Dread and Awe: St Elisabeth's Church, Downside

Mrs Catspaw and I have joked off and on for many years that we should write and publish a book of photographs and articles entitled 'Nightmare Church Buildings of the British Isles'. Well, the 'project' was given a new and quite unexpected impetus today on a visit to Eastbourne.

We decided to park by the road at the 'back end' of town and walk to the sea front: but never expected we'd discover this! The sense of horror was so palpable just driving by, that we had to stop and take a look...

The sense of dread is enhanced by the now-derelict state of this once 'iconic' 20th century building. It is, I suppose, truly a building of its time. St Elisabeth's was designed in 1935 and opened for worship in 1938: an era when architects around the globe were creating colossal and monolithic structures such as this to announce the arrival of the 'modern' world - giving the ordinary human being a sense of just how tiny and insignificant they were as an individual in such a brave new world.

Having survived the 'shock and awe', and recovered from the sense of vertigo induced by St Elisabeth's, we did eventually make it to the sea front - where we were relieved to find that the ordinary, everyday pleasures of the English seaside were still being celebrated in their customary fashion...