Church Of St George

Church of St George, Hurstpierpoint

Built in 1852 as a private chapel by Colonel Charles Smith Hannington, the Church of St George is an unusual example of a near-intact Anglican church with Non-Conformist origins. The building arose from a disagreement between Hannington and the parish Rector, Carey Hampton Borrer, whose Oxford Movement sympathies contrasted with Hannington's Low Church background. Built in the grounds of Hannington's home, St George's House on the High Street, it was initially known as 'Little Park Chapel'. Between 1852 and 1867, several notable Baptist pastors preached there. The rift with the parish gradually healed, and after 1867 the chapel became licensed for public worship by the Church of England. In 1892 it was transferred to the Diocese of Chichester and renamed St George's Church. The chapel's most celebrated connection was James Hannington, the family member who became the first Bishop of East Equatorial Africa and was killed in Uganda in 1885; memorials to the Hannington family dominate the interior.

Materials and Structure

The building is constructed of flint with stone and rendered dressings, under plain and fishscale tile roofs. Unusually, unlike normal Anglican practice, the church is oriented east-west with the chancel at the west—a layout typical of Non-Conformist chapels which were not constrained by liturgical orientation. The plan comprises a four-bay aisleless, buttressed nave entered through a small east porch, a shallow chancel under a wide chancel arch, and a large vestry to the north.

Exterior

The nave is articulated in four bays with broad two-light windows of simple cusped tracery set in near-flush quoined surrounds under plain chamfered arches. The window arches carry moulded hoods with crocketted ball finials and sit on a continuous cill band. A blocked entrance marks the eastern end of the southern elevation.

The east entrance end features a small gabled porch with a pair of vertically boarded doors with ornate strap hinges, set within a pointed chamfered arch topped by a simple hoodmould with similar crocketted ball finials. The porch gable carries a stone parapet, though its cross has been lost. Above rises a large round octafoil window with cusped tracery in a plain moulded surround. Flanking this are a pair of tall two-light windows. The east end gable itself carries a slender cross.

At the west end, the single-bay chancel sits lower under a separate roof with a pair of two-light windows beneath a small circular light. A doorway on the south side at the western end mirrors the window openings and contains a boarded door similar to those at the main entrance. Above the west gable is the base of a large octagonal stack or cross.

The vestry is attached to the north of the chancel under its own pitched roof, treated more simply than the nave without a cill band but with angle buttresses. Its external entrance on the north side facing east has a plain, probably rendered, surround and no hoodmould, with a pair of boarded doors with plain hinges. An oculus above sits in a plain rendered surround. The west gable of the vestry carries a pair of windows beneath an oculus, matching the arrangement of the adjacent main western chancel elevation, and houses a stone chimney stack.

Interior

The interior retains intact pine fittings installed circa 1900. The nave and chancel feature king-post roofs with side purlins, with slender braces running from the collar to the purlins and from the principal rafters to simple painted moulded brackets. Interior rear arches of doors and windows are unchamfered. Inner porch doors with chamfered frames and muntins sit under a pointed panelled doorhead. A pair of late 19th or early 20th-century part-glazed doors lead under the gallery.

The gallery at the eastern end, possibly added after 1892, is constructed of timber supported on slender cast iron columns and is accessed from the lobby. Its balustrade features blind cusped panels and houses bench seating and the organ. Below the gallery stands a stone octagonal font with a round stem in 13th-century manner; the cover dates from 1952.

Nave benches have plain chamfered ends, with those on the southern side featuring additional flaps for extra seating. At the western end, the sanctuary is lined in cusped panelling with a lower panelled dado in the chancel. The chancel flanks are fitted with pine stalls topped with crocketted finials and desks with pierced quatrefoil ornament. The slightly raised sanctuary contains an altar table with blind cusped panels, set behind an altar rail in wrought iron with an oak rail. The lectern displays a carved eagle.

Nave windows contain coloured glass in various repeat floral and foliate designs. The chancel windows are of plain glass with inset symbols of the Four Evangelists and a pelican in the roundel, though these are of later date and inferior quality.

The vestry, accessed by a pair of boarded doors with ornate strap hinges, contains a grey marble chimneypiece with blocked fireplace, pine cupboards, and associated fittings.

Setting and Ancillary Features

At the entrance to the churchyard stands a pair of plain stone gatepiers with later gates featuring twisted dogbars and an M monogram in the shaped head. To the east of the church lies a small burial ground.

Historical Development

The chapel's distinctive Non-Conformist origins and subsequent adoption by the Church of England give it special historic interest. Its relative simplicity compared to more elaborately detailed 19th-century private chapels reflects its original evangelical purpose. During the 20th century, an earlier 19th-century decorative scheme was whitewashed over, and a stone bellcote that rose from the north-western corner of the nave was demolished, with the bell sold.

The nearby parish church, Holy Trinity on the High Street (Grade II*), was built in 1843–45 by Charles Barry, replacing an earlier church on the same site and incorporating some fittings and memorials from the previous building.