History of Christ Church Fairwarp- Reconstructing Christ Church

In July 2023, the FADLHS held a talk on Christ Church, our village church,

presented by Fr John Caperon.

The arrival of Frederich Eckstein at Oldlands in 1920 was to become transformative for the

village and the church.  Ennobled as Baron Eckstein of Fairwarp in 1929, but bequeathing that title to his son Bernard on his death in 1930, Eckstein – and the immense wealth deriving from his South African mining and financial interests - was to be behind a complete re-imagining of the small village church built during the late C19th ministry of The Revd J B M Butler.

The Eckstein crest (on the South wall of the crossing) gives a fascinating insight into the outlook and motivation of the Eckstein family.  It has a degree of grandeur – we’d all want that for our family crest! – but most revealing is the motto: ‘In labore credo’.  It can be translated ‘I believe in work’; or ‘as I work I believe’.  Frederich Eckstein’s sarcophagus in the churchyard supports the former, illustrating as it does the back-breaking work of cottonpickers in the Sudan and the equally hard labour of the African miner in a gold or diamond mine.  It seems that the rebuilding of Christ Church was enabled by the hard labour of African workers.

Sir Bernard acted promptly after his father’s death in 1930.  He commissioned a London architectural practice – with no churches to its credit – to design the re-imagined Christ Church, and by 1931 the plans had been agreed by the Chichester Diocese.  Bolted on to the humble Victorian nave would be a massive tower, an extended sanctuary, and transepts containing a chapel (originally a ‘children’s chapel, now a Lady chapel) and vestry.  Work began in 1935, and on Saturday 28^th July 1936 the utterly transformed church was re-consecrated by Bishop Bell of Chichester, on what, said the Sussex Express, was ‘a great day for Fairwarp’.

One main feature of the new church was the disappearance of the East End memorial windows to Alexander Nesbitt of Oldlands.  These – remarkable in their own right – were in effect deliberately hidden from view, positioned oddly in the apse end at an angle to the congregation, and in the South wall.  In a move which entirely changed the look and feel of the little Victorian church, the new East Wall was left blank, windowless.  It’s said that this was in an attempt to echo the look of South Africa’s Pretoria Cathedral; but no evidence has emerged to support this theory.  It’s interesting, though, that two modern English cathedrals, at Guildford and Coventry, both share this feature with Christ Church.

Guildford and Coventry cathedrals: East End

Together with the new tower, which required huge new foundations and massive supporting arches, came a very fine peal of eight Gillett and Johnston bells – said by some to be the finest in Sussex.  The cost of the whole project – financed personally by Sir Bernard – is unknown.  All research has uncovered is a Faculty receipt for £2.00, paid by Sir Bernard for permission to embark on the reconstruction!  Bishop Bell, commending Sir Bernard’s ‘filial piety’ in his sermon at the re-consecration, took pains to remind the congregation that the new church stood not just as a family memorial, but for ‘something greater than earthly buildings’: there is ‘something within us all, he said, ‘ which remains unsatisfied except by God’.

The Gillett and Johnston bells

The ‘white tower’ in its early years

The new tower– the ‘white tower’ - rapidly became a landmark on the Forest,  as it still is today.  The passing years, fortunately, have mellowed the stone from its stark 1936 appearance to its present-day warmth.