Church Of St Anne

The Church of St Anne is a parish church dating to 1873, designed by Paley and Austin. It was enlarged in 1887 by R.K. Freeman, with further additions in 1903, 1919, and 1930. The church is constructed of red brick in English bond, with some pebble inlay, sandstone dressings, and a red pantile roof. It is built in a mixed Gothic style. The main components are a nave and chancel unified as one space, a south aisle extending under a carried-down roof to embrace a south transept, a west tower (1887) embraced by the nave, a north aisle under a parallel roof, a baptistery to the west side of the tower, and a memorial chapel attached to the north side of the chancel.

The monumental, square west tower has two stages, with low buttresses to the west side and stone bands, including a double band to the first stage featuring diamond-pattern pebble inlay. The tower’s belfry stage is set back with diagonal buttresses, a crow-stepped parapet, and crocketed corner pinnacles. It has a two-centred arched west window with intersecting tracery, clock faces on the belfry stage, square-headed two-light belfry windows with stone louvres and mouchette tracery in the heads, and a statue in a niche on the south side of the first stage. The attached, polygonal baptistery incorporates two-light windows, a lettered parapet, and a copper-clad polygonal roof.

The four-bay south aisle features a two-centred arched doorway in the first bay and square-headed three-light windows in the others. The transept has buttresses and a large two-centred arched four-light window with a transom and tracery. Adjoining the transept is a bay of the aisle built to serve as a vestry, with a two-centred arched doorway dated 1873. The chancel has bands of blind arcading with pebble inlay, a square-headed three-light plate-traceried window on the south side, a large two-centred arched five-light east window with lancet-shaped tracery, a buttressed north transept with a large two-centred arched window with a triple-chamfered brick surround, and a flat-roofed, polygonal memorial chapel attached to the north-east corner. The four-bay north aisle, with buttresses, has large, two-centred arched, traceried windows with double-chamfered brick surrounds. The interior was not inspected during the listing process.

The church was built in 1873 by Lady Cecily Clifton at her own expense, in memory of the Clifton estate agent James Fair (died 1871). It served as the first church in the new town of St Annes-on-Sea, which was named after it. The church forms a group with associated lychgate and boundary wall.