Diameter: 24" Bell 1 of 1
Founded by Thomas II Mears 1826
Dove Bell ID: 65735 Tower ID: 25820 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Cracked: No
Saint Mary, Kemp Town
Diocese of Chichester
Major Parish Church, 610107
http://www.stmaryschurchbrighton.org.uk/This church is on the Heritage at Risk Register (verified 2025-11-06)
View more information about this church on the Heritage at Risk website
Overview
Grid reference: TQ 318 39
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Regular Sunday worship from 10am-11:15am. Morning prayer held at 9:30am on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. The church is open for visitors every day other than Tuesdays and Thursdays (see website for time details). Facilities include toilets (accessible), baby change facilities, a ramped entrance, and the church is guide dog friendly. The church has an organ, a regular choir, and holds live music events. There is also a Sunday school.
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
3-bay aisled nave, west baptistery, transepts, crossing, chancel flanked by lobbies, apsidal sanctuary flanked by apsidal vestry and sacristy, these linked by an ambulatory behind the sanctuary.
Dimensions:
Nave estimated to be 28m (90ft) x 12m (40ft).
Footprint of Church buildings: 1018 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
In 1827 a proprietary chapel was built on the site of the present church. This was a porticoed classical building designed by Amon Henry Wilds, which in 1876, while the chapel was being repaired, suddenly collapsed. The present church was completed in 1878 to the design of William Emerson (1843-1925). Emerson was trained by the architects Habershon and Pite and then went to work for William Burges. In 1866 he was sent out to India to work on the scheme for Bombay Art School. Thereafter, apart from this, his only church in England (his design for Liverpool cathedral was not successful), a few houses in London and a mausoleum in Yorkshire, all his work was done in India where, among other things, he built Allahabad Cathedral, the Arthur Crawford Market, the Takhtsingi Hospital and a Maharaja’s palace. He later received a knighthood for his work in India.
There may be archaeological implications to any development due to the presence of the earlier church and possibly earlier settlement on the site. The SMR should be consulted.
Exterior Description
The church is designed in the Early English style blended with French Gothic, and the building has echoes of the work of William Burges, unsurprising considering the close relationship between the two architects, including the sharing of the same craftsmen. It is complex externally, with quite a crowded, stumpy appearance which would have been offset by the planned tower. Nevertheless, the wealth of detail and power of the design still impress.
In the absence of this vertical feature the least satisfying aspect is unfortunately its main façade to the street, the west. What would have been the tower has been capped off and become externally a continuation of the north aisle, the elaborate west entrance with a tall gablet with diaper terracotta tiles in the head and finial cross backed by the blind west gable of this. This elongated aisle unbalances the composition on this side, the west end of the nave relegated behind it, far from Emerson’s intention.
The entrance itself is framed by a pointed hollow-moulded arch springing from six orders of colonettes with annulets and Corinthian capitals, the bases raised on a plinth. Within the head is a sexfoil window, under this is an arcade of interlocking arches, below which is set a square moulded stone frame, rather incongruous. The façade either side is broken into four stages by string courses, the upper stage of which has a blind arcade of short columns with blind cusped lancets between. This rather grand entrance (to see what the tower might have been like one needs to travel to India) now leads into the north porch, now a modern kitchen, the south porch is the main means of access. The south porch has a smaller footprint and is generally less grand, with a pointed entrance and a spirelet at the junction with the baptistery.
Between these is the broad arc of the baptistery, with pairs of lancets under gablets whose finials connect to the flat moulded parapet above. These are flanked by buttresses of two weatherings which turn into double pilasters from the springing to the parapet. It is all very playful, and here again Burges’s influence on the relatively young Emerson is plain. Rising above the porches and baptistery is the west end of the nave, pierced by a stepped 7-light lancet window, partly cut across by the steeply gabled baptistery roof; the porches also have these miniature gabled roofs.Michael Maine, a former organist of the church.
The low cross gabled aisles are of 3 external bays sandwiched between the porches and the transepts, with 2-light windows in the gables. The transepts have 3-light windows in the outer walls with multifoils in the heads, the apsidal chancel has single lancets with cinquefoils in the heads. The chancel is flanked by an apsidal sacristy with a rose window over the door, and apsidal vestry, with lancets to each face.
Building Fabric and Features
Nave
19th century 3-bay aisled
Baptistery
19th century west
Transept
19th century north and south
Chancel
19th century flanked by lobbies
Sanctuary
19th century apsidal
Vestry
19th century flanks sactuary
Sacristy
19th century flanks sanctuary
Ambulatory (interior)
19th century behind the sanctuary
Building Materials
Brick
19th century red
Sandstone
19th century dressings
Terracotta
19th century ridge tiles
Slate
19th century roof
Interior
Interior Description
While the external views are not so promising, the interior is undeniably magnificent and dramatic, and it is no surprise that this is a popular concert venue. The walls are bare banded brick, now stained in places by water ingress. Entering via the porch at the south-west corner the visitor walks first into the baptistery at the west end of the church, which is a fine space in its own right with encaustic tiled floor and large elaborate font, forming a counterpoint to the chancel at the other end. From here steps lead down into the high, broad nave. By making the floor level of the nave much lower than the ground outside, the architect has been able to increase the height of the great multi-shafted piers, with foliate capitals. These soar up to support the pointed arcades and a timber barrel vault over the nave (nearly 60 feet high), and brick vaults over the chancel crossing and transepts. Broad high pointed crossing and chancel arches worked with a hollow chamfer. The acoustics are said to be excellent.
Several steps lead up again into the lavishly decorated chancel, which has some exceptional fittings, including original choir stalls, clergy stalls and sedilia. The mosaic floor in the chancel, which was probably installed in the early 20th century, is also of the highest quality. The stone altar and reredos are framed and bathed in light by the shafted chancel windows, these mirroring the style of the aisle arcades, the ceiling with a rib-vault. The All Souls Chapel (or Lady Chapel) at the east end of the south aisle has a very fine altar, see below.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
19th century Beautifully sculptured high altar of 1893, dedicated to Mrs Waugh (wife of Canon Waugh, vicar at the time of the church’s consecration).
Reredos
19th century Stone panelled reredos, introduced before 1893.
Pulpit
19th century The pulpit is of Caen stone with three panels depicting "The Temptation", "The Fall of Man" and "The Tree of Life".
Lectern
19th century Brass eagle.
Font (component)
19th century Stone elaborate font, commemorates the son of the vicar who had died in a mountaineering accident in Switzerland in 1869. The column on which it is resting is made from granite from the mountain.
Stained Glass (window)
19th century The church is full of good stained glass, see the 1986 PM report (PM 1349). The glass in the central light and tracery of the north transept window is by Mayer and Co of Munich, with the lights to either side filled by glass made by Annie Goodman in 1987 after the Great Storm blew some of the glass out.
Plaque (component)
19th century Various brass plaques.
Organ (component)
19th century Three manual organ of high quality built by Henry Bevington and Sons in 1878 and enlarged in 1904, and rebuilt in 1965.
Rail
19th century Fine brass altar rail with its lion’s heads made by Hart and Co.
Panel
20th century Memorial panel in oak frame in memory of the fallen in World War I.
Bells
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 318 39
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Sources
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