The Hounsom Memorial Church is a United Reformed place of worship in Hove in the English city of Brighton and Hove. One of six churches of that denomination in the city, it was built in 1938 for the Congregational Church, which became part of the United Reformed Church in 1972. Its name commemorates William Allin Hounsom, a local man and longstanding member of the Congregational church in central Hove, who had wide-ranging business interests and landholdings across Sussex. The red-brick building, one of many local works by Brighton-based architect John Leopold Denman, is embellished with carvings that have been called "quite startling for a Nonconformist church".
History
Hove was a village and parish that developed rapidly as a residential area in the 19th century in response to the growth of neighbouring Brighton. The Union Chapel, founded in the 17th century in Brighton, extended its mission to Hove in 1823, when some members established a Sunday school and temporary place of worship in a building belonging to local resident John Vallance. The congregation grew, and land was bought in 1861 for a permanent church in the rapidly developing Cliftonville area of Hove. Cliftonville Congregational Church was designed by Horatio Nelson Goulty and opened in 1870 as the first Nonconformist church in the town.
The church's local influence grew, and in 1899 it expanded its reach by opening a mission church, Rutland Hall, in the Aldrington area of Hove. A major benefactor of this new place of worship was William Allin Hounsom (1848–1934), a longstanding member of Cliftonville Congregational Church: he raised funds, gave land for the church and donated a house. Described as "a stalwart figure in Congregationalism in Sussex and beyond", Hounsom had also contributed money to the founding of a Congregational chapel at Horsted Keynes in West Sussex. In 1909, he was living at 41 New Church Road in Hove and was recorded as owning much land in the West Sussex parish of Yapton, near Arundel. He also held land in Ashdown Forest in East Sussex. Later in the 20th century he moved to 29 New Church Road, where he died on 28 January 1934. In the meantime, Rutland Hall's fortunes were declining: it was requisitioned for wartime use and most of the male members of the congregation were called up for military service.
During the interwar period, Hove experienced rapid residential development, mostly northwards on to the southern slopes of the South Downs. Before the mid-1920s, the Old Shoreham Road to Shoreham-by-Sea formed the boundary of the urban area; thereafter, housing estates such as Hangleton grew rapidly (especially after it became part of the Borough of Hove in 1928). From the beginning, it was expected to be a large suburb; by 1935, houses covered .
A group called the Sussex Pioneers, associated with the Sussex Congregational Union, was formed in the early 1930s with the aim of finding sites to establish new Congregational and Free churches. Its members included Congregational ministers and church laymen, including Hounsom himself. As a "quickly developing district" where no Nonconformist church had yet been founded, Hangleton was considered ideal, and in 1936 the Sussex Pioneers advised Cliftonville Congregational Church that a new place of worship should be founded there. Both parties started raising funds towards this, as did the Sussex Congregational Union; the Cliftonville Church made the largest contribution by selling Rutland Hall for £2,000. (It continued in religious use—first by Plymouth Brethren until 1947 or later, and by Baptists as the West Hove Community Baptist Church.) The congregation also raised a further £1,000, and £50 was promised annually for three years to pay the minister's stipend.
Several sites in the new suburb were considered, including Applesham Avenue, Hangleton Road and Nevill Avenue. The last named was found to be best, as the building could be set back from the road in a quiet setting, and a plot of land was purchased. Around this time, Rev. Jason S. Wright became the minister of the new church, and two local residents started a Sunday school in their house. They and the minister built up support for the church by visiting people in their houses and publicising it. Attendance at the Sunday school increased, and many people expressed an interest in attending services when the church opened. Some members of Cliftonville Congregational Church also decided to support the new venture by worshipping there when it opened.