Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and English Martyrs, St Leonards-on-Sea

St Leonards-on-Sea was conceived and built as a new town by James Burton, a builder, property developer and speculator. In 1828, he bought a large area of wooded, sloping land (formerly part of the Manor of Gensing) which had a long shoreline facing the English Channel. He spent the next few years laying out a high-class planned community with houses, shops, hotels, markets, an Anglican church and facilities suitable for a fashionable seaside resort. Within a few years, it rivalled its ancient neighbour Hastings in size and popularity. A Roman Catholic place of worship was soon provided in the growing town. Rev. John Jones, the Honorary Chaplain of the Bavarian Embassy in London, received…

There is a great contrast between the austere, minimalist exterior of the Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and English Martyrs and its elaborately decorated interior. Architecturally, Charles Alban Buckler was a medievalist who worked almost exclusively in the Gothic Revival style—particularly Early English Gothic. The walls are of ironstone and Bath Stone with some irregular rock facing. The plan consists of a nave with six bays and vaulted side chapels treated like simple arcades, a chancel with its own side chapels (all with apsidal ends), a porch, sanctuary, narthex and mortuary chapel (a later addition). The building lacks a tower or spire, and the effect from the outside is an…

is in the parish.]] The Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and English Martyrs was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 13 December 2006. As of February 2001, there were 521 Grade II listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings. In an architectural survey of the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton's churches undertaken in 2005 before the church was listed, it was stated that it was "likely to be listable" in the future. It is one of several listed churches in St Leonards-on-Sea: the Anglican churches of Christ Church, St Peter's and St John the Evangelist are classed at the higher Grade II*, while St Leonard's Anglican parish church, St Leonard's…