St Cuthbert's Presbyterian Church Brighton

I've spent the last couple of days working hard on the programme for Duo Seraphim (see details here).  I finally got around to taking the camera down today, so here are some pictures.

The church was built in 1889, and sits in the middle of the Brighton crescents next to the old civic centre.  This is in itself an expression of the "establishment" status Presbyterianism occupied in the development of the suburb of Brighton. You can see the billboard advertising tomorrow's concert to the right of the picture above.

Before going indoors, here's an historical view.  The picture reproduces an old photo displayed in the porch of the church, which is itself behind glass.

And here's an historical view of the interior:

Things haven't changed that much in the last century and-a-bit:

The pulpit still has all the joinery spots for the original railing; the finishes on it weren't made elegant when the apse was reordered.  The communion table would be the right length for Anglican purposes, but it's a mildly unwieldy piece of woodwork.  It has cupboards at the back to allow storage of communion vessels and service books.  And, as you can see with the placement of a rostrum right at the centre of the frontmost pews, the apse probably isn't that much used anyway.

As you would expect, there's not a lot of decoration.  Having said that, there's some lovely glass in the windows:

These are the windows in the apse.  The choice of imagery is unusual in my experience of Presbyterian churches.  The subjects here depict St Peter (left), the Good Shepherd (centre) and St John (right).  It is more typical for windows in this position to depict the theological virtues of faith, hope and charity.

Lovelier still are the rose windows in the transepts, which both contain striking Easter imagery.

In the (liturgical) north transept the rose window shows the Jesus's appearance to Mary Magdalene (whose feast is coming up on 22 July).

And here we have a resurrection in the (liturgical) south transept.  These are the most modern things in the building, apart from the sound system!

The organ started life as a Fincham in 1909, but was rebuilt by Hill, Norman & Beard in 1962.  The specification is as follows:

Great		Swell
Leiblich Bourdon Open Diapason Stopped Diapason Dulciana Principal Nason Flute Nazard Fifteenth Piccolo Sifflute Swell Suboctave to Great Swell to Great Swell Octave to Great	16 8 8 8 4 4 2 2/3 2 2 1	Open Diapason Gedeckt Gamba (TC) Viox Celestes Octave Flute Mixture Oboe Sub octave Unison Off Octave Tremulant	8 8 8 8 4 4 III 8
Pedal
Bourdon Leiblich Bourdon Quint Bass Flute Octave Quint Flute	16 16 10 2/3 8 5 1/3 4	Great to Pedal Swell to Pedal Swell Octave to Pedal

The choir pews are a monument to disorder and mildew.  While Presbyterians don't do relics, down by the bass end of the pedal board you will find this memorial to the single-footed organist...







Finally, a taster of the sound.

Adagio from Concerto in a minor [BWV 593] -- A. Vivaldi tr. J.S. Bach