Saint Anthony and Saint George

Introduction

The Roman Catholic Church of Saint Anthony and Saint George in Duncton, in the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, was built in 1868 to the design of the architect Gilbert Blount at the expense of Anthony Wright Biddulph of Burton Park, and is listed at Grade II.

History

The foundation stone of the church was laid in 1868, and the building was opened the following year. The church was consecrated by Cardinal Manning, who had been Archdeacon of the Anglican Diocese of Chichester before his reception into the Catholic church in 1851. Gilbert Blount (1818-1876) began his professional training as a civil engineer with Isambard Kingdom Brunel and worked on the construction of the Thames tunnel, nearly losing his life in one of the floods. Detailed drawings survive, entitled 'Church of St Anthony and St George, Burton Park, details of altars' with the date Aug 21st 1868, when it appears they were sent to the stonemasons, Messrs Farmer and Co of Westminster Road.

Architecture and furnishings

The church is built of locally quarried coursed ragstone, Caen stone and freestone dressings, with plain tile roofs with iron cresting. The plan comprises a nave, a south porch, a continuous apsidal chancel with a fleche above the chancel arch, a north aisle and Lady Chapel, with a vestry beyond it to the north. The altar is in Caen stone, carved by Messrs Farmer and Co, and depicts the Lamb of God flanked by Saint Anthony and Saint George. The Lady Chapel altar and reredos, also carved by Messrs Farmer and Co in Caen stone, depict the Presentation of Our Lady, and the Annunciation and Assumption, flanked by St Jerome and Mary Magdalene.

The chancel and adjoining Lady Chapel have Minton polychrome tile floors. The north window in the Lady Chapel is inscribed Mayer and Co, Munich and London. The west end has a band of three quatrefoil lights at lower level, and a four-light west window above a cill band, of plain lights beneath encircled trefoils and a quatrefoil. Beneath the west window is a tiled roofed canopy protecting the bell, and there is a stone gable end cross.

The entrance arch in the south porch has multiple mouldings which die into the responds, and the doors are diagonally boarded with a chamfered frame on the reverse. Above the south porch arch is a niche, empty, with a crocketed canopy and enriched base, and on the gable there is an ornate wrought iron cross. Windows on the south side of the nave are single lancets beneath richly moulded heads with figure head stops; on the north aisle, paired lancets are set back in flush surrounds. The chancel has a tall lancet to each facet, each with a cusped, trefoiled head beneath a hood with moulded bosses, except to the southwest bay which is of two lights.

The fleche has a gabled canopy above a two-bay open arcade, above a splayed base, and it and the chancel and Lady Chapel gable ends are surmounted by ornate wrought iron crosses. The Lady Chapel, which projects beyond the north aisle, has an east window of three cusped lights beneath an encircled cinquefoil. The vestry to the north has an external stack with a pair of octagonal shafts, and its door and window openings have shouldered arches in flush surrounds. The nave has a tall north arcade in four bays, with pointed arches on drum piers which have moulded bases on tall facetted plinths and octagonal caps.

The chancel and chancel arch are enriched with engaged shafts in grey, veined stone, and the arch has stiff leaf capitals and angel corbels on the east face. The piscina and aumbry have moulded arched heads, also with stiff leaf capitals. The nave has a tall arch-braced roof, supported on wall posts on foliate corbels, with moulded purlins and collars and principal rafters, boarded longitudinally; the aisle roof is a simpler version. The chancel roof is in moulded sections, also boarded.

The circulation areas within the nave have black and buff tile flooring. Internal doors are in pine and have chamfered frames, diagonal boarding and ornate door furniture. The vestry has a stone chimneypiece and round-arched cast iron grate; in the corner is the original sink, mounted on a cupboard. The vestry has a pine ceiling and a newel stair also in pine, rising to the upper level.

The gallery at the west end of the nave is of stone with a pierced timber balustrade, and beneath it is an octagonal stone font in C13 manner. The altar rails have twisted timber shafts, a moulded timber rail and metal foliate panels. To the left of the vestry door is a figure of Our Lady, mounted on carved stone corbel. The original bench pews are in place, the front row is open-fronted and arch braced. Within the porch the inner entrance is flanked by stone water stoups.

Parish life

The parish covers over 200 square miles of Sussex countryside and includes three Catholic churches. The parish includes the churches of The Sacred Heart in Petworth, SS Anthony & George in Burton Park, Duncton, and The Divine Motherhood & S Francis of Assisi in Midhurst. Weddings at the parish's churches must be arranged with the Parish Priest, and the Bishop requires at least one year's notice of intention to marry.