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St Leonard's Baptist Church is the Baptist place of worship serving St Leonards-on-Sea, a town and seaside resort which is part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. The elaborate building was designed by the architectural firm of Thomas Elworthy, responsible for many churches in late-Victorian era Sussex, and serves the residential hinterland of St Leonards-on-Sea—an area which grew rapidly after its early 19th-century founding by James Burton. English Heritage has listed the church at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance. ==History== Hastings, an ancient seaside town on the Sussex coast, was an important settlement by the 12th century: it had its own castle and mint, and was the main Cinque Port. With seven churches, it was also a religious centre. To the west, an area of undeveloped land—part of the Manor of Gensing—ran down to the English Channel coast and offered excellent views. Consisting of a well-wooded valley leading to flat, sheltered land by a beach, it had the potential for residential development. Businessman and property developer James Burton, father of the architect Decimus Burton, exploited this potential in the early 19th century when he laid out the new town of St Leonards-on-Sea. Encouraged by a resurgence in Hastings' popularity in the late 18th century, he bought land from the Eversfield baronets, owners of Gensing Manor, in 1828 and built a residential town and seaside resort over the next few years.〔 An Act of Parliament passed in 1832 changed the status of the town from a private speculation to a properly incorporated settlement which could be governed, taxed and further developed. Success was assured after the Duchess of Kent and her daughter Princess (later Queen) Victoria stayed in the town in 1834, and residential development northwards along the inland valley occurred after St Leonards Warrior Square railway station was built in 1851, making London and Brighton accessible by train. By that time, churches existed for Congregationalists, Anglicans and Roman Catholics.〔 In 1882, architect Thomas Elworthy of the firm Elworthy and Sons was commissioned to design a church for the town's growing Baptist community. The chosen site was on Chapel Park Road, near the railway station.〔 Elworthy was from St Leonards-on-Sea and was a prolific church architect, principally for the Congregationalists. His late 19th-century designs tended towards the Renaissance Revival and Classical styles, in reaction to the almost universal use of Gothic Revival forms earlier in the century. As an architect, he was "much maligned":〔 his Congregational chapel of 1881 in Robertsbridge was described as "truly horrible" by Nikolaus Pevsner, for example. Two other Elworthy churches in the Hastings area, Congregational churches on The Croft and Mount Pleasant Road, were demolished in 1972.〔 Construction work started in 1882 and continued until the next year, when the church opened.〔 Some architectural work was also carried out by the firm of Stiff and Sons of Lambeth, London. 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 Leonard's Baptist Church, St Leonards-on-Sea」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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