Church in Brighton and Hove , England
Hove Methodist Church
is one of five extant
Methodist
churches in the city of
Brighton and Hove
,
England
. Founded on a site on Portland Road, one of
Hove
's main roads, in the late 19th century by a long-established
Wesleyan
community, it was extended in the 1960s and is now a focus for various social activities as well as worship. The red-brick building has been
listed
at
Grade II
by
English Heritage
in view of its architectural importance.
History
[
edit
]
Hove was added to the Methodist circuit covering the neighbouring town of
Brighton
and the
county town
of
Lewes
in 1808, and by the next year 13 members were recorded as living in Hove. After several decades of meeting in houses and other buildings, the growing community decided to found their own church in the 1880s. After one proposed site had to be abandoned because of a lack of money, in 1883 they bought a plot of land
[2]
on the north side of Portland Road?a main east?west route running from Hove through
Aldrington
to
Portslade
. The site cost £400 (equivalent to £50,900 in 2024).
[1]
A second-hand temporary building made of iron was erected, but it had to be taken down in 1892; the congregation, who were Wesleyans, had to share another Methodist church in Hove with its
Primitive Methodist
community until they were able to build a permanent structure.
[2]
Architect John Wills was commissioned to design a new church in 1895.
[3]
Eight years earlier he had designed the
Holland Road Baptist Church
, also in Hove.
[4]
His plans were approved in 1896, and the church was founded on 3 June of that year by a group of 20 members, each of whom laid a stone in the floor or below the windows. The official opening date was 17 December 1896. The £4,700 cost of construction was paid off within ten years.
[2]
Girls' Brigade
and
Boys' Brigade
companies were formed early in the church's history, and from the 1930s the church bought several adjacent buildings to provide more room for social activities. An extension, running north along St Patrick's Road, was opened at a cost of £25,000 in 1965.
[5]
The church itself was altered externally in 1992, when the distinctive former double staircase leading to the entrance
[2]
was demolished and a two-storey tower of multicoloured glass was added on the Portland Road facade.
[5]
A new organ was bought in 1932 to replace a second-hand model from
St Michael's Church, Brighton
.
[5]
The church has had nearly thirty ministers during its existence,
[5]
some of whom achieved importance beyond the local area. Robert Bond, the first minister, served from 1896 until 1899 and later served on the
Free Church Federation
, having become influential in the wider Methodist community.
[2]
Ernest Kirtlan, known for his distinctive preaching style during his four-year incumbency from 1908?his loud voice sometimes sent
Communion
cruets
falling from the altar to the floor?was also an expert on medieval
English literature
.
[2]
The church is licensed for worship in accordance with the
Places of Worship Registration Act 1855
and has the registration number 35785.
[6]
Architecture
[
edit
]
John Wills
designed the church in the
Romanesque Revival style
with
Gothic
elements.
[2]
[7]
He used local bricks, made at the Keymer Brick and Tile Works in
Burgess Hill
, for the exterior; the expanses of red brick are combined with pale stone quarried in
Wiltshire
.
[2]
Above the new glass entrance tower, arranged over two storeys, is a large
rose window
with twelve spokes, above a group of six
lancet windows
surrounded by stonework.
[2]
[3]
[7]
The roof is laid with concrete tiles. Internally, the church is a simple rectangle with wooden galleries on three sides, reached by
gable
-headed staircases with pairs of windows alongside. Below the
hammerbeam roof
, the gallery is held up by
cast iron
columns.
[3]
A ground-floor room below the main body of the church was originally a schoolroom.
[2]
The church today
[
edit
]
Hove Methodist Church was
listed
at Grade II by
English Heritage
on 2 November 1992.
[3]
It is one of 1,124
Grade II-listed
buildings and structures, and 1,218 listed buildings of all grades, in the city of
Brighton and Hove
.
[8]
The church is part of the Brighton and Hove Circuit of Methodist churches, which includes the city's five other churches: one in
Patcham
, one in Stanford Avenue near
Preston Park
, one in
Hollingbury
, one in
Woodingdean
and the
Dorset Gardens Methodist Church
in
Kemptown
.
[9]
[10]
It is the only remaining place of worship for Methodists in Hove: former churches at Old Shoreham Road,
[11]
Goldstone Villas
[12]
and
Portslade
[12]
have closed. In the early 20th century, under its former name of Portland Road Methodist Church, it was in a six-church Wesleyan-following circuit with the Portslade and Kemptown churches, the former church in
Bristol Road, Kemptown
(now closed) and others in nearby
Hurstpierpoint
and
Southwick
.
[12]
There are two services on most Sundays, a monthly breakfast meeting and regular prayer services.
[13]
Other social activities, Bible study groups and services take place during the week.
[14]
See also
[
edit
]
- ^
a
b
UK
Retail Price Index
inflation figures are based on data from
Clark, Gregory (2017).
"The Annual RPI and Average Earnings for Britain, 1209 to Present (New Series)"
.
MeasuringWorth
. Retrieved
7 May
2024
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
Middleton 2002
, Vol. 9, p. 37.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Historic England
(2007).
"Methodist Church, Portland Road (north side), Hove, Brighton and Hove, East Sussex (1298647)"
.
National Heritage List for England
. Retrieved
2009-04-30
.
- ^
Middleton 2002
, Vol. 2, p. 9.
- ^
a
b
c
d
Middleton 2002
, Vol. 9, p. 38.
- ^
Registered
in accordance with the
Places of Worship Registration Act 1855
(Number in Worship Register:
35785
; Name:
Methodist Church
; Address:
Portland Road, Hove
; Denomination:
Methodist Church
. (
Archived version of list from April 2010
;
subsequent updates
)
- ^
a
b
Elleray 2004
, p. 35.
- ^
"Images of England ? Statistics by County (East Sussex)"
.
Images of England
.
English Heritage
. 2007. Archived from
the original
on 23 October 2012
. Retrieved
27 December
2012
.
- ^
"Local Faith Communities: Methodist"
.
Brighton & Hove Interfaith Contact Group website
. Brighton & Hove Interfaith Contact Group. 2006-04-24. Archived from
the original
on 2008-12-22
. Retrieved
2009-05-04
.
- ^
"About Us"
.
Hove Methodist Church website
. Hove Methodist Church. 2009
. Retrieved
2009-04-30
.
- ^
Middleton 2002
, Vol. 9, p. 36.
- ^
a
b
c
Middleton 2002
, Vol. 9, p. 35.
- ^
"Sunday Services"
.
Hove Methodist Church website
. Hove Methodist Church. 2009
. Retrieved
2009-04-30
.
- ^
"Activities"
.
Hove Methodist Church website
. Hove Methodist Church. 2009
. Retrieved
2009-04-30
.
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Elleray, D. Robert (2004).
Sussex Places of Worship
. Worthing: Optimus Books.
ISBN
0-9533132-7-1
.
- Middleton, Judy (2002).
The Encyclopaedia of Hove & Portslade
. Brighton: Brighton & Hove Libraries.
External links
[
edit
]
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