St Marks and St Mary’s Hall, Kemptown

St Mary’s Hall

There are several versions of the story of St Mark’s Kemptown, tempting further research, but briefly this is where it coincides with the Elliott family.

In 1820 Thomas Kemp sold land to the Marquess of Bristol who was interested in charity and church building. This led the Marquess to give a plot to the Rev Henry Venn Elliott, Edward’s brother, to build in 1836 St Mary’s Hall, a school for the daughters of poor clergymen. It was intended to build a church St Mark’s close by but for many reasons there was much controversy and the church was only completed in 1849. The cost was shared between the Marquess and Henry. Proof of their charity was that half the 100 pews were free to use which at the time was rare. It was clearly intended for use by the poorer residents. In 1853 Edward became the vicar and remained as such for at least 20 years.

Apparently, there is a memorial stone to Edward in the chancel next to that of the Marquess and a window at the eastern end. In 1873 it became the Parish Church of Kemptown for a while but by 1986 it had become redundant and was finally given to St Mary's Hall as a private Chapel, arts centre and community hall. It appears that the Arts Centre, known as The Spire, is temporarily closed due to storm damage. St Mary's Hall eventually merged with Roedean school but in 2009 it was sold to the Royal Sussex County Hospital to be used as temporary space during its redevelopment.

Research by Anne Smedley (March 2024)

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