St John the Evangelist Church, Heron's Ghyll

In 1866, the first Catholic mission in the area started in the house of the poet Coventry Patmore. He became a Catholic in 1862, after the death of his first wife, and allowed Mass to be said in his house a year after remarrying. In 1875, he moved to Hastings and founded St Mary Star of the Sea Church there. In 1879, Henry Fitzalan-Howard, 15th Duke of Norfolk bought the house. He purchased it for his widowed mother, Augusta Fitzalan-Howard, Duchess of Norfolk. In 1880, she was behind the building of a school where Mass could be said and a presbytery. These two buildings are currently to the southwest of the present church. She also paid for St Catherine's Church to be built in…

In 1895, Frederick Walters was commissioned to design the church. On 9 May 1896, the foundation stone was laid. Construction of the church cost £4,000. On 22 September 1897, the church was opened. By 1904, the debt of constructing the church had been fully paid, so on 7 September 1904, the church was consecrated by the Bishop of Southwark, Peter Amigo.