When he handed the keys over to Zoe Ashdown of the St Mary in the
Castle Charitable Trust a couple of years ago, the leader of Hastings
Borough Council, Jeremy Birch, said "This is the start of a very
bright, new future for St Mary in the Castle... It gives me great
pleasure to hand over the key to this jewel in our crown."
Last year I interviewed 2 of the 9 trustees, Judy Rogers and Tom
Frosdick, and I have spoken to them both since, and not a few times to
Sean Berkeley too, who has since been appointed manager. At the interview, I discovered that Giles Sutton, the principal of Buckswood
School, had taken over the lease of St Mary in the Castle from the
Council, in the iterim, to help ensure its development as an arts and
cultural centre for Hastings.
The Cupola
His plan allowed time for the Trust to become a charitable body, and
for its consolidation, before passing on the lease, which we are
still awaiting, although I thought it may have happened sooner after
the original interview. Whatever, I said then, and still believe, it's good to see philanthropists still exist in Hastings, though probably not ragged trousered!
Keeping St Mary in the Castle viable had been difficult for many
years. It was named after the original church that Hastings Castle
was built around, and which continued parochial services until the
late 16th century under the auspices of the vicars of St Clement and
All Saints. The church fell into ruin, as did the castle. In 1601
the lordship of Hastings, including authority over the castle, passed
to the Pelham family, which begins my story.
Victorian Pelham Crescent
Basic repairs to the castle began in 1824, being instigated by Thomas
Pelham, the Earl of Chichester, who also commissioned the building of
a new St Mary in the Castle in the centre of a crescent of Regency
houses that is now Pelham Crescent. The architect was Joseph Kay, and
the foundation stone for the church was laid In 1825, with the
structure completed in 1828, although the houses on the western side
remained unbuilt for a few more years. A shopping arcade, the design
influenced by Burlington Arcade in London, was built below the
crescent.
The Cupola and Balcony
The church is of a neo-classical design with a Palladian Portico, and
is set against the cliff, with catacombs and burial vaults beneath.
It has a number of unique and interesting features, for example,
unusual in an Anglican church, is a tank for baptism by immersion,
dating from 1928, which was fed by one of the five springs found
emerging from the cliff-face when the church was built.
The church became parochial in 1884, and was refurbished in 1888-89,
the architect then probably being Henry Ward, who was prolific in
Hastings at the time (in January, I talked about him building the new
town hall in Queens Road). There were repairs to the roof made by
Herbert Murray Jeffery in 1938-39, but over the following 30-40
years, the building became neglected. It ceased use as an Anglican
church in 1970, and was sold to a nonconformist church, which managed
to keep going for 8 years.
The Balcony and Seating
After various failed plans, and whilst the structure again fell into
disrepair, the church was acquired by Hastings Borough Council in
1990, together with 7 Pelham Crescent, where the office is now situated. Supported by Engish Heritage
and Queen Elizabeth the Queen Mother, restoration began and the
building was made structurally sound, the roof was rebuilt, and the
ceiling plasterwork restored.
In 1991, the Friends of St Mary in the Castle (FOSMIC) sought to make
the building a cultural centre for Hastings, FOSMIC becoming a
charity in 1994, and receiving a European Union grant and an award
from the Arts Council lottery fund in 1995. The lease was passed to
FOSMIC the following year. Work was completed in 1998, but they ran
into financial difficulties.
The Restaurant
A number of organisations and people have worked to keep the project
on course. Sonrise Church, South Coat Artists, Barbara Rogers until
recently had run St Mary in the Castle as an 'ethical' small business
for up to three and a half years in total, and the Council itself had
made a few attempts. However, by the end of 2012 the
Council put the lease out to tender and approved the plans submitted
by Giles Sutton, which sought to ensure the continued use of the
building for cultural purposes, and a restaurant was opened on Pelham
Place as well.
The
Trust has ambitious plans which have been supported by Giles Sutton and the Council,
and the future looks exceedingly bright. I have already talked about
the music side of St Mary in the Castle a few times, and I shall be
adding more very soon about this gorgeous 'jewel' in Hastings 'crown', and its
future...
Some of the photographs are my own, and I thank the Trust for the rest.
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
