Our Lady & St Peter

Introduction

Our Lady & St Peter in East Grinstead was built in 1897-8 by F A Walters in a neo-Norman style.

History

The East Grinstead Catholic mission was established in 1879 under the title of SS Edward and Louis, served from Crawley, and instigated by Sir Edward and Lady Blount. The foundation stone was laid on 15 June 1897 and the church was opened on 2 October 1898. Lady Blount died in 1897 while the church was being built. F A Walters, a nationally significant architect known for many Roman Catholic churches, designed the church.

The sanctuary has been reordered and the font moved, but otherwise few alterations have been made. Sir Edward and his wife Gertrude financed the church in the late 1890s. Bishop Bourne (later Cardinal) consecrated the church on 1 August 1899.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of brick faced with painted roughcast, with Bath stone dressings and Westmoreland slate roofs. The plan comprises a nave with a massive tower astride the roof, a north aisle, and transept chapels with apses. The interior has a timber barrel-vaulted ceiling with carved hammerbeams. The sanctuary is dominated by a tall stone baldacchino of Early Christian character.

The open-back pine pews and iron corona light fittings were introduced early in the twentieth century. The church is orientated north-east/south-west, but conventional liturgical orientation is assumed. The west end has a tall gabled front with clasping buttresses and a round-headed central entrance doorway. The square tower is the same width as the nave and of four stages.

The nave has a north arcade of three wide round arches cut through the plain walling with inner arches brought down onto column responds with scalloped cushion capitals. The chancel is raised three steps above the nave and has a timber vaulted ceiling, which is painted. The carved and painted stone side altars in the chapels of Our Lady and St Peter are still in situ. The north east chapel contains stained glass windows presented by the donors, dedicated to St Gertrude and St Edward, made by Hardman and installed in 1899.

Walters's original high altar has been brought forward and its place under the baldacchino taken by an octagonal stone stand for the tabernacle. The font has been moved from the former north west baptistery to the north east chapel and the original font replaced by a simple stone drum. The church has a deep western gallery with a triple-arched front to the nave, with semi-circular stone arches on columns with scalloped capitals. The transept chapels have timber ceilings and arched openings on the east side to small apsidal spaces containing the altars.

The church has a small stair tower on the south face of the main tower which rises to the top of the third stage. The top stage of the tower has nook shafts at each corner. The tower has a plain parapet with simple corbel table and pyramidal slated roof. The nave clerestory has two bays of plain round-headed windows before the transepts which have double transverse pitched slated roofs.

The sanctuary has narrow round headed windows in the plain side walls and also in the eastern apse. The church has seven clerestory windows on each side, set in deep reveals; the windows openings to the transepts are blind. The entrance door leads to a vestibule the full width of the church, formed from several smaller spaces, including a small baptistery on the north side. The church has a north aisle that extends the full length of the nave and is carried across the base of the tower.

The church has a nave roof continued over a chancel with an apsidal-ended sanctuary. On the north side of the sanctuary is a lower range containing the sacristies. The church has a tower with three lower stages having clasping buttresses.

Music and liturgy

The parish maintains a Choir and Music Ministry. The church has a Rosary Group. The church has a Monthly Lunch Club. The church is a Fairtrade church with regular stalls selling Fairtrade labelled products.

Regular events

The parish organises Fairtrade 'Big Brews', a charity quiz, fundraising meals, a Fairtrade Teddy Trail, a Fairtrade spring market and a strawberry tea.

Sacraments and pastoral care

The parish has two trained bereavement supporters who offer support to those who are grieving. The bereavement ministry is supported by the Diocesan Deanery Bereavement Team and can arrange support from outside the Parish. The parish has a Catenian Association circle. The EG Justice and Peace Group, 30 years old, is ecumenical and affiliated to Churches Together in East Grinstead.

Visiting

Power assisted doors and a wheelchair accessible entrance are provided. A closed loop system during Mass is accessible to hearing aids set to the 'T' position. The easiest parking is at Norton House car park, opposite the church, reached from London Road or Moat Road, with a pelican crossing to the church. The parish office and hall are located down the side of the church towards the back.