Five-Year Plan
The Parish Church of St Andrew & St Cuthman in Steyning is embarking on a two-fold programme to enhance and open up the church for a wider section of the community.
We have been able to employ a Children and Families worker, to help grow our appeal across the age range. We already have close links with our local schools, but we want to build on these and offer parents and children a space for learning, enjoyment and support as well as peace and prayer.
Although our church building has served the people of Steyning and been admired by visitors for centuries, we need to make it easier to access, more inviting, and safer, in tune with 21st century needs. The main proposals are set out in plans and drawings form our architect here.
Our overall vision and aspirations are set out in this leaflet from our Parochial Church Council.
Have Your Say
We have consulted the wider community and local organisations about our building plans. Click here to send us an email if you have any comment or question about these proposals.
Make A Gift
Click here to find out how to make a one-off or regular financial gift to the work of our church, the upkeep of our historic building, or to the Friends of Steyning Church.
‘Let There Be Light!’
Click the above image for a 360-degree view of our new interior lighting, or scroll down for churchyard lighting updates. We are grateful to everyone who helped to raise over £70,000 towards the £140,000 needed to replace obsolete wiring and electrical systems and provide modern, shadow-free, low-energy illumination which is now enhancing our use of our wonderful medieval building, for worship, concerts and events. We also record our grateful thanks for those who have provided grants to improve our outside lighting during 2022.
Lighting Project Updates
Churchyard Path Lighting Update (October 2022)
31 October: Our outside contractors, 1-Neutral completed their work today, restoring the broken electricity supply under the lychgate and commissioning the three new lamp posts between there and the porch, two of which are shown in the above photograph. We will test different lamps in the new lights in coming days. We are grateful to the organisations who have generously funded his project, and to those who nominated this cause for the local Co-Op’s community fund.
26 October: Our contractors for this project, 1-Neutral have been at work since 17 October. The foundations of each for the four lamp posts have now been installed. Today (26 October) the first of the four lamps was installed and connected (see photograph). The footpath lights are controlled by the same sensor as the outside lanterns, fixed to the building. A single timer operates all the outside lights, including the floodlights, which cease to operate around midnight until early morning.
Outside Lighting Update (July 2022, amended 3 August)
Our contractors returned on 29 July to complete the installation of outside floodlighting. Five new low-energy lamps have replaced the outdated sodium lights to provide brighter and cleaner lighting to the south, east and west of our historic church.
3 August: The Diocesan Chancellor has now given formal permission under faculty legislation for the remaining footpath lighting work to proceed, so we are now in a position to order the new lamps and arrange for their installation under the necessary archeological supervision.
Outside Lighting Update (July 2022, amended 3 August)
Our contractors returned on 29 July to complete the installation of outside floodlighting. Five new low-energy lamps have replaced the outdated sodium lights to provide brighter and cleaner lighting to the south, east and west of our historic church.
3 August: The Diocesan Chancellor has now given formal permission under faculty legislation for the remaining footpath lighting work to proceed, so we are now in a position to order the new lamps and arrange for their installation under the necessary archeological supervision.
Outside Lighting Update (23 April 2022)
Our contractors, CES installed two fine new lanterns, one over the main door, and another on the south-east corner of the building. These give additional light to the main footpath, as well for those leaving church after dark.
The lanterns, along with another installed last year on the north-east buttress, are facsimiles of the former antique lantern on that north-east corner. We have been advised that the old lamp is beyond commercial economic repair, although it is hoped that we may be able to get it restored in the future.
All our external lights are integrated with the new circuits, with timers and light sensors, and the old floodlights were replaced.
In April, as well as civil planning permission (obtained in February; see below), we obtained the broad support for our further churchyard lighting plans from the Diocesan Advisory Committee for the Care of Churches. This was followed by confirmation and the ecclesiastical faculty (permission). As sufficient grant-funding had been obtained, the work was undertaken during 2022.
Planning Update (15 February 2022)
We received planning permission from Horsham District Council to complete the exterior aspects of the CES lighting scheme to backlight the east windows and fit two remaining lanterns, made to the same design as the one on the north-west buttress. We also had secular and ecclesiastical permission to replace the lamps in our floodlights with energy-efficient fittings.
The District Council also granted conservation area permission to progress our separate scheme for churchyard lighting, subject to obtaining permission from the Diocese of Chichester under Faculty Legislation.
Sixth Progress Report (1 July 2021)
The team from our contractors, CES was back in church this week to carry out the final stage of the internal electrical work to the church. The main task was to replace the ancient electric supply to the church tower. This was a good opportunity to tidy-up the former ugly cable-runs over and around our south-west window. The team will also be working to increase the lighting over the richly decorated eastern side of the north-east ambulatory arch. These photos were taken the day before work finished on Friday, 2 July:
Our thanks to Gavin Flowers-Leek for the photographs and captions, and for looking after the CES team in the absence of Jim Lang, who is presently away from Sussex.
Fifth Progress Report (12 March 2021)
Installation is still on schedule, although delivery of some of the equipment is rather slow, writes Jim Lang. It’s all looking very promising. The six pendants are already in place in both aisles (see close up photo below). Also included is a video clip demonstrating the lighting of the steps down from the main (south) door, showing the fitting of miniature recessed lighting. The second short clip shows how the challenge of setting up the lighting for the reredos is progressing.
Sixth Progress Report (21 March 2021)
The engineers are frantically working to ensure the installation is finalised on schedule within the next couple of days, writes Jim Lang. The church will be cleaned and sanitised in readiness to open the church doors for worship on Palm Sunday, applying the Covid-19 regulations.
Please visit the church from the beginning of April and see our church in another ‘LIGHT’.
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Ladies, this picture will gladden your hearts, it shows one of the engineers in action with his feather duster cleaning down one of those areas in the church that’s JUST OUT OF REACH’.
A photograph (left) of one of the new pendants, with bird’s-eye view (below). The fittings still have to be assembled. Do you like the bronze colour?
Interim progress report (2 March 2021)
Contractor CES and the church team meet and work together to resolve issues; in this case the positioning of the lights to get the best result for one of the Ten Commandments arcades.
Fourth Progress Report (27 February 2021)
We are now coming into our seventh week of 12 and are still on schedule and inside the plan writes Jim Lang. Since we started recording these bi-weekly reports of the installation progress, the emphasis has been on lighting the main body of the church.
This week we are looking at one of a number of the areas that need lifting out of the shadows, namely lighting the 13 reredos arcades on the east wall. Meeting this challenge requires tailor-made units to allow for light adjustment, and concealment of cables mounted in a module that blends with the reredos architecture. Our contractor, CES, is confident that there is a solution.
Below is a photo of the fuse box, please read the caption.
Most of the cabling is now in place and the dimmer controllers (black boxes) to set the different light intensity to create the desired ambience have been installed.
Work has started in the churchyard replacing the old for new cabling in preparation for backlighting the central, St Cuthman and millennium windows at the East end.
Sadly the churchyard path lighting is on hold requiring the necessary administration approval; we are working on it!
Third Progress Report (17 February 2021)
We are on schedule and all is still going to plan writes Jim Lang. A good part of this week was taken up bringing down the chandelier as we are moving it over to the Cuthman chapel. The need for the scaffolding as you will see from the pictures plays a major part in the operation.
A good deal of time is spent with emailing and site meetings, (socially distanced on site rather than by zoom), with the CES project manager, architect and the project team to ensure we are all working in unison. The site engineers are now concentrating on fitting out the main fuse box and routing the cables unseen where possible to connect up with the new lighting and sockets.
Exterior lighting for the churchyard path is a separate project from the internal lighting, and Is presently at the stage of seeking approval from the necessary organisations..
Second Progress Report (29 January 2021)
Already we are into week 3 of 12 with the installation on schedule and going to plan, writes Jim Lang. The church is looking more like a workshop. However, as you will see below they have made a good effort to protect those areas that are vulnerable, by boxing in and covering with thick plastic sheeting. This work is at the early stage and not very exciting visually, but as time goes on that will change.
-Let there be light-
First Progress Report (17 January 2021)
Steyning Parish Church lighting project leader Jim Lang reports: These pictures capture the scene in the church after the first week of the lighting installation work. Looking at all the equipment that the CES team of three needs, you will realise why they need another 11 weeks before completion. Because of the regulations on Covid-19 that prevent anyone coming into the church, over the following weeks we plan to include more pictures and videos to show how the project is progressing and show how your donations are being spent.
Churchyard Lighting
External lighting, including that to churchyard paths, was carried out during 2022. This work is additional to the £140 thousand target for lighting and electrical work to the church building, referred to above, and was supported by grants from the Co-Op Local Community Fund, the Steyning Society, the Wilson Memorial Trust, and the Benefact (formerly Allchurches) Trust, as well as our own small churchyard trust. This project received the green light from both Horsham District Council and our Diocesan Advisory Committee. Please see above for updates.