St. Nicholas' Church, Brighton

St Nicholas’ Church stands on a rise where Church Street meets Dyke Road, in the middle of Brighton’s shopping streets. Built in the mid-14th century, it is the third oldest surviving building in Brighton and Hove after St Helen’s in Hangleton and St Peter’s in Preston village. The Domesday Book of 1086 already records a church here, worth twelve pounds, given soon after to Lewes Priory. The present hilltop site was chosen because it was safer from sea erosion and raids than the marshy shore below. The church has a tall west tower, a nave with aisles, and a chancel, with a 12th-century font that has been moved several times. The church survived French raids in 1514 when the rest of Brighthelmstone burned. In 1703 and 1705 violent storms stripped the roof of lead, leaving only a tablet dated 1705 to mark the repairs. As Brighton grew in the late 18th century, galleries were added around the walls to seat more worshippers, making St Nicholas the town’s only Anglican church at the time. A small model inside shows how the interior looked before the major rebuilding of 1853. Inside today the visitor sees a wide nave with aisles twice their original width, a Perpendicular-style east window, and Kempe’s stained glass from the 1880s. The iron pulpit donated by Somers Clarke in 1867 and the 1872 organ remain in use. A stone cross near the font commemorates the Duke of Wellington, whose death funded the rebuilding. The church still holds services and remains a Grade II* listed building, standing high above the busy streets.