Nominal: 799 Hz Weight: 1106 lbs Diameter: 38.5" Bell 1 of 6
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1878
Dove Bell ID: 93 Tower ID: 16493 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Aldrington: St Leonard
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 265 52
This large, rather rustic Gothic flint church has considerable townscape impact. The building is composed of dressed knapped flint, squared and coursed, stone dressings and quoins, and designed in the Early English style. Despite a complex history of rebuilds and expansions, the church is visually cohesive.
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
6-bay nave with south aisle, south-west tower off the aisle, chancel, north-east brick addition, south-east vestry and south porch (no longer used), entrance now via west end of nave.
Dimensions:
Nave estimated to be c 22m (70ft) x 9m (30ft).
Footprint of Church buildings: 758 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
Aldrington was a fishing village whose population dwindled in the 16th and 17th centuries. The 13th-century church was ruinous by 1638 and the walls collapsed in the early 19th leaving only low walls and part of the tower standing. In 1878 when the area was being repopulated with the expansion of Hove, R H Carpenter rebuilt the tower and the nave (now the south aisle). By 1936 so many people had moved into the area that the church was no longer large enough and H Milburn Pett, the diocesan architect, was asked to extend it. He built the present nave and chancel to the north of Carpenter’s building and added the broach spire to the tower, but the planned north aisle was not built. The lychgate designed by F A Crouch was built in 1949. The solid screen that now separates the south aisle (formerly the church) from the nave was added in 1997.
It looks as though the tower and south-west corner of the nave may retain some of the medieval walls in their lower parts, and parts of the windows may be original here; this may be worth investigating further. The remains of the rest of the old church are likely to survive below the present building. The site is of considerable archaeological potential and the SMR should be consulted if any development of the site is proposed.
Exterior Description
The church is designed in the Early English style, lancets throughout, and architecturally very simple. It could be taken as a medieval church which has undergone a heavy Victorian restoration, belying its complex and accretive development. Successive architects followed the grain of the building to achieve a relatively cohesive result, at least externally.
The short tower with its broach shingle spire is a correct Sussex motif. The tower is of two stages with low, set-back buttresses and 2-light louvred bell-openings. The roofs are quite steep, with plain copings and cross finials. There is a single lancet window to each bay of the nave, south aisle and chancel, the west end of the nave is pierced by a small 2-light plate tracery window to the low baptistery with a triple lancet in the gable above. In the middle of the south wall is a timber-framed porch with ornate bargeboards. The east wall of the aisle has a 2-light plate tracery window with a sexfoil in the head, the west wall a pair of lancets which look to be in part from the medieval church.
This is now partly masked below by the low long vestry block, with two coupled lancets each side of a pointed doorway. The vestry also cuts across the view of the chancel, which has three lancets in the south wall, two in the north and a stepped 3-light in the east wall. In this is a stone in the plinth inscribed: “This stone was laid with full masonic rites by the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons of Sussex, Major R.Lawrence Thornton CBE on the day of the 6 June 1936”. A photograph of this occasion can be seen in the vestry.
Building Fabric and Features
Tower (component)
19th century south-west
Aisle
19th century south
Nave
20th century 6-bay
Chancel
20th century
Vestry
20th century south-east
Porch
20th century south
Building Materials
Flint
19th century dressed knapped, squared and coursed
Stone
19th century dressings and quoins
Brick
20th century
Clay
20th century tile roof
Wood
19th century shingles to spire
Interior
Interior Description
The interior is rendered, and very tidy and clean. As is often the case, the conversion of the old nave to a south aisle to the new nave has not worked well. In particular the 1936 nave and chancel are not well related to the form of the earlier church, exacerbated by the solid screen (with glazed heads) which now separates the two. This has the effect of creating two separate spaces, but also making the nave to some degree symmetrical, as there is an identical blind arcade of chamfered piers with double-chamfered pointed arches on the north side where a north aisle was planned but never built, the blocking pierced by the lancets. Both the nave, chancel and south aisle have boarded pointed barrel vault roofs. Parquet floor in the nave and aisle, black and white marble in the chancel in a geometrical pattern.
The chancel arch is the simplest pointed arch and barely noticeable, and the absence of a screen (there is a low stone chancel wall) creates a tunnel effect, nothing interrupting the vista from the west end to the east. The nave has chairs which would appear to date to the 1930s when the nave was built, the chancel has choir stalls with plain panelled fronts and sides of the same date, the clergy desk with blind tracery sides may have been moved from the south aisle. In the south wall is a 3-bay sedilia and piscina, and a pointed doorway. The western bay of the north wall houses the organ with its displayed pipes. Baptistery at the west end within a low pointed arch, flanked by pointed doorways.
The south aisle (the old nave) has much more intimacy; it has benches in the chancel. The east end has an arch-braced scissor-truss roof, and excellent Minton floor tiles throughout what could instantly be used as a chancel, but is now effectively a completely detached side chapel. The old nave part is effectively a blank canvas, with some chairs and tables scattered about.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
20th century Oak table. South aisle chapel has table with pierced cusped lancet front.
Pulpit
20th century The pulpit is of panelled oak, carved with the signs of the Evangelists.
Lectern
20th century Wooden eagle lectern.
Font (component)
20th century Stone font, circular bowl of dark marble, supported by central column and corner colonettes. Cover of oak and wrought iron.
Stained Glass (window)
19th / 20th century Almost all windows have stained glass. The best is the series of windows by Clayton and Bell in the south aisle, which range in date from 1878 to the 1930s, and depict scenes from the Life and Resurrection of Christ in the lower part of the window, saints above, beginning with the Annunciation in the east window. The later, western aisle windows have English rather than Latin texts and are clearly not part of the same series, for example a window of 1909 with St George above and killing the Dragon below. The east chancel window is dated 1948, Christ in Majesty, with St Leonard, St Philip and St Richard beneath; not by Clayton & Bell. The Trinity in the baptistery 2-light of post-1929 (1936?) is also probably not by Clayton & Bell. 2-light window by M C Farrar Bell in the nave, 1956 and 1964, in memory of members of the Tomlinson family. Suffer the Children and St Christopher carrying Christ child. Christ calling the fishermen, 1938+. War memorial window St George in nave niche.
Plaque (component)
20th century Brass plaque in memory of Nicholas Stredwick, Clerk of this parish 1870-1910 and his wife Sarah, also died 1910. Brass plaque in memory of Pte Harry Hollingdale of the Royal Sussex Regiment died at Bloemfontein 1901.
Panel
19th century 2 oak boards with names of rectors and patrons since 1351, and list of vicars.
Organ (component)
19th century Two manual organ by J W Walker & sons, 1897, oak case.
Bench (seat)
17th century Bench in a 17th-century style, ornately carved and with a date of 1651/7 at west end of nave, inscribed John Whatton Katherine across the top and God’s Providence underneath. Much repaired, new seat. A recent valuation considered this to be a Victorian piece of perhaps 1850 and of low value.
Rail
20th century Light wooden rail in chancel, wood and brass rails at east end of aisle, donated in the 1960s.
Bells
Nominal: 1344 Hz Weight: 471 lbs Diameter: 26.25" Bell 2 of 6
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1891
Dove Bell ID: 8226 Tower ID: 16493 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 1197 Hz Weight: 493 lbs Diameter: 27.63" Bell 3 of 6
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1878
Dove Bell ID: 8227 Tower ID: 16493 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 1068 Hz Weight: 608 lbs Diameter: 30.5" Bell 4 of 6
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1878
Dove Bell ID: 8228 Tower ID: 16493 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 1007 Hz Weight: 678 lbs Diameter: 31.38" Bell 5 of 6
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1878
Dove Bell ID: 8229 Tower ID: 16493 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Nominal: 898 Hz Weight: 835 lbs Diameter: 34.25" Bell 6 of 6
Founded by John Taylor & Co 1878
Dove Bell ID: 8230 Tower ID: 16493 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Portable Furnishings and Artworks
Registers from 1864, held at West Sussex County Record Office.
of Remembrance of those who died in the wars, dedicated in memory of Geoffrey Pannell missing over Burma 1945.
Table dedicated in memory of Francis Edward Sinden missing from Operations 1944.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 265 52
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
The churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Sources
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