List of places of worship in Brighton and Hove
The city of Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England, has more than 100 extant churches and other places of worship, which serve a variety of Christian denominations and other religions. More than 50 former religious buildings, although still in existence, are no longer used for their original purpose.
The history of the area now covered by Brighton and Hove spans nearly 1000 years, although the city has only existed in its present form since 2000. The small settlement of Bristelmestune, mentioned in the Domesday Book, developed into a locally important fishing village, and was saved from its 18th-century decline by the patronage of the Prince Regent and British high society. Hove, to the west, had modest origins; rapid growth in the 19th century caused it to merge with Brighton, although it has always tried to maintain its separate identity. During the 20th century, both boroughs expanded by absorbing surrounding villages such as Patcham, Hangleton, West Blatchington and Ovingdean, each of which had an ancient church at their centre. New housing estates such as Mile Oak, Moulsecoomb and Saltdean were built on land acquired by the boroughs.
Apart from the ancient parish churches of Brighton and Hove, and those of the nearby villages that are now part of the city, few places of worship existed until the 19th century. During that century, however—and especially in the Victorian era—England experienced a surge in church-building, which left its mark on both Brighton and Hove. Reverend Henry Michell Wagner and his son Reverend Arthur Wagner founded and funded a succession of Anglican churches for the benefit of Brighton's rapidly growing population, while enduring controversy and conflict over their political and religious ideals; many churches were founded in Hove; and Roman Catholic, Baptist, Unitarian, Jewish and other places of worship became established for the first time. Although overcapacity and increasing maintenance costs have led to some closures and demolitions, new churches continued to be established throughout the 20th century on the new housing estates.
Religious affiliation in Brighton and Hove
As of the 2001 United Kingdom Census, 247,817 people lived in Brighton and Hove. Of these, 59.1% were Christian, 1.47% were Muslim, 1.36% were Jewish, 0.7% were Buddhist, 0.52% were Hindu, 0.1% were Sikh, 0.85% were affiliated with another religion, 27.02% followed no religion and 8.88% did not state their religion. Some of these proportions are significantly different from those of England as a whole. Judaism and Buddhism have a much greater following: 0.52% of people in England are Jewish and 0.28% are Buddhist. Christianity is much less widespread in the city than in the country overall, in which 71.74% people identify themselves as Christian. The proportion of people with no religious affiliation is nearly twice as high as that of England as a whole.Administration
All Anglican churches in the city are administered by the Diocese of Chichester, and by the Archdeaconry of Chichester, one of three archdeaconries in the diocese. The Rural Deanery of Brighton is one of five deaneries under the archdeaconry. It covers 28 extant churches and 9 that are no longer used for worship. One of its churches, St Laurence at Falmer, is in the neighbouring district of Lewes. The Rural Deanery of Hove, also part of the Archdeaconry of Chichester, has 28 churches, of which five are closed; eight are in the Adur district of West Sussex, as the deanery covers Kingston Buci, Southwick and Shoreham-by-Sea as well as Hove and Portslade.The 11 Roman Catholic churches in the city are in Brighton and Hove Deanery, one of thirteen deaneries in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton. The deanery has 13 churches, but those in Peacehaven and Southwick are outside the city boundaries, in Lewes District and Adur District respectively. The parish of Southwick's church, St Theresa of Lisieux, has covered the Portslade area of Brighton and Hove since 1992, when the Church of Our Lady Star of the Sea and St Denis in Portslade was declared redundant and demolished after 80 years.
Of the ten Baptist churches in Brighton and Hove, six are part of the Mid Sussex Network of the South Eastern Baptist Association, one of nine divisions of the Baptist Union of Great Britain: the Holland Road and New Life Christian churches in Hove, the Florence Road and Gloucester Place churches in Brighton, the Oasis Christian Fellowship Church in Hangleton and the church in Portslade. Also in this network is a Baptist community in Woodingdean that does not have its own premises and worships in a school. The Ebenezer Reformed Baptist Church is part of GraceNet UK, an association of Reformed Evangelical Christian churches and organisations, as was Montpelier Place Baptist Church. Galeed Strict Baptist Chapel is affiliated with the Gospel Standard Baptist movement.
In 1972, the Congregational Church and the Presbyterian Church of England merged to form the United Reformed Church. All United Reformed churches in the city are part of the Southern Synod, one of 13 synods within the Church. The city's five Methodist churches are in the Brighton and Hove Methodist Circuit.
Buildings with listed status
In England, a building or structure is defined as "listed" when it is placed on a statutory register of buildings of "special architectural or historic interest" by the Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, a Government department, in accordance with the Planning Act 1990. English Heritage, a non-departmental public body, acts as an agency of this department to administer the process. There are three grades of listing status. Grade I, the highest, is defined as being of "exceptional interest"; Grade II* is used for "particularly important buildings of more than special interest"; and Grade II, the lowest, is used for "nationally important" buildings of "special interest".As of February 2001, there were 24 Grade I-listed buildings, 70 Grade II*-listed buildings and 1,124 Grade II-listed buildings in Brighton and Hove. Five of the Grade I-listed buildings are churches; all are Anglican. There are 18 Grade II*-listed places of worship: 15 Anglican churches, two Roman Catholic churches and a synagogue. Twenty-seven current and former places of worship have Grade II status.
In February 2015, Brighton and Hove City Council adopted a new draft "local list of heritage assets". Hundreds of buildings and structures in the city were assessed against criteria which covered their "local historic, architectural, design and townscape value", and those meeting the criteria were designated as locally listed buildings. Buildings on the draft list include nearly 30 current and former places of worship.
| Grade | Criteria |
| Grade I | Buildings of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important. |
| Grade II* | Particularly important buildings of more than special interest. |
| Grade II | Buildings of national importance and special interest. |
| Locally listed | Buildings considered by the council "to be of special interest, because of their local historic, architectural, design or townscape value". |
Current places of worship
| Name | Image | Location | Denomination | Grade | Notes |
| All Saints Church | Hove | Anglican | The church, on one of Hove's main crossroads, was built by John Loughborough Pearson between 1889 and 1891 and became the parish church in 1892. It was extended in 1901 and 1924, although a proposed tower was never completed. The exterior is mainly Sussex sandstone; stone and oak predominate inside. | ||
| St Bartholomew's Church | New England Quarter | Anglican | Arthur Wagner established a temporary church near Brighton railway station in 1868, but planned to build a much larger church to serve the same area. In 1873 he designed a building long, wide and high. This is taller than Westminster Abbey, and the nave is the highest of any parish church in Britain. | ||
| St Michael and All Angels Church | Montpelier | Anglican | This supplemented the nearby St Stephen's Church following the rapid development of the Montpelier and Clifton Hill areas west of Brighton railway station in the early 19th century. Originally a chapel of ease to St Nicholas Church, it was given its own parish in 1924. The large Italianate building is sometimes known as "The Cathedral of the Back Streets". | ||
| St Wulfran's Church | Ovingdean | Anglican | Ovingdean, an agricultural village north of Rottingdean, joined the Borough of Brighton in 1928. Its centrepiece is the 12th-century church, built of flint with a tower and "Sussex Cap" spire. It may have been damaged by the same French raiders who desecrated St Margaret's Church. Only one other church in England is dedicated to St Wulfran, a French archbishop. | ||
| All Saints Church | Patcham | Anglican | Patcham became part of the former Borough of Brighton in 1928; it was previously a separate village. A church was known to exist at the time of the Domesday Book, and the nave and parts of the chancel of the present building date from the 12th century. It was extensively restored in the 19th century. | ||
| Chapel Royal | Brighton | Anglican | Brighton's second Anglican church was built to encourage the Prince Regent to attend church more often when he was staying in the town. He laid the foundation stone in 1793 and attended the first service in 1795, but later took offence at a sermon and stopped worshipping at the chapel. It was parished in 1897. | ||
| St Andrew's Church | Hove | Anglican | The original parish church of Hove was of 12th-century origin, but fell into disrepair and was rebuilt by George Basevi in neo-Norman style in the 1830s after the population of Hove started to grow. | ||
| St Barnabas Church | Hove | Anglican | The Vicar of Hove asked John Loughborough Pearson to build a church near Hove railway station in response to rapid residential development in the late 19th century. St Barnabas opened in 1883. The knapped flint and red-brick Early English style church is topped by a tall, narrow flèche. | ||
| St Helen's Church | Hangleton | Anglican | Hangleton became part of the former Borough of Hove in 1928. Originally a Norman church, it remained almost untouched in a high, isolated position on the South Downs above Hove until restoration in the 1870s. Despite other alterations, especially since Hangleton developed as a 1950s housing estate, the church retains much of its medieval character. | ||
| St Margaret's Church | Rottingdean | Anglican | The ancient parish church of Rottingdean was absorbed into Brighton in 1928. The Normans rebuilt a Saxon church in the 13th century, and much of this structure survives—despite damage caused by a French raid in 1377. The cruciform, flint-built church has a large churchyard. Rudyard Kipling, his uncle Sir Edward Burne-Jones and Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin all had links with the church. | ||
| St Martin's Church | Round Hill | Anglican | Arthur Wagner built this church in 1875 using £3,000 set aside by his father for that purpose. A building committee, set up by Henry Michell Wagner before his death, allowed Arthur Wagner and his half-brothers to choose the site themselves. | ||
| St Mary the Virgin Church | Kemptown | Anglican | This large, red-brick Victorian church, described as having "one of the best church interiors in Sussex", was built between 1877 and 1879. It replaced a Neoclassical building in the style of a Greek temple that collapsed in 1876, 50 years after it was founded on land donated by the Earl of Egremont. | ||
| St Nicholas Church | West Hill | Anglican | Brighton's only Anglican church until the end of the 18th century was also its parish church until 1873. A church existed in the 11th century in the fishing village of Bristelmstune—probably on this site. The tower and some interior structures are 14th-century, but some Norman-era parts remain. The church survived a French raid in 1514. Richard Cromwell Carpenter rebuilt it in 1853 as a memorial to the Duke of Wellington. | ||
| St Nicolas Church | Portslade | Anglican | Portslade developed inland around a north–south Roman road. The parish church has 12th-century origins. Victorian restoration erased some 15th-century wall paintings, and an elaborate memorial chapel for a wealthy local family was added in 1874. | ||
| St Paul's Church | Brighton | Anglican | This is the oldest of six churches built on the instruction of Henry Michell Wagner in which Anglican worship still takes place. Three earlier churches have been demolished or sold. Opened in 1849 just before Wagner's son Arthur was ordained, it was intended as Arthur's own church, at which he could start his ecclesiastical career. He stayed for 52 years until his death in 1902. | ||
| St Peter's Church | Brighton | Anglican | Brighton's parish church between 1873 and 2009 was designed by Charles Barry in the Gothic Revival style and built between 1824 and 1828 at a prominent location described at the time as "the entrance to the town". The Portland stone and Sussex sandstone building is costly to maintain, and had been proposed for redundancy by the Diocese of Chichester. In May 2009, Holy Trinity Brompton in London agreed to take it over. | ||
| St Peter's Church | West Blatchington | Anglican | West Blatchington, a village on the South Downs east of Hangleton, was absorbed into the erstwhile Borough of Hove in 1928. Its medieval parish church fell into disrepair by the 17th century but was restored in the 1890s and extended in the 1960s by John Leopold Denman following substantial population growth in the area. | ||
| Bishop Hannington Memorial Church | West Blatchington | Anglican | This yellow brick church was built between 1938 and 1939 by Edward Maufe, the architect of Guildford Cathedral. The name commemorates James Hannington, first bishop of East Equatorial Africa, who was murdered in Uganda in 1885. Nikolaus Pevsner described the church as "Historicism at its most simplified". | ||
| Church of the Annunciation | Hanover | Anglican | This "Wagner church" was built in 1864 to serve the Hanover district, which at the time was a poor, densely populated area with no church. It became so popular that it had to be extended in 1881. Both the original construction costs and the rebuilding were financed entirely by Arthur Wagner. | ||
| Church of the Good Shepherd | Prestonville | Anglican | Edward Warren used variegated bricks and a simple Gothic style for this church, which was built between 1921 and 1922 on Dyke Road. It was built as a memorial to a former Vicar of the parish of Preston. | ||
| St George's Church | Kemptown | Anglican | Thomas Read Kemp laid out the Kemp Town estate on the cliffs east of Brighton in the 1820s. In 1824 he enlisted Charles Busby to build a church; construction cost £11,000 and took two years. Its parish, established in 1879, was extended twice in the 1980s after the nearby St Anne's and St Mark's Churches were closed. | ||
| St John the Baptist's Church | Hove | Anglican | This church was built in 1854 on a prominent site on one corner of Palmeira Square in Hove, to serve Brunswick—an exclusive residential area developed from the 1820s. It provided extra capacity to relieve the nearby St Andrew's Churches on Church Road and Waterloo Street. | ||
| St John the Evangelist's Church | Preston Village | Anglican | This very long, stone-built church with a narrow flèche and lancet windows was designed by Arthur Blomfield in 1902 and built by the Crawley-based James Longley & Company. The stone building, faced with rock, has a chancel, 5¼-bay nave with aisles, vestry and carved stone reredos. It has been the parish church of Preston Village since 1908. | ||
| St Leonard's Church | Aldrington | Anglican | St Leonard's is the parish church of Aldrington—a medieval village that became depopulated by 1800. Hove's rapid growth during the 19th century reinvigorated the area, and Richard Carpenter rebuilt the ruined church in the medieval style in 1878. The parish joined the district of Hove in 1893. | ||
| St Luke's Church | Queen's Park | Anglican | St Luke's was provided to serve the housing development around Queen's Park, which had been laid out in 1824. The church was designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield between 1881 and 1885 in the Early English revival style in flint with stone dressings. | ||
| St Patrick's Church | Hove | Anglican | Just on the Hove side of the border with Brighton, St Patrick's opened in 1858 and was originally dedicated to St James. Its parish was amalgamated with that of St Andrew's on Waterloo Street before the latter was closed in 1990. Most of the interior has been redeveloped as a night shelter and social centre for homeless and vulnerable people. | ||
| St Philip's Church | Hove | Anglican | John Oldrid Scott built this church as a chapel of ease to St Leonard's Church in 1895. The Decorated Gothic church has multicoloured stone and brickwork, and now has its own parish. | ||
| Church of the Good Shepherd | Mile Oak | Anglican | Architects Clayton, Black and Daviel designed the church, which was finished in 1967 and replaced a 1936 tin building. It was linked to St Nicolas Church in Portslade until it was assigned its own parish in 1994. The distinctive angled roof has six tall windows. | ||
| St Andrew's Church | Moulsecoomb | Anglican | The Moulsecoomb estate developed in the 1920s and 1930s, and this church was provided at the south end in 1934 to replace a temporary building. The roof resembles an upside-down fishing vessel: Saint Andrew was a fisherman. The church is part of the Moulsecoomb Team of churches. | ||
| St Andrew's Church | Portslade | Anglican | Portslade-by-Sea developed south of the old village in the 19th century. St Andrew's Church, built between 1863 and 1864 by Edmund Scott and extended in 1889, is now united with the parish of St Nicolas, but it originally had its own parish. | ||
| St Luke's Church | Prestonville | Anglican | This red-brick church, with a short clock tower topped by a spire which forms a local landmark, was built as the parish church of Prestonville, an area of good-quality 1860s housing, by John Hill in 1875. Nairn and Pevsner dismissed it with one word—"poor"—in their 1965 survey of Sussex buildings. | ||
| St Mary Magdalene's Church | Coldean | Anglican | The 18th-century barn which houses the church is the only remaining pre-20th-century building on the Coldean housing estate. The former farm building was converted into a church in 1955. | ||
| St Matthias Church | Hollingdean | Anglican | The main church in the parish and benefice of St Matthias, which serves a large area of northeast Brighton, St Matthias was built on Ditchling Road in 1907 by Lacy W. Ridge. It is an Early English Gothic Revival red-brick church with a circular tower, short spire and hammerbeam roof. | ||
| Church of the Ascension | Westdene | Anglican | Designed by architect John Wells-Thorpe and built on a sloping site, this brick church opened in 1958 in the middle of Westdene, an estate of mostly 1950s houses. It is part of the parish of All Saints Church, Patcham. | ||
| Holy Cross Church | Aldrington | Anglican | Now part of the Bishop Hannington Memorial Church's parish, this church was originally a mission hall linked to St Philip's Church, and had its own parish for a period from 1932. It opened in 1903 and follows the Conservative Evangelical tradition. | ||
| Holy Cross Church | Woodingdean | Anglican | The green-roofed brick building, completed in 1968, occupies the site of a temporary church dating from 1941. | ||
| St Cuthman's Church | Whitehawk | Anglican | The first St Cuthman's Church on the Whitehawk estate was only six years old when it was destroyed by a Second World War bomb in 1943. Its replacement was built between 1951 and 1952 by John Leopold Denman. | ||
| St Nicholas' Church | Saltdean | Anglican | Dedicated to Saint Nicholas by Bishop of Chichester Roger Plumpton Wilson in 1965 and consecrated in 1970, Edward Maufe's church of greyish stone blocks superseded the Saltdean estate's older temporary church. | ||
| St Richard's Church | The Knoll | Anglican | Andrew Carden designed this grey-brick church for The Knoll housing estate, at the south end of Hangleton and within St Helen's parish, in 1961. It replaced a nearby hall which opened in 1932 and took St Richard's name in 1937. | ||
| St John the Baptist's Church | Kemptown | Roman Catholic | The earliest surviving Roman Catholic church in the city was the fourth Catholic church to be consecrated in England since the Reformation, although many had been built since the passing of the Roman Catholic Relief Act 1791 allowed this to happen. St John the Baptist's is a stuccoed building in the Classical style. It contains Maria Fitzherbert's tomb, and was England's first electrically lit Catholic church. | ||
| St Joseph's Church | Elm Grove | Roman Catholic | In the 1870s, a widow donated £10,000 of bonds to build a church on Elm Grove in memory of her husband and to replace a mission chapel there. It took 27 years to complete and cost £15,000. William Kedo Broder's design of 1880 was reduced in scope after his death the next year: a planned tower and spire were not built. Other architects made additions in 1885, 1901 and 1906, when the church opened in its present form. The tall, mostly Kentish Ragstone church has Bath Stone dressings and a green slate roof. | ||
| Church of the Sacred Heart | Hove | Roman Catholic | Father George Oldham left money in his will to fund a chapel of ease to his church, St Mary Magdalen's. London-based John Crawley designed the first section, but died just before the opening date of 28 September 1881; J.S. Hansom, who took over his architectural practice, extended the church at the western end, and it reopened in 1887. In the early 20th century a Lady chapel and presbytery were added on the north and south sides respectively. | ||
| St Mary's Church | Preston Park | Roman Catholic | In 1903, the Sisters of Charity and Christian Instruction of Nevers established themselves in Withdean, then within the parish of St Joseph's. They acquired land close to Preston Park in 1907, and architect Percy Lamb started work on a new church for the area on 9 August 1910. St Mary's Church celebrated its first service in 1912. The building is of Kentish Ragstone and Bath Stone with a slate roof, and is in the Gothic style. A new sanctuary was added in 1978. The church was listed in June 2015. | ||
| St Mary Magdalen's Church | Montpelier | Roman Catholic | Brighton's second oldest Roman Catholic church was partly opened in 1861 and completed in 1862. Gilbert Blount designed and built the church, which opened formally on 16 August 1864 after he extended the nave. The 13th-century Early English/Decorated Gothic-style building is mostly red-brick with stone dressings, and adjoins a presbytery and parish hall. Services include a weekly Mass in Polish. | ||
| St Peter's Church | Aldrington | Roman Catholic | The present church cost £9,000 and replaced the church hall, which had been used for worship, in 1915. Described by English Heritage as "startling" because of its tall campanile and its basilica-style prominence, the red-brick, slate-roofed church was reportedly designed by architects Claude and John Kelly, a father-and-son partnership. There are many marble interior decorations and fittings. The entrance, with a rose window above, is in the western end, next to the campanile. | ||
| Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Queen of Peace | Rottingdean | Roman Catholic | Built in 1957 by Sussex-born architect Henry Bingham Towner, the church—a modern interpretation of the Sussex style of Gothic architecture, of flint-covered brick with stone dressings—occupies an elevated position on the edge of Rottingdean. A stained glass west window was added in 2000. It was registered in August 1957. | ||
| St George's Church | West Blatchington | Roman Catholic | A hall and the Grenadier Hotel in Hangleton were used for Roman Catholic worship until St George's was built to serve West Blatchington and Hangleton. The 1968 church was originally administered from St Peter's in Aldrington. High-quality interior decoration and stained glass were created by a former priest with art training. The church's registrations for worship and marriages date from April 1969. | ||
| St Patrick's Church | Woodingdean | Roman Catholic | Designed by John Wells-Thorpe and opened in 1959 as an Anglican church, this later became a Roman Catholic church, administered by the Church of Our Lady of Lourdes, Queen of Peace in Rottingdean. It was reregistered for Catholic worship in June 1970. | ||
| St Thomas More Church | Patcham | Roman Catholic | Rapid residential development in Patcham justified the construction of this church in 1963. It was registered in June of that year. A proposed bell tower was proscribed because it might dominate the adjacent Anglican Church of Christ the King; but a timber geodesic dome was allowed, and a large steel cross was erected in 1991. The low, square building incorporates brick, concrete and large areas of glass, including some stained glass. | ||
| Holland Road Baptist Church | Hove | Baptist | In 1887, a group of Christians who met at a gymnasium in Hove received funding to build their own church, which was designed by John Wills of Derby. The pale Purbeck stone western frontage and buttressed tower can be seen from the street, and there is a hammerbeam roof. The capacity of 700 has been augmented by an early 21st-century church hall. | ||
| New Life Christian Church | Aldrington | Baptist | The Cliftonville Congregational Church donated land for a mission hall, which was planned in 1896 and built in 1900 of red brick and terracotta. Hove's first mayor laid the foundation stone. The hall, called Rutland Gospel Hall, was sold in the 1930s to fund the building of the Hounsom Memorial Church, but is now used by Baptists. | ||
| One Church Brighton | Brighton | Baptist | Architect George Baines designed this large, flint-built, Early English revival-style church near London Road railway station, which was built between 1894 and 1895. Many of the brick-faced lancet windows contain stained glass, and the church has a tower and a tall, narrow spire. It joined the Gloucester Place church in 2010 in a partnership called "One Church Brighton". | ||
| One Church Brighton | Brighton | Baptist | George Baines built this chapel in 1904 to replace the Queen Square Baptist Church, which had opened in 1857. The northern tower was cut down after it suffered bomb damage during World War II. It joined the Florence Road church in 2010 in a partnership called "One Church Brighton". | ||
| West Hill Baptist Chapel | West Hill | Baptist | Charles Hewitt designed this red-brick chapel in 1894–96 as the Nathaniel Reformed Episcopal Church. It was registered for marriages in 1898, but was closed and deregistered in 1961. A Strict Baptist community displaced from Church Street in 1965 then acquired it, reregistering it that November and then for marriages in March 1977. It was shared briefly by the Ebenezer Reformed Baptist Church while their premises in Ivory Place were being rebuilt. | ||
| Ebenezer Reformed Baptist Church | Carlton Hill | Baptist | This started in an 1825 Neo-Renaissance building which incorporated a school and dormitory for boarding pupils. This was demolished in 1965 and replaced by C.J. Wood's brick building, registered in April of that year. This was in turn demolished in 2007 and the site was redeveloped with affordable housing which incorporated a church at ground-floor level. | ||
| Portslade Baptist Church | Portslade | Baptist | The church was built on South Street in 1961 to replace a large Gothic chapel of 1891 on Chapel Place, as a result of population movement between the two areas. It was registered in March of that year. | ||
| Brighthelm Church and Community Centre | Brighton | United Reformed Church | This was opened in 1987 in the grounds of the Grade II-listed Hanover Chapel, which was built as an independent chapel in 1825, became the Brighton Presbyterian Church in 1847 and merged with the nearby Union Chapel's Congregational community when the latter closed in 1972. The chapel is still part of the new church complex, which was registered for worship and for marriages in April 1989 and December 1990 respectively. | ||
| Central United Reformed Church | Hove | United Reformed Church | Cliftonville and St Cuthbert's Churches merged in 1980 to form this church. Cliftonville, in central Hove, was built as a Congregational Church in 1867 by Horatio Nelson Goulty. It is a stone building in the Early English Gothic Revival style. St Cuthbert's was a Presbyterian church of 1911 in the Decorated Gothic style with terracotta dressings. The Central United Reformed Church moved into the Cliftonville church premises; the vacant St Cuthbert's Church was demolished in 1984. | ||
| Hounsom Memorial Church | Hangleton | United Reformed Church | Founded in 1938 and opened in 1939 on the Hangleton estate, and financed by the sale of Rutland Gospel Hall, John Leopold Denman's 350-capacity building uses bricks and tiles from nearby Ringmer and has a tower topped by a figure of Saint Christopher. Under its original name of William Allin Hounsom Memorial Congregational Church it was registered for marriages in November 1939. | ||
| Lewes Road United Reformed Church | Brighton | United Reformed Church | This modern building replaced the former Congregational church further north on Lewes Road—an Italian Gothic-style building designed by A. Harford. The new church was registered in September 1996. | ||
| Portslade United Reformed Church | Portslade | United Reformed Church | Portslade's first Congregational church was a tin hall in 1875; services were also held on a barge anchored in nearby Shoreham Harbour. A flint church with red brick dressings was built in 1903, and was superseded by a new brick building with stone facings in 1932. This was built next to the original church, which then became the church hall. | ||
| St Martin's United Reformed Church | Saltdean | United Reformed Church | The adjacent church hall was used for worship from 1949. In 1957 Peter Winton-Lewis designed and built the present St Martin's Church for the Presbyterian community. Under the name St Martin's Presbyterian Church of England, it was registered in July 1957. | ||
| Calvary Evangelical Church | Round Hill | Evangelical | This Early English-style Primitive Methodist chapel, built of yellow brick in 1876, later became the Brighton Railway Mission. It now houses an independent Evangelical congregation and, since 2006, the Brighton and Hove City Mission. | ||
| Christian Arabic Evangelical Church | Aldrington | Evangelical | Situated on Old Shoreham Road, this converted bungalow was the Aldrington Evangelical Free Church from its founding in 1938 until the early 21st century. It has been extended several times. | ||
| New Life Church | Moulsecoomb | Evangelical | The original St George's Hall, a chapel of ease to St Andrew's Church, was built in North Moulsecoomb in May 1930. It later fell out of religious use but continued as a community facility. The hall was rebuilt in 1989 and retained its old name. An Evangelical congregation now uses the building as its place of worship. | ||
| Park Hill Evangelical Church | Queen's Park | Evangelical | Herbert Buckwell built this church in 1894 as a Presbyterian church, St Andrew's. It became the Park Hill Evangelical Church in 1943, being registered for worship in December of that year and for marriages ten months later. | ||
| Southern Cross Evangelical Church | Southern Cross | Evangelical | The present white-painted brick church of 1907 replaced an iron hut of 1890. The 250-capacity building, in the southwestern part of Portslade, took its present name in 1967. | ||
| Hove Methodist Church | Hove | Methodist | Designed and built in 1895 by architect John Wills in a Romanesque Revival style in red brick with white stone facings and dressings, this church features a large rose window in the south face. Below this, a porch with twin pointed roofs and multi-coloured glass is a later addition. The interior fittings still reflect their 19th-century origins. A wooden gallery runs below the hammerbeam roof. | ||
| Stanford Avenue Methodist Church | Preston Park | Methodist | E.J. Hamilton, also responsible for a former Methodist church in Hove and the original Salvation Army citadel in Brighton, built this church in the Early English revival style between 1897 and 1898. The red-brick, stone-faced building has lancet windows and a small spire. | ||
| Dorset Gardens Methodist Church | East Cliff | Methodist | The 2003 building is the third Methodist church to stand on this site. Its forerunners were Brighton's first Methodist church, built in 1808, and a completely rebuilt successor from 1884. The latter was extended in 1929, greatly increasing its capacity, and had an Italianate tower. The new brick, concrete and red tile church cost £1.6 million. It retains its original registration for marriages, which dates from August 1895, and a worship registration from December 1947 when the old chapel was formally recertified. | ||
| Patcham Methodist Church | Patcham | Methodist | A 16th-century barn built of wood and flint was used as a church between 1935 and 1968, when the present church was built on its site. It was registered in February 1969. | ||
| Woodingdean Methodist Church | Woodingdean | Methodist | This church was opened on a main road in the Woodingdean estate in 1953 and was registered in August of that year. Its marriage registration dates from May 1956. In 1986 it was substantially extended. | ||
| Brighton and Hove Hebrew Congregation Synagogue | Hove | Jewish | The Ashkenazi community bought two houses on New Church Road in the 1930s and engaged William Willett to build a synagogue in the grounds in 1955. It was started during Hanukkah in 1958 and consecrated three years later, although it became a registered place of worship in December 1959. The former Middle Street Synagogue is also owned by the congregation. | ||
| Brighton and Hove Reform Synagogue | Hove | Jewish | Part of the Movement for Reform Judaism, this synagogue was founded in 1967 to serve a rapidly growing community. The 400-capacity building was designed by Derek Sharp and was built on land donated by Lord Cohen of Brighton. A :File:B&H Reform Synagogue, Palmeira Avenue, Hove 03.JPG|plaque indicates that the foundation stone was laid on 17 July 1966, or in the Hebrew calendar, 29 Tammuz 5726. It was formally registered for worship in July 1982. | ||
| Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue | Hove | Jewish | The local Progressive Jewish community was founded in 1935, and worshipped in private houses until it acquired and rebuilt a gymnasium on Lansdowne Road in 1937. This was consecrated in 1938, rebuilt in 1949 and given its current name in 1976. Edward Lewis designed the synagogue in the International style. | ||
| Hove Hebrew Congregation Synagogue | Hove | Jewish | Chief Rabbi Joseph Hertz laid the first stone of this synagogue, built between 1929 and 1930 by M.K. Glass in a style reminiscent of the Jugendstil movement, similar to Art Nouveau. It follows the Ashkenazi tradition. | ||
| Al-Madina Mosque | Brighton | Muslim | The city has no purpose-built mosques, but this converted house in Bedford Place, on the Brighton/Hove border, is one of two former houses that now serve as mosques. | ||
| Al-Quds Mosque | Prestonville | Muslim | This mosque is on Dyke Road in Brighton, opposite Brighton Hove & Sussex Sixth Form College. A group of Muslims who were visiting Brighton and Hove in the 1970s donated money to fund an Islamic centre and mosque. The community bought a converted house, formerly a nursery. Under the name Brighton Islamic Centre and Mosque it was registered for worship in February 1983. | ||
| Shahjalal Muslim Cultural Centre | Aldrington | Muslim | Once used by the Foresters Friendly Society, this building on Portland Road has been converted into a mosque and Muslim community centre. When the proposal was announced in September 1998, the council asked for a buzzer system to be used instead of an amplified adhān. They then granted permission in 2005 for extra Friday meetings. | ||
| Emmanuel | Hangleton | Non-denominational | Although described as an evangelical group, the Fellowship is part of the Baptist Union of Great Britain as well as the Evangelical Alliance. Since 1998 it has occupied this steep-roofed church, which opened in 1957 and was associated with the Holland Road Baptist Church.. Oasis became a site of Emmanuel in 2019, with the transfer of the building into their ownership in 2020. Emmanuel have five locations in the city of Brighton and Hove and at Shoreham-by-Sea. Under the name Hangleton Valley Free Church , the church was registered for worship and marriages in July 1958 and April 1962 respectively. | ||
| Emmanuel | New England Quarter | Non-denominational | This is a non-denominational church affiliated with Newfrontiers based at the Clarendon Centre near Brighton railway station. Purchased in 1992, the converted electrical warehouse has housed the congregation since May 1993. Since 2011 it has been part of the Emmanuel network of multi-site church, meeting in five locations around the city and in Shoreham-by-Sea. The building was registered in July 1995. | ||
| Emmanuel | Hove | Non-denominational | Originally known as Clarendon Mission, Thomas Simpson's late-19th-century undenominational mission chapel, in yellow and red brick and with some terracotta dressings and a large porch with columns, was bought by an Evangelical group in 1961. Brighton & Hove Christian Fellowship took on the building in June 1979, changing their name to Clarendon Church. Retaining the building, they moved their services to the Clarendon Centre in the New England Quarter in 1993, changing their name again to Church of Christ the King. Weekly services re-commenced at this venue in September 2013. Since then they have changed their name to Emmanuel and now meet in 5 locations around Brighton & Hove and Shoreham | ||
| Bevendean Community Church | Bevendean | Salvation Army | Army halls in Moulsecoomb and Kemptown were closed in the 1950s and 1960s respectively; but in March 1970 the Salvation Army licensed the former Lower Bevendean Evangelical Free Church as the base for the Brighton Bevendean Corps. | ||
| Brighton Salvation Army Citadel | Round Hill | Salvation Army | E.J. Hamilton's 1883 Congress Hall, in grey brick and terracotta-dressed stone with towers and battlemented parapets, was opened by Catherine Booth, the wife of the Army's founder. Its poor condition led to its demolition in 2000; the 200 members moved to the nearby Preston Barracks until architect David Greenwood's new octagonal citadel was built. The public were encouraged to donate by "buying a brick". | ||
| Hove Salvation Army Citadel | Hove | Salvation Army | The Army have been established in Hove since 1882, at a Hall in Conway Street, near Hove station. The building was founded in 1890 and has a large, mostly blank western face fronting Sackville Road. | ||
| Goldstone Valley Gospel Hall | West Blatchington | Brethren | Edward Avenue, on which this church stands, was developed in the late 1950s. Services are held on Wednesdays and Sundays. When originally registered as a place of worship in August 1967, its name was simply The Room. | ||
| Rudyard Hall | Woodingdean | Brethren | This building on Rudyard Road was registered as a Brethren place of worship in January 1952. | ||
| Bodhisattva Mahayna Buddhist Centre | Hove | Buddhist | A Buddhist group raised money for two years to move their cultural centre and place of worship from Vernon Terrace to the former St Anne's Convent, an early-19th-century Classical/Greek Revival building originally called Wick Lodge. The three-bay convent chapel was converted into worship space for the 25 residents and visitors. A wide altar and Buddha figure sit alongside an original stained glass window of the Virgin and Child. | ||
| Brighton Buddhist Centre | North Laine | Buddhist | This is part of the Triratna Buddhist Community, founded in 1967, which has centres throughout the world. Before moving to this centrally located building, the community was based above a shop in Kemptown, where they became established in 1974. | ||
| Kingdom Hall | Aldrington | Jehovah's Witnesses | This is located on Reynolds Road in the Aldrington area of Hove, on the site of a Kingdom Hall built in 1950 and demolished in 1999. It is used by the Hove and Portslade Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses. The present building retains its original registrations for worship and marriages. | ||
| Kingdom Hall | Woodingdean | Jehovah's Witnesses | The low, brick-built structure with a tiled roof is on Warren Road on the Woodingdean estate. It was registered for worship and marriages in April 1994, replacing a building on Bernard Road which had been used since 1954. It is used by three Brighton-based Congregations of Jehovah's Witnesses: East, Elm Grove and Woodingdean. | ||
| Brighton and Hove National Spiritualist Church | Carlton Hill | Spiritualist | This mid-1960s building is a distinctive, curvaceous design by the architectural firm Overton and Partners. It replaced a chapel on nearby Mighell Street, built in 1878, which had been used by Baptists until the 1920s and Spiritualists thereafter. The new church was registered for worship in May 1965 and for marriages the following month. | ||
| Brotherhood Gate Spiritualist Church | Kemptown | Spiritualist | This church, set behind St James's Street, was originally registered for worship as Brotherhood Gate Associate Church between July 1939 and November 1969, at which point it was reregistered under its new name and was also licensed for marriages. It is associated with the Spiritualists' National Union. | ||
| Brighton Bahá'í Centre | Preston Park | Baháʼí Faith | A house on Stanford Avenue was converted into a place of worship for adherents of the Baháʼí Faith and was registered in 2002. The ground floor of the building has since been reregistered for the same purpose. The centre is used for worship, study groups and education. | ||
| City Coast Church | Portslade | Christian Outreach Centre | The Christian Outreach Centre movement, founded in Australia in 1974, established its first European church at Newtown Road in Hove in 1993. Within 12 months, 350 people were attending services. In November 1999 the church moved to a modern building in Portslade. | ||
| First Church of Christ, Scientist | Montpelier | Christian Scientist | Originally a house, the building is contemporary with other mid-19th-century buildings on Montpelier Road. In 1921 Clayton & Black converted it into a church; it was extended to the south and topped with an intricately carved pediment. | ||
| Oxford Street Chapel | Brighton | Church of Christ | This small, stuccoed chapel in the Renaissance style was built in 1890 by architect Parker Anscombe. It has been used by a Church of Christ congregation since the late 1910s, and was registered for marriages in their name in August 1924. | ||
| St Mary and St Abraam Church | Hove | Coptic Orthodox Church of Alexandria | One of nine Coptic churches in the British Isles, this is based in the former Anglican church of St Thomas the Apostle, declared redundant in 1993. The red-brick church, built by Clayton & Black between 1909 and 1914, is in the Early English style. The Coptic Orthodox Church bought the building, and its leader Pope Shenouda III travelled to Hove for a dedication ceremony on 23 September 1994; it was then registered for worship and marriages ten months later. | ||
| Fountain Centre | Patcham | Elim Pentecostal | The Church of Christ the King, the Anglican parish church of South Patcham, was built in 1958 and declared redundant in 2006. An Elim congregation who had been displaced from their demolished former church in Balfour Road now use it. They joined another congregation whose church in Hanover had been destroyed by fire. | ||
| Church of the Holy Trinity | Carlton Hill | Greek Orthodox | The church opened in 1840 as St John the Evangelist's, an Anglican church for the impoverished Carlton Hill area. It was bought by the Greek Orthodox community after being declared redundant and closed; they registered it in August 1994. An arson attack in July 2010 caused significant damage. | ||
| Shree Swaminarayan Mandir | Southern Cross | Hindu | This was the first Hindu temple south of London when it opened on 18 September 1999 after an elaborate blessing ceremony. Previously, worshippers met in a church hall in Kemptown. The Swaminarayan Sampraday community paid £150,000 for the 19th-century former shop and social club and spent a further £50,000 converting it. Additions include much internal artwork, a flagpole and a kalasha-shaped finial. | ||
| Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints | Hollingdean | Latter-day Saint | The Brighton congregation of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints worship at this church on the Lewes Road. It was registered in August 1993. | ||
| Oratory of St Cuthman and St Wilfrid | Round Hill | Old Roman Catholic Church in Europe | The Annexe Sanctuary, a building associated with The Salvation Army's Brighton Congress Hall at Park Crescent, is used for the celebration of Mass by this Latin-Rite church. It serves the whole of southeast England. | ||
| Brighton Friends Meeting House | The Lanes | Quaker | Brighton's Quaker community sold their former meeting house, used since 1690, and bought land on Ship Street to build a new one. Completed in 1805 and extended in 1850 and 1876, the mostly red-brick building has been described as having "all the hallmarks of nonconformist architecture". | ||
| Galeed Strict Baptist Chapel | North Laine | Strict Baptist | Benjamin Nunn designed this simple Neoclassical chapel in 1868. Its stuccoed south-facing frontage has three evenly-spaced doors and three first-floor windows above them. An inscription below the pediment reads. The original plain interior remains. The church is aligned with the Gospel Standard movement. | ||
| Brighton Unitarian Church | Brighton | Unitarian | One of Brighton-based architect Amon Henry Wilds's first commissions, this stuccoed Greek Revival chapel with a gigantic tetrastyle portico was built in 1820 on land sold by the Prince Regent. Brighton's Unitarian community, formed after a split in the Calvinist community in 1791, have worshipped there ever since. |