Roman Catholic Church Of The Sacred Heart

Roman Catholic Church of the Sacred Heart

A Roman Catholic church built in two phases between 1880 and 1887, designed by John Crawley and J S Hansom. The main benefactors were Reverend George Alfred Oldham and Charles Willock Dawes, a former Anglican clergyman. The north aisle was enlarged in 1914-15. The building is constructed of rock-faced limestone with slate roofs and features architectural details mainly of 13th-century style.

The church comprises a chancel with three-sided apse, a nave, a long north porch entered from the east, a north aisle with Lady Chapel to the east, a south aisle with St Joseph's Chapel to the east, a north-west baptistry, and a link to the presbytery.

Externally, the chancel has a three-sided apse with tall two-light windows, each set under its own gable, and low gabled buttresses positioned below window level. The Lady Chapel to the north features a 5-light Perpendicular window. The roof ridge runs continuously over the nave and chancel, and the church has a clerestory. The west window is set within a spherical triangle and contains elaborate tracery of quatrefoils and mouchettes.

Inside, the chancel is vaulted with tall wall-shafts and features vault paintings on canvas by N. Westlake depicting the Coronation of the Virgin, archangels, John the Baptist and St Stephen. The reredos extends the full length of the apse and includes carved scenes of the Agony in the Garden to the south and the Crucifixion to the north, with depictions of the Instruments of the Passion in the panels between. Windows throughout the church contain glass by Westlake, including his last work over the south-west doorway.

The Lady Chapel is approached from the north aisle through two arches featuring an open cusped mandorla in the spandrel. Its reredos contains carvings of the Assumption, Virgin and Child, and the Visitation, with an altar below carved with the Nativity. The south chapel contains an altar with carvings of scenes from the life of St Joseph.

The nave consists of five wide bays followed by a narrow bay, beyond which is a canted gallery with an open balustrade placed under a tall arch. The nave features clustered piers with eight shafts and octagonal bases and capitals, with arches decorated with hollow chamfers and hood-moulds. In the valleys of the arches are angels playing various musical instruments. The clerestory has two single lights per bay with stone wall shafts between each window. The roof over the nave is keeled.

A florid pulpit with mosaic foliage panels and carvings of St Peter and St Paul at the angles stands within the nave. An alabaster font bearing symbols of the Evangelists alternating with traceried panels is positioned in the baptistry, which is surrounded by carvings of baptismal scenes and an inscription reading "Suffer the little children...".

The church was established as a mission from St Mary Magdalen, Upper North Street, Brighton in 1876. Funds became available under the will of Reverend George Alfred Oldham, who died in 1875 and had previously built St Mary Magdalen (1861-4) and its adjoining school. The original intended site was between Third and Fourth Avenues, but this was changed to Norton Road in 1880 following an agreement with the West Brighton Estate Company. Construction took place in two phases: the eastern parts date from 1880-1, while the westward completion occurred in 1887 under benefactor Charles Willock Dawes, who spent £5,000 on the work including furnishings and an organ by Bevington. The north aisle and chapel were rebuilt and widened in 1914-15 at a contract price of £1,700. This is a good-quality late 19th-century Catholic church.