Its land covered a large, thinly populated area northwest of the ancient fishing port of Hastings.

Boyd's mission was so successful that by 1855, the congregation was too large for the house and the meetings had to move to a public building (believed to be the hotel itself) nearby.

The meetings were "independent" (not linked to any denomination), and the congregation attended them instead of going to the Anglican churches at Hollington or St Leonards-on-Sea.

[...] I will not repeat the offensive epithets applied, nor describe the manifestations, which the cottagers in this part of St Leonards [i.e. Silverhill] heard or saw.Despite this opposition, Boyd decided to build a permanent chapel.

[13] A committee of eight trustees was drawn from the members of various local Anglican and Nonconformist churches who were supportive of the cause, and fundraising began.

[20] New fittings added in the 1860s and 1870s included a harmonium, wooden rostrum, panelled lobby built by a local resident, a set of pews and a proper heating system.

George Clement, the tenant of Silver Hill Farm when the chapel was founded in 1853, donated some land and a third of the £296 (£36,300 in 2025)[1] cost of construction.

The former schoolroom was demolished and replaced with a larger hall with subsidiary rooms, a chancel was added to the chapel, the sanctuary was refitted with new wooden fixtures and a stone font, and the building received electric light for the first time.

[26] During World War I, soldiers had been based in the church hall,[27] and 25 years later a similar thing happened when the manse (the minister's house) was requisitioned for army use.

[31] Overnight on 15/16 October 1987—the night of the Great Storm, one of Britain's most disastrous weather events—St Luke's Church was severely damaged by the winds, which gusted to hurricane force.

At about 7.00am,[32] the spire was torn from the tower and flung through the roof of the north aisle, from which it protruded at a hazardous angle—threatening the terraced houses opposite.

[33] After the storm subsided, a crane lifted the spire out of the church and left it in the garden while the rest of the building was repaired.

Rebuilding work, which included a new vestry and larger kitchen, was completed in time for a reopening ceremony on 29 April 1990.

[37] Henry Carpenter's chapel has been added to several times since its construction in 1857, but still retains its Early English Gothic appearance.

[35] It is built entirely of stone, and has a tower at the west end (now with a low pyramid-shaped spire), an aisled nave, chancel, partly glazed wooden porch, vestry, kitchen and a large attached hall.

Hastings historian J. Manwaring Baines considered Silverhill Independent Chapel to be the most important church built during the town's 19th-century growth "in view of its determination to overcome all difficulties".