East Grinstead is famous for its wealth of churches of different denominations. These places of worship form part of the town's rich history and beautiful architecture. Stroll through the town and soak up the history.
STARTING from St Mary the Virgin Church on Windmill Lane, head south toward Manning Close and turn left onto London Road. After half a mile Our Lady and St Peter’s Church will be on the right. From here, continue south down London Road, turn left onto King Street and then right onto Christopher Road. Follow along until this becomes De La Warr Road, follow it round to the left and turn right onto Church Street, stopping at St Swithun’s Church, before finishing at the close by Sackville College. From here you can stroll along High Street, admire the buildings and stop for some refreshments in The Bookshop’s coffee shop or CJ’s Coffee Bar.
St Mary the Virgin Anglo-Catholic church is an excellent example of Victorian Gothic style. The foundation stone was laid in 1891. Churchwarden Robert Everest said: “The main thing that catches a visitor’s attention on visiting St Mary’s for the first time is how different it is inside compared with its exterior. The exterior is unremarkable but all the beauty is inside.”
This beauty includes many stained glass windows added at various times during the early 20th Century. Among them are St Richard and St Wilfred – the combined patron saints of Chichester, the Diocese which covers East Grinstead. The magnificent altar with a gilded canopy in the Blessed Sacrament Chapel is a must-see.
Robert said most visitors’ first impression of St Mary’s interior was one of beauty, calm, and a place for quiet spiritual reflection.
Our Lady and St Peter Church, dating from 1898, is a Norman-style Grade II listed Victorian building. One of its attractive features is a baldachin, it is unusual to see such a canopy over an altar. Reverend Steven Purnell described it as ‘twisted liquorice’. Steven said: “The church’s connection to local history is through its founders, the Blount Family who were prominent family of venture capitalists in Sussex and Surrey for generations. They brought the railway system to the South of England and on to France.” The family assisted the Bonaparte monarchy to leave France after the revolution. They commissioned the church for what was then a small number of Roman Catholics in the town.
St Swithun’s, the parish church, is an imposing presence in East Grinstead’s architectural skyline. Simon Carr, tourist information officer said: “The church’s tower is so tall it can be seen from four counties: East and West Sussex as well as Kent and Surrey.”
The church as it stands now was built in 1789 although a church has stood on the site for the best part of a thousand years.
Within the grounds of the church are memorial stones to the East Grinstead martyrs who were burned in the town for not renouncing their Protestant faith in 1556. Simon says this reminder of England’s dark past is one of the main features visitors to the church want to see. In the church yard are iron grave slabs, a reminder of the iron industry which once flourished throughout Sussex.
Near to St Swithun’s Church is Sackville College, a college in name only. Founded in 1609 as an almshouse it has been used for this purpose for 402 years, to this day it provides housing for elderly people.
The carol Good King Wenceslas was written by Reverend Dr John Mason Neale, a former warden of the college, in 1853. The attractive sandstone structure stands out from more traditional flint buildings making this Jacobean edifice very distinctive. The College is open to visitors throughout the summer months.
After seeing the College take a stroll down the High Street to see fine old houses and shops on the south side of the High Street. These timber-framed structures are typical of the Sussex style of hall house built in the 15th and 16th Centuries. Among the most notable are Amherst House from the mid-14th Century, 15th Century Sackville House, Cromwell House which dates from 1599 and Dorset House, built in 1705.
Useful Information
St Mary’s is open to the public all day on Thursday and generally is open most other weekdays during school hours.
St Swithun’s and Our Lady and St Peter are open daily.
Other churches in East Grinstead of interest are Moat United Reformed Church, West Street Baptist Church, St Barnabas and St Luke’s which are both part of the parish of St Swithun. There is also a Church of the Latter Day Saints meeting house on Ship Street and a Kingdom Hall for Jehovah’s Witness. Just outside East Grinstead is Saint Hill, the UK headquarters for the Church of Scientology.
