Stanmer Church

Stanmer Church
The church from the southwest, facing Stanmer Park
50°52′13″N 0°6′7″W / 50.87028°N 0.10194°W / 50.87028; -0.10194Coordinates: 50°52′13″N 0°6′7″W / 50.87028°N 0.10194°W / 50.87028; -0.10194
Denomination	Church of England
History
Dedication	None
Architecture
Status	Church
Functional status	Redundant
Heritage designation	Grade II listed
Designated	2 November 1954
Closed	31 March 2008
Administration
Parish	Stanmer with Falmer
Deanery	Rural Deanery of Brighton
Archdeaconry	Chichester
Diocese	Chichester
Province	Canterbury
Clergy
Vicar(s)	The Rev'd Canon Andrew N. Robinson AKC

Stanmer Church is a former Anglican church in Stanmer village, on the northeastern edge of the English city of Brighton and Hove. The ancient village stands within Stanmer Park, the former private estate of the Earl of Chichester, which the Brighton Corporation (the predecessor of the present city council) acquired for the benefit of Brighton's citizens after the Second World War. The church and a stately home, Stanmer House, stand outside the village but within the park's boundaries. The church, which was declared redundant in 2008, has been listed at Grade II by English Heritage for its architectural and historical importance.

Stanmer's recorded history goes back to 765, when the village and its lands were given to the South Malling monastery in nearby Lewes by the King of Sussex. The village belonged to the Church for several centuries thereafter, being part of the Episcopal See of Canterbury by the time of the Domesday Book. Ownership transferred from the Archbishop of Canterbury to King Henry VIII during the Dissolution of the Monasteries.

A church was built in the Middle Ages; records of it go back to 1232. It stood on open land outside the village. It had no known dedication, little is known about the building, and the only remnants from the era are some yew trees in the churchyard and several memorial tablets and tombstones.