St John the Baptist's Church, Crawley
Encyclopedia
St John the Baptist's Church is an Anglican
church in Crawley
, a town and borough
in West Sussex
, England
. It is the parish church of Crawley, and is the oldest building in the town centre, dating from the 13th century—although many alterations have been made since, and only one wall remains of the ancient building.
and Cuckfield
were the most important places in the north of the county of Sussex
. When Crawley first started to develop as a village in the 13th century, it was in the parish of Slaugham in the Hundred of Buttinghill (hundreds were ancient divisions of land covering several parishes). As the new village was distant from the parish church
at Slaugham (St Mary's
), several miles south, a stone church was built as a chapel of ease
. It is known to have existed before 1267, when it was passed on in a will, and it was still the daughter church of Slaugham in 1291; but by the early 15th century it was referred to as a "free" church and a "permanent chantry
". The parish of Crawley was therefore established separate from Slaugham at some point, probably by the end of the 14th century, and St John the Baptist's was regarded as its parish church by the time chantries were abolished in the 1540s. Crawley was a small, very narrow, split parish, and did not cover the whole of the village of Crawley: the boundary between it and the parish of Ifield—and between the Hundred of Buttinghill and the Hundred of Burbeach, in which Ifield lay—ran up the middle of the High Street. The detached part of Crawley parish consisted of heavily forested land and one farm near Pease Pottage
. The total area of the parish was less than 800 acres (323.7 ha); Ifield parish was six times larger, in contrast.
The first additions to the structure came in the 15th century, when a tall tower was added at the western end, the windows in the nave
were enlarged and a rood screen
was installed between the chancel
and the nave
. The nave roof was also rebuilt at this time, and the earliest surviving memorial carvings and stones in the church are also 15th-century.
By the 16th century, Crawley's development into a thriving market village meant that its the parish was much more important than that of Slaugham, and the connection between their two churches was legally severed. At least 150 people regularly attended the church, but its income was modest and priests frequently moved on to richer parishes. The building fell into disrepair in the 17th and 18th centuries, although the four cracked bells in the tower were replaced by London bell-founder Thomas Lester in 1742. Lester cast dozens of bells for Sussex churches, and reused the metal from the old bells in his work at Crawley.
Major changes took place in the 19th century. The tower partially rebuilt and heightened by 1814, although the original stone was reused. Some more work took place in 1845, but the greatest changes happened in 1879 and 1880. A new north aisle was added, a porch was built on the north side, the chancel was completely rebuilt and reordered, an organ chamber
was built, and the bells were replaced by a new ring of eight bells, hung for change ringing
, cast by Gillett, Bland & Company
of Croydon. Nikolaus Pevsner
has criticised the resulting appearance of the church, calling it "dully Victorian
" and noting that its best feature is the unrestored 15th-century nave roof.
The church's location just east of the High Street meant that it was very close to the boundary of Ifield parish. People who lived on or around the west side of the High Street would often attend St John the Baptist's although their parish church was St Margaret's
. One such worshipper was Mark Lemon
, founding editor of the satirical magazine Punch
. Having adopted Crawley as his home town, he lived at Vine Cottage on the west side of the High Street, and regularly attended St John the Baptist's instead of St Margaret's. However, his substantial girth caused him problems: he had to sit in the gallery because there were no pew
s large enough to accommodate him in the nave.
. The chancel roof is tiled, but the rest of the church is roofed with slabs of local stone. The south wall of the nave is original, although it has some 15th-century alterations; the nave ceiling is also from this era, and features wind bracing and tie beams
. The tower, rebuilt in the 19th century, is in three stages and features mediaeval carvings. The pulpit
is 17th-century; the altar rails
are from that century or early in the 18th. There is some stained glass
in the 19th-century north aisle and the east end of the chancel. The oldest internal fixture is the marble font
, which is 13th-century.
from its junction with the Horsham Road in Southgate to the edge of the Manor Royal industrial estate at County Oak; the southern perimeter road of Gatwick Airport
—incorporating all the land and buildings in the former village of Lowfield Heath
; some farmland and residential development east of the railway line
at Tinsley Green
; the railway line from Tinsley Green to Southgate Avenue, near Crawley railway station; and the northern part of the Southgate neighbourhood.
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There are five extant churches in the parish. St Peter's in West Green predates the New Town, having been built between 1892 and 1893 to a design by architect W. Hilton Nash. Richard Cook, owner of one of Crawley's main building firms, constructed it. It replaced a chapel of ease
to St Margaret's Church, Ifield
: although West Green was in the parish of Ifield at the time, it was remote from the parish church. Although the Diocese of Chichester
would not pay for a separate church, it accepted St Peter's, which was built with private money, when it was offered. The church later gained its own parish, which was then absorbed by the parish of St John the Baptist. St Elizabeth's in the centre of the Northgate neighbourhood was built in 1965, and like St John the Baptist's follows a "Modern Catholic" style of worship. St Richard's is another modern church serving the Three Bridges
neighbourhood. A fifth church, St Michael and All Angels
, is notionally within the parish but is no longer used for Anglican worship. William Burges
designed and built this yellow sandstone
13th century-style French Gothic
church in 1867 to serve the village of Lowfield Heath
, which was then in the parish of Charlwood
in Surrey
. The establishment and rapid development of Gatwick Airport next to Lowfield Heath swamped the small village, eventually destroying it: all buildings except the church, which was listed at Grade II* in 1948, were demolished to make way for warehouses and extensions to the airport boundary. (The church is approximately 500 feet (152.4 m) from the runway.) The Diocese of Chichester stopped using the church for services in 2004; in March 2008 it allowed a Seventh-day Adventist
congregation to use the building as its place of worship. Horley Seventh-Day Adventist Church was formed as a church plant
in May 2005 and was formally established in January 2008.
on 21 June 1948. It is one of the 12 Grade II* buildings, and 100 listed buildings of all grades, in the Borough of Crawley. There are two services every Sunday, one on Wednesday and one on Friday; a regular Bible study group and prayer group; and a Sunday school
.
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
church in Crawley
Crawley
Crawley is a town and local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. It is south of Charing Cross, north of Brighton and Hove, and northeast of the county town of Chichester, covers an area of and had a population of 99,744 at the time of the 2001 Census.The area has...
, a town and borough
Borough status in the United Kingdom
Borough status in the United Kingdom is granted by royal charter to local government districts in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. The status is purely honorary, and does not give any additional powers to the council or inhabitants of the district...
in West Sussex
West Sussex
West Sussex is a county in the south of England, bordering onto East Sussex , Hampshire and Surrey. The county of Sussex has been divided into East and West since the 12th century, and obtained separate county councils in 1888, but it remained a single ceremonial county until 1974 and the coming...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
. It is the parish church of Crawley, and is the oldest building in the town centre, dating from the 13th century—although many alterations have been made since, and only one wall remains of the ancient building.
History
In the Norman era, SlaughamSlaugham
Slaugham is a village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It is located seven miles to the south of Crawley, on the A23 road to Brighton...
and Cuckfield
Cuckfield
Cuckfield is a large village and civil parish in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England, on the southern slopes of the Weald. It lies south of London, north of Brighton, and east northeast of the county town of Chichester. Nearby towns include Haywards Heath to the southeast and Burgess...
were the most important places in the north of the county of Sussex
Sussex
Sussex , from the Old English Sūþsēaxe , is an historic county in South East England corresponding roughly in area to the ancient Kingdom of Sussex. It is bounded on the north by Surrey, east by Kent, south by the English Channel, and west by Hampshire, and is divided for local government into West...
. When Crawley first started to develop as a village in the 13th century, it was in the parish of Slaugham in the Hundred of Buttinghill (hundreds were ancient divisions of land covering several parishes). As the new village was distant from the parish church
Parish church
A parish church , in Christianity, is the church which acts as the religious centre of a parish, the basic administrative unit of episcopal churches....
at Slaugham (St Mary's
St Mary's Church, Slaugham
St Mary's Church is an Anglican church in the village of Slaugham in Mid Sussex, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex...
), several miles south, a stone church was built as a chapel of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
. It is known to have existed before 1267, when it was passed on in a will, and it was still the daughter church of Slaugham in 1291; but by the early 15th century it was referred to as a "free" church and a "permanent chantry
Chantry
Chantry is the English term for a fund established to pay for a priest to celebrate sung Masses for a specified purpose, generally for the soul of the deceased donor. Chantries were endowed with lands given by donors, the income from which maintained the chantry priest...
". The parish of Crawley was therefore established separate from Slaugham at some point, probably by the end of the 14th century, and St John the Baptist's was regarded as its parish church by the time chantries were abolished in the 1540s. Crawley was a small, very narrow, split parish, and did not cover the whole of the village of Crawley: the boundary between it and the parish of Ifield—and between the Hundred of Buttinghill and the Hundred of Burbeach, in which Ifield lay—ran up the middle of the High Street. The detached part of Crawley parish consisted of heavily forested land and one farm near Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage
Pease Pottage is a small village in the Mid Sussex District of West Sussex, England. It lies on the southern edge of the Crawley built up area, in the civil parish of Slaugham....
. The total area of the parish was less than 800 acres (323.7 ha); Ifield parish was six times larger, in contrast.
The first additions to the structure came in the 15th century, when a tall tower was added at the western end, the windows in the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
were enlarged and a rood screen
Rood screen
The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...
was installed between the chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
and the nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
. The nave roof was also rebuilt at this time, and the earliest surviving memorial carvings and stones in the church are also 15th-century.
By the 16th century, Crawley's development into a thriving market village meant that its the parish was much more important than that of Slaugham, and the connection between their two churches was legally severed. At least 150 people regularly attended the church, but its income was modest and priests frequently moved on to richer parishes. The building fell into disrepair in the 17th and 18th centuries, although the four cracked bells in the tower were replaced by London bell-founder Thomas Lester in 1742. Lester cast dozens of bells for Sussex churches, and reused the metal from the old bells in his work at Crawley.
Major changes took place in the 19th century. The tower partially rebuilt and heightened by 1814, although the original stone was reused. Some more work took place in 1845, but the greatest changes happened in 1879 and 1880. A new north aisle was added, a porch was built on the north side, the chancel was completely rebuilt and reordered, an organ chamber
Organ (music)
The organ , is a keyboard instrument of one or more divisions, each played with its own keyboard operated either with the hands or with the feet. The organ is a relatively old musical instrument in the Western musical tradition, dating from the time of Ctesibius of Alexandria who is credited with...
was built, and the bells were replaced by a new ring of eight bells, hung for change ringing
Change ringing
Change ringing is the art of ringing a set of tuned bells in a series of mathematical patterns called "changes". It differs from many other forms of campanology in that no attempt is made to produce a conventional melody....
, cast by Gillett, Bland & Company
Gillett & Johnston
Gillett and Johnston is a clock and formerly bell manufacturing business in Croydon, England.-History:William Gillett started a clock making business on Union Road in Croydon, England in 1844. Charles Bland became a partner in 1854 and the company became known as Gillet and Bland. In 1877, Arthur...
of Croydon. Nikolaus Pevsner
Nikolaus Pevsner
Sir Nikolaus Bernhard Leon Pevsner, CBE, FBA was a German-born British scholar of history of art and, especially, of history of architecture...
has criticised the resulting appearance of the church, calling it "dully Victorian
Victorian architecture
The term Victorian architecture refers collectively to several architectural styles employed predominantly during the middle and late 19th century. The period that it indicates may slightly overlap the actual reign, 20 June 1837 – 22 January 1901, of Queen Victoria. This represents the British and...
" and noting that its best feature is the unrestored 15th-century nave roof.
The church's location just east of the High Street meant that it was very close to the boundary of Ifield parish. People who lived on or around the west side of the High Street would often attend St John the Baptist's although their parish church was St Margaret's
St Margaret's Church, Ifield
St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in the Ifield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is the ancient parish church of the village of Ifield; the medieval settlement was expanded to form one of the New Town of Crawley's 13 neighbourhoods, and the church's...
. One such worshipper was Mark Lemon
Mark Lemon
Mark Lemon was founding editor of both Punch and The Field.-Biography:Lemon was born in London on the 30 November 1809. He was the son of Martin Lemon, a hop merchant, and Alice Collis. His parents married on 26 December 1808 at St Mary, Marylebone, London...
, founding editor of the satirical magazine Punch
Punch (magazine)
Punch, or the London Charivari was a British weekly magazine of humour and satire established in 1841 by Henry Mayhew and engraver Ebenezer Landells. Historically, it was most influential in the 1840s and 50s, when it helped to coin the term "cartoon" in its modern sense as a humorous illustration...
. Having adopted Crawley as his home town, he lived at Vine Cottage on the west side of the High Street, and regularly attended St John the Baptist's instead of St Margaret's. However, his substantial girth caused him problems: he had to sit in the gallery because there were no pew
Pew
A pew is a long bench seat or enclosed box used for seating members of a congregation or choir in a church, or sometimes in a courtroom.-Overview:Churches were not commonly furnished with permanent pews before the Protestant Reformation...
s large enough to accommodate him in the nave.
Architecture
The church is built of Sussex limestoneLimestone
Limestone is a sedimentary rock composed largely of the minerals calcite and aragonite, which are different crystal forms of calcium carbonate . Many limestones are composed from skeletal fragments of marine organisms such as coral or foraminifera....
. The chancel roof is tiled, but the rest of the church is roofed with slabs of local stone. The south wall of the nave is original, although it has some 15th-century alterations; the nave ceiling is also from this era, and features wind bracing and tie beams
Tie (engineering)
A tie, structural tie, connector, or structural connector is a structural component designed to resist tension. It is the opposite of a strut, which is designed to resist compression. Ties are generally made of galvanized steel...
. The tower, rebuilt in the 19th century, is in three stages and features mediaeval carvings. The pulpit
Pulpit
Pulpit is a speakers' stand in a church. In many Christian churches, there are two speakers' stands at the front of the church. Typically, the one on the left is called the pulpit...
is 17th-century; the altar rails
Altar rails
Altar rails are a set of railings, sometimes ornate and frequently of marble or wood, delimiting the chancel in a church, the part of the sanctuary that contains the altar. A gate at the centre divides the line into two parts. The sanctuary is a figure of heaven, into which entry is not guaranteed...
are from that century or early in the 18th. There is some stained glass
Stained glass
The term stained glass can refer to coloured glass as a material or to works produced from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant buildings...
in the 19th-century north aisle and the east end of the chancel. The oldest internal fixture is the marble font
Baptismal font
A baptismal font is an article of church furniture or a fixture used for the baptism of children and adults.-Aspersion and affusion fonts:...
, which is 13th-century.
The parish
The modern parish covered by the church is much larger than the ancient parish of Crawley. It covers most of the town west and north of the railway line between Gatwick Airport and Crawley railway stations, and up to the boundary of the airport. The present boundary is defined by the A23 London RoadA23 road
The A23 road is a major road in the United Kingdom between London and Brighton, East Sussex. It became an arterial route following the construction of Westminster Bridge in 1750 and the consequent improvement of roads leading to the bridge south of the river by the Turnpike Trusts...
from its junction with the Horsham Road in Southgate to the edge of the Manor Royal industrial estate at County Oak; the southern perimeter road of Gatwick Airport
London Gatwick Airport
Gatwick Airport is located 3.1 miles north of the centre of Crawley, West Sussex, and south of Central London. Previously known as London Gatwick,In 2010, the name changed from London Gatwick Airport to Gatwick Airport...
—incorporating all the land and buildings in the former village of Lowfield Heath
Lowfield Heath
Lowfield Heath is a former village within the boundaries of the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. Situated on the main London to Brighton road approximately south of London and north of Crawley, it was gradually rendered uninhabitable by...
; some farmland and residential development east of the railway line
Brighton Main Line
The Brighton Main Line is a British railway line from London Victoria and London Bridge to Brighton. It is about 50 miles long, and is electrified throughout. Trains are operated by Southern, First Capital Connect, and Gatwick Express, now part of Southern.-Original proposals:There were no fewer...
at Tinsley Green
Tinsley Green, West Sussex
Tinsley Green is an area in the Borough of Crawley, one of seven local government districts in the English county of West Sussex. Originally a hamlet in the parish of Worth, it was absorbed by the New Town of Crawley in the 1940s and became part of the Pound Hill neighbourhood...
; the railway line from Tinsley Green to Southgate Avenue, near Crawley railway station; and the northern part of the Southgate neighbourhood.
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
to St Margaret's Church, Ifield
St Margaret's Church, Ifield
St Margaret's Church is an Anglican church in the Ifield neighbourhood of Crawley, a town and borough in West Sussex, England. It is the ancient parish church of the village of Ifield; the medieval settlement was expanded to form one of the New Town of Crawley's 13 neighbourhoods, and the church's...
: although West Green was in the parish of Ifield at the time, it was remote from the parish church. Although the Diocese of Chichester
Diocese of Chichester
The Diocese of Chichester is a Church of England diocese based in Chichester, covering Sussex. It was created in 1075 to replace the old Diocese of Selsey, which was based at Selsey Abbey from 681. The cathedral is Chichester Cathedral and the bishop is the Bishop of Chichester...
would not pay for a separate church, it accepted St Peter's, which was built with private money, when it was offered. The church later gained its own parish, which was then absorbed by the parish of St John the Baptist. St Elizabeth's in the centre of the Northgate neighbourhood was built in 1965, and like St John the Baptist's follows a "Modern Catholic" style of worship. St Richard's is another modern church serving the Three Bridges
Three Bridges
Three Bridges is a neighbourhood within the town of Crawley, in the county of West Sussex in England.-History:Three Bridges was a tiny hamlet, which first began to grow with the coming of the London and Brighton Railway in 1841...
neighbourhood. A fifth church, St Michael and All Angels
St Michael and All Angels Church, Lowfield Heath
St Michael and All Angels Church is a church in Lowfield Heath, a depopulated former village in the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England...
, is notionally within the parish but is no longer used for Anglican worship. William Burges
William Burges (architect)
William Burges was an English architect and designer. Amongst the greatest of the Victorian art-architects, Burges sought in his work an escape from 19th century industrialisation and a return to the values, architectural and social, of an imagined mediaeval England...
designed and built this yellow sandstone
Sandstone
Sandstone is a sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized minerals or rock grains.Most sandstone is composed of quartz and/or feldspar because these are the most common minerals in the Earth's crust. Like sand, sandstone may be any colour, but the most common colours are tan, brown, yellow,...
13th century-style French Gothic
Gothic Revival architecture
The Gothic Revival is an architectural movement that began in the 1740s in England...
church in 1867 to serve the village of Lowfield Heath
Lowfield Heath
Lowfield Heath is a former village within the boundaries of the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. Situated on the main London to Brighton road approximately south of London and north of Crawley, it was gradually rendered uninhabitable by...
, which was then in the parish of Charlwood
Charlwood
Charlwood is a village and civil parish in the Mole Valley district of Surrey, England. It is immediately northwest of London Gatwick Airport in West Sussex, close west of Horley and north of Crawley. The historic county boundary between Surrey and Sussex ran to the south of Gatwick Airport...
in Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. The establishment and rapid development of Gatwick Airport next to Lowfield Heath swamped the small village, eventually destroying it: all buildings except the church, which was listed at Grade II* in 1948, were demolished to make way for warehouses and extensions to the airport boundary. (The church is approximately 500 feet (152.4 m) from the runway.) The Diocese of Chichester stopped using the church for services in 2004; in March 2008 it allowed a Seventh-day Adventist
Seventh-day Adventist Church
The Seventh-day Adventist Church is a Protestant Christian denomination distinguished by its observance of Saturday, the original seventh day of the Judeo-Christian week, as the Sabbath, and by its emphasis on the imminent second coming of Jesus Christ...
congregation to use the building as its place of worship. Horley Seventh-Day Adventist Church was formed as a church plant
Church planting
Church planting is a process that results in a new Christian church being established. It should be distinguished from church development, where a new service, new worship centre or fresh expression is created that is integrated into an already established congregation...
in May 2005 and was formally established in January 2008.
The church today
St John the Baptist's was listed at Grade II* by English HeritageEnglish Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
on 21 June 1948. It is one of the 12 Grade II* buildings, and 100 listed buildings of all grades, in the Borough of Crawley. There are two services every Sunday, one on Wednesday and one on Friday; a regular Bible study group and prayer group; and a Sunday school
Sunday school
Sunday school is the generic name for many different types of religious education pursued on Sundays by various denominations.-England:The first Sunday school may have been opened in 1751 in St. Mary's Church, Nottingham. Another early start was made by Hannah Ball, a native of High Wycombe in...
.