History notes

The church serving the poor area around Eastern Road was All Souls’, designed in plain classical style by Messrs Mew on the Eastern Road site now occupied by the Miles Court Church Army home. It was the first of several churches to be erected for Revd Henry Wagner, who laid the foundation stone on 29 July 1833, and was consecrated by the Bishop of Chichester on 4 April 1834.

Hemmed in on three sides by houses
It was hemmed in on three sides by houses and had a clock tower over the western entrance; the interior had galleries on three sides supported on thin columns, and nearly all the 1,000 sittings were free.

All Souls’ was enlarged and gothicised in 1858, and again in 1879 by Edmund Scott; it became a parish church in 1883 and had stained glass added by Charles Kempe in 1903 and 1906.  In 1967 the parish was merged with St Mary and St James, and the building was demolished the following January.

A workmen’s library and lecture room
In connection with the church, the Countess de Noailles provided a workmen’s library and lecture room at 43 Essex Street in 1856 with room for 500 to 600 persons.

Text from the Encyclopaedia of Brighton, published 1990

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