Churches - Bevendean History Project
All Saints Church, Compton Avenue, Brighton
The
coming of the Railway caused Brighton to increase rapidly in size,
especially towards the north and west of the town, and in the vicinity
of the Central Station. Many men were employed by the Railway Company,
and numerous small houses were erected for them to live in.
In the late 1840s the Ecclesiastical Authorities saw that something needed to be done to meet the spiritual needs of this increasing population. The Rev. H. M. Wagner, who was then Vicar of Brighton, with the help of a band of enthusiastic workers, secured a site at the north end of Church Hill, and appointed an architect to design a Church for the new district.
Richard Cromwell Carpenter was the architect chosen to prepare the plans. The building consists of a chancel 42ft. 6in. long and 23ft. 6in. wide. The nave with north and south aisles altogether measuring 94ft. by 66ft. 9in. The seating capacity of this space was approximately one thousand. The material chosen for the exterior walls was split flint, with Caen stone dressings.
An unfortunate selection, as Caen stone does not stand up to the English climate well, and the Church had, by 1915, already needed repair: but in the interior the stone was used with excellent effect. The window at the east end of the north aisle had very beautiful tracery.
All the windows of All Saints’ were extremely fine. In the chancel on the north side were two three-light windows, and at the east end a truly grand window of five lights. The north and south aisles each had four very good windows of three lights each, and the four-light window at the west end of the nave was a very graceful composition. Four of the windows were filled with painted glass of very rich and deep colour. The window at the east end of the south aisle represents our Lord teaching the multitude from the ship. The small window in the chancel was of our Lord taking little children into His arms.
The great east window has our Lord in the centre light, the other four lights being occupied by the Evangelists. The remaining coloured window at the west end of the south aisle represents our Lord healing the sick, and is not quite so good in quality and tone.
Mr Carpenter was very careful in the arrangement of the columns which carry the arches between the nave and the side aisles. The effect of the Church was that of perfect symmetry. The four windows in the north aisle were exactly opposite to the four in the south aisle, and were of the same design.
There were seven arches on the south side, and only six on the north. The western arch on the north side was much larger and stronger than any of the others as it was designed to support meant to carry a massive tower and graceful steeple which was never built. The great arch which divides the chancel from the nave was very graceful being described at the opening of the Church as the finest in Sussex, with the possible exception of Steyning.
The roof of the nave was connected with the walls by bracing ribs springing from stone corbels. These ribs support collar-beams, from which rise crown posts. The roofs of the aisles are very similar, but of simpler and lighter construction.
The chancel roof of All Saints’ was covered with wood, possibly oak or walnut, or more probably white wood stained to resemble the more costly material. It was divided into two equal parts by timber groins springing from stone corbels on either side. The four spaces thus created were each subdivided into sixteen panels by three delicate ribs running from the ridge-piece to the wall plates, and three similar ribs running horizontally to the first. Thus the chancel roof was divided into sixty-four compartments or panels.
The north doorway was in cinquefoil design with rolls of stone for future embellishment, which was never done. The carving of the columns around the doorway giving access to the south aisle was completed.
The Altar Cross was of a simple and chaste design. The reading desk was a simple structure in English oak. The pulpit was decorated in style, and suitable for construction in stone, but built of wood, stained to look like mahogany. In the quatrefoil recesses, formed by an applied moulding, were portraits in oil of some of the saints, and above them in smaller recesses formed in the same manner, were the arms of some of the English sees. The reredos was of carved oak, treated in blue and gold. On either side of the altar were oak panels, which gave the warmth and colour to the east end of the Church. The lectern was an oak eagle of simple design and the font made of stone was in keeping with the Church.
The organ, was a really fine instrument, supplied by William M. Hedgeland, of Charles Street, Manchester Square, London, and is said to have cost eight hundred and fifty pounds.
The building of the Church between 1850 and 1852 was undertaken by Messrs. G. Cheesman & Son, who did the work thoroughly and well. Although the site had been chosen with much care, difficulties soon presented themselves in connection with the foundation just where the heaviest part of the building was to be placed. On removing the top soil to prepare for the foundation of the tower, instead of a few feet of loose soil above the chalk, the workmen came upon a “fault,” going down 72 feet, before they found the solid chalk rock. The excavation of this soil and the proper filling up of the chasm cost a sum of £300 which had not been estimated for.
On Friday, the 6th of August, 1852, the Church was opened in the presence of the Lord Bishop and many of the Brighton clergy. The Vicar first read the licence to the assembled congregation, who are described by one local journal as “respectable and devout.”
When All Saints’ Church was opened, a debt amounting to £3,400 was still owed for the building of the church. This large sum appears to have been paid within thirteen months, as on the 29th September 1853, the Bishop of Chichester consecrated the Church.
Sometime after the opening of the Church the organ was moved from a gallery at the west end to an organ chamber, provided above a new choir vestry, at the south-east end of the Church.
The benefice was held by the Rev. T. Coombe until 1886, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Denwood Harrison, who was transferred from the Chapel Royal, where he had been incumbent from 1879. Mr. Harrison exchanged livings with the Rev. Francis Hargrave Tindal Curtis in 1897, who resigned in 1903, when the Rev. Charles Blakesley Bartlett, was appointed.
On the 16th day of February, 1917 an announcement in the London Gazette stated that a District Chapelry was to be assigned to the Church of All Saints, Brighton.
In 1945 a faculty to rearrange the seating was granted while two years later a faculty was granted for a new East Window.
In 1949 faculties were granted for a re-arrangement of the Sanctuary and High Altar by the bringing the Altar forward, an alteration of the levels, the removal of the Choir Stalls, the hanging of a Rood between the Chancel and the Nave and extending the Chancel by placing Altar Rails in the Nave. At the same time permission was granted for the installation of electric lighting and heating.
The Sussex County Magazine published, in 1952, an announcement that the Church of All Saints Brighton was to close and the parish was to be amalgamated with St Michael.
The final marriage service took place at All Saints on 10 October 1952 when Donald Alexander Hirst from Clacton on Sea in Essex married Rosalind Violet Eleanor Hyland who lived in Montpelier Crescent, Brighton.
The final church service was held on 31st January 1954 when Holy Communion was celebrated. A note written in the register states, “After the 8 o’clock Celebration All Saint’s congregation went to St Michael’s where all future services will be held.”
The Church was in use for just over 101 years before it was demolished and replaced by a block of flats.
When demolition of the church started the flints from the exterior walls were salvaged by the church authorities with the aim of using them in a new church being built in the east of the county.
In 1957 the Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd. asked whether the church site could be used as a petrol filling station. They were advised that the site could not be recommended for a petrol filling station due to the residential character of the area.
Originally Brighton Borough Council agreed to purchase the site for a block of 16 flats in four storeys and make provision for an Infant Welfare centre. The council finally decided not to proceed with the scheme and the site was sold to a private developer who built the flats.
A planning application on behalf of Contemporary Homes Ltd to build a block of flats in the site was made in June 1958.
The photograph of All Saints Church in Compton taken about 1950 shows a small tower at the far end of the building which was in fact a sewer vent.
As the council could find no letting agreement relating to the sewer vent they agreed to install a 6” venting column in the adjoining highway leaving the site available for development.
This photograph from the Brighton and Hove Herald in April 1957 shows one of the stone columns being pulled down.
Photographs of All Saints Church 1853 to 1957
Consecration of All Saints Church on 29 September 1853
School Room for All Saints Church built in 1896
All Saints Church as described in the Brighton Gazette in 1875
In the late 1840s the Ecclesiastical Authorities saw that something needed to be done to meet the spiritual needs of this increasing population. The Rev. H. M. Wagner, who was then Vicar of Brighton, with the help of a band of enthusiastic workers, secured a site at the north end of Church Hill, and appointed an architect to design a Church for the new district.
All Saints Church was built on a site between Compton
Avenue, Buckingham Place and Buckingham Road
Avenue, Buckingham Place and Buckingham Road
Richard Cromwell Carpenter was the architect chosen to prepare the plans. The building consists of a chancel 42ft. 6in. long and 23ft. 6in. wide. The nave with north and south aisles altogether measuring 94ft. by 66ft. 9in. The seating capacity of this space was approximately one thousand. The material chosen for the exterior walls was split flint, with Caen stone dressings.
An unfortunate selection, as Caen stone does not stand up to the English climate well, and the Church had, by 1915, already needed repair: but in the interior the stone was used with excellent effect. The window at the east end of the north aisle had very beautiful tracery.
All Saints Church in Compton Avenue Brighton in 1904
All the windows of All Saints’ were extremely fine. In the chancel on the north side were two three-light windows, and at the east end a truly grand window of five lights. The north and south aisles each had four very good windows of three lights each, and the four-light window at the west end of the nave was a very graceful composition. Four of the windows were filled with painted glass of very rich and deep colour. The window at the east end of the south aisle represents our Lord teaching the multitude from the ship. The small window in the chancel was of our Lord taking little children into His arms.
The great east window has our Lord in the centre light, the other four lights being occupied by the Evangelists. The remaining coloured window at the west end of the south aisle represents our Lord healing the sick, and is not quite so good in quality and tone.
Mr Carpenter was very careful in the arrangement of the columns which carry the arches between the nave and the side aisles. The effect of the Church was that of perfect symmetry. The four windows in the north aisle were exactly opposite to the four in the south aisle, and were of the same design.
There were seven arches on the south side, and only six on the north. The western arch on the north side was much larger and stronger than any of the others as it was designed to support meant to carry a massive tower and graceful steeple which was never built. The great arch which divides the chancel from the nave was very graceful being described at the opening of the Church as the finest in Sussex, with the possible exception of Steyning.
The roof of the nave was connected with the walls by bracing ribs springing from stone corbels. These ribs support collar-beams, from which rise crown posts. The roofs of the aisles are very similar, but of simpler and lighter construction.
The chancel roof of All Saints’ was covered with wood, possibly oak or walnut, or more probably white wood stained to resemble the more costly material. It was divided into two equal parts by timber groins springing from stone corbels on either side. The four spaces thus created were each subdivided into sixteen panels by three delicate ribs running from the ridge-piece to the wall plates, and three similar ribs running horizontally to the first. Thus the chancel roof was divided into sixty-four compartments or panels.
Drawing of the interior of All Saints Church in Compton
Avenue by William Alfred Delamotte c1853
Avenue by William Alfred Delamotte c1853
The north doorway was in cinquefoil design with rolls of stone for future embellishment, which was never done. The carving of the columns around the doorway giving access to the south aisle was completed.
The Altar Cross was of a simple and chaste design. The reading desk was a simple structure in English oak. The pulpit was decorated in style, and suitable for construction in stone, but built of wood, stained to look like mahogany. In the quatrefoil recesses, formed by an applied moulding, were portraits in oil of some of the saints, and above them in smaller recesses formed in the same manner, were the arms of some of the English sees. The reredos was of carved oak, treated in blue and gold. On either side of the altar were oak panels, which gave the warmth and colour to the east end of the Church. The lectern was an oak eagle of simple design and the font made of stone was in keeping with the Church.
The organ, was a really fine instrument, supplied by William M. Hedgeland, of Charles Street, Manchester Square, London, and is said to have cost eight hundred and fifty pounds.
The building of the Church between 1850 and 1852 was undertaken by Messrs. G. Cheesman & Son, who did the work thoroughly and well. Although the site had been chosen with much care, difficulties soon presented themselves in connection with the foundation just where the heaviest part of the building was to be placed. On removing the top soil to prepare for the foundation of the tower, instead of a few feet of loose soil above the chalk, the workmen came upon a “fault,” going down 72 feet, before they found the solid chalk rock. The excavation of this soil and the proper filling up of the chasm cost a sum of £300 which had not been estimated for.
All Saints Church in Compton Avenue, interior view
towards the Sanctuary c1905
towards the Sanctuary c1905
On Friday, the 6th of August, 1852, the Church was opened in the presence of the Lord Bishop and many of the Brighton clergy. The Vicar first read the licence to the assembled congregation, who are described by one local journal as “respectable and devout.”
When All Saints’ Church was opened, a debt amounting to £3,400 was still owed for the building of the church. This large sum appears to have been paid within thirteen months, as on the 29th September 1853, the Bishop of Chichester consecrated the Church.
Sometime after the opening of the Church the organ was moved from a gallery at the west end to an organ chamber, provided above a new choir vestry, at the south-east end of the Church.
The benefice was held by the Rev. T. Coombe until 1886, when he was succeeded by the Rev. Denwood Harrison, who was transferred from the Chapel Royal, where he had been incumbent from 1879. Mr. Harrison exchanged livings with the Rev. Francis Hargrave Tindal Curtis in 1897, who resigned in 1903, when the Rev. Charles Blakesley Bartlett, was appointed.
On the 16th day of February, 1917 an announcement in the London Gazette stated that a District Chapelry was to be assigned to the Church of All Saints, Brighton.
In 1945 a faculty to rearrange the seating was granted while two years later a faculty was granted for a new East Window.
In 1949 faculties were granted for a re-arrangement of the Sanctuary and High Altar by the bringing the Altar forward, an alteration of the levels, the removal of the Choir Stalls, the hanging of a Rood between the Chancel and the Nave and extending the Chancel by placing Altar Rails in the Nave. At the same time permission was granted for the installation of electric lighting and heating.
All Saints Church in Compton Avenue South West Doorway
The Sussex County Magazine published, in 1952, an announcement that the Church of All Saints Brighton was to close and the parish was to be amalgamated with St Michael.
The final marriage service took place at All Saints on 10 October 1952 when Donald Alexander Hirst from Clacton on Sea in Essex married Rosalind Violet Eleanor Hyland who lived in Montpelier Crescent, Brighton.
The final church service was held on 31st January 1954 when Holy Communion was celebrated. A note written in the register states, “After the 8 o’clock Celebration All Saint’s congregation went to St Michael’s where all future services will be held.”
The Church was in use for just over 101 years before it was demolished and replaced by a block of flats.
When demolition of the church started the flints from the exterior walls were salvaged by the church authorities with the aim of using them in a new church being built in the east of the county.
In 1957 the Esso Petroleum Co. Ltd. asked whether the church site could be used as a petrol filling station. They were advised that the site could not be recommended for a petrol filling station due to the residential character of the area.
Originally Brighton Borough Council agreed to purchase the site for a block of 16 flats in four storeys and make provision for an Infant Welfare centre. The council finally decided not to proceed with the scheme and the site was sold to a private developer who built the flats.
A planning application on behalf of Contemporary Homes Ltd to build a block of flats in the site was made in June 1958.
The photograph of All Saints Church in Compton taken about 1950 shows a small tower at the far end of the building which was in fact a sewer vent.
As the council could find no letting agreement relating to the sewer vent they agreed to install a 6” venting column in the adjoining highway leaving the site available for development.
This photograph from the Brighton and Hove Herald in April 1957 shows one of the stone columns being pulled down.
Photographs of All Saints Church 1853 to 1957
Consecration of All Saints Church on 29 September 1853
School Room for All Saints Church built in 1896
All Saints Church as described in the Brighton Gazette in 1875
