Christ Church, St Leonards-on-Sea

Christ Church
The church from the northeast
50°51′14″N 0°33′33″E / 50.8538°N 0.5593°E / 50.8538; 0.5593
Location	London Road/Silchester Road, St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex TN37 6AY
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	Anglo-Catholic
Website	www.christchurchstleonards.co.uk
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	1860 (original church); 1873 (present church)
Founder(s)	Lady St John
Dedicated	13 May 1875
Consecrated	20 November 1884
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II*
Designated	14 September 1976
Architect(s)	Arthur Blomfield
Style	Early English Gothic Revival
Completed	9 September 1860 (original church); 5 February 1895 (present church, including tower and spire)
Specifications
Capacity	1,000
Other dimensions	Tower height: 119+3⁄4 feet (36.5 m)
Number of spires	1
Spire height	64+1⁄2 feet (19.7 m)
Materials	Sandstone, rock and rubble
Administration
Archdiocese	Lewes and Hastings
Diocese	Diocese of Chichester
Deanery	Hastings
Parish	St Leonards-on-Sea: Christ Church and St Mary Magdalen [sic]
Clergy
Rector	Revd Thomas Crowley

Christ Church is an Anglican church in the town and seaside resort of St Leonards-on-Sea, part of the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. Opened as the town's third Anglican church in 1860 to serve a rapidly developing residential area and to accommodate poor worshippers who could not afford pew rents at the fashionable St Leonard's and St Mary Magdalene's Churches, the original building was superseded by a much larger church built next to it between 1873 and 1875. Prolific ecclesiastical architect Sir Arthur Blomfield's simple Gothic Revival design forms a landmark on one of St Leonards-on-Sea's main roads, continues to serve a large area of the town (including the former parish of the now closed St Mary Magdalene's Church) and maintains a strong Anglo-Catholic tradition. It has been described as Blomfield's "finest achievement in Sussex" and "one of the main centres of Anglo-Catholic worship in Southern England".^[1] The interior fittings are the best of any church in the borough, and the design has been called one of Blomfield's most successful.^[2] St John the Evangelist's Church, founded as a daughter church nearby in 1865, also continues to thrive as a separate parish church. Historic England has listed Christ Church at Grade II* for its architectural and historical importance.