St. Nicholas' Church, Brighton

The Domesday Book of 1086 records the presence of a church, valued at £12, in what was then the small fishing village of Bristelmestune. Shortly afterwards, it was granted to the Cluniac priory in nearby Lewes. Although there is no certainty over where this church was located, it is possible that it stood on the site of the present-day St. Nicholas church: although Bristelmestune was located some distance to the south immediately adjacent to the coast, the ground there was marshy and suffered from erosion, and was vulnerable to attacks from invaders. The higher ground of the hill where the present church stands would have been better strategically and defensively, as well as being highly…

In its current form, St. Nicholas church dates from the mid-14th century. A font from that period is preserved within the church. when French raiders landed on the coast and burned the surrounding village (by now known as Brighthelmstone) in its entirety. Only the church, standing some distance inland and above the fire, survived. The church was damaged twice in under two years by severe storms which caused significant destruction and loss of life elsewhere in Brighton, especially in the buildings of the "lower town" by the coast. The Great Storm of 1703, in November of that year, ripped lead from the roof; a subsequent storm, in August 1705, blew off all of the remaining sheets of lead. A…

St Nicholas Church was listed at Grade II* on 13 October 1952. Having been Brighton's parish church for several centuries, St Nicholas Church lost this status in 1873 when the Bishop of Chichester reorganised the entire structure of Brighton's parishes. St Peter's Church had been constructed in 1828 as a chapel of ease associated with St Nicholas Church; in 1873, the two were separated and each allocated their own parish, and St Peter's became Brighton's parish church—perhaps because of its more central location (following the development of the town around it). St Nicholas Church is still widely known as "The Mother Church of Brighton".