St Leonard's Church, St Leonards-on-Sea

St Leonard's Church
St Leonard's Church (viewed from Marina) was rebuilt between 1953 and 1961, and functioned as a parish church until 2018.
50°51′05″N 0°33′05″E / 50.8513°N 0.5514°E / 50.8513; 0.5514
Location	Undercliff, St Leonards-on-Sea, Hastings, East Sussex TN38 0YW
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
History
Founded	8 September 1831
Founder(s)	James Burton
Dedication	Leonard of Noblac
Dedicated	22 May 1834
Consecrated	22 May 1834
Architecture
Functional status	Closed
Heritage designation	Grade II
Designated	25 September 1998
Architect(s)	James Burton (first church); Giles and Adrian Gilbert Scott (present building)
Style	Modern Gothic
Groundbreaking	1831
Completed	1832 (first church); 1961 (present building)
Administration
Province	Canterbury
Diocese	Chichester
Archdeaconry	Lewes and Hastings
Deanery	Rural Deanery of Hastings
Parish	St Leonard, St Leonards-on-Sea

St Leonard's Church is an Anglican church in the St Leonards-on-Sea area of Hastings, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. The main church serving James Burton's high-class mid 19th-century new town of St Leonards-on-Sea was designed by Burton himself just before his death, and it survived for more than a century despite being damaged by the cliff into which it was built; but one night during World War II, the sea-facing building was obliterated by a direct hit from a damaged V-1 "doodlebug" which had crossed the English Channel. The Gilbert Scott brothers' bold replacement church was ready in 1961, and along with a sister church at nearby Bulverhythe served the parish of St Leonards-on-Sea, covered by the Hastings Archdeaconry. Historic England has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.