|
St John the Evangelist's Church is the Anglican parish church of the Upper St Leonards area of St Leonards-on-Sea, a town and seaside resort which is part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. The present building—a "very impressive and beautifully detailed" church in the Gothic Revival style, with a landmark tower—combines parts of Arthur Blomfield's 1881 church, wrecked during World War II, and Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel's 1950s rebuild. Two earlier churches on the site, the second possibly designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon, were themselves destroyed earlier in the 19th century. The rich internal fittings include a complete scheme of stained glass by Goodhart-Rendel's favoured designer Joseph Ledger and a 16th-century painting by Ortolano Ferrarese. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade II * for its architectural and historical importance. ==History== St Leonards-on-Sea was founded as a new town by builder and speculator James Burton in 1827. It was built on a sloping, well-wooded seafront location just to the west of the ancient port of Hastings, and immediately became a fashionable resort and residential area—rivalling its larger neighbour by the mid-19th century. Burton founded a parish church on the seafront in 1831 (St Leonard's Church), and another (St Mary Magdalene's Church) opened in 1858. Both catered mainly for fashionable visitors and richer residents: pew rents were charged, for example. The growing town's many artisans, manual labourers, shopkeepers and other working-class people, and the large number of workers brought in to build Burton's new town, had nowhere to worship unless they travelled to the Church in the Wood in Hollington, several miles away.〔 Lady St John (Louisa Boughton), the widow of Sir John Vaughan and St Andrew St John, 14th Baron St John of Bletso, paid for a third church to be built in the town; sittings would be free, so poor people could attend. Christ Church, on the main London Road, opened in 1860.〔 Its new vicar from 1863, Rev. Charles Lyndhurst Vaughan, son of Lady St John, worked hard to advance its influence, and the church became so popular that it was often full. Meanwhile, more residential development was taking place to the north, in an area which became known as Upper St Leonards.〔 As well as building a new, larger Christ Church, Rev. Vaughan founded another church at Gensing Farm in Upper St Leonards. The temporary structure, which cost £2,000 (£ as of ), was dedicated to St John the Evangelist and opened on 20 April 1865.〔 The iron building, known locally as "The Round Church", was severely damaged by a storm in October 1866 which destroyed the roof.〔 Rev. Vaughan ensured that it was soon rebuilt, this time in brick: construction finished in July 1867 and a procession from Christ Church to the new building preceded its opening on 6 August 1867.〔〔 Architect Samuel Sanders Teulon, who built Holy Trinity Church in central Hastings in 1857–59 and two other churches in Rye Harbour and Icklesham around the same time, has been suggested as the designer. This building only lasted 11 years, though: overnight on 30 November–1 December 1878, it caught fire and was destroyed.〔 During the 1870s, worship took on a strongly High church, Anglo-Catholic character: Reservation of the Sacrament was kept from 1874, and the Tenebrae was celebrated in the same year. The church was again rebuilt, this time to the designs of Arthur Blomfield, a prolific and "distinguished"〔 ecclesiastical architect who favoured the Gothic Revival style. His other Sussex churches include the new Christ Church itself; All Souls Church, Hastings; All Saints Church, Roffey; the rebuilt Chapel Royal, Brighton; St Andrew's Church, Worthing; St Luke's Church, Queen's Park, Brighton; St Leodegar's Church, Hunston and St Barnabas' Church, Bexhill. Part of the nave of the 1867 was restored and incorporated into the new building, on which work began in 1880.〔 A year earlier, the link with Christ Church had been broken when the ecclesiastical parishes were separated.〔 Construction was largely complete in 1881,〔〔 although some work continued until 1884.〔 The final cost was £12,300 (£ as of ),〔 and the third St John the Evangelist's Church was consecrated in 1883.〔 The church continued to thrive in the new building, and like its former mother church it became noted for its music: a choir school operated between 1896 and 1927.〔 The church suffered another setback in 1943 when it was bombed during the Luftwaffe's raids during World War II.〔〔 On 9 February 1943, a bomb passed through the spire and tower and exploded in the aisle, destroying the building.〔 Only the tall octagonal tower and parts of the west wall and baptistery survived. In 1949, a hall built next to the ruins was put into use as a temporary church while another new building took shape behind the tower.〔 Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel, a "leading authority on Victorian Gothic architecture"〔 who often adopted elements of other styles and took a free-thinking, unconventional approach to church design (as at his St Wilfrid's Church, Brighton), was commissioned. His design, a free interpretation of the Gothic Revival style in red brick and "with rich ornament and many mannered details", was executed between 1950 and 1954.〔 Most work took place between 1951 and 1952,〔〔〔 and the first parts to be reconstructed were the transepts and nave.〔 On 18 May 1951, Princess Elizabeth (now Queen Elizabeth II) laid the foundation stone, and dedication ceremonies were held for the new nave and chancel in 1952 and 1957 respectively. A side chapel and a vestry were built in the 1960s.〔 The original spire, damaged by the bombing of 1943, could not be restored and was removed; the top of the tower was altered and a "cap" added instead. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「St John the Evangelist's Church, St Leonards-on-Sea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|