Penshurst - St John the Baptist Parish Church
The entrance to the Sidney family burial vault, set just to the right of centre in the church’s southern wall, was built in 1820, at the same time as the third Sidney family chapel. The chapel occupies the south-eastern corner of the church, close to Penshurst Place. The date 1820 is set in the spandrels to the left and right of the vault doorway, which bears the initials and arms of Sir John Shelley Sidney, Bart., head of the family
at that date.
Detail:- Above the entrance to the Sidney family burial vault.
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The bulging church yard contains the burials of almost eight centuries. The church yard was closed in 1857 by order of the Privy Council. Since then, parish burials have taken place at Poundsbridge chapel, on the edge of Penshurst parish, about two miles away.
The apparent table tomb by the church's south-west porch is not a tomb, but a dole table from which bread was distributed to the poor and handed out on St Thomas's Day - 21st December.
St John the Baptist is a rare example of a church which has been extended over many generations with several, large building campaigns.
The church's most striking external feature is the Tower, formed of three architectural stages. The first, two storey's high, dates from the 15th century. The stone blocks used at low level, particularly in the buttresses, are large, indicating their antiquity when greater depths of bed were available to masons. Subsequent stages, added in the 18th century, carry the clock stage and belfry.
The entrance to the Sidney family burial vault, set to the right of centre in the church's southern wall, was built in 1820, at the same times as the third Sidney family chapel. The chapel occupies the south-eastern corner of the church, close to Penshurst Place. The date 1820 is set in the spandrels to the left and right of the vault doorway, which bears the initial sand arms of Sir John Shelley Sidney, Bart., then head of the family.
Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), better known for his design of the extravagantly Victorian gothic St Pancras Station in London and of the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, London, was the architect for the extension. Closer to Penshurst, he was responsible for the whole of the late 19th century church built in neighbouring Speldhurst.
Penshurst - St John the Baptist Parish Church
The entrance to the Sidney family burial vault, set just to the right of centre in the church’s southern wall, was built in 1820, at the same time as the third Sidney family chapel. The chapel occupies the south-eastern corner of the church, close to Penshurst Place. The date 1820 is set in the spandrels to the left and right of the vault doorway, which bears the initials and arms of Sir John Shelley Sidney, Bart., head of the family
at that date.
Detail:- Above the entrance to the Sidney family burial vault.
—————————————————————————————————————
The bulging church yard contains the burials of almost eight centuries. The church yard was closed in 1857 by order of the Privy Council. Since then, parish burials have taken place at Poundsbridge chapel, on the edge of Penshurst parish, about two miles away.
The apparent table tomb by the church's south-west porch is not a tomb, but a dole table from which bread was distributed to the poor and handed out on St Thomas's Day - 21st December.
St John the Baptist is a rare example of a church which has been extended over many generations with several, large building campaigns.
The church's most striking external feature is the Tower, formed of three architectural stages. The first, two storey's high, dates from the 15th century. The stone blocks used at low level, particularly in the buttresses, are large, indicating their antiquity when greater depths of bed were available to masons. Subsequent stages, added in the 18th century, carry the clock stage and belfry.
The entrance to the Sidney family burial vault, set to the right of centre in the church's southern wall, was built in 1820, at the same times as the third Sidney family chapel. The chapel occupies the south-eastern corner of the church, close to Penshurst Place. The date 1820 is set in the spandrels to the left and right of the vault doorway, which bears the initial sand arms of Sir John Shelley Sidney, Bart., then head of the family.
Sir George Gilbert Scott (1811-1878), better known for his design of the extravagantly Victorian gothic St Pancras Station in London and of the Albert Memorial in Hyde Park, London, was the architect for the extension. Closer to Penshurst, he was responsible for the whole of the late 19th century church built in neighbouring Speldhurst.