The Chapel Royal, Brighton and Hove, The City of Brighton and Hove

Description

BRIGHTON

TQ3104SW NORTH STREET
577-1/40/608 (North side)
30/07/92 The Chapel Royal

II*

Proprietary chapel, now Anglican church. Built 1793-95 for the
Rev. Thomas Hudson, Vicar of Brighton, by the architect,
Thomas Saunders. Extensive rebuilding between 1876 and 1896 to
the designs of Arthur Blomfield for, successively, the Revs.
CS Childer, D Harrison, WS Andrews and S Panzer; the builder,
George Lynn and Sons of Brighton. Brick in Flemish bond with
dressings in rubbed brick, terracotta and split flint; flint
insets to upper sections of tower. Hipped roof of slate. The
church's orientation is inverted, the ritual east end located
at the cardinal west end of the nave. In the following
description all directions refer to ritual orientations.
PLAN: nave square in plan, with galleried aisles on 3 sides;
shallow chancel of one bay is as broad as the nave; organ
chamber in north-east corner, vestry to south-west; long
entrance porch at west end with 2 entrances; tower of 2 stages
with high, hipped roof at the northwest corner; elevation to
North Street has a 4-window range, and the return a 5-window
range. The style is Eclectic, being a free combination of
Italian Renaissance, Italian Romanesque and northern Gothic
forms.
EXTERIOR: at the extreme ends of the return or west elevation
can be found one round-arched and subordered entrance, each
set within a steeply pitched Gothic gable. The 3 windows
between, which survive from the original chapel, are round
arched like all ground-floor openings, and linked by a
springing band; below the centre a segmental-arched basement
door with one segmental-arched basement window to either side.
All first-floor windows on both elevations are flat arched,
with continuous sill bands, and set within shallow recesses
topped by a brick dentil cornice. The centre 3 ranges of the
west elevation project by one brick's thickness, and are
topped by a high pediment, which feature Blomfield meant as a
reference to the original elevation; the tympanum of this
pediment has blind arcading; the first-floor windows in this
section are separated from each other by a narrow,
round-arched recess. In the tympanum of the west pediment are
the Royal Arms, carved in stone, a survival of the original,
on which is inscribed the date on which the Prince of Wales
laid the foundation stone: MDCCXCIII (1793). From either side
of the pediment runs an arcaded balustrade which appears again
on the North Street elevation. The bay elevation found in the
centre section of the west elevation repeated on the North
Street elevation, which has no pediment; the balustrade is
interrupted by 4 Gothic socles, each topped by a floriate
cross. The North Street elevation is not parallel to the
street but angles in from the party wall to provide space for
the tower. A stair porch with lean-to roof to the east face of
the tower. In the north face of the tower is an entrance
similar on the west face. Above, the centre section of each
tower face sets back creating corner buttresses; in the west
face of the tower 3 round-arched lights with 2 roundels above,
all gathered together under a round relieving arch; at the top
of each recess an arcaded corbel table, in turn topped by a
band of blind arcading with terracotta cornice. Projecting
from each corner of this cornice is a gargoyle. In each face
of the top stage of the tower is a clock face set in a
terracotta surround; cornice to roof, which has one narrow,
hipped gable to each face; metal pinnacle and cross to peak.
INTERIOR: the plan of the interior is most unusual: 12
octagonal, double-height columns in wood define a square nave,
each elevation of which articulated as a 3-bay arcade,
supporting an entablature with an inscription; the centre bay
of each arcade is wider than those flanking, forming a
tripartite screen. Blomfield may possibly have meant this
arrangement as a reference to the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem.
On the east this screen opens into a shallow chancel, raised
above the floor of the nave: features include a pulpit to the
north and an altar rail, both are made from wood with metal
railings; the altarpiece was completed in October of 1926 and
was executed by local artist, Harry Mileham. Of special note
are the wall paintings in the chancel; these once covered most
of the interior and traces of the original scheme can still be
seen on the ceiling which follows the line of the roof;
evangelists symbols to each facet of the pyramidal ceiling;
the original scheme dates probably to the early 1880s; by 1912
it had so faded that repainting was necessary. The ceiling
over the nave terminates in a square light register with
coloured glass. On the remaining 3 sides of the nave, the
arcades support galleries. The windows are in many places
filled with coloured glass, and there is stained glass to the
ground-floor windows in the north aisle, which area has been
screened off for use as bookshop; these windows were
originally located in the south aisle. At the time of writing,
there are plans to rearrange the interior as a centralised
church, converting the undergalleries into areas for kitchen
and related facilities, and opening up an entrance on North
Street by cutting down one of the north aisle windows.
HISTORICAL NOTE: originally the Chapel Royal presented an
elevation to Prince's Place only and was flanked by late C18
and early C19 buildings. The original elevation was 2 storeys,
with a 5-window range, the wall and cornice stepping up to
form a pediment over the 3 centre window ranges; by the mid
C19 the peak of the pediment was cut back to form a shelf
holding the Royal Arms which survive on this elevation today.
All ground-floor windows and the centre window on the first
floor were round arched; the rest were flat arched. In 1876
Blomfield, working for the Rev. Chilver, appointed perpetual
curate in 1870, refurnished the interior and installed the
3-light wood mullioned windows which are still to be found on
the return to Prince's Place. In 1879, after the Corporation
pulled down a weatherboarded cottage on the corner for the
widening of North Street, Blomfield was asked to provide plans
for the west elevation and a new elevation to North Street;
his first plan was rejected because of the tower. By 1881,
however, local opinion changed, and it was thought that a
tower would provide a much-needed "ornament to the town"; the
Town Council gave the land for the tower and a local
clock-maker provided the works for free. Blomfield's design
was published in "The Builder" for 28 October, 1882. The tower
and North Street elevation were completed first, by the end of
1883, for 1,200 pounds; the Prince's Place elevation was
completed only in 1896. The delay in completion was caused by
lack of funds, especially dire in this case as the only income
after 1870 came from offertories, which were instituted in
1881, and pew rents, which were fast disappearing. A stipend
and endowment were provided by the Ecclesiastical Commission
when the chapel was constituted as a separate parish church in
1896.
The Rev. Thomas Hudson had hoped that the chapel would attract
the Prince of Wales and large congregations to the new chapel
at the same time that it would relieve overcrowding in the
parish Church of St Nicholas, Church Street (qv). Although the
Prince and Princess of Wales did lay the corner stone on 25
November, 1793, and attend the opening service on 3 August,
1795, their attendance was irregular and finally ended after
Hudson delivered a controversial sermon. In the 1803 the
building became a Chapel of Ease. Gladstone went to services
in the Chapel Royal on his numerous visits to Brighton.
Between 1883 and 1885 the young Winston Churchill worshipped
here along with the other children who attended the small
school run by the Misses Thompson.
(Carder T: The Encyclopaedia of Brighton: Lewes: 1990-: 112E;
Webb MJ: The History of the Chapel Royal, Brighton,
1793-1943).

Listing NGR: TQ3114704205

External Links

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The Chapel Royal

A Grade II* Listed Building in Brighton and Hove, The City of Brighton and Hove

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