page_title: St Michael and All Angels Church, Lowfield Heath
section_title: Architecture
hierarchical_section_title: St Michael and All Angels Church, Lowfield Heath / Architecture
caption_attribution_description: English: Rose window in the west wall of the former parish church of St Michael and All Angels, Lowfield Heath, Crawley, West Sussex, England
context_page_description: St Michael and All Angels Church is a church in Lowfield Heath, a depopulated former village in the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. Built by the Gothic Revival architect William Burges in 1867 to serve the village, it declined in importance as Lowfield Heath was gradually appropriated for the expansion of London Gatwick Airport and of its related development. The last Anglican service was held there in 2004, but the church reopened in 2008 as a Seventh-day Adventist place of worship. The building has Grade II* listed status, which identifies it as a "particularly important building of more than special interest" and of national importance. It is also the only building remaining in the former village from the era before the airport existed: every other structure was demolished, and the church now stands among warehouses, depots and light industrial units.
context_section_description: William Burges adopted a French Gothic style, similar to that popular in the 13th century, for his design for St Michael and All Angels.  The exterior is of small, regular blocks of mostly undressed yellow sandstone quarried from the nearby St Leonard's Forest. Bath Stone is also used sparingly as a dressing material.  The building has a tower at the southwest corner with a shingled timber spire, a narthex at the western end (with a large rose window in the west face), a vestry on the north side and a chancel and nave.  Carved panels surround the rose window, representing the Four Ages of Man.  The roofs of the main body of the church are quite steep, and internally are built of pine in an arch formation with tie-beams and supported by king posts.  Paired columns mounted on corbels support the chancel arch.  Burges was responsible for many of the sculptures and carvings inside the church, and there are some stained glass windows from the 19th and 20th centuries.  The east wall has a pair of lancet windows and a small rose window. The churchyard contains the war graves of two soldiers of World War I and a Royal Air Force officer of World War II.
caption: The rose window in the west wall
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