Church Of All Saints

The Church of All Saints is an Anglican church located in Patcham, Brighton. Its origins lie in the 12th century, with the nave dating from that period. The tower was constructed in the 13th century, followed by the chancel in the 14th century. Significant restorations occurred in the 19th and 20th centuries, specifically between 1824-5, 1856, 1883, 1898, and 1989. A north aisle and vestry were added in 1898. The church is primarily built of flint with stone dressings, although the walls are rendered except for the north aisle and vestry, which retain flint with brick bands and dressings. The roof is tiled, with slate covering the tower.

The east window features three lights with curvilinear tracery under a hoodmould. Two lancets with trefoiled heads are present on the south side of the chancel, alongside a two-light window with similar detailing on the nave’s east side, followed by another two-light window with ogee heads under a flat hoodmould. The east and west angles of the nave are buttressed. The north aisle has an east window of three lights with curvilinear tracery, a louvre in the gable apex, and three further north windows – the easternmost matching the north aisle’s east window design, while the two westernmost have three lights with cinquefoil heads under a flat hoodmould, one dating from the first half of the 19th century. Embedded stones from a likely Norman doorway are within the north wall of the aisle, and the west window of the north aisle is curvilinear. The west tower features massive angle buttressing and three narrow lancets on its west face, topped by a splay-footed spire. A gabled south porch has a 14th-century pointed-arched entrance.

The chancel was reordered in 1989, preserving a panelled dado at the east end and parts of the side walls from the 1883 fittings, excluding a reredos constructed from dismantled choir stalls. A chalk monument to Richard Shelley (died 1594) is on the north wall, flanked by depictions of grave-diggers and the family arms. The chancel roof is boarded and panelled. The chancel arch is round-arched, with replacement impost blocks (installed in 1964), and incorporates a partially preserved 13th-century wall-painting of Christ in Judgment, revealed in 1879. The nave has three bays, featuring octagonal piers with simplified water-leaf capitals, supporting pointed arches with a chamfered inner order of stone and an outer order of moulded brick. The nave has a queen-post roof, likely dating from the late 16th century. The level of the chancel floor extends into the nave following the 1989 reordering.