St Bartholomew's Church

A quick dash out on a very wet lunchtime - St Bartholomew's Church is one of the most extraordinary buildings in Brighton and it's just around the corner from work. Built in the 1870s by eccentric High Anglican priest Rev Arthur Douglas Wagner, and is claimed (wrongly) to have been built to match the dimensions of Noah's Ark as described in the Bible. It certainly has the tallest nave of any parish church in Europe; its huge red-brick bulk dominates the surrounding area.

Its opulent altar contrasts with the severity of the rest of the building and is quite difficult to capture, on a day like today when grey skies mean there is little light inside the church. I don't do flash (not that in a building this size it would be any use) and rely entirely on ambient light, and the cost of getting the detail of the nave is some loss of detail around the altar. Nevertheless, this gives an idea of the size and the strangeness of the place. A group of children appears to be busy drawing in front of the altar.