Holy Trinity Church, Brighton

Thomas Read Kemp, born in nearby Lewes in 1782, was heavily involved in Brighton's development in the first decades of the 19th century, until he left the country in 1837 to escape his debts. He became the Member of Parliament for Lewes in 1811, but left both the position and the Church of England in 1816 to found an independent Christian sect in Brighton. He moved to the town in 1819, became a major landowner, magistrate, town official and the developer of the high-class Kemp Town estate which still bears his name. His sect was based at the former St James's Chapel in St James's Street, built between 1810 and 1813. It was intended to serve as a chapel of ease to St Nicholas' Church, but…

The original building of 1817 was in the Doric style and featured a square tower and a portico with four Doric columns. Also at this time, the chancel was built to replace the vestry. Its three round-arched lancet windows are prominent on the eastern façade. The greatest changes, which have given the building its present appearance, took place between 1885 and 1887. Somers Clarke and Micklethwaite redesigned the east-facing exterior in a style incorporating elements of the Perpendicular and Decorated forms of Gothic Revival architecture. They used knapped flint and stone dressings; the south face, with the rounded arches, retains the stucco work from the changes in the 1860s.

Soon after the Diocese of Chichester declared the church redundant, it leased the building to a group who established a museum. Holy Trinity Church was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 2 March 1981.