Churches - Bevendean History Project
All Saints Church from the Brighton Gazette in 1875
ALL SAINTS, CLIFTON ROAD
There are few new churches in Brighton over which there hang such a
host of recollections as the Church of All Saints, Clifton
Road,—a church that is really the pioneer of religion in a
comparatively new neighbourhood. It was commenced at a time when
Brighton was growing very rapidly, and the rapid increase of building
on the Church Hill Estate had especially left it to be greatly desired
that some effort should be made to supply the apprehended spiritual
destitution of the inhabitants who were rapidly flocking to the now
quarter. Under the beneficent and energetic vicarage of the Rev. H. M.
Wagner, it was not likely that such an important want as that of a new
church in a new district should remain long unfilled, and it was not
long before the extension of building operations was followed by the
adoption of means to raise a fund for the erection of a church. The
Rev, Robert Anderson was also one who took a great interest in the
erection of the new church, and threw all the weight of his deservedly
great influence into its favour. The first site selected for All Saint
was a plot of ground nearly where the terminus of the London, Brighton,
and South-Coast Railway stands, but the Vicar afterwards wished to have
it removed to West Street, and some of the other supporters of the
scheme desiring to adhere to the original intention of erecting the
church in the centre of the new district, the result was, that not one
but two churches wore erected, and that we have now the beautiful
edifice of S. Paul’s, and the somewhat less ornate, but equally
spacious and convenient church of All Saints with which we now have to
deal.The site of the church appears to have been most judiciously selected, for while it is quite on the confines of the town, it also is in the centre of a closely populated district, many of the houses in which have been erected since it was opened. To the residents in the neighbourhood it is easily accessible by good roads, though this was not the case in the commencement of its existence, when the building operations in the neighbourhood proved so destructive to the few roads which had been made, that the clergy were obliged to get the Town Commissioners to make temporary paths of shingle up to the church, so that the congregation might wend their way thither without having to wade through the deep seas of mud which in wet weather, were the only way to the church. As the new streets, however became completed, better roads were made, and now All Saints is as approachable as any other place of public worship in the town. Mr Carpenter, the architect who erected the church, was the same gentleman who designed the plans of S. Paul’s, and it is, therefore, not surprising that there is a similarity in style between the two buildings,—a likeness which will he farther increased when the spire is added to All Saints, thus making it one of the handsomest and most conspicuous erections in the quarter. Indeed, from its elevated position, All Saints’ spire, when it is put up, will be visible from a great distance, and will form quite a guide to intelligent strangers intending to push their explorations into that neighbourhood. At present, in its spireless state, the church looks deformed and out of harmony, but when this most important addition has been made, its graceful lines of beauty will be complete, and it will proudly testify once more that wherever a population is gathered together, there does the Church of England step in, and out of the boundless bounty of its devoted sons and daughters, provide a meet and fit temple for the worship of the great Lord of all. Technically the style of the church may be described as the “second pointed” or “flowing decorative,” and with its exterior of cracked flint, dressed with Caen stone, and the nave, aisles, and chancel, rising in one orderly and tastefully arranged mass, it presents features of considerable beauty, though, of course, nothing compared to what it will be when the tower is finished and spire added.
In its interior the church quite fulfils and even exceeds the anticipations induced by the sight of its ivy-covered outside walls. A lofty nave, with roof of timber stained oak colour, handsome arches rising from beautifully and chaste columns separating aisles fairly corresponding with the nave, and a chancel entered through a noble, lofty arch, with a roof similar to those of the nave and aisles, all these combine to render the church deeply interesting to those who, even in the elegance of unobtrusive chasteness, can detect simple beauties which overloaded decorations can never give. The windows, too, are exceedingly pretty, though at present they are entirely dependent upon their architectural features for their effect, and are only filled with plain glass. In the chancel there is an admirable east window, noble and imposing, and two windows in each of the side walls, while the body of the church is lighted by foot windows in the side walls of each aisle, and one in the east wall of each aisle. At the west end there is an organ loft and singing gallery, both of which are perfectly superfluous, there being excellent choir stalls in the chancel and abundant room for putting the organ into or adjoining the chancel. The nave and aisles are filled with handsome open oak benches, which, however, might without any great difficulty have been rendered a little more comfortable by the backs being made a trifle more sloping, and the seats an inch or two wider. In the free seats ledges for kneeling are provided, which are certainly not luxurious, and present a not very acceptable contrast to the handsome hassocks which many of the seat-holders have added to their seats. Plain hassocks would have been very much better and cleaner, and would have cost not very much more money; but still, it is gratifying to find kneeling accommodation is provided, and that the purpose of this accommodation is explained by bold legible notices. The chancel is elegantly but plainly fitted up, the altar devoid of ritual ornaments, and the choir stalls handsome and spacious. The reading desk is in the nave, just outside the chancel, and is supported on the corresponding side of the chancel arch by a lightly constructed pulpit, both of these being in admirable taste, and suitable for the purposes they have to fulfil. There is a convenient entrance, curtained off from the church, and the clergy have a vestry adjacent to the chancel, while the choir vestry is at the west end. The gas illuminations burn from elegant standards well distributed. These are some of the principal features of this handsome and pleasing example of ecclesiastical architecture, which does full credit to the designer, who has admirably succeeded in providing a spacious and beautiful church without going into any extravagant expenditure for decorations.
The church was built by Messrs. Cheesman, who, as in all their Brighton church work, carried out the plans faithfully and conscientiously, so that the building is a sound and substantial one in every respect. The total cost of the work was £10,596 0s 3d, of which sum £4,700 was contributed by congregational offertories at various churches in the town, S. George’s nobly heading the list with £972 1s 7d. A sum of £325 was given by the Incorporated Society for Building Churches, and amongst the other subscribers’ names figures that of her Majesty the Queen, who was graciously pleased to devote fifty guineas to this noble object. When opened there was a sum of £3,400 still due on the church, but this large sum was soon cleared off by the energetic labours of the clergy and congregation, who deserve praise for their praiseworthy and successful efforts to free themselves from the burden of debt.
All Saints was sufficiently completed to be opened by licence on August 6th, 1852, the service on that occasion being conducted by the Bishop, the Right Rev. Dr. Gilbert, who was supported by the late Vicar of Brighton, the Revs. T. Cooke, T. Coombe, C. E. Douglass, T. Trocke, F. Reade, C. D. Maitland, V. Pyper, O. L. Langdon, — Davis, — Fraser, J. Allen, E. Blomfiefd, W. Watson, J. H. North, J. North, J. Evans, Dr. Stoddart, and H. V. Elliott. The choir of S. Andrew’s, Waterloo Street, sang the full choral service, and a most eloquent sermon was preached by Mr Elliott, who took the place first intended to have been occupied by the Rev. K. Anderson, and then by the Venerable Archdeacon Hare, both of whom were unavoidably prevented from preaching. Still the large congregation did not suffer by the absence of these two popular preachers, Mr Elliott’s sermon being a remarkably forcible and eloquent one, and also a most successful one, if the offertory is any guide, inasmuch as the sum collected amounted to £68. A very little more than twelve months after opening, the church was consecrated by the Bishop, the date of this interesting ceremony being September 29th, 1853. Many of the clergy present at the opening were again in attendance, and his Lordship was also supported by the Venerable Archdeacon Hare, the Venerable Archdeacon Garbett, Dr. Phillimore, the Chancellor of the Diocese, the Revs. R. S. Smith, S. R. Drammond, &c. The choir of the church was assisted by some of the members of S. Paul’s choir, and the service appears to have been an enjoyable one. The Bishop preached, and the offertory amounted to £72.
The Rev. Thomas Coombe has been the incumbent of All Saints from the commencement, and has worked, arduously and earnestly to gather together the congregation which assembles there ovary Sunday. Mr Coombe does not seem to be one inclined to spare himself in the service he is engaged in, and he discharges the multifarious duties of parish priest in his somewhat extensive district with devoted faithfulness to Church and people. Mr Coombe is an M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, and was ordained priest in 1846. He is a surrogate, and a trustee of fine Swan Downer’s Clothing Charity, and is generally respected both by clerical and lay members of the Church in Brighton. We must not forget to mention that Mrs Coombe is a most kind-hearted and hardworking Christian lady, who is foremost in all works of charity and expends both time and money in the pleasantest imaginable way for the good of those around her. For twelve long years Mr Coombe laboured without assistance, conducting two full services and preaching twice every Sunday, and attentively discharging all the parochial duties which the district attached to the church entails on him. At length however, he had to succumb to illness, in the midst of which he was agreeably surprised one day by Mr Bridger Stent calling upon him with a purse of one hundred guineas, and a request that he would take a six months’ holiday, and on his return accept the assistance of a curate. This little incident is eloquent of the good feeling which the congregation had towards their pastor, for their love was shown in a most practical manner. Mr Coombe however was not to be out-done in generosity, and accordingly made it a condition of his acceptance of assistance that there should be three fall services with sermons every Sunday instead of two, so that in reality the congregation have gained by their liberality.
As the several gentlemen who have held the curacy of All Saints are more or less famous men, a brief allusion of them will come in bare appropriately and will be of general interest. The first one was the Rev. Edward Hancock, who was a distinguished scholar, being a Fellow of S. John’s, Cambridge, and also a senior Medallist of that University. In 1867 he was succeeded by the Rev. W. Garden Cowie, now the Right Reverend Dr. Cowie, Bishop of Auckland, New Zealand, to which distinguished post in the Colonial Church he was appointed in 1869. After Dr Cowie, came the Rev Ralph Daly Cocking, the highly esteemed Incumbent of Holy Trinity, Ship Street, whose touching eloquence filled the church as it had never been filled before, and caused a general feeling of disappointment when he was promoted to his present high position in 1870, in this instance the gain of one church being the loss of another. But Mr Coombe was again successful in obtaining a very popular preacher; Mr Cocking’s successor being the Rev. Mr Bray, who after marrying the Incumbents daughter, accepted an appointment as secretary at Calcutta of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts. Mr Bray’s success followed him from England to India, and his abilities and earnestness have now procured him an important appointment as Government Chaplain, with which, however, he still carries on a good of his S.P.G. work, though he has given up his formal appointment and the salary therefrom. The Rev. J. W. Campbell, B.A., of Cambridge, is the present curate, and is well liked, his extempore sermons being generally acceptable. This is a record of the curates of All Saints since 1866, and we are justified in the supposition that very few churches have within a similar short period of time had so many distinguished men enrolled on the ranks of their clergy, and hence Mr Coombe has every reason to be proud of his judgment in selecting his assistants.
The services at this church bespeak the character of the doctrine taught, which is of a moderate and not obtrusive character. Every Sunday there is full morning service at eleven, evensong at three, and evensong again at seven, sermons being preached at all these services. There is also morning service on each Festival and Saint’s Day, and the Holy Communion is celebrated on the first Sunday of the month at mid-day, and on the third Sunday in the month at eight o’clock in the morning. The service is partly choral, the responses being sung, the creeds recited, and the Psalms read in the morning and afternoon. In the evening, however, the Psalms are, vary properly, sung—Anglican chants being used, and also for the canticles, The hymns used are those contained in the S.P.C.K. book. As to the choir it is at present in a transitory state, having only recently come under the management of Dr. Hitchens, whose eminence as a musician caused his appointment as organist at the church to be hailed with general satisfaction. The choir is numerous, and possesses some capital materials, which, with a little more drilling, will, we imagine, be worked up into an excellent choir. The organ is a noble instrument, which cost £800, and we need scarcely say that it is shown to the best advantage by having such an eminent master as Dr. Hitchens to play it. The choir is surpliced, but we regret to say is shoved up into a gallery in which the organ is situated at the west end, while the handsome choir stalls are actually used as pews by members of the congregation. A more lamentable perversion of the right uses of things we have never seen, and we do earnestly hope Mr Coombe will make an effort to get rid of this painful anomaly and place the choir in that position which is intended for them, and is theirs by right.
Although well worthy in every respect of the superior position of a parish church. All Saints is only a chapel-of-ease with a large conventional district attached. When the formation of new parishes which followed the accession of Dr. Hannah to the Vicarage of Brighton took place. All Saints would have come to its proper and legitimate portion if it had not been for the stumbling block which other churches also had in their way at the same time,—the pew rent difficulty. It was considered unadvisable to give up the pew rents of All Saints, and consequently it was not made a parish church. The church gives accommodation for 1,250 worshipers, and the great portion of the seats, 750, are perfectly free and unappropriated. This accommodation is not a bit too much for the population of the district attached to the church, the area of which is that comprised within the following boundary:—On the north the parochial boundary; on the south by Trafalgar Street, Terminus Terrace, and Clifton Hill; on the east by Wood Street, Fleet Street, and New York Street exclusive; and on the west by the parochial boundary. So that on two sides All Saints’ District is the last point in Brighton Parish to which Church organisation reaches.
But if not a parish church, All Saints has connected with it many valuable institutions and charities of a parochial character, and which indeed only serve to show that the difference is in this instance merely in the name. In Elder Place there is an excellent day school, bout at a coat of £1,200, and which, while it has drawn praise both from Her Majesty’s Inspector and the Diocesan Inspector for the excellence of the education given therein, is also financially in a sound condition, the last report showing the income to be slightly in excess of the expenditure, which was a little below £200. There is a capital shoe club connected with the school which has over 150 depositors, who are not only thus encouraged in habits of thrift and industry, but are also aided to obtain for themselves warm and comfortable boots for the winter. Food for the mind is provided by a lending library, at 11, Railway Street, which is open for an hour on Tuesday mornings, and which would be improved by any donations of books that generous friends may feel inclined to send to Mr Coombe for it. The Sunday school and mission room is not in so prosperous a state as regards funds as too other Institutions of the district, there being a balance of £8 to the bad last year. The district is well worked by visitors, of whom there are thirteen on the list and a few more are required to complete the proper organization. The funds of this branch of work were also in a somewhat depressed state, the balance on the wrong side being about £9, but in both the instances we have named the embarrassment is slight and only temporary, and will no doubt be put right at ones. On the other hand a Working and Clothing Society for obtaining and selling needlework for poor women, is in high prosperity, having £14 to the good. The income of a Coal Fund was £112, of which the depositors contributed £85 10s,—this just about balanced the expenditure. But in addition to their liberal subscriptions to all these works of charity the congregation of All Saints raise a special fund of over £200 every year to defray the expenses of the Sunday evening services. This is the little summary of church work in All Saints and it certainly is fair proof that both clergy and people work well together.
From: The Brighton Gazette on 9 January 1875
