St Michael and All Angels Church, Lowfield Heath

St Michael and All Angels Church
The church from the north
St Michael and All Angels Church Location within the Borough of Crawley
51°8′45″N 0°10′47″W / 51.14583°N 0.17972°W / 51.14583; -0.17972Coordinates: 51°8′45″N 0°10′47″W / 51.14583°N 0.17972°W / 51.14583; -0.17972
Location	Church Road, Lowfield Heath, Crawley, West Sussex, RH11 0PQ
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Seventh-day Adventist (formerly Anglican)
Website	horleychurch.org
History
Founded	15 July 1867
Dedicated	1 December 1868
Architecture
Heritage designation	Listed building – Grade II*
Architect(s)	William Burges
Style	French Gothic
Years built	1867–1868
Closed	2004 (reopened 2008 as Horley Seventh-day Adventist Church)
Administration
Parish	Crawley (former)
Diocese	Diocese of Chichester (former)
Clergy
Minister(s)	Matthew Herel

St Michael and All Angels Church is a church in Lowfield Heath, a depopulated former village in the Borough of Crawley, a local government district with Borough status in West Sussex, England. Built by the Gothic Revival architect William Burges in 1867 to serve the village, it declined in importance as Lowfield Heath was gradually appropriated for the expansion of London Gatwick Airport and of its related development. The last Anglican service was held there in 2004, but the church reopened in 2008 as a Seventh-day Adventist place of worship. The building has Grade II* listed status, which identifies it as a "particularly important building of more than special interest" and of national importance. It is also the only building remaining in the former village from the era before the airport existed: every other structure was demolished, and the church now stands among warehouses, depots and light industrial units.

The hamlet of Lowfield Heath began to develop on the heath of the same name, 2 miles (3.2 km) north of Crawley, after 1770 when the London to Brighton road was turnpiked. The road ran across the heath on its way to Crawley, and a few farms and houses were built close to it. The heath, which had been common land, was enclosed in 1827 and 1846, encouraging more residential development. Lowfield Heath grew into a small village, with amenities such as a school, public house and post office.

Lowfield Heath village, and the heath itself, straddled the county boundary between Surrey and Sussex, but the village was administratively part of Surrey and for ecclesiastical purposes lay within the Parish of Charlwood. A merchant donated some land in the centre of the village, which had been used to grow damsons, for the construction of a church. Architect William Burges, who had worked on The Great Exhibition in London and St Finbarre's Cathedral in Cork and who later built Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch in Wales, was employed to build a church on the site.