St Peter's Church, Preston Park

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Preston Drove

Brighton

East Sussex

BN1 6SD

 

About

Painted Treasures in a Wonderful Landscape

This simple square-towered church, built from flint rubble, is 800-years old. It stands in the beautiful landscaped park of Preston Manor.

Now all looks serene but in 1906 the church was damaged by fire and nearly lost its greatest treasures - its 14th-century wall paintings. Today, the paintings stand out in reds and browns against the limewashed walls.

Although fragments, you can pick out the nativity with a bowl-shaped crib and the infant Jesus. Clearer is the violent scene of Thomas Becket’'s murder in Canterbury - you can see William de Tracy plunge his sword into Becket's head and blood dripping from the hand of Becket’'s chaplain.

Sumptuous 20th century restoration brought the church new life after the fire, and today the walls, windows and floors around the altar glow with a gorgeous mix of pattern and colour.

Opening information

Open daily from 11.00am to 3.00pm and sometimes longer in the summer

Admission

Not available

This attraction (St Peter's Church, Preston Park) was last updated by the daytripfinder staff on 2011-05-27 18:26:25 UTC