THE EARLIEST CHURCH
Folk Legends die hard, and the most persistent is that three early, now ‘lost’ parish es of Lewes (St Peter the Less, Holy Trinity and Holy Sepulchre) were merged and renamed All Saints. This is wrong, for all four can be shown to have had separate contemporary existences.
The church of All Saints is named in a document of 1148 AD. So its history reaches back in Lewes for 850 years. The parish of All Saints is named in c.1250.
Undoubtedly in the fourteenth century mergers did take place, but All Saints had by then been in existence for at least two hundred years. In most early documents it is known as All Hallows, and it has had a chequered career. Rebuilt in the 15th century after the merger, all except the tower was demolished and re-built in 1805-7, and then the whole substantially extended in 1883 in yet another style. Finally, there has been the conversion to its modern use as a Community Arts and Youth Centre.
THE 14TH/15TH CENTURY BUILDING.
In 1323 a diocesan court was held at All Saints, yet by 1337 it was, with other Lewes churches, ‘diminished, impoverished and unserved’. This was in a report by the Patron, the Bishop of Chichester, but was aimed mainly at the Priory of St Pancras, patron of three other churches. The Priory tended to take all the revenue it could from them and put nothing back. The proposals in the report, as such, were not carried through, but over the next hundred years, All Saints absorbed Holy Trinity and Holy Sepulchre, and also the parish of St Nicholas. For many years the Bishop regarded All Saints as his diocesan church in Lewes, a proud distinction in a town that has also been relatively overchurched. The parochial re-arrangement that took place during the 14th century meant that the parishes of the smaller churches were absorbed to make up the enlarged parish. The bishop’s patronage passed into lay hands during the 17th to 19th centuries, but was back in his hands after that, and remains so now.
THE FIRST REBUILDING
After the merger, a new and better church was built, and of this there are several illustrations.
The present tower is seen as it was built, and the rest of the building is well proportioned to the tower. The window at the top of the tower looking east is still there but now looks into the roof space of the 1805-1807 nave, showing that it is the nave that is out of proportion to the tower, not the other way round.
On the south side of the old nave was a two storied porch, with a door facing south. It has been said that the upper room of the porch was used as a school, but while this is likely there is no evidence. The path would then have led directly from the street, up the bank to the porch door.
The present path from the end of Church Twitten could only have been arranged in or after 1735 when the Pelham family gave the land of an old house for its grounds to be thrown into the churchyard. The old Chancel flanked on its north side by a chapel, had a fine contemporary ‘decorated’ east window and a Priest’s door in the south wall.
This gave the Priest access to the chancel without having to enter the nave by the porch. The whole length of the old building, tower nave and chancel was less that the present main hall, and no wider than the space between the wrought iron pillars supporting the balconies.
THE ORIGINAL BELLS
Until recently the tower contained three bells, one made between 1390 and 1418 by Stephen Norton or an un-named successor to his business is one of the earliest bells in Sussex. It is earlier than the tower and may have belonged to the original church, perhaps its only one. The other two must have been obtained progressively after the tower was built. After all Saints was redundant, the three bells were given to Poynings Church, near Brighton.
19th CENTURY RE-BUILDING
At the turn of the 18th/19th centuries, Lewes experienced rapid commercial growth, particularly in All Saints parish, sometimes called the ‘parish of the shopocracy’. The Church was by then said to be in ‘so infirm astate as no longer to admit of divine service being performed in it with safety’.
By Act of Parliament of 1805 the parish was authorised to pull down the old building, although financial prudence decided (happily) to retain the tower. The times were such that the Anglican church then placed great emphasis on preaching and teaching, and less on ritual. As a result the simple, rather severe (dare one say dull?) brick-built nave had only a small proto-chancel, where the stage now is. This was all that was built during 1805-1807, and was consecrated at the end of 1807. It was to the design of Amon Wilds (the elder), a Lewes builder whose work was later dignified by calling him an Architect. Wilds went on, with this partner C.A. Busby to do much of the development of Kemp Town, Brighton. All Saints is his earliest known building still standing, but it is difficult not to agree with “Buildings of England, Sussex” which says it is ‘long but not specially interesting. The arrangement of three galleries supported on cast-iron columns is a style reflected in several later buildings. The Organ and the Choir in that design were placed in the west gallery.
LATER VICTORIAN ADDITIONS
A revival of interest in Anglican ritual, arising from the Tractarian (or ecclesiological) movement of the mid 19th century led to dissatisfaction with the style and the limiting layout of the 1805-7 church. Plans were made to pull down the early 19th Century work, and build a new, enlarged Gothic Revival design. Rightly or wrongly the parishioners would not make (or perhaps pay for) such drastic change. Thrift came to the fore, and only the sanctuary of Amon Wilds’ design was demolished to accommodate the crossing and new chancel. Drawings of the entire proposal exist and one artist’s impression can be seen in the building. The 1881 design, by Bassett Smith and E J Munt, provided for lateral extensions on either side of the Georgian sanctuary for a north Organ Chamber, two vestries on the south side, and a long chancel rising by steps to the high east Altar. Behind the site of the altar (now behind the mirrors in the small hall) a mosaic reredos by Salviati of Milan is still present. The Organ, by William Hill & Son, Lewes organ builders, has been progressively evolved from the simple early 19th century baroque type, through added voices. It has moved from the chancel north chamber by volunteer workers under professional guidance, and re-established at the crossing behind the stage in 1985.