SussexEASTBOURNEAllSouls(julianpguffoggCC-BY-SA2.0)1 JulianPGuffogg

All Souls

The Italianate architectural style of All Souls is described as Lombard Byzantine; it is impressive with excellent detail.

Eastbourne, Sussex

Opening times

The church is open on weekdays for a variety of scheduled events. Visits can be arranged at other times by contacting us.

Address

Susans Road
Eastbourne
Sussex
BN21 3TH

All Souls is the only Victorian church in Sussex displaying a free standing Campanile or bell tower. The grade II* listed building was consecrated by the Bishop of Chichester on 6 July 1882. The architects were Parr & Strong of London, the builders James Peerless of Eastbourne. The total cost of building was £18,000 and this was paid for by Lady Victoria Long-Wellesley who took a detailed interest in the project. The land was gifted by the 7th Duke of Devonshire who also provided £1,000 towards the building cost.

The pulpit desk front and mosaics were executed by Farmer & Brindley of London. The stained glass is mostly 1898 by Heaton Butler & Bayne. The original WWI memorial window was destroyed in WWII and was replaced in 1969, the window being designed by Margery May assisted by David Wilson.

A principal feature of the building is the complete architectural interior detail with rounded features being used in much of the furnishings, the fine pitch pews and panelling being examples. There is precise and well detailed stonework in the capitals of the pillars showing foliage and geometrical design matched in pairs. That over the pulpit is the Greek monogram for Christ, sometimes called Constantine’s Cross.

  • Captivating architecture

  • Famous connections

  • Spectacular stained glass

  • Accessible toilets in church

  • Bus stop within 100m

  • Car park at church

  • Level access to the main areas

  • On street parking at church

  • Train station within 250m

  • Walkers & cyclists welcome

  • Services on Sundays at 10.30am and 7pm.

  • Weekly Growth Groups. Youth Club. Children’s Work. Mums and Toddlers Group. Reading Souls. Women’s Book Club. Men’s Friendly Football Sessions.

  • Church of England

  • Wolfson Fabric Repair Grant, £8,000, 2021

  • The grant will help towards structural repairs

  • Gateway Grant, £5,000, 2021

  • The grant will help towards structural repairs

  • Repair Grant, £20,000, 2013

  • Our Repair Grants funded urgent repair work to help keep churches open.

Contact information

Other nearby churches

Christ Church with St Philip

Eastbourne, Sussex

Victorian gothic church, designed by a Benjamin Ferrey, a pupil and biographer of Augustus Pugin.

St Mary & St Peter

Wilmington, Sussex

Wilmington is a Downland village of Saxon origin, the present church was first built around 1200 as a chapel to the adjacent Priory and a feature of the churchyard is the ancient Yew tree, estimated to be 1600 years old, the trunk having a girth of 23ft.