|
St Marks
Church: a life too short
Those of us who were
around before 1989 will remember St Marks Church at
the Carfax end of North Street, but now all that
remains is its spire, tucked into the Royal and Sun
Alliance complex and looking pretty forlorn. The
church, along with the southern end of North Street
and much else, fell victim to the major development
that changed the face of central Horsham in the 1990s,
and its spire was retained as an incongrous political
gesture, while another St Marks, funded by the
insurance company, was built in North Heath Lane. But
to be fair, congregations had been dwindling for some
time, and the fabic was in need of expensive
attention. It had escaped permanent closure some years
earlier, but this time there was to be no reprieve,
and the Church Commissioners declared it redundant in
April 1989. This is its story.
The first appeal for
funds to build the church was issued on 7 May 1839 by
a group of worthies that included Thomas Coppard
(local solicitor and political agent), Rev Jarvis
Kenrick (who later funded the building of the school
next to the church), William Lintott, Pilfold Medwin
and Rev HW Simpson, vicar of St Mary's. Some say that
a need had been identified to house worshippers from
the serving classes and those generally below the
salt, while their betters attended the traditional
venue of St Marys, but whether this is true or not,
money was soon found and the chapel of ease was built
in 1840. The total cost came to about £3,600, and
Coppard generously donated the site and the stone for
building, together with £50. Private subscriptions
accounted for the rest, less £500 in grants from the
Incorporated Church Building Society and the
Chichester Diocesan Society. The site had been
purchased from the Duke of Norfolk for £220, and was
then known as The George Mead.
The architect was C Mozeley, and his
plans incorporated a nave and two side aisles, a
sacrarium (where the altar was), and a small vestry
surmounted by a bell gable projecting on the north
side and containing one bell. Note that at this stage
there was no spire. A leaflet recording the history of
the building considered that the architecture 'was
rather poor Gothic, with fittings of the plainest
description.....in accordance with the fashion of the
period'.
The consecration ceremony took place on
Thursday, 3 June 1841, with Bishop Nicholas of
Chichester officiating. Interestingly, he was
supported by Henry Edward Manning, then Archdeacon of
Chichester, who later converted to the Catholic faith
and as Cardinal Manning became one of its leading
thinkers. By the date of the consecration Rev Simpson
had left Horsham for Bexhill, and his successor, Rev
JF Hodgson was at the ceremony, together with his
predecessor and other local clergy.
As time went by improvements were made
to the fabric, and new features added. A new organ was
installed in 1866, the gift of the then curate-in
charge, Rev FJ Mount, and in 1872 a handsome stone
pulpit was paid for by public subscription in honour
of his ministry, which had ended the previous year. In
1888 Mount went on to become Archdeacon of Chichester.
But Canon AH Bridges, then rector of
Beddington, and originally St Marks' first curate-in
charge (1841-1858) was responsible for the most
significant developments. In 1871, and in honour of
his only daughter Mary, who had been baptized at St
Marks and who had died at the early age of 18, he
almost rebuilt the church, adding a west tower and
spire, new side aisles,
granite columns, a
transept organ chamber and a choir vestry. The only
part of the building left untouched was the small
sacrarium. A wall plaque, in memory of his daughter,
can still be seen inside the base of the spire today.
A new chancel was built in 1888, and
another, later highlight was the introduction of
electric light, whch took place during Rev Milner's
curacy (1913-15); St Marks was the first church in
Horsham to be so illuminated.
But in 1936 a decision was taken to
close the church for public worship, due to an
unacceptable burden of costs coupled with falling
attendances. At the outbreak of World War II the
building was requisitioned by the Ministry of Food for
storage purposes, and this state of affairs lasted
until 1946, when its tenancy expired. At this point
there was much local agitation for the re-opening of
the church, and as a result a Commission of Enquiry
was set up to recommend what future action should be
taken. The commissioners included the Archdeacon of
Chichester, Canon Farebrother (Rural Dean of Horsham)
and Colonel Richard Hurst (of the well known local
family), and after a three day meeting at Horsham in
March 1947, when a number of witnesses were heard,
their report was issued two months later.
The recommendation was indeed for the
church to be re-opened, provided that certain
conditions could be met (such as a minimum life of
seven years' public worship), and the Bishop of
Chichester agreed to the proposal, as long as the
local St Marks Committee, chaired by BH Trelfer, could
in support raise £6,000 by the end of 1947. This
target was duly achieved, and on 26 July 1949, after
much renovation work, the re-opening service was
conducted, exactly 13 years since the last one had
been held. The church bell, which had been silent for
all this time, rang out again, and St Marks was packed
with a congregation of almost 600.
But sadly, congregations of this size
were not to last.
A note on Cardinal
Manning (1808-1892)
Henry Edward
Manning, ecclesiastical statesman, was educated at
Balliol College, Oxford, and after taking up a a post
in the Colonial Office (alongside William Ewart
Gladstone) became first curate and then rector of
Woolavington, with its delightful little church tucked
away in a fold of tne Downs on the Petworth-Chichester
road. In 1840 he was appointed Archdeacon of
Chichester, but in 1851 resigned his post and
converted to Catholicism. In 1865 he was nominated
Archbishop of Westminster. Of an ascetic nature, he
crusaded against drink, was an active philanthropist
and a vigorous preacher, and published many books and
articles.
Webmaster's note:
Readers may be interested to know that much of the
fabric of the building was salvaged during demolition.
HDC took possession of the pink granite columns
mentioned in the article and have used some of them at
the entrances to the Maze in Horsham Park. |
