St John the Baptist, Mersham, Kent
With having now visited more than 230 Kent churches, mostly in East Kent, it is difficult to find new ones to add to the list.
On a dull Saturday at the beginning of the month, and with Jools away watching Holiday on Ice or something in Brighton, I had the car and the car to myself.
So, I go to visit a church in Folkestone, only to find it locked, as most urban churches are.
But then I remembered Mersham.
Mesham is situated on the edge of Ashford, and I can see the spire of St John from the train every time I go upto London. That looks like a fine place, I think each time, I'll go there one day.
So this was to be the day.
Mesrsham is a fine village, built on the side of the downs, with the village spread out on either side of the main street.
Up a narrow dead end street is the gate to St John, with its square tower and Kentish spire beyond. You are never sure if a church is open, but I could hear voices coming from the modern vestry attached, so I had my hopes up.
Push hard said the sign on the door; so I pushed.
Hard.
And the door opened. The faces of the three wardens turned to look at me. They were clearing away the last of the festive decorations, but didn't mind me being there. In fact they pointed out many of the details of their fine church.
Most startling was the terracotta they had chosen to paint the walls of the chancel; not to everyone's taste maybe, but striking and I rather like it.
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A pretty, many-gabled church with a fine short shingled spire. The church is a fourteenth-century rebuild of a Norman original that had been enlarged in the late 1200s. O slightly later date, and to be found on a tie-beam in the chancel is a carved head of Joan, Countess of Kent, who was married to the Black Prince, son of Edward III at Windsor in 1361. There is a fair amount of medieval glass, in the chancel and nave west windows whilst the screens which separate the south chapel from the chancel and south aisle are wonderful examples of seventeenth-century craftsmanship. The base comprises solid panels, the upper levels are of very closely set barley-twist balusters, and the top is of tall iron spikes. The south chapel contains many memorials to the local Knatchbull family whose ancestral home, Mersham-le-Hatch stands to the north of the village. Above the screen is a corbel of possibly thirteenth-century date which depicts a bishop, and which could be part of an earlier door or window. There is a fine Royal Arms of 1751 and a good holy water stoup by the south door with superb carving of Tudor roses.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Mersham
“a hide of land for a Church at Mersham” was bequeathed by ‘John Siweard and his wife Edith’ in their will dated c. 1040 AD . A church has existed on this site by 1086 AD, as recorded in the Domesday Book.
The Church was rebuilt by the Normans c.1100 AD and further rebuilding was accomplished in the second half of the fourteenth century (1350-1400 AD). The Church is substantially the same today, although over the years it has been altered and changed internally over the years to reflect the current fashions of the day.
The present church contains significant monuments to the local members of the Brabourne and Knatchbull families
www.a20churches.org.uk/mersham.htm
his is a beautiful Church although I have to admit that from the North side it did rather remind me of a Mennonite farmhouse. (For those of you who have not lived in Southern Ontario as I have, Mennonites do tend to expand their farmhouses as the family grows, usually resulting in lots of additional "bits" added onto the original building. St. John the Baptist Church at Mersham gives the same appearance). Although not actually architecturally visible, the oldest part of this Church is Norman. The South wall at the East end of the building has a thicker wall than the Western end as this once formed part of that original small Norman Church which measured only 36 feet by 25 feet. There was a Saxon Church here and the earliest documentation to confirm this was written in 1040 A.D. The Church was rebuilt in the latter half of the fourteenth century and much of the building we see today dates from that time. Even the main roof trusses and king posts in the Nave (picture top left) date from the fouteenth century.
The Church is well known for the various monuments and memorials to the Knatchbull family. The Chapel in the South East corner of the Church is know knonw as the Knatchbull Chapel although it was original The Lady Chapel. Under the floor at the East end of the Chapel is the Knatchbull family vault and there is also an area on the South side of the churchyard where there also additional Knatchbull family graves. More than one member of the family presided as a magistrate at the local Quarter Sessions and are already mentioned briefly on my smuggling pages. Certain of these memorials to this family are rather interesting for genealogists and you will find additional detail on the next page (see below).
In the Chancel there is some fine oak paneling said to date in one reference from the 14th Century but carrying a date carved into one section in the early 17th Century and some unusual altar rails which do date from the 17th Century. The Church also has some unusual and attractive ancient glass and the tracery in the West window is most unusual containing parts from two different styles of architecture.
When I was in the Church, there were works of art by local children proudly adorning the screen to the Knatchbull Chapel which at least shows that this delightful building is still playing a regular part in the daily lives of this country community. It was also nice to think that two centuries ago, members of my own direct family were being baptised in this Church.
www.kentresources.co.uk/mersham-sjb1.htm
MERSHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, consists of two isles and two chancels, having a handsome square tower at the west end, in which are five bells. In the north window of the high chancel is the figure of a bishop, with his mitre and crosier, praying, and the figure of a saint, with the dragon under his feet. On the rector's pew is carved in wood, a coat of arms, being A fess, in chief, three balls. In this chancel is a memorial for Elizabeth, widow of William Legg, of New Sarum, and mother of dame Grace, wife of Sir Edward Knatchbull, bart. obt. 1771; and several monuments and memorials for the Knatchbull family. The south chancel belongs to them, in which are several monuments and memorials of them, particularly a most superb one for Sir Norton Knatchbull, who died in 1636, having his figure in full proportion lying on it, and above that of his lady kneeling in a praying posture, under a canopy supported by two figures; above are the arms of Knatchbull impaling Ashley; underneath this chancel is a large vault, in which this family lie buried. A monument for Margaret Collyns, daughter of Thomas Tourney, gent. and wife of William Collyns, gent. obt. 1595; arms, Vert, a griffin, or, gerged with a ducal coronet, argent, impaling Tourney. In the north isle are several memorials for the Boys's, of this parish; for Richard Knatchbull, esq. and for Mary Franklyn, obt. 1763. In the west window, which is very large, nearly the whole breadth of the isle, and consists of many compartments, are eight figures of men, pretty entire, and much remains of other painted glass in the other parts of it. The arms of Septvans and Fogge were formerly in one of the windows of the high chancel.
The church of Mersham was formerly appendant to the manor, and belonged with it to the convent of Christ-church; but when the survey of Domesday was taken in the year 1080, it appears to have been in the possession of the archbishop, with whom the manor did not continue long before it was again vested in the convent; but the advowson of the rectory remained with the archbishop, and has continued parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury to this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
This rectory is valued in the king's books at 26l. 16s. 10½d. and the yearly tenths, which are now payable to the crown-receiver, at 2l. 13s. 8¼d.
In 1578 here were communicants two hundred and forty-seven. In 1640, one hundred and eighty, and it was valued at eighty pounds.
St John the Baptist, Mersham, Kent
With having now visited more than 230 Kent churches, mostly in East Kent, it is difficult to find new ones to add to the list.
On a dull Saturday at the beginning of the month, and with Jools away watching Holiday on Ice or something in Brighton, I had the car and the car to myself.
So, I go to visit a church in Folkestone, only to find it locked, as most urban churches are.
But then I remembered Mersham.
Mesham is situated on the edge of Ashford, and I can see the spire of St John from the train every time I go upto London. That looks like a fine place, I think each time, I'll go there one day.
So this was to be the day.
Mesrsham is a fine village, built on the side of the downs, with the village spread out on either side of the main street.
Up a narrow dead end street is the gate to St John, with its square tower and Kentish spire beyond. You are never sure if a church is open, but I could hear voices coming from the modern vestry attached, so I had my hopes up.
Push hard said the sign on the door; so I pushed.
Hard.
And the door opened. The faces of the three wardens turned to look at me. They were clearing away the last of the festive decorations, but didn't mind me being there. In fact they pointed out many of the details of their fine church.
Most startling was the terracotta they had chosen to paint the walls of the chancel; not to everyone's taste maybe, but striking and I rather like it.
------------------------------------------
A pretty, many-gabled church with a fine short shingled spire. The church is a fourteenth-century rebuild of a Norman original that had been enlarged in the late 1200s. O slightly later date, and to be found on a tie-beam in the chancel is a carved head of Joan, Countess of Kent, who was married to the Black Prince, son of Edward III at Windsor in 1361. There is a fair amount of medieval glass, in the chancel and nave west windows whilst the screens which separate the south chapel from the chancel and south aisle are wonderful examples of seventeenth-century craftsmanship. The base comprises solid panels, the upper levels are of very closely set barley-twist balusters, and the top is of tall iron spikes. The south chapel contains many memorials to the local Knatchbull family whose ancestral home, Mersham-le-Hatch stands to the north of the village. Above the screen is a corbel of possibly thirteenth-century date which depicts a bishop, and which could be part of an earlier door or window. There is a fine Royal Arms of 1751 and a good holy water stoup by the south door with superb carving of Tudor roses.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Mersham
“a hide of land for a Church at Mersham” was bequeathed by ‘John Siweard and his wife Edith’ in their will dated c. 1040 AD . A church has existed on this site by 1086 AD, as recorded in the Domesday Book.
The Church was rebuilt by the Normans c.1100 AD and further rebuilding was accomplished in the second half of the fourteenth century (1350-1400 AD). The Church is substantially the same today, although over the years it has been altered and changed internally over the years to reflect the current fashions of the day.
The present church contains significant monuments to the local members of the Brabourne and Knatchbull families
www.a20churches.org.uk/mersham.htm
his is a beautiful Church although I have to admit that from the North side it did rather remind me of a Mennonite farmhouse. (For those of you who have not lived in Southern Ontario as I have, Mennonites do tend to expand their farmhouses as the family grows, usually resulting in lots of additional "bits" added onto the original building. St. John the Baptist Church at Mersham gives the same appearance). Although not actually architecturally visible, the oldest part of this Church is Norman. The South wall at the East end of the building has a thicker wall than the Western end as this once formed part of that original small Norman Church which measured only 36 feet by 25 feet. There was a Saxon Church here and the earliest documentation to confirm this was written in 1040 A.D. The Church was rebuilt in the latter half of the fourteenth century and much of the building we see today dates from that time. Even the main roof trusses and king posts in the Nave (picture top left) date from the fouteenth century.
The Church is well known for the various monuments and memorials to the Knatchbull family. The Chapel in the South East corner of the Church is know knonw as the Knatchbull Chapel although it was original The Lady Chapel. Under the floor at the East end of the Chapel is the Knatchbull family vault and there is also an area on the South side of the churchyard where there also additional Knatchbull family graves. More than one member of the family presided as a magistrate at the local Quarter Sessions and are already mentioned briefly on my smuggling pages. Certain of these memorials to this family are rather interesting for genealogists and you will find additional detail on the next page (see below).
In the Chancel there is some fine oak paneling said to date in one reference from the 14th Century but carrying a date carved into one section in the early 17th Century and some unusual altar rails which do date from the 17th Century. The Church also has some unusual and attractive ancient glass and the tracery in the West window is most unusual containing parts from two different styles of architecture.
When I was in the Church, there were works of art by local children proudly adorning the screen to the Knatchbull Chapel which at least shows that this delightful building is still playing a regular part in the daily lives of this country community. It was also nice to think that two centuries ago, members of my own direct family were being baptised in this Church.
www.kentresources.co.uk/mersham-sjb1.htm
MERSHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. John Baptist, consists of two isles and two chancels, having a handsome square tower at the west end, in which are five bells. In the north window of the high chancel is the figure of a bishop, with his mitre and crosier, praying, and the figure of a saint, with the dragon under his feet. On the rector's pew is carved in wood, a coat of arms, being A fess, in chief, three balls. In this chancel is a memorial for Elizabeth, widow of William Legg, of New Sarum, and mother of dame Grace, wife of Sir Edward Knatchbull, bart. obt. 1771; and several monuments and memorials for the Knatchbull family. The south chancel belongs to them, in which are several monuments and memorials of them, particularly a most superb one for Sir Norton Knatchbull, who died in 1636, having his figure in full proportion lying on it, and above that of his lady kneeling in a praying posture, under a canopy supported by two figures; above are the arms of Knatchbull impaling Ashley; underneath this chancel is a large vault, in which this family lie buried. A monument for Margaret Collyns, daughter of Thomas Tourney, gent. and wife of William Collyns, gent. obt. 1595; arms, Vert, a griffin, or, gerged with a ducal coronet, argent, impaling Tourney. In the north isle are several memorials for the Boys's, of this parish; for Richard Knatchbull, esq. and for Mary Franklyn, obt. 1763. In the west window, which is very large, nearly the whole breadth of the isle, and consists of many compartments, are eight figures of men, pretty entire, and much remains of other painted glass in the other parts of it. The arms of Septvans and Fogge were formerly in one of the windows of the high chancel.
The church of Mersham was formerly appendant to the manor, and belonged with it to the convent of Christ-church; but when the survey of Domesday was taken in the year 1080, it appears to have been in the possession of the archbishop, with whom the manor did not continue long before it was again vested in the convent; but the advowson of the rectory remained with the archbishop, and has continued parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury to this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
This rectory is valued in the king's books at 26l. 16s. 10½d. and the yearly tenths, which are now payable to the crown-receiver, at 2l. 13s. 8¼d.
In 1578 here were communicants two hundred and forty-seven. In 1640, one hundred and eighty, and it was valued at eighty pounds.