French Protestant Church, Brighton

In 1548, Dirick Carver, a French-speaking Flemish man from a town near Liège, sought refuge in Brighton from the persecution he was experiencing from the ruling powers of the time in respect of his Calvinist beliefs. The meetings had been attended by many fishermen from both England and France, beginning the tradition of French Christian worship in Brighton. In the 17th and 18th centuries, this was maintained in a Presbyterian chapel in the centre of the town, which was attended by many Francophone worshippers. Calvinists, meanwhile, met secretly in private houses until an official church was formed for the Francophone population in 1858. The first two pastors were French, as were many…

Designed in red-brick Gothic style by the architect W. G. Gibbins, the church has three pairs of lancet windows in the western face, a pointed-arch entrance door and rose window in quatrefoil form in the southern face, a slate roof and a small copper spire on top of a square turret.