Page:Item 4 1848.pdf/77

From Historical Hastings
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and Corporation having been invited, they met at the St. Leonards Assembly Rooms, and walked in procession to St. Leonards Church, where the Rev G. D. St. Quinton read prayers, and the Bishop of Chichester preached an appropriate sermon. An offertory was collected the amount being £148. After the service, a procession and was re-formed, consisting of the churchwardens, children of the National Schools (St. Mary Magdalen and St. Leonards) lay members of the Committee, Mayor and Corporation, architect and contractors, parochial and other clergy, Earl and Countess Waldegrave, the Bishop and Chaplains, and the general public. Mr. Eversfield, who gave the site for the ​building​, was absent. When the procession had taken positions on the ground, Mr. Brisco, as one of the Committee, gave a preliminary address, in which he said — “My Lord Bishop and ladies and gentlemen — It has devolved on me to state the object of this assembly, which is to lay the foundation stone of a new church in St. Mary Magdalen, or rather to commemorate the re​building​ of an old one which stood in this parish till destroyed by the encroachment of the sea. I congratulate you on the fact that we meet for this purpose on such an auspicious day, the anniversary of our Protestant Queen’s accession to the throne. [The speaker might have added, for the information of those who are curious in such matters, that the foundation stone of St. Leonards Church was laid by the Princess Sophia of Gloucester, who once inhabited the house which was now his own, on the coronation day of William IV.] I am sure, continued Mr. Brisco, that you will all join me in wishing Her Majesty a long and prosperous reign. I next thank the Lord Bishop for coming to assist in the service, and in the name of the Committee, I thank him for his liberal donation. To the Rev. G. D. St. Quinton our thanks are also due, both for his donation and his exertions in helping forward this important object; so energetic, indeed, have been his labours and so great his influence that we may almost consider him the founder of the church. I’m glad to tell you that there will be 500 free sittings allotted to the poor — And now I will address the noble Lady who has come hither specially to assist in the formality of laying the foundation stone [Applause]. Her usefulness in promoting and patronising the Halton Chapel will be borne in mind; and I am sure that it must be a source of great gratification to her ladyship to be called on so often to perform an office, thus indicating the esteem in which she is held. To Earl Waldegrave, for his donation and his presence I also tender the thanks of the Committee”. — The appointed order of service was then read by the Rev. T. P. Sproule, curate of St. Leonards and intended incumbent of St. Mary Magdalen. After that, the stone was lowered in to its place, and the Countess Waldegrave, while spreading the mortar in a manner which showed that she was no novice at the work, -