page_title: Holy Trinity Church, Hove
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Holy Trinity Church, Hove / History
caption_attribution_description: English: Former parish church of the Holy Trinity, Blatchington Road, Hove, Sussex, England, seen from the west from Goldstone Villas
context_page_description: Holy Trinity Church is a former Anglican church in Hove, in the English city of Brighton and Hove. Built in the early 1860s to provide extra capacity for Anglican worshippers in the rapidly growing town of Hove, its use declined in the 20th century and it was closed in 2007 following a Diocesan review. Until 2015—when a planning application to convert the building into a doctors surgery was approved—its future was uncertain, and a heritage group has described it as one of Britain's top ten threatened Victorian and Edwardian buildings. The church has Grade II listed status, reflecting its architectural and historic importance.
context_section_description: Hove expanded rapidly in the second half of the 19th century, and the Cliftonville estate—developed from 1852—was one of its earliest areas of growth.  It was situated directly east of the old centre of Hove village on high-quality agricultural land which had been used to grow food for the nearby Brunswick estate. The land was bought by four businessmen from Brighton and was developed with nearly 300 houses, in various architectural styles, in the next nine years.
  St Andrew's, the old parish church of Hove, was close to the newly developed streets, but its capacity was often reached at services.  Rev. John Fraser Taylor, a curate at St Andrew's, started planning a new church in 1861; a site was found and bought for £250 (equivalent to £23.5 thousand in 2020) on Eaton Road (now Blatchington Road).  James Woodman, a local architect, was responsible for the design, and a builder named Cane constructed it.  This took 14 months and cost a further £9,000 (£891 thousand in 2020).  The Bishop of Chichester, Ashurst Gilbert—who laid the foundation stone on 7 April 1863—consecrated the church on 15 June 1864.  At that time, it consisted of chancel, nave, side chapels and a south aisle; its tall tower on the south side was added in 1866.  A spire was never added, although one had been planned.  In 1868, an aisle was built on the north side at a cost of £1,200 (£109 thousand in 2020).
  In 1912, the church was given an open-air pulpit.  This rare feature, usually associated with churches with an evangelical tradition, was unique in Brighton and Hove.  Later additions included rooms under the wooden gallery in 1949, a vicarage in 1952 and a church hall in 1953.
  At first, Holy Trinity Church operated as a chapel of ease to St Andrew's Church.  After All Saints Church was built in 1892 and gained the status of parish church, Holy Trinity became part of its parish.  This arrangement continued after the church was threatened with closure in the 1920s because of falling attendances, although it was allocated its own district.
  The Diocese of Chichester carried out a review of Anglican churches in the city of Brighton and Hove between 2002 and 2003.  Its report, published in June 2003, recommended that Holy Trinity Church should close.  It was said to have "no future" within the proposed Central Hove Collaborative Ministry, whose area would incorporate six places of worship in Hove.  It was stated that the nearby Holy Cross church offered a similar type and tradition of worship, and no other church communities in the city were found to be suitable for church planting (i.e. moving one congregation and community wholesale into another building).  The Diocese of Chichester declared the church redundant on 1 September 2008, meaning it was no longer open for regular public worship.
caption: The west end of the church
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