TWENTY-THREE years since the closure of St Elisabeth’s, Eastbourne, there are hopes that housing will be built on the site where the church was demolished in 2021.
The church, once described in the Church Times as “a little cathedral of the downs”, was a large building that towered over local housing in a poor parish in the diocese of Chichester (News, 25 February 1938). It was consecrated in 1938 with an endowment from Elisa Watson, of Eastbourne. The construction had fundamental defects, exacerbated by being left roofless by a wartime bomb blast and exposure to sea winds. Grade II listed in 1994, it was closed in 2002.
Its future was complicated by the presence in the crypt of Hans Feibusch’s 23-metre-long mural of John Bunyan’s The Pilgrim’s Progress, commissioned by Bishop George Bell (News, 27 January 1995). With funding from the Church Commissioners, this was removed in February 2020. It is currently in storage. Demolition was funded by the Church Commissioners.
The congregation of St Elisabeth’s worships in the church hall, also Grade II listed. The church’s website describes this building as “a wonderful gift as not only are we a church but a hub for our community. . . We hope to bring a change to our neighbourhood and people’s lives by creating together the sound of heaven on earth.”
Marketing of the demolition site, including the diocesan glebe house, began in 2022. The Commissioners are currently in talks with a developer looking to mixed residential and retail use, encompassing a range of house sizes. The developer submitted a pre-application to the planning authority in September 2024, and is reviewing the response before moving to a formal planning application.
The Commissioners’ 2024 annual report records that 23 disposals of closed church buildings were completed, which included nine longstanding cases where the building had been closed for more than five years. Just over £900,000 in net proceeds from the disposal of nine closed churches and sites was allocated to dioceses to support mission, ministry, and new initiatives.
In 2021, the report of the Archbishops’ Commission on Housing, Church and Community, Coming Home (News, 26 February 2021), concluded that the Church had a “major role” to play in addressing the the nation’s housing needs, “ensuring that our land and resources are used for the blessing of all, and not only seen as potential financial assets for our own benefit”. It encouraged both dioceses and parishes to “become more deeply involved”.