St Barnabas Church, Hove

Parish church
name=St Barnabas Church, Hove


caption=
dedication=St Barnabas
denomination=Church of England
tradition=High Church
parish=Hove, St Barnabas
deanery=Rural Deanery of Hove
archdeaconry=Chichester
diocese=Chichester
province=Canterbury
vicar=Revd Alan Reid

St Barnabas Church is an Anglican church in Hove, part of the English city of Brighton and Hove. It was built between 1882 and 1883 to serve residents of the newly developed streets to the south and west of Hove railway station, which had opened in 1865 and had stimulated growth in the previously undeveloped area between the Brunswick estate to the west and Cliftonville to the east.

History

Preston Manor (to the northeast of present-day Hove) and its surrounding land were sold in 1794 to the family of Richard Stanford, who had been a tenant of the house for many years.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Brighton Churches |origdate= |origyear=1989 |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year= |month= |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |language= |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=p199 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ] The house stayed in the family until 1933, but much of the land was developed with housing in the second half of the 19th century. This included substantial building between 1865 and 1880 on land south of the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway's line between Brighton and Portsmouth, with several wide north-south "Avenues" and higher-density housing filling the gap between the Cliftonville area on the edge of Brighton and the outlying Brunswick estate of exclusive houses built between 1830 and 1850.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Brighton Churches |origdate= |origyear=1989 |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year= |month= |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |language= |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=p110 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ] This new district was originally known as "West Brighton", and the station briefly took this name; over time, the area was fully assimilated into Hove, and the station was renamed to reflect the identity of the town as a whole.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Brighton Churches |origdate= |origyear=1989 |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year= |month= |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |language= |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=p153 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ]

In 1879, the former parish of Hove-cum-Preston was divided into two smaller parishes covering Hove and Preston.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Brighton Churches |origdate= |origyear=1989 |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year= |month= |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |language= |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=p156 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ] The first vicar of the newly created Hove parish, Revd Thomas Pearcy, recognised the need for a church in the area, whose population had increased by 10,000 during the most intensive period of development (1865 to 1880). At a meeting on 14 March 1881 at Hove town hall, a piece of land was offered, and this was purchased for £1,500; a subsequent meeting helped to start the fundraising effort, which by June 1881 had generated £2,500 towards the eventual £6,500 cost of construction.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Brighton Churches |origdate= |origyear=1989 |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year= |month= |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |language= |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=p155 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ]

John Loughborough Pearson, who had designed Truro Cathedral two years earlier,cite web|title=The Cathedral Story|url=http://www.trurocathedral.org.uk/cathedral-story/story2.html#cht6|accessdate=2007-12-04|publisher=Truro Cathedral Ltd|year=2007|work=Truro Cathedral official website] was appointed as the architect of St Barnabas Church in 1882; construction started on 27 May 1882, and continued for a year. The Bishop of Chichester, who had laid the first stone, consecrated the new church on 11 June 1883.

Architecture

Although Pearson, having been responsible for the design of many important church buildings throughout Britain in the second half of the 19th century, considered St Barnabas to be one of his less significant works — describing it as "one of my cheap editions" — it has become one of few Grade II*-listed churches in Brighton and Hove.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |authorlink= |coauthors= |editor= |others= |title=Brighton Churches |origdate= |origyear=1989 |origmonth= |url= |format= |accessdate= |accessyear= |accessmonth= |edition= |series= |date= |year= |month= |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |language= |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |oclc= |doi= |id= |pages=p154 |chapter= |chapterurl= |quote= ] cite web|title=St Barnabas, Hove|url=http://www.acny.org.uk/4997|accessdate=2007-12-04|publisher=Oxford Diocesan Publications Ltd|year=2007|work=A Church Near You website] In common with several other late-19th century churches in the city, such as the Church of the Annunciation, the main construction material was flint which had been knapped to produce flat stones suitable for building walls. The roofline and windows are embellished with red-brick dressings, and the lancet windows reflect the Early English Gothic and Decorated Gothic styles.cite web|title=The Churches and Chapels of Brighton & Hove, Sussex ― Past & Present|url=http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Brighton/BrightonChurches.htm|accessdate=2007-12-03|publisher=Mark Collins|year=2007|work=The Roughwood website]

A vicarage was added in 1893 by different architects, while in 1907 George Frederick Bodley, an architect closely associated with Brighton's churches, provided a large reredos consisting of a gilded wooden triptych whose central panel depicts the Crucifixion. This was one of Bodley's last works before his death in the same year. A set of choir stalls and a pulpit, both made of oak, were added soon after the church was finished, as was a font of alabaster. There are various stained glass windows, including one commemorating victims of the First World War; however a tower intended for the southwestern corner was never completed.

The church today

St Barnabas Church follows a "Modern Catholic" style of worship, with Masses six days a week and various other services, including prayer groups and a monthly Rosary devotion. There is also a Sunday school each week.

When St Agnes Church in nearby Goldstone Lane, a parished church within the same benefice as St Barnabas, was closed in 1977,cite web|title=The Church of England Statistics & Information: Lists (by diocese) of redundant church buildings whose futures have been settled as at April 2006|url=http://www.cofe.anglican.org/about/churchcommissioners/redchurches/stats/chichester.doc|accessdate=2007-12-04|publisher=Church of England|year=2006|work=The Church of England website] its parish was amalgamated with that of St Barnabas. [http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parish.php?p=10/91 The parish] now covers a large area on both sides of the railway line, as far north as the A270 Old Shoreham Road.

References