Our Lady Immaculate & St Michael is a modest building of no great architectural importance. It is unlikely ever to be a candidate for statutory listing but it stands within the Battle Conservation Area and is a building, both for its architectural and historic interest, that contributes positively to the character of the conservation area.
The Church of Our Lady Immaculate & St Michael was built in 1886. The architect is not known. It was thought to have been Bertram, fifth Earl of Ashburnham who founded and paid for the church, but there is a letter to the Bishop of Southwark from Arnold & Co of 60 Carey Street, Lincoln’s Inn, London, 9 January 1886, ‘Herewith is list of tenders and the architect will unless we heard (sic) to the contrary from Lord Ashburnham conclude with the lowest. Kindly notice what a difference between the first and the last!’ It seems likely that Arnold & Co were solicitors. The Presbytery occupies an existing early 19th century double fronted house clad in white painted weatherboard (listed Grade II). It is believed that there was hostility in the town to a catholic church being built, hence the acquisition of an existing house and the erection of the church in the former garden of the house. This theory is born out by the close proximity of the church to the Presbytery. There is simply a narrow pathway leading from Mount Street down the side of the Presbytery to the church.
The church is of modest proportions, of dark red brick in an Italianate cum Romanesque style, somewhat unusual and not obviously having the appearance of a Catholic church. It is hemmed in with cottages adjoining the (ritual) north wall. The west front is gabled and has a central doorway with three windows above, all round arched and with shafts, but also keystones and all set beneath a broad segmental arch rising from rusticated pilasters. The windows are iron framed. The interior is plastered, with a canted ceiling on corbelled trusses. There are no fittings of particular interest. Three stained glass windows in the nave are by Cox & Barnard of Hove.
To locate the cache, you will need to obtain the following information:
The phone number shown: ABCDE FGHJKL
Final cache location: N 50° (F-D)(G-K).(C-E)(A+L)(H-J) E 000° (H-J)(D+G).(J+B)(L-D)(J+A)
Due to the proximity of nearby caches, the final location is a little further away than we would have liked. This cache can be reached without climbing the bank.
Congratulations to
Velosaurus for being first to find.
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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