Church of All Saints

Details

623/7/50 CARLISLE ROAD
17-MAY-71 CHURCH OF ALL SAINTS

II
Large church on a corner site on the outskirts of Eastbourne in a setting of large early C20 brick villas. Of the 1877-1879 church which Pevsner attributes to TEC Streatfield, only the tower and vestry escaped a major fire of 1927 and the rest of the church was rebuilt in a conservative late C13 style to the designs of Arthur R G Fenning and Peter D Stoneham of Eastbourne and rededicated in 1930. Pulpit and font were also designed by the same architects. A mixture of coursed and snecked rusticated stone with freestone dressings and Westmorland slate roofs. Wooden shingled roof to tower. Plan of chancel, clerestoried nave with 5-bay N and S lean-to aisles; NW tower; W end narthex; SW porch; NE porch; NE chapel; SE organ chamber and vestry.

EXTERIOR: The chancel has set-back buttresses and blind arcading below a large 3-light Decorated style traceried E window, flanked by one-light windows. N and S sides of the nave are divided into bays by pilaster buttresses with pairs of trefoil-headed windows to each bay. Buttressed lean-to aisles have 2-light Decorated style traceried windows. The N aisle has a NE porch with angle buttresses and a simple moulded N doorway. Gabled NE chapel under separate roof has 3 small high-set lancet windows within a blind arcade and a 3-light traceried E window. Elegant NW tower with angle buttresses with gables and very long set-offs, a parapet of trefoil-headed arcading and very tall paired lancet belfry windows with crocketted gables over. The tower has a semi-circular SW stair turret with a pyramidal stone spirelet. The tower has blind arcading below the belfry stage and a shallow N porch with a richly moulded doorway with nailhead ornament and nook shafts with shaft rings. The tower has a tall pyramidal roof and large square-section pinnacles with pyramidal finials. There are similar pinnacles to the nave and chancel. The W end narthex has lancet windows. The W end of the nave has a 3-light traceried window with a cusped rose in the head tracery and is flanked by trefoil-headed lancets. A SW porch projects forward of the narthex and linked to the W end of the S aisle. Gabled SE organ chamber with vestry adjoining at right angles with a tall stone stack against the organ chamber.

INTERIOR: Moulded chancel arch on engaged shafts with bell capitals. 5-bay arcades, the western bays lower and narrower, with cylindrical piers, the capitals carved with wind-blown stiff-leaf foliage. Both the chancel E and nave W walls are carved with blind arcading - this may survive from the 1870s church. Tie beam canted nave roof with arched braces below the tie on short stone shafts. Curved braces above the tie. The roof is boarded and panelled. Aisle roofs also boarded and panelled behind the main timbers. Timber vaulted chancel roof also boarded and panelled behind. c.1930s gabled timber reredos, flanked by timber panelling on the E wall. c.1930s choir stalls with poppyhead finials to the ends. The chancel is paved with mosaic. The E end bays of the aisles are screened off with Gothic style screens. The NE chapel is a war memorial chapel and also commemorates the fire and records monuments lost in it. 1929 polygonal timber pulpit decorated with blind Early English style arcading on a stone stem with shafts. 1929 font with a deep octagonal stone bowl carved with blind tracery on an octagonal stem with a timber Gothic font cover. Nave benches with square-headed ends, decorated with trefoil-headed panels. Organ by Harrison and Harrison.

HISTORY: The original church was built in open fields. It lies below the level of the roads, which were laid out later. A photograph kept in the church shows the building before the fire. Fenning and Stoneham did not copy the previous design, altering the arcades and the E window. The Fenning and Stoneham blueprints of the 1929 design, including pulpit and font, are kept in the vestry.

SUMMARY OF IMPORTANCE: A large town church with a fine tower of 1877-9, almost completely rebuilt (and re-designed) by Fenning and Stoneham in 1929 in a conservative Gothic style for the date following major fire damage. Listed grade II as a church of impressive scale with fine architectural detail, that contributes strongly to its townscape.

SOURCES:
Pevsner, Sussex, 1965, p.486.
An Outline History of All Saints' Church, 1877-Today (n.d.)


This List entry has been amended to add the source for War Memorials Register. This source was not used in the compilation of this List entry but is added here as a guide for further reading, 27 October 2017.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

293540

Legacy System:

LBS

Sources

Books and journals
Pevsner, N, Nairn, I, The Buildings of England: Sussex, (1965), 486

Websites
War Memorials Register, accessed 27 October 2017 from http://www.iwm.org.uk/memorials/item/memorial/16995

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