St Mary Magdalene's Church, St Leonards-on-Sea

By the 12th century, Hastings on the English Channel coast was one of Sussex's largest and most important towns. The famous Battle of 1066 took place nearby; a castle was founded; the town operated its own mint; it was the leader of the Cinque Ports; and seven churches existed within its boundaries. The surrounding manors included Gensing, a large and attractive expanse of land running down from a forested valley on to flat agricultural land and a beach immediately west of the town. As Hastings recovered from an 18th-century slump and started to become fashionable and well patronised again in the early 19th century, speculative development was encouraged. and the resort soon rivalled…

and five-bay aisles.]] St Mary Magdalene's Church is an expensively designed, "archaeologically correct" Decorated Gothic Revival church whose design was exactly in accordance with architectural norms of the mid-19th century. it makes a "handsome composition" within the townscape. The Decorated Gothic Revival design matches the typical style of a 14th-century church. The plan consists of a clerestoried nave with aisles on the north and south sides, a chancel at a lower level, a buttressed four-stage tower with a beacon-style turret, a porch and a vestry on the north side. The aisles have five bays each and are separated from the nave by arcades. The tower rises from the westernmost bay of…

St Mary Magdalene's Church was listed at Grade II by English Heritage on 14 September 1976. As of February 2001, it was one of 521 Grade II listed buildings, and 535 listed buildings of all grades, in the borough of Hastings. 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's are classed at the higher Grade II*, while St Leonard's Anglican parish church, St Leonard's Baptist Church and the Roman Catholic Church of St Thomas of Canterbury and English Martyrs, along with the former St Leonards-on-Sea Congregational Church, are also Grade II-listed. The church is in the Hastings and St Leonards parish of…