Church of St Augustine of Canterbury

Details

LINDFIELD RURAL

1144/0/10074 CHURCH ROAD 11-AUG-06 Scaynes Hill Church of St Augustine of Canterbury

GV II Church, originally church and school. Nave built in 1858 by G R Habershon in Gothic style, originally serving as a church on Sundays and a school during the week. In 1880 the west tower, north aisle, south porch and chancel were added by the same architect in matching style. The north aisle was originally supported on timber posts, replaced by a stone arcade in 1913. North vestry of 1958. MATERIALS: Built of red brick in Flemish bond with decorative polychrome brick band in yellow and black brick and stone dressings. Tiled roof with alternate courses of plain and fishscale tiles. The upper stage of the tower is weatherboarded. The spire is shingled. PLAN: Two bay nave and in-line chancel with west tower, south porch, north aisle and north vestry. EXTERIOR: The nave and chancel have two triangular-shaped louvres and a cross-shaped saddlestone at the east end of the chancel. The nave has two tall gabled half-dormers with double cinquefoil-headed lights and brick buttresses. There is no east window to the chancel. The south side has to the east a single and a four-light trefoil-headed window. The south porch is gabled with tiles on edge in a cross-shaped motif and round-headed doorcase with panelled door. Narrow west tower of two stages with a west cinquefoil-headed traceried window below and a weatherboarded bell stage with traceried windows, mainly concealed by clock faces on three sides and a steep pyramidal spire surmounted by metal weathervane. The west end of the north aisle has an arched window with double trefoil-headed lancet and oculus above. The north aisle has two pointed arched windows divided by a buttress. Attached to the eastern end is a 1958 flat-roofed brick vestry in stretcher bond brickwork with uPVC windows and plank door; this is not of special interest. INTERIOR: Elaborate scissor-braced roof to both nave and chancel and oak pews to the nave. In the west tower is an octagonal stone font with Gothic style oak font cover with descending dove on iron pulley mechanism and panelling donated by a local landowner, Arthur Rydon in 1919 in thanksgiving for the survival of his son, a pilot in the Royal Flying Corps. The stained glass window at the west end was also given by Mr and Mrs Rydon. A step leads to the chancel with elaborate Gothic style chancel screen and chancel screen, also donated by Arthur Rydon. A stained glass window in the south wall of the chancel is a Boer War Memorial to Cecil Shaw and Frederick Wilfrid Beynell Willett. There is a plain wooden altar and wooden panelling with quatrefoil motif to the top. Above is a tapestry worked by parishioners and visitors consecrated in 2000 depicting Christ as the good Shepherd with the seven wonders of St John's Gospel. The north arcade comprises three stone Tudor arches with clustered columns. The north aisle has a wooden screen dated 1930, a memorial to the church benefactor Arthur Hope Rydon. Above it is a series of five paintings depicting the life of St Augustine of Canterbury, a memorial to a parishioner, William Boden, painted in 2001 by Julia Rushbury. The two stained glass windows in the north wall of the north aisle were designed and made by Rosalind Grimshaw of Bristol in 2002. One depicts Julian of Norwich, the C14 mystic and anchorite and the other Josephine Butler who fought for the repeal of the Contagious Diseases Act and for further education for women. On the walls of the north aisle are a number of memorials, including a wooden Gothic style memorial to the villagers who died in the 1939-1945 War. HISTORY: Scaynes Hill was originally part of the ecclesiastical parish of Lindfield. Between 1858 and circa 1880 the building, comprising the present nave only, served as a church on Sundays and as a village school for the rest of the week before a dedicated school was built down the road. STATEMENT OF IMPORTANCE: A little altered Gothic style church by a notable Victorian architect, the plan form still showing its earlier dual purpose as church and school. Good intact interior with C19 and early C20 fittings including an attractive scissor-braced roof and joinery, stained glass and Millenium stained glass and tapestry. SOURCES: Pevsner "Buildings of England: Sussex" P602. Howard Colvin's "Biographical Dictionary".third Edition 1995. P442.

Legacy

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