining local government district of Lewes rather than in the city of Brighton and Hove. The [http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parish.php?p=10/50 parish] covers a mostly rural area, including Stanmer and Falmer villages, the main campuses of the Universities of Sussex and Brighton, and the Falmer–Woodingdean road (B2123) to the edge of the Woodingdean estate. It also extends some way on to the southern face of the South Downs. The parish priest has responsibility for the chaplaincies of the two universities.

There is a weekly service on Sunday evenings, and prayer sessions twice a month.

References