Art – Faith – Community – Environment
The church is undertaking a major project to restore and conserve these paintings and is currently closed. At the same time it is developing educational work with local schools and two universities and links with local caring charities and cultural institutions. It has been awarded a NLHF grant to undertake this work but still needs to raise the final amount of match funding to complete the project. Please support us by making a donation, signing up to a newsletter or offering to volunteer. See ‘News’ for our latest update. Thank you .
St Michael and All Angels church in Berwick, East Sussex is most well-known for its extensive 20th Century paintings by Duncan Grant, Vanessa Bell and Quentin Bell, which were commissioned during the Second World War by Bishop Bell (see Bloomsbury in Berwick).
It is the only example of the complete decoration of the interior of ancient parish church by modern artist of repute and is of national importance. It lies in the beautiful South Downs National Park with spectacular views of the escarpment of the Downs to the south.
Our Vision
1: to offer the church and its natural surroundings as a spiritual sanctuary and place of retreat, creativity and reflection.
2: to promote the importance of the relationship between contemporary artists and the life of church.
We offer this in four main ways; art (see Arts), faith, community (see Outreach and Engagement) and environment.
Why do we need to conserve the paintings?
The paintings are showing signs of damage with paint beginning to flake away. Find out more about why we need to take action now...
Saving Berwick
In Spring 2019 the church was awarded a National Lottery Heritage Fund Grant providing 63% of the cost of restoring and conserving the paintings in Berwick Church. We still need to raise more funds to complete this urgent and challenging project. Please make a donation. For more information see 'Saving Berwick'
Volunteer at Berwick Church
We rely on volunteers to keep the church doors open, welcome visitors to understand and experience the Bloomsbury paintings.