Church of the Good Shepherd

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The Church of the Good Shepherd is an Anglican church on Dyke Road on the border of Brighton and Hove, constituent parts of the English city of Brighton and Hove. Although just inside Brighton, most of the parish is within the boundaries of Hove, and the official name of the parish reflects the fact that it was originally part of the large ecclesiastical parish of Preston—a village north of Brighton. The building, designed by Edward Prioleau Warren in a simple Gothic style in the 1920s, has been given Grade II listed status in view of its architectural importance.HistoryPreston, a village approximately 1.5mi north of the centre of Brighton, had its own ecclesiastical parish until 1531. In that year, the parish was united with that of Hove, which was then a similar-sized village to the southwest, to form the joint benefice of Hove-cum-Preston. In 1879 the parishes were separated again. By this time, residential development along Dyke Road—historically one of the main routes into Brighton from the north, and turnpiked since 1777—was nearly complete. The boundary between Brighton and Hove was aligned along the west side of the road in 1873, but this did not affect the parish of Preston.Prebendary Gerald Henry Moor became vicar of the newly separate parish in 1905. Known for his cricketing skills earlier in his life, he held the position for 11 years until his death on 31 May 1916. His widow, Alice, decided to fund the construction of a church in his memory in part of the parish where there were no nearby Anglican places of worship. A temporary iron church was built on the east side of Dyke Road soon afterwards, and in December 1919 a committee was formed to inspect the plans submitted by architect Edward Warren. Alice Moor laid the foundation stone in 1920, and building work started on 2 July 1921; local firm Packham, Sons and Palmer were employed to execute Warren's design. The Bishop of Chichester, Winfrid Oldfield Burrows, consecrated the building on 31 May 1922.