Reflecting on the Project

My Thoughts on, If These Walls Could Talk Research Project by John.

Holy Trinity Church or Fabrica, as it has evolved into, has a tale to tell, and with all buildings, the older they are the more history there is to tell.


A structure that was built over two hundred years ago and has been filled regularly over the years by hundreds of people mostly local to Brighton, but also from afar, people who came together to sing and pray, and be emotionally moved by profoundly committed and powerful Preachers, some of whom achieved International fame and Royal patronage, by the words they conveyed to their congregation gathered within the four walls of Holy Trinity Church.

John on our trip to Robertson’s grave

The walls structurally bounce the sound of words and songs back into the central space, but they are also absorbent, and there must be the spirits of words and songs contained within these walls.

To be involved in this Project that has aimed to give voice to these spirits and to release their energies again and to be able to document the people who worshipped within these walls, and to research their background stories since 1923, has been something I have been privileged and humbled to have been a part of.

To have been able to have researched into the Parish Council Magazine of 1908 at The Keep, and to have a list all the activities that Parishioners were involved in , or to see for the first time, a black and white photo of the 1926 Centenary of Holy Trinity Church Procession through the Brighton streets , and the ordinary people who lined the route dressed in their finest to witness it, or interviewing a former Church Trustee and Parishioner, Gerald Milner, now in his nineties, and gathering his recollections of his time at Holy trinity, brought everything back to life for me, and made me realise that buildings can tell stories, and that all you have to do is to slow down when you enter Fabrica, and close your eyes and open your ears and breathe slowly , and you’ll find that the building will breathe with you.

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