All Saints Church, Highbrook

All Saints Church is an Anglican church in the hamlet of Highbrook in Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. The tiny settlement, in the parish of West Hoathly, was distant from the parish church in that village; two wealthy sisters accordingly funded the construction of a new church to serve the local population. Richard H. Carpenter and Benjamin Ingelow's stone building, with a prominent spire, opened in 1884 and was allocated its own parish. The "handsome"[1] church, designed in the 14th/15th-century style of the Gothic Revival, has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.

All Saints Church
The church from the southeast
51.0549°N 0.0574°W / 51.0549; -0.0574
LocationHammingden Lane, Highbrook, West Hoathly, West Sussex RH17 6SS
CountryUnited Kingdom
DenominationChurch of England https://www.allsaints-highbrook.org.uk
History
StatusParish church
Founded1882
Founder(s)Francis Kirby and Caroline Weguelin
DedicationAll Saints
Architecture
Functional statusActive
Heritage designationGrade II
Designated11 May 1983
Architect(s)Richard H. Carpenter and Benjamin Ingelow
StyleGothic Revival
Groundbreaking1882
Completed1884
Construction cost£4,000
Administration
ParishHighbrook: All Saints
DeaneryRural Deanery of Cuckfield
ArchdeaconryHorsham
DioceseChichester
ProvinceCanterbury

History

The ancient parish of West Hoathly covered a large area of the High Weald in central Sussex, characterised by clay soil with sandstone ridges. The hamlet of Highbrook developed on an isolated area of lower ground (still 400 feet (120 m) above sea level) in the south of the parish, about 1.5 miles (2.4 km) south of West Hoathly village. The road connecting them, Hammingden Lane, runs along one of the narrow sandstone outcrops.[2]

By the Victorian era, Highbrook had many long-established houses and farms—some of which dated from the 16th and 17th centuries—[2] but it had not expanded much beyond this old core: its population was recorded as 186.[1] Nevertheless, in 1882, two wealthy local sisters, Frances Kirby and Caroline Weguelin, decided to pay for a church to be built in the hamlet. They felt that the inhabitants were put off from travelling the long distance to St Margaret's Church at West Hoathly (the parish church): its situation at the north end of West Hoathly village meant the walk was about 2 miles (3.2 km).[1] At that time, Sussex was in the middle of an unprecedented period of church-building, prompted originally by the Church of England's disquiet over the low level of church attendance revealed for the first time by questions in the United Kingdom Census 1851.[3] Between 1860 and 1890, 269 churches of all Christian denominations (mostly Anglican) were built in Sussex, and the early 1880s was the peak period for new establishments.[4] Although many were funded by the Church of England (through the Diocese of Chichester, the administrative and pastoral district covering Sussex), the late 19th century was also the principal era in which wealthy benefactors founded new churches, especially in rural areas or on country estates, and often as a memorial to a deceased relative or friend. Many examples survive in Sussex,[5] including Highbrook's new and expensively endowed All Saints Church: the sisters paid £4,000 (£406,000 as of 2020)[6] towards its construction.[1]

Architects Richard H. Carpenter and Benjamin Ingelow were commissioned to design the church.[7][8] Carpenter worked extensively in Sussex—his buildings included the chapel at Lancing College—and the pair had formed a partnership in 1872.[9] They had first worked together in 1862 on St Andrew's Cathedral in Honolulu.[10] Their Gothic Revival design for All Saints—the most popular style for Sussex churches in the Victorian era—[11] used locally quarried stone and was completed in 1884.[7] The church was large, especially in relation to the sparse local population;[1][8] it was also parished from the beginning: in 1882 part of the former West Hoathly parish was allocated to it.[1][2]

No internal fittings were paid for out of the original endowment. A set of stained glass windows were installed by the firm of Clayton and Bell between 1885 and 1892, including the main east window which was a memorial to the founding sisters' parents.[1][8] In 1933, the chancel floor was relaid with a checkerboard pattern of black and white marble by Walter Tower,[1] nephew and working partner of stained glass designer Charles Eamer Kempe.[12]

Architecture

All Saints Church, characterised by architectural historian Nikolaus Pevsner as "a serious job, outside and inside",[8] is a Gothic Revival-style building, variously described as in the Decorated style of around 1300,[1] "Early Geometrical" (i.e. a 19th-century interpretation of the transition between Early English and Decorated Gothic)[7] and "15th-century Gothic".[13] It has a chancel and nave with a chancel arch between them, an aisle on the north side of the nave, a porch on the south side and a northeast tower topped with a broach spire laid with oak shingles.[1][2][8][13] The whole church is built of local stone.[7]

All windows are lancets with tracery of the Decorated Gothic style, and all have stained glass. The east window of the chancel is the largest, with five lights.[1] The chancel arch and aisles have moulded capitals and responds which appear more elaborate than in a typical rural church of the era.[1][8] Other internal fixtures include a reredos of marble[7] and memorials to the founding sisters.[1]

The church today

All Saints Church was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 11 May 1983;[13] this defines it as a "nationally important" building of "special interest".[14] As of February 2001, it was one of 958 Grade II listed buildings, and 1,028 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Mid Sussex.[15]

The parish covers the hamlet of Highbrook and the surrounding rural area between the B2028 Edenbridge–Haywards Heath road and the preserved Bluebell Railway line.[16] It is part of the united benefice of Highbrook and West Hoathly,[17] which was created in September 1975.[18] The advowson is held by the Bishop of Chichester.[2]

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See also

Notes
  1. Allen, John (22 February 2010). "Highbrook – All Saints". Sussex Parish Churches website. Sussex Parish Churches (www.sussexparishchurches.org). Archived from the original on 7 February 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  2. Salzman, L. F. (ed) (1940). "A History of the County of Sussex: Volume 7 – The Rape of Lewes. Parishes: West Hoathly". Victoria County History of Sussex. British History Online. pp. 164–172. Retrieved 23 October 2010.CS1 maint: extra text: authors list (link)
  3. Elleray 1981, p. 4.
  4. Elleray 1981, p. 22.
  5. Elleray 1981, p. 26.
  6. UK Retail Price Index inflation figures are based on data from Clark, Gregory (2017). "The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)". MeasuringWorth. Retrieved 2 February 2020.
  7. Elleray 2004, p. 32.
  8. Nairn & Pevsner 1965, p. 538.
  9. Allen, John (6 September 2010). "Architects and Artists C". Sussex Parish Churches website. Sussex Parish Churches (www.sussexparishchurches.org). Archived from the original on 2 August 2013. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  10. Allen, John (28 March 2013). "Architects and Artists I–J–K". Sussex Parish Churches website. Sussex Parish Churches (www.sussexparishchurches.org). Archived from the original on 16 May 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2013.
  11. Elleray 1981, p. 30.
  12. Allen, John (18 October 2010). "Architects and Artists T–U–V". Sussex Parish Churches website. Sussex Parish Churches (www.sussexparishchurches.org). Archived from the original on 26 September 2010. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  13. Historic England. "All Saints Church, Hammingden Lane, West Hoathly, Mid Sussex, West Sussex  (Grade II) (1181989)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 12 January 2015.
  14. "Listed Buildings". English Heritage. 2010. Archived from the original on 24 January 2013. Retrieved 23 August 2011.
  15. "Images of England — Statistics by County (West Sussex)". Images of England. English Heritage. 2007. Archived from the original on 2 January 2013. Retrieved 2 January 2013.
  16. "All Saints Highbrook". A Church Near You website. Archbishops' Council. 2008. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  17. "All Saints, Highbrook". A Church Near You website. Archbishops' Council. 2008. Retrieved 23 October 2010.
  18. "No. 46690". The London Gazette. 19 September 1975. p. 11812.

Bibliography
  • Elleray, D. Robert (1981). The Victorian Churches of Sussex. Chichester: Phillimore & Co. Ltd. ISBN 0-85033-378-4.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Elleray, D. Robert (2004). Sussex Places of Worship. Worthing: Optimus Books. ISBN 0-9533132-7-1.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
  • Nairn, Ian; Pevsner, Nikolaus (1965). The Buildings of England: Sussex. Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-071028-0.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
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