HOVE may seem an unlikely final resting place for the man Mount Everest was named after.

Yet there, in the cemetery at St Andrew’s Church, Sir George Everest is buried – a man whose pioneering mapping work led to the Himalayan mountain being declared the highest peak in the world.

Serving as surveyor-general of India in his later years, Sir George was reputed to have been born in the Manor of Gwernvale at Crickhowell in Powys, on July 4, 1790.

However, there is a lack of evidence supporting this.

Originally named Peak XV of the Himalayas, the mountain was re-named Mount Everest in his honour.

Although he travelled to the foothills of the Himalayas to work, there is no firm evidence that he ever saw the summit of Everest.

Sir George retired in 1843 and returned to live in England, where he was later knighted in 1861.

He died on December 1, 1866, and was buried at St Andrew’s on December 8, in the same grave as his two children who died in early childhood. This was also the resting place of his sister, Lucetta Mary.

The only known link between Sir George and Hove is that Thomas Wing, his father-in-law, was also buried at the church in 1850.

There are over 100 churches and places of worship in the city.

Reverend Roger Walker can be seen left, pictured inside St Andrew’s in the early 1980s.

Queen’s Park Methodist Church in Queen’s Park Road, Brighton is also pictured above in 1991.

The building was made redundant in 1987, before it became Orchard Day Nursery.

Church music director John Mingay is pictured at St Bartholomew’s Church, Brighton, during the 1970s.

The church’s foundation stone was laid in February 1872.