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I Location

II General Description

The church of St Nicholas stands on a hill overlooking the Old Town of Brighton. It has a W tower, an aisled nave with 5-bay arcades and an aisled chancel flanked by chapels. It is essentially a late 14thc. building, but was largely rebuilt in 1852-54.

V Furnishings

1. Fonts

(i)

Located W of the S doorway. This cylindrical or tub font is carved with the Last Supper (E face), scenes from the life of St Nicholas (N and W faces) and the Baptism of Christ (S face).

The Last Supper shows Christ seated centrally behind a draped table, with three apostles on either side. Christ has a cruciform nimbus; he raises his right hand in blessing over a chalice and places his left hand upon a loaf. Several additional vessels stand upon the table. The apostles wear cowls or hoods and raise one hand in blessing. Most of them have moustaches, and four have beards. Each knits his brows in a scowl.

The scene on the N involves two hooded persons, one seated and the other kneeling, between two columns, which serve as scene dividers. The kneeling figure holds some small object in his outstretched hands, over which the seated figure raises a closed fist. This has been tentatively interpreted as the innkeeper of Myra confessing to St Nicholas the murder of three youths.

The next scene, facing W, shows two figures in a large ship with furled sails, with a standing figure to either side. It is interpreted as St Nicholas rescuing sailors (or pilgrims) from the devil. The devil had prepared oil, which would burn stone walls and, in the guise of a woman, instructed the sailors to take it to Myra and anoint the walls of the church. St Nicholas bade them cast the oil into the sea, thus preventing a catastrophe. In this scene the saint, holding a bishop's crook, stands in the water to the left, while the woman holds on to the ship on the right. A hooded figure in the ship holds up a vessel, probably the oil.

The Baptism of Christ on the S face involves three figures, each standing under a separate arch. Christ, in the centre, without a cross halo, is half immersed in water and raises his right hand in benediction. On the right, St John the Baptist carries a vessel and a napkin; on the left, an angel holds Christ's robes.

There are decorative bands above and below the figural scenes. The upper band is carved with hollow lozenges, or point-to-point sawtooth. The lower band is composed of several different motifs which do not correspond with the figural scenes. Under the centre of the Last Supper it is carved with a foliage scroll or rinceaux. This has a ribbed stem, occasionally bound by rings, sprouting curled and fluted leaves. Under the NE section of the Last Supper and the kneeling figure in the adjacent St Nicholas scene it is carved with a Byzantine blossom motif. This is followed, under the seated figure and half of the ship scene by undulating fluted forms, probably stylised foliage. Under the remainder of the ship scene, the Baptism of Christ and the SE section of the Last Supper is a row of semi-circles filled with half-rosettes with fluted or zig-zag borders.

The basin is lead lined, and there are two repairs to the rim. It appears to be carved from a white stone (Caen?). The tub stands on a series of modern plinths and has a Victorian cover operated by pulley.

Dimensions

VII History

There was a church in Brighton in 1086. A few years later it was granted to the priory of St Pancras at Lewes, a gift confirmed by William de Warenne in c.1093. After the Dissolution the advowson was granted to Thomas Cromwell, then Anne of Cleves, and eventually to the Bishop of Chichester. The rebuilding and restoration of 1852-54 was undertaken by Richard Cromwell Carpenter. In 1873 it ceased to be the parish church of Brighton. The vestry was added to the N of the chancel in 1876, and the clerestorey inserted in 1892.

The font was partly recut in 1745 at the instigation of two churchwardens whose names were cut into the base of the tub, together with the date. That inscription has since been removed. An interior view of 1830 shows the font located in the middle of the nave.

VIII Comments/Opinions

Figural sculpture is unusual in Sussex, and this example displays considerable assurance. Its highly distinctive style is difficult to parallel elsewhere. According to the VCH it is 'obviously of foreign origin'. It is usually dated to the second half of the 12thc. Prior and Gardner suggested that this font was connected to French works (eg: Clermont and St Benoit-sur-Loire), and that the same sculptors may have worked at Barfreston in Kent (Prior and Gardner 203-204). George Zarnecki suggested that it may have been made at Fecamp (where he finds parallels in the tomb of Guillaume de Ros) and shipped across the Channel (GZ index cards). However, parallels with the casket in the choir of La Trinite at Fecamp are limited to the band of Byzantine blossom under the figural scenes. Otherwise the style and technique are quite different. An identification of the stone from which this font is carved may help determine its provenance with greater precision. According to the VCH, it is of Caen stone.

IX Bibliography