St Andrew the Apostle Church, Worthing

St Andrew the Apostle Church
Church of St Andrew the Apostle
The church from the southeast
50°48′55″N 0°22′39″W / 50.8153°N 0.3774°W / 50.8153; -0.3774
Location	Victoria Road/Clifton Road, Worthing, West Sussex BN11 1XB
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Churchmanship	High church/Anglo-Catholic
Website	www.standrewsworthing.org.uk
History
Status	Parish church
Founded	1882
Founder(s)	George Wedd
Dedication	Andrew the Apostle
Consecrated	1888
Architecture
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	21 May 1976
Architect(s)	Arthur Blomfield
Style	Early English
Groundbreaking	1885
Completed	1886
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Chichester
Archdeaconry	Chichester
Deanery	Rural Deanery of Worthing
Parish	Worthing, St Andrew
Clergy
Priest(s)	Fr John Eldridge

St Andrew the Apostle (in full, the Church of St Andrew the Apostle) is an Anglican church in Worthing, West Sussex, England. Built between 1885 and 1886 in the Early English Gothic style by Sir Arthur Blomfield, "one of the last great Gothic revivalists",^[1] the church was embroiled in controversy as soon as it was founded. During a period of religious unrest in the town, theological tensions within Anglicanism between High church Anglo-Catholics and Low church Anglicans were inflamed by what the latter group saw as the church's "idolatrous" Roman Catholic-style fittings—in particular, a statue of the Virgin Mary which was seized upon by opponents as an example of a reversion to Catholic-style worship in the Church of England. The "Worthing Madonna" dispute^[2] delayed the consecration of the church by several years. English Heritage has listed the building at Grade C for its architectural and historical importance, and the adjacent vestry and vicarage are listed separately at Grade II.