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St Peter's Church is an Anglican church in the Bohemia area of the town and seaside resort of , part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Founded in 1883 in response to the rapid residential growth of this part of St Leonards-on-Sea, the "outstanding late Victorian church" was completed and opened in 1885. Architect James Brooks was towards the end of his career but still produced a successful, powerful Gothic Revival design, which was built by prolific local firm John Howell & Son—builders of several other churches in the area. Since 2010, the building has also been home to Sonrise Church an independent Evangelical congregation. The church came to national attention in 2009 when its long-serving vicar was arrested for organising sham marriages. Since the closure and demolition of the nearby St Paul's Church and the merging of the parishes, the legal names of the parish and church have been changed to St Peter's and St Paul's Church. English Heritage has listed it at Grade II * for its architectural and historical importance. ==History== St Leonards-on-Sea experienced continuous rapid growth after it was founded in 1828 by London-based builder and speculator James Burton. The seaside resort, immediately west of the ancient port of Hastings, had a esplanade with high-class buildings facing the English Channel, but also extended a long way inland by the late 19th century as housing was built up the wooded valley which formed part of the land Burton bought in 1828.〔 Three Anglican churches were built in the resort's early years—St Leonard's (1831), St Mary Magdalene's Church (1858) and Christ Church (1860)—and a fourth, dedicated to St Paul, was built on the newly developed Church Road in 1868.〔 Further growth around the Bohemia Road, leading to the Silverhill suburb of Hastings, occurred over the next 20 years. Blanche E. Elliott, a worshipper at St Paul's Church, donated £14,300 to allow another church to be founded to serve that area. Its foundation stone was laid by Lady Brassey on 4 August 1883. The Hastings-based firm of John Howell & Son were responsible for building the church to the design of James Brooks, "one of the most respected Victorian church architects", whose reputation was forged by his work on well-designed, inexpensive churches in central London in the 1860s.〔 The original design featured a tower and spire, which were never built.〔 The church was ready in 1885, and opened for worship in that year.〔 The eventual cost exceeded £11,000. It was allocated a parish immediately, carved out of St Paul's Church's parish.〔 The two churches served the local area together for the next 80 years, but in 1964 St Paul's was closed and demolished〔 (this has been described as "the most grievous loss among the Victorian churches of Hastings"). The parishes were combined thereafter under the name ''St Peter and St Paul''. (There is an unrelated church named St Peter and St Paul's Church, opened in 1969, in the Silverhill Park suburb of Hastings.) In July 2009, the vicar—who had served the church for 20 years—was arrested at his rectory near the church on suspicion of conducting about 180 sham marriages which allowed illegal immigrants to stay in the country. An 18-month investigation by the UK Border Agency had led them to the church, at which "a conveyor belt of marriages" was said to have been held. The trial of Rev. Alex Brown and two other defendants began in June 2010 and concluded in September 2010 with the three men being jailed for four years each. About 360 marriages at the church between 2005 and 2009 were eventually identified as sham. 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 Peter's 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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