St Leonard's Church, St Leonards-on-Sea
St Leonard's Church is an Anglican church in the St Leonards-on-Sea area of Hastings, a town and borough in the English county of East Sussex. The main church serving James Burton's high-class mid 19th-century new town of St Leonards-on-Sea was designed by Burton himself just before his death, and it survived for more than a century despite being damaged by the cliff into which it was built; but one night during World War II, the sea-facing building was obliterated by a direct hit from a damaged V-1 "doodlebug" which had crossed the English Channel. The Gilbert Scott brothers' bold replacement church was ready in 1961, and along with a sister church at nearby Bulverhythe served the parish of St Leonards-on-Sea, covered by the Hastings Archdeaconry. Historic England has listed the building at Grade II for its architectural and historical importance.
St Leonard's Church (viewed from Marina) was rebuilt between 1953 and 1961, and functioned as a parish church until 2018.
The church was set back from the seafront and built into the cliff behind. The present church (pictured) stands in the same position.
The church is built into the cliff behind.
St Ethelburga's Church, now part of the St Leonard's parish, was built in 1929.
St Leonards-on-Sea is a town and seaside resort in the Borough of Hastings in East Sussex, England. It has been part of the borough since the late 19th century and lies to the west of central Hastings. The original part of the settlement was laid out in the early 19th century as a new town: a place of elegant houses designed for the well-off; it also included a central public garden, a hotel, an archery, assembly rooms and a church. Today's St Leonards has extended well beyond that original design, although the original town still exists within it.
The seafront at St Leonards-on-Sea
Warrior Square Station
Marine Court on the sea front
Plaque at 117 Marina commemorating Thomas Carlyle's residency in the summer of 1864, which he wrote of in his Reminiscences (1881)