Church Of St George The Martyr And Railings

Church of St George the Martyr and Railings, Brighton

An Anglican church built in 1824–1825 by architect Charles Augustin Busby for developer Thomas R Kemp to serve the Kemp Town estate. The church is now merged with the parishes of St Anne and St Mark. An upper west gallery was added by Thomas Cubitt around 1835. In 1890, the chancel, liturgical furnishings, benches, gallery supports and fronts were added, with the architect probably being Arthur W Blomfield. The structure is built of stock brick in Flemish bond with stucco dressings and a slate roof.

The church is planned as a square east end with a north-east vestry, rectangular bay, three-bay narthex, and bell turret, and is executed in Greek Revival style. The entire eastern bay dates from 1890 and its design repeats motifs from the nave elevations, windows and entablature in brick Flemish bond, but is set back from the plane of the side walls to articulate the east end in Victorian fashion. The chancel space projects slightly from the east elevation and is topped by a triangular building. The east window to the chancel is round-arched with three round-arched lights and traceried head; the upper arc deflects the architrave of the entablature. A sill band to the chancel window is continuous across all four elevations, marking the height of the galleries along the nave. The entablature, east window, sill band, entrances, projecting sills of other windows, and giant pilasters at the west end are executed in stucco. Round-arched windows flank either side of the chancel window, with segmental-arched windows below to the vestry and organ loft.

The north and south elevations are nearly identical, each comprising an eight-window range including the east bay. Each bay has one round-arched window above lighting the galleries and one segmental-arched window below lighting the space under the galleries. A flat-arched entrance with sidelights is positioned at the south-east corner, set within an aedicule and containing an eight-panel door of original design. This doorway is repeated in the west face of a single-storey vestry added at the north-east corner in 1906. In each west bay of the nave elevations is a flat-arched door with architrave and entablature.

The west elevation is the grandest of the four. Like the east, it is divided into three bays. Each side bay has a flat-arched door and a round-arched window above. The centre bay is treated as a giant distyle in antis porch of the Ionic order, with the entablature stepping out above to form a portico. The centre contains a flat-arched door with a round-arched window above. The outer order and entablature are topped by a semicircular antefix finial. Above is a cupola in three stages: the first is a Greek cross in plan with a clock to each of the four elevations; the second is square in plan with a distyle Tuscan portico to each side spanning a round-arched opening containing bell louvres; the third is square in plan with chamfered corners and a roundel to each long side. An eight-sided dome terminates the composition.

The interior is entered through a narthex, to the north and south of which are stairwells leading to the gallery. The east window is in stone with a subordered design and a springing band across the chancel wall. The reredos comprises six coupled pilasters of the Composite order, entablature, and a pediment to the centre bay, with a base of paired high socles with dado panelling.

The chancel is a memorial to the parents of Sir Charles Lennox Peel, a descendant of Sir Robert Peel, and the congregation bought the freehold of the church from the Peel family in 1889, though Sir Charles retained ownership of the Peel family vault beneath the church. A round arch divides the chancel from the north vestry and south organ loft. Round arches with architraves rest on square piers with acanthus capitals, with responds to the north, south and east walls. The vestry and loft each have a round-arched entrance. Supporting the north and south galleries are full-height cast-iron colonnettes on axis with the chancel piers, which taper to acanthus capitals; acanthus corbels support gallery lintels on the west face of the chancel piers.

Galleries return across the west end on a segmental plan. The upper west gallery follows the same plan as that below but is narrower. This second west gallery was added in the 1830s by Thomas Cubitt to accommodate increased numbers of worshippers after Queen Adelaide made this her Chapel Royal; the top gallery came to be known as Queen Adelaide's gallery. The west galleries are supported on eight plain cast-iron colonnettes which are off the axis of the north and south supports. Originally the gallery and roof supports were cast iron in the form of Tuscan and Ionic columns respectively. The 1890s gallery supports, in their thinness and style, reflect the Evangelical form of worship for which St George's had been known since opening. The underside of the gallery retains its original boarded ceiling. The gallery fronts and all benches date from 1890. The second tier of gallery supports an entablature running east to west, from which springs a boarded, barrel-vaulted roof of six bays articulated by transverse ribs; each bay is subdivided by smaller transverse ribs into three compartments. Flat boarded ceilings over the galleries have ribs continuing from the vault to the cornice at the top of the wall.

The side wall elevation comprises a panelled dado, segmental-arched window with wide splays, and round-arched window with wide splays above. The tinted glass dates from the late 19th or early 20th century; the glass to the east window is late 19th century, designed in the style of 13th-century stained glass. A font is placed near the west entrance. The west wall contains three flat-arched doors with architraves. The organ dates from the church's construction, when it was located in the west gallery. In the 1840s it was moved to the east end; at the 1890 renovation it was relocated to its present position in the gallery of the south chancel bay. The current organ case dates from 1890, when the instrument was rebuilt to give greater range and power. Electric lights were installed in 1906. A brass lectern was given to commemorate Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee in 1897.

Kemp built the church partly as an investment, hoping that pew rents would generate income. Disappointed by the revenue, which decreased due to growing opposition to pew rents, he sold the freehold to Laurence Peel, youngest son of Sir Robert Peel, the well-known politician whose family owned land in the area.