The present church replaced the small original building of 1860 (which later became a parish room and can still be seen to the south of the present church). Christ Church is one of three churches in the area designed by Sir Arthur Blomfield (son of a Bishop of London) and was consecrated in 1875. It was deliberately built in an early English architectural style.

Christ Church was designed as a statement as part of the Oxford Movement in the Church of England.

The Oxford Movement began in the early 1830s as an intellectual movement. It started from one of the best tenets of the Reformation, namely the use of reason and intellect. From there, the use of reason led to the recovery of the doctrine of the Church of England as part of the catholic Church throughout the world. Later the recovery of the use of ceremonial in worship (movement, colour, light, vestments, incense, statues etc) was part of the Oxford Movement's contribution to parish life. Later still, the pastoral dimension of the Oxford Movement followed (which in the late 19thC onwards saw many famous priests influenced by his movement working in very difficult parishes).

The present Christ Church owes much to the vision of Father Charles Lyndhurst Vaughan. Father Vaughan oversaw the building of a church to convert souls and to be the springboard for catholic mission and evangelism to its parish and beyond.
He employed Sir Arthur Blomfield as architect of the church, which was completed (without its spire) in the 1880s. There were no pew rents in Fr Vaughan's new church so as to be as inclusive as possible and to embody the gospel message which he so desired to spread.

Subsequent parish priests, in line with our founding father, have shared and developed this same vision in response to their own times and people's changing needs, catering for their people and those who live in the parish from the cradle to the grave and beyond.

For example, in the 1930's the Fellowship of St.Nicholas was founded Link to FSN

In the 1940's Christ Church House Improvement Society began life with the building of St.Richard's flats in Pevensey Road which it still administers today.

The parish also ran an old people's home (Our Lady's House) for over 50 years.

In the 1980's the 'Surviving Christmas' charity was founded by a former churchwarden.

The last 9 years have seen the development of the former school buildings to be a new parish centre (see main menu), a rectory, a curate's flat, and the new Magnet centre (a library and study centre for Christian formation in this area of the diocese).