All Saints Church, Patcham

Parish church
name=All Saints, Patcham


caption=
dedication=All Saints
denomination=Church of England
tradition=Open Evangelical
parish=Patcham, All Saints
deanery=Rural Deanery of Brighton
archdeaconry=Chichester
diocese=Chichester
province=Canterbury
vicar=Rev. Canon Neil E.D. Milmine
curate=Rev. Andrew M. Bousfield
website=http://www.aspawd.org.uk/

All Saints Church is an Anglican church in Patcham, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. It is the parish church of the ancient village of Patcham, which became part of the former Borough of Brighton in 1928.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p201 ]

History

A church was recorded at Patcham at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. At that time it was a downland settlement several miles inland from the English Channel. William de Warenne, 1st Earl of Surrey owned the manor.cite web|title=Introduction to Patcham|url=http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__8424_path__0p114p450p1249p.aspx|accessdate=2008-05-18|publisher=My Brighton and Hove (c/o QueensPark Books)|date=2007-09-25|work=My Brighton and Hove website] Although the population at that time was spread throughout the parish, the focus of later development was the church itself; houses and other buildings developed around it over the next few centuries. All were to the east of the modern London Road except the 16th-century Patcham Place, rebuilt in 1764 and now used as a youth hostel.cite web|title=Patcham Place|url=http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/category_id__853_path__0p115p194p.aspx|accessdate=2008-05-18|publisher=My Brighton and Hove (c/o QueensPark Books)|year=2006|work=My Brighton and Hove website] The ancient Patcham parish covered convert|32|sqmi|km2|0|lk=on, incorporated five manors, and covered most of modern-day Brighton's northern suburbs and parts of Hove.cite web|title=Patcham: Introduction to the area|url=http://www.mybrightonandhove.org.uk/page_id__6130.aspx|accessdate=2008-05-18|publisher=My Brighton and Hove (c/o QueensPark Books)|date=2006-03-22|work=My Brighton and Hove website]

The church was rebuilt in the 12th century, and the nave and the structure of the chancel have survived. The arch of the chancel is from the Norman period. 13th- and 14th-century additions include the tower at the western end (although the spire was added later) and parts of the chancel. The only other change made before the 19th century was the addition of a porch at the south end.

After having stood for around 700 years with little alteration, the church was completely changed by four reconstructions and restorations in a 74-year period in the 19th century.cite web|title=Images of England — detailed record, Church of All Saints, Church Hill (east side), Brighton|url=http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/Details/Default.aspx?id=480061&mode=quick|work=Images of England|publisher=English Heritage|year=2007|accessdate=2008-05-18] The last of these, in 1898, was the most substantial: it added a north aisle, much larger and taller than the rest of the building, and a vestry.

The church contains several memorials. The oldest is a wall tablet in memory of Richard Shelley, one of the earliest owners of Patcham Place, who died in 1594.cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=56953|title=Parishes: Patcham|accessdate=2008-05-18|publisher=British History Online|year=1940|author=Salzman, L.F. (Ed)|work=A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7: The Rape of Lewes] Three generations of the Paine family are commemorated by tablets in the chancel; John Paine of the second generation rebuilt Patcham Place in 1764. He was the uncle by marriage of Thomas Read Kemp, who developed Kemp Town in the 19th century.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p202 ] The Roe family and its descendants of Withdean are also represented. William Roe and his son William Thomas Roe were closely involved with the former Board of Customs (now Her Majesty's Customs and Excise); William Roe was its chairman for 14 years. William Thomas Roe also served on The Board of Admiralty. His son, his daughter's husband and their son also have their own memorials. The manor of Withdean Cayliffe, one of the manors within the parish of Patcham, passed through the family after William Roe acquired it in 1794.cite book |last=Dale |first=Antony |title=Brighton Churches |origyear=1989 |publisher=Routledge |location=London EC4 |isbn=0-415-00863-8 |pages=p203 ]

Architecture and fittings

Although the north aisle of 1898 was flint-built, the rest of the church's exterior was clad in cement at the same time. Before this, the exterior of the church had been entirely flint with stone dressings. The roof of the tower, below the squat 19th-century spire, is of slate; the rest of the church has a tiled roof. There are lancet windows on each side and on the tower, some with stone tracery (including the east window in the main body of the church). Both sides of the nave are heavily buttressed, as is the southwest corner of the tower. These buttresses may have been added in the 16th century.

The nave has three bays. Another reconstruction, this time affecting only the interior, took place in 1989: the chancel was reconfigured and extended towards the nave. A reredos was installed at the same time. The chancel roof is panelled, while the nave roof has vertical supports called queen-posts. Above the ancient chancel arch are the remains of a 13th-century wall painting showing Christ in Judgement. The church's font dates from 1864. The church possesses Eucharistic objects dating from the 16th and 17th centuries.

The tower contains three bells. One is dated 1639, and another is known to have been repaired in 1724.

The church today

All Saints Church was listed at Grade II* on 13 October 1952. It is the main church in the Benefice of Patcham All Saints, which also incorporates the Church of the Ascension in Westdene, a modern suburban area west of Patcham.cite web|title=Diocese of Chichester: Benefice of Patcham All Saints|url=http://www.diochi.org.uk/content/newdir/directory.php?V=AB1511|accessdate=2008-05-15|publisher=The Bishop’s Council of the Diocese of Chichester|year=2001|work=Diocese of Chichester website] This is a modern building of brick and glass, designed in 1958 by architect John Wells-Thorpe.cite web|title=Church of the Ascension, Westdene (Patcham), Brighton, East Sussex|url=http://www.roughwood.net/ChurchAlbum/EastSussex/Brighton/WestdeneAscension2004.htm|accessdate=2008-05-15|publisher=Mark Collins|date=2004-10-25|work=The Roughwood website]

Worship at All Saints is in the Open Evangelical style. There is a Sunday school and regular youth group.cite web|title=Patcham, All Saints Church – East Sussex|url=http://www.achurchnearyou.com/venue.php?V=5082|accessdate=2008-05-15|publisher=Oxford Diocesan Publications Ltd|year=2007|work=A Church Near You website] [http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parish.php?p=10/114 The parish of All Saints] covers the north of Brighton and its rural hinterland, incorporating Withdean, Westdene, Patcham, Hollingbury, part of Preston (as far south as Preston Park railway station), and the scattered residential buildings north of the A27 Brighton Bypass and south of Pyecombe. Following a review by the Diocese in 2005, parts of the west side of the parish were transferred to the Church of the Good Shepherd on Dyke Road in Hove, and at the south end another section was ceded to St John's Church in Preston; at the same time the decision was taken to close the Church of Christ the King (formerly the parish church of South Patcham) and divide its parish between All Saints and St John's churches. All Saints Church therefore received the congregation from the northern part of the Church of Christ the King's parish.cite web|title=Second Report – Brighton and Hove Deaneries Pastoral Strategy Review Group|url=http://www.diochi.org.uk/content/review/brighton-hove/200504-08.pdf|format=PDF|accessdate=2008-05-15|publisher=The Bishop’s Council of the Diocese of Chichester|year=2005|work=Towards Revitalisation of the Church of England Deaneries of Brighton and Hove: The Next Steps (Report by Diocese of Chichester)] The last service at Christ the King was the Pentecost service on 4 June 2006.cite web|title=June 4th 2006: Pentecost|url=http://www.aspawd.org.uk/aspawdcms/opencms/fam/resources/newsletter/04jun06.html|accessdate=2008-05-15|publisher=|date=2006-06-04|work=All Saints, Patcham with The Ascension, Westdene church newsletter]

References