St. Mary Magdalene's is the main church serving the Parish of Bexhill-on-Sea. The Parish Presbytery is ajoining St Mary Magdalen's church.
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Mass times: 10am Monday to Friday 6pm Saturday 11am & 6pm Sunday

St Mary Magdalene's Church was first entrusted to Father Richard Bone and Father Ward. They bought the site for the Church from Mr. Young who drew up the plans and when the building was completed the first Mass was celebrated in the Chapel, which was intended to be a future school-room (now the Hall), on 13th July 1893. Father Bone was the Celebrant and Mr. Edward Belasis was the server.

Cruciform in shape and Gothic in style, the building was described at the time as "practically a copy of the Church at Alfriston, but instead of the low spire the tower will be carried up an additional storey in order to provide a ringing chamber."

The walls are of Kentish rag from Maidstone and the dressings of Monk's Park bathstone. The windows and fittings contain gun-metal to withstand the sea air. Over the gable is a representation of the Agnus Dei (Lamb of God) shedding His Blood into a chalice and bearing the cross. Over the north-east porch is a figure of St. Mary Magdalene carrying the vase.

The exterior of the north transept is embellished with a representation of the pelican feeding its young with its own blood, symbolising the Blessed Sacrament and the Church caring for its young. It is also the crest of the Rosminians. Entering the church through the west porch the eye is drawn immediately towards the sanctuary. The east window is rich in colour. The central figure is that of Our Lord as King of Kings. On his right kneels his mother Mary and on his left Saint Mary Magdalene. To the right of them is St. Francis and to the left St. Elizabeth of Hungary.

The smaller frames contain representations of the Blessed Sacrament, monograms of the Holy Name, angels holding the motto "Caritas" and the emblems of the Passion. This, with the windows in the south transept depicting scenes from Lourdes, was donated by Miss E. A. Francis, and made by Mayer & Co. of London.

Below the east window is the magnificent carved oak reredos framed by a vine in high relief, and surmounted by an angel holding a monogram of the Holy Name. The four niches contain carved statues of four penitent saints; from right to left SS. Dismas (the Good Thief), Mary Magdalene, Peter and Thias of Alexandria. The centre niche contains the throne for the Blessed Sacrament and Crucifix, surrounded by a group of adoring angels. The carving is the work of Messrs. Robinson of London, and the statues are by Her Stuffessor of the Austrian Tyrol.

The stone credence table against the north wall contains a selection of inlaid marbles from the Catacombs in Rome. The Altar - itself moved forward from its original position below the reredos - is made from Sicilian marble with frontal and sides of Irish and Siberian marble. The opus textile in the front panel is again the crest of the Rosminians and is the work of Messrs. Whitehead of London.

The war memorial at the corner of Sea Road and Magdalene Road, the first public war memorial to be errected in Bexhill, was designed by Mr. G. H. Gray, Mayer of the borough between 1918 and 1920. It was unveiled in November 1919. For many years the war dead were honoured on Armistace Day with a service of prayer which included the sounding of the last post and two minutes silence. This practice is still continued to this day, albeit in a modified form.

In 1961 the local firm of E. Godwin and Sons added a Baptistry to the church and two years later the porch.

On the south side of the sanctuary is a built-in Sedilia, above which is a tribune or Singing Loft. On the north wall of the sanctuary are two memorial windows: that of SS James and Patrick; in memory of James Patrick Cox, and that SS Cecilia and Joseph to Cecilia Mary Blunt. The floor of the sanctuary is of marble.

Originally, the north transept was the Lady Chapel with the Pieta carved by Mr. McCarthy. The south transept was originally dedicated to the Sussex Saints, Wilfred and Richard, a wood carving of whom is now in the north transept. Their altar has been replaced by a statue and altar in honour of our Lady of Lourdes.

The Church has a fine Gothic barrel vaulted ceiling of pitched pine with carved bosses. The nave walls have niches on each side where it was hoped to erect statues of SS George, Andrew, Patrick and David on one side, and SS Wilfrid, Augustine, Richard and Gregory on the other, but six of these are still empty.

Symbolic carvings have been introduced into the bases of the arches. Under the tower are the four Evangelists, while two in the chancel represent the Eucharist: a fish and a basket of bread, and a raven bringing bread to Elias. On either side of the nave are two heads representing the old and new testaments; the synagogue blindfolded, and the church crowned. The arches of the tribune contain symbols of faith, hope and charity.

More recent additions to the church include the stat ue of St. Mary Magdalene in the south transept, a gift of the children of Mary Sodality, and the work of Mrs. Blackman, erected in 1950. The stained glass window to SS Augustine and Richard is in memory of Fr. C. Stapley, a former parishoner (1953).

The window opposite depicts Martha and Mary with Jesus and is in memory of Veron Woodward. Members of the C.W.L. donated the window of St. Margaret Clitherow and members of the Ponsford family paid for the window of St. Margaret Ward.

The fine, life-sized, carved wood Crucifix was hung in the arch of the sanctuary in 1972. This crucifix, the work of Job Pendle, was removed from the Rosminian Novitiate at Wadhurst before the house was closed in 1970. It had dominated the cloister there for almost a century.