St Leonard's on Sea, St Leonard, Sussex Genealogy

England Sussex

Parish History
The Anglican parish of St Leonard, Marina, St Leonard's-on-Sea was formed when James Burton, the founder of St Leonards-on-Sea, built a seafront church for the new town in 1837. Five years later, the cliff behind collapsed and crushed the chancel; and in 1944 a freakish direct hit from a V-1 flying bomb, damaged by anti-aircraft fire, brought the whole church down. Giles and Adrian Gilbert Scott's neo-Gothic pale brick and stone design, executed in eight years from 1953, replaced it.

Sussex Parish Churches history of the church St Hastings St Leonard Marina

Sussex Online Parish Clerks (OPC) St Leonard The OPC for Hastings Chris Swarbrooke Web site:Hastings OPC

see also Hastings Places of worship Wikipedia Sussex Parish Churches

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

Church Records
There are no available online parish register name entries for St Leonards on the Sea currently for christenings, marriages and burials.

The FamilySearch Catalogue shows no records for this parish. Write to the Sussex County Archives to obtain a list of record agents who will perform lookup services at the East Sussex County Record Office.

ST LEONARD'S on Sea, a parish and fashionable watering-place, in the union of Hastings, chiefly in the hundred of Baldslow, but having a detached portion (adjoining the town of Winchelsea) in the hundred of Guestling, rape of Hastings, E. division of Sussex, 1½ mile (W.) from Hastings, and 62 (S. E. by S.) from London; containing 768 inhabitants. This was a resort town for the more affluent. The parish church was built by 1833, and ..."is a handsome structure in the early English style, most picturesquely situated on the cliff; it contains 700 sittings, without galleries, 200 of the number being free. The windows are embellished with stained glass, in which the arms of the princess and other contributors are emblazoned; and there are some good monuments, among which is one to Mr. Burton, the founder of the town, with his profile in white marble inserted in a slab of dove marble. Here are places of worship for Independents and Wesleyans". By Act of Parliament, it was designated a parish in 1869. Prior to 1834, many parishioners attended church at Hastings and also at Hollington Parish 1.5-2 miles away--which also see.

Civil Registration
Birth, marriages and deaths were kept by the government, from July 1837 to the present day. The civil registration article tells more about these records. There are several Internet sites with name lists or indexes. A popular site is FreeBMD.

This parish was part of Battle Registration District from 1837.

Certificates may be obtained from

East Sussex County Council

The Register Office Town Hall Grove Road Eastbourne BN21 4UG

Phone: 01323 464780

Fax: 01323 431386

Email:eastbourne.registrar@eastsussex.gov.uk

Probate Records
Records of wills, administrations, inventories, indexes, etc. were filed by the court with jurisdiction over this parish. Go to Sussex Probate Records to find the name of the court having primary jurisdiction. Scroll down in the article to the section Court Jurisdictions by Parish.

Maps and Gazetteers
Maps are a visual look at the locations in England. Gazetteers contain brief summaries about a place.


 * England Jurisdictions 1851
 * Vision of Britain

Websites
Contributor: add any relevant sites that aren't mentioned above.