Church Of St Leonard

HOVE

TQ20NE NEW CHURCH ROAD, Aldrington 579-1/3/151 (North side) 24/03/50 Church of St Leonard

II

Parish church. 1878 nave (now south aisle) and tower on site of former medieval church, 1936 nave, chancel and spire. Architect of C19 work Richard Herbert Carpenter, C20 work by H.Milburn Pett. Dressed knapped flint, squared and coursed, stone dressings and quoins, north wall of brick, clay tile roof, coped verges, broached spire with wooden shingles. Plan: 6-bay nave with south aisle, south-west tower, chancel, north-east brick addition, south-east vestry and south porch (no longer used), entrance now via west end of nave. Low, setback buttresses to 2-stage tower, 2-light louvred bell-openings, 3 lancet windows either side of timber-framed south porch with ornate bargeboards. Date stone in plinth of chancel inscribed "This stone was laid with full masonic --- by the Right Worshipful Provincial Grand Master of Freemasons of Sussex, Major R.Lawrence Thornton CBE on the day of the 6 June 1936". Interior: rendered. Chancel: arch braced scissor truss roof, nave and south aisle with boarded and ceiled barrel vault roofs. Arcade of chamfered piers, pointed arches chamfered in 2 orders. Stained glass: East window dated 1948. Chancel with fine display of Minton floor tiles; sedilia and piscina. Replica medieval font. The C13 parish church was described as ruinous in 1638 and between the mid C18 and early C19 the parish of Aldrington was deserted. If anything of the medieval church remained in the 1870s, it did not survive the rebuilding. The North aisle planned in 1936 was not built. (Dale A: Brighton Churches: 1989-).

Listing NGR: TQ2659005250