Brighton and Hove – St Agnes
This brick-built mission church in the parish of St Barnabas, Hove is said to have opened in 1903. It is in the Perp style with aisles and a distinctive double west window and cost £3700 and the architect is stated to have been F T Cawthorn (CDG 109 p6). In fact, there is some doubt about both date and architect, though the amount of detail in the report is substantial. The doubt arises because despite the contemporary nature of the report in CDG, H M Pett claimed the design in his RIBA Fellowship application; conceivably this was an alternative design that was unbuilt though this is not stated. The question is still further complicated as A G Humphry handled an application for an ICBS grant between 1910 and 1914 and such evidence of direct involvement in at least some capacity is compelling, since the Society was careful to ensure adherence to the proper procedures. Berys Shipley (p68) without naming a source gives the year of building as 1913, which provides further support to the belief that building work was carried out at this time. A possibility that would allow for the start of building as early as 1903 with further work at the later date is that Humphry completed a church Cawthorn had begun.
In 1963-65 J L Denman and his son made repairs (ICBS), but the church was made redundant in 1977, after which it was a sports hall and then offices and a gym. Since 2017 it has been empty and has been undergoing renovation.
No details of the fittings have survived.
Photograph: Wikimedia.commons.org