Summary
Church, 1953-1961, Adrian Gilbert Scott.
Reasons for Designation
The Church of St Leonard, 1953-1961, by Adrian Gilbert Scott is listed at Grade II for the following principal reasons:
Architectural interest:
* for its bold stripped Gothic style; a striking insertion on a prominent seafront site;
* for the spatial interest of the tall parabolic arches which define its interior;
* for the artistic interest of its nautically themed fittings and finishes and Old and New Testament windows by Patrick Reyntiens;
* as the work of a noted C20 architect
Historic interest:
* as the replacement of James Burton’s early-C19 church, built to serve his newly-created resort of St Leonards on Sea;
* for its group value with the Grade II listed Burton tomb in the churchyard.
History
The Church of St Leonard, St Leonards on Sea, was built to designs by Adrian Gilbert Scott between 1953 and 1957, with the tower added in 1960 to 61.
The church replaced an earlier one of 1831 to 1832 by James Burton, developer of the new resort town of St Leonards on Sea in the early 1800s. Burton chose a site set back from the seafront road with views out into the English Channel; this required a section of cliff to be dug out, with the church nestled into a recess at the foot of its steep face. The building suffered rock-falls and subsidence throughout its life. This was not the cause of its destruction however, which came in 1944 when a ‘doodlebug’ exploded just outside the church doors. The War Damage Commission would only pay for its reconstruction on the original site, despite the problems associated with it.
Scott had been appointed to rebuild the church by the end of 1944. He proposed that the bomb-damaged houses which had been built between the church and the seafront were not reconstructed, opening up the view between the church and the sea and re-establishing the striking relationship between the two. Externally, the architectural focus is on the south-facing tower, the seaward aspect. Internally, there are strong nautical references in the fittings and finishes, but the design also has some parallels with his church in Poplar, east London (RC Church of SS Mary and Joseph, listed Grade II) which he probably worked on simultaneously.
The maritime theme of the interior was conceived by the incumbent, Canon Cuthbert Griffiths, rector from 1929 to 1961, in collaboration with the architect. The pulpit is in the form of the prow of a Galilean fishing boat, brought from Galilee by the Prince Line Shipping Company. The binnacle from the transporting ship was presented to the church and adapted for use as a lectern.
The nave and chancel have stained glass windows by Patrick Reyntiens (1925-), completed early in his career, and understood to be his first church project working independently from John Piper, with whom he went on to have a long-standing collaboration alongside his independent work. Reyntiens is recognised as one of the most important C20 practitioners of stained glass.
Adrian Gilbert Scott (1882-1963) was the son of George Gilbert Scott (1839-1897), and grandson of Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878). Like his brother, Sir Giles Gilbert Scott (1880-1960), he was articled to a former pupil of his father's, Temple Lushington Moore. Adrian subsequently assisted his brother in early domestic work and they worked in practice together. His principal work was the Anglican Cathedral in Cairo (1933), now demolished, with many of his other buildings being for the Roman Catholic church and sharing stylistic similarities with his brother's work. Notable post-war works are the Church of SS Mary and Joseph, as mentioned above, and the Church of St Leonard's.
Details
Church, 1953-1961, Adrian Gilbert Scott. The builder was R Corben and Son Ltd.
MATERIALS: buff brick with cream stone dressings. The roof is covered in red pantiles.
PLAN: the church has a rectangular plan, orientated north/south, with a low-pitched hipped roof. The liturgical east end is to the north. The entrance is to the south (liturgical west), beneath a tower facing out to the sea. To the east is a single-storey vestry and offices.
The altar is against the liturgical east wall, with choir stalls in the chancel. The nave has passage aisles and there is a gallery to the south over an enclosed entry hall, or narthex, which has small subsidiary rooms to either side.
EXTERIOR: stylistically the church has a stripped Gothic manner. The exterior is dominated by the blocky tower with a high parabolic arch into which is set an elevated tripartite entrance beneath a tall three-light window. The arch has late Gothic mouldings dying into smooth, rounded jambs. The entrance is formed of three pairs of wooden doors divided by moulded stone jambs, each pair with tripartite over-lights and a band of blind arcading with inflexed arches. The doors are reached via a wide flight of steps. At the head of the tower is an illuminated cross set with glass blocks.
Side windows have inflexed arches and diagonally leaded lights. To the right of the tower is an open-air pulpit. Side walls have two-light traceried windows with triangular arches.
INTERIOR: the interior space is punctuated by the structural use of parabolic arches: the chancel arch, two arches which diminish into the altar recess beyond and the giant parabolic arcades which link the internal buttresses into which the passage aisles are cut. The ceiling is flat over the centre of the nave and canted to the sides.
The dado in the nave and chancel, and extending into the narthex and side rooms, is of Blue Hornton stone with a wave motif at the top. The dado rises behind the altar and is surmounted by incised and painted cross. The marble floor of the chancel and sanctuary is inlaid with depictions of loaves and fishes, scallop shells and locally-caught varieties of fish. The sanctuary and altar are raised. The simple timber altar has a central pedestal tapering towards its base; a form echoed in the elegant timber altar rail which has pairs of balusters arranged in narrow V formations. The choir stalls to the left of the altar are of limed oak in a neo-Gothic style, possibly re-using some Victorian work. Above are organ pipes. In front of the choir is the pulpit in the form of the prow of a Gallilean fishing boat and on the other side of the chancel arch is the lectern made from a ship’s binnacle. The font and cover, carved from a solid piece of elm by John Reid, are in the form of a ship's wheel but these were not present at the time of inspection in 2019.
