Saint Richard of Chichester

Introduction

Saint Richard of Chichester in Slindon, within the Diocese of Arundel and Brighton, was built in 1865 to a design by C A Buckler and endowed by the Countess of Newburgh. The church is in Gothic style, built of stone rubble with ashlar dressing and slate roof. The church contains one of only three monuments by Thorwaldsen in England.

History

The Slindon Trust was established in 1863, the foundation stone was laid in September 1864, and the church was completed in November 1865. Public Catholic worship returned to the parish in 1865 when St Richard's church in Slindon was opened.

Architecture and furnishings

The church has a four bay nave, lower two bay chancel, south aisle and north porch. The liturgical west front has a cross-shaped saddlestone, a large arched west window with five trefoil-headed lancets, and an arched west door with recessed colonnettes. The gabled porch has a trefoil-headed arch with a sexfoil stone plaque above with the shield and mitre of St Richard of Chichester. The nave roof has purlins and arched braces, supported on stone corbels.

Original Buckler fittings survive, including a carved stone altar with marble colonnettes in the chancel, a similar altar in the Lady Chapel, an octagonal stone font, a stone pulpit, and original pews. The west window has stained glass by Hardman, dated 1865, depicting the Virgin and Child, St Richard and St Anthony of Padua.

The stained glass window dedicated to the memory of the Countess of Newburgh depicts St Richard of Chichester, St Anne and St Anthony. The church was built after the death of Anne, Countess of Newburgh, by her heirs, the Lesley family from Scotland.

The church is a Grade II listed building, first listed on 20-Apr-2005. The church has traceried windows with leaded lights divided by buttresses. The liturgical south side has paired lancets with trefoil heads and quatrefoils above. The liturgical north side has windows with three trefoil-headed lancets and two circular lights.

The liturgical east front has an arched window with three trefoil-headed lancets and above a central circular window flanked by trefoils. Saint Richard (b.1197 - d.1253) features with his friend Saint Edmund Rich, Archbishop of Canterbury 1237 to 1240, as one of the figures on the original altar front.

Parish life

The parish runs Alpha, a course to explore the Christian faith, several times a year. Volunteers from the parish provide a cooked breakfast for homeless people in Bognor on Sundays. The Catenians, an association of Catholic laymen, has a local Circle comprising parishioners from around Bognor Regis, Chichester and Midhurst that meets monthly.

The parish has a parish primary school, St Mary's, and with other parishes in the area founded St Philip Howard High School, Barnham. The parish's live simply initiatives include Samara's aid and the Homeless breakfasts.

The parish holds a Tagalog Mass annually for the local Filipino community. Every Easter many people are initiated into the Roman Catholic Church in the parish.