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el bosque que rodea a La Casa la hace sentir como un paraje natural de miles de años de pasividad y tendiente a la erosión.
aquí, un Habitante esperando a otro frente a la fachada.
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the woods that surround La Casa make it look like a natural setting that has being passive for a thousand years and prone to erosion.
here, a Dweller waiting for another at the façade.
BMW 7-Series. Yes, I know it's not rare, but I liked the location and thought it was amazing that someone would drive such a big car through tiny hilly streets.
Spoleto, Italy | 2013
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I never study a church before I go, maybe that's a fault on my part because I might miss something important and so have to go back. But for me, it's the wonder as you walk through the porch or door into the church, not knowing what to expect.
St Mary's looks like a typical Suffolk church from the outside, nice proportioned tower, good quality flint knapping. And yet once you enter, your breath is taken away by the glorious restored ceiling.
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It is not easy to find Huntingfield; even the signposts do not bear its name until you are within the parish boundary. Yet this shallow valley, divided by the infant river Blyth, with church and parsonage on one bank and manor house on the other, has been owned by some notable families in England's history.
The church is a Grade 1 Listed Building, largely due to its amazing Victorian painted ceiling.
The existing church certainly dates from the 11th century but there are signs that there had been a chapel here long before.
Some fragments of carved stones are set into the wall of the tower. At the beginning of this century they were turned up by a ploughman in a field called 'Chapel Field', a little to the south of the present church. They are fragments from a Saxon stone coffin and standing cross of the 10th century, long since disappeared.
The oldest part of the church is the wall between the nave and the north aisle which was the solid outer wall of the original twelfth century church. That church would have been small and dark, the whole building probably standing within the area of the present nave. The light would have come from small high windows of which one still remains above the two round-headed arches.
This wall has been altered at least twice. It was first broken through when the north aisle was built, and again in the nineteenth century when the arches were given their present 'Norman' curves. That first church was built by the family who took their name from the village and lived in the manor for 250 years, the Lords de Huntingfield.
The chancel was added in the thirteenth century.
By the end of the fourteenth, the south side of the nave had been altered and both aisles had been built in the fashionable Gothic style with its pointed arches. The five small high, or clerestory, windows on the south side of the nave would have provided light into the nave, the advent of affordable glass having made such things possible.
The east window of the south aisle has all that remains of the medieval glass that would once have filled many of the windows. There is a record of what was still to be seen here in the sixteenth century which lists the memorial windows with the coats of arms borne by the families who once owned the Manor.
The windows of the south aisle are particularly pretty and date from the fifteenth century. Their Perpendicular style is indicated by their familiar flat-topped shape. The porch is also from the fifteenth century.
The font dates from the fourteenth century.
The ceiling painting is very special and is explained on a separate page. The work was carried out in the 19th century while William Holland was rector. At the same time the organ and vestry were added with the Vanneck family vault beneath.
The ceiling is a masterpiece of Victorian church decoration, painted from end to end in brilliant colours, with carved and coloured angels, with banners, crowns and shields, all in the medieval style and of a most intricate and detailed finish.
The scheme of decoration is important as it reflects the ecclestiastical devotion of the late Victorian period clergy and their patrons, combined with the heightened liturgical practices of the Oxford Movement.
It was painted by Mildred Holland, the wife of William Holland who was rector for 44 years from 1848 until his death in 1892. The church was closed for eight months from September 1859 to April 1860 while she painted the chancel roof. Tradesmen provided scaffolding and prepared the ceiling for painting but there is no record to show that she had any help with the work, and legend has it that she did much of it lying on her back. We may imagine Victorian ladies wearing tight laced corsets and many petticoats, and wonder how she managed the ladders, scaffolding and hard labour of painting. She had an adviser on her schemes, a Mr. E. L. Blackburne F.S.A., an authority on medieval decoration.
The twelve large panels of the chancel ceiling each show an angel holding either a scroll with the words of the canticle 'Blessed be the Lord God of Israel', or the emblems of the Passion: the cross, the hammer and nails, the scourge, the lance, the crown of thorns and the reed.
Two pelicans in their piety (pecking their breasts to feed their young) are in the last small panels.
Between the beam ends of the chancel roof there are Bible verses in Gothic lettering,
then two tiers of panels; the lower have pictures of the Lamb of God alternating with`the Keys of Heaven. Above, are crowned monograms.
Above the Chancel Arch, the Lamb of God is depicted with the words 'Glory, Honour, Praise and Power unto the Lamb for Ever and Ever', lines taken from the Book of Revelation.
Three years later Mildred Holland began to paint again in the nave. In 1866 her husband William makes a note 'scaffolding finally taken down, September Ist'. The whole cost of repairing the nave roof, preparing it for painting and for materials amounted to £247.10s.7d of which £16.7s.6d was for 225 books of gold leaf and £72 for colours. William Holland's notes show that between 1859 and 1882 a total of £2,034. 10s.0d was spent on the church restoration, of which, apparently, he gave all but £400.
Recent research has found the complete record of William Holland's work in restoring and furnishing the church. These are available for interested students.
The figures on the nave roof are of the twelve apostles and two female saints. Each is painted in the lower tier with their traditional symbols and again in the upper tier clothed in heavenly raiment holding scrolls bearing their names.
Note that Saints Margaret and Andrew are both included as there is a tradition that these two saints were specially venerated here. There are niches for statues in the south aisle which may have held statues of them. The cult of St Margaret of Antioch grew in the 10th century and her veneration was brought back to England by crusaders. Her inclusion here may hint at an early date for the church's foundation.
Mildred Holland died in 1878; William served on until 1892, a total of forty years. He gave the font cover in memory of his wife and also the brass lectern with its graceful angels and winged dragons. Their graves are in the churchyard to the west of the entrance gates. Side by side they lie, beneath a table tomb alongside a standing cross.
It is natural to speculate about the roof. It is of a single hammer-beam construction, arch-braced principals alternating with hammer-beams ending in carved angels. The angels in the nave carry a crown or a banner, those in the chancel have heraldic shields bearing arms. The question all ask is: are these angels genuinely medieval work which escaped the axes of the post-Reformation Puritans, (and remember that William Dowsing, the arch-destroyer, came from nearby Laxfield) or are they all the handiwork of Victorian craftsmen?
Traditional East Anglian hammer-beam roofs generally terminate in a carving of some sort, and the de la Poles made angel roofs in the churches of their manors, even taking Suffolk carpenters to Ewelme in Oxfordshire to make one there. But our angels are too perfect to be so old. Entries in a tradesman's account of 1865 would seem to settle the matter; or do they?
The fourteenth and fifteenth centuries were times of great development and two families, both wealthy and influential, used their means to beautify and rebuild the churches on their manors including St Mary's. Keeping up with the neighbours is not a new fashion. Both left their marks on the font which, standing on restored steps and with a splendid cover, shows two heraldic shields.
The shield facing south depicts the arms of de Ufford while that on the north side is of de la Pole.
The de Ufford shield is that of Sir William de Ufford, Earl of Suffolk during the reign of Edward III. He held Framlingham Castle for the King and owned several manors in Suffolk. Among these were Parham, where he built the church, and Huntingfield.
The other shield is that of Michael de la Pole, Lord Chancellor and Earl of Suffolk, who married Catherine, daughter and heiress of Sir John Wingfield of Wingfield Castle. He succeeded to the manor of Huntingfield through his wife, and died in 1389. The shield shows both of their arms.
Michael de la Pole's has three polecat faces while Catherine Wingfield's has three open wings. Both are puns on their names. (For another heraldic pun look for the arms of Huntingfield being held by one of the angels in the roof: three hunting horns on a 'field'.)
In Ufford church you can see a medieval font cover which was a model for ours when it was made in the nineteenth century. In Wingfield church there is a font so like ours that it was probably made by the same craftsman.
www.stmaryshuntingfield.org.uk/history.htm
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There is nowhere else in Suffolk quite like St Mary. Huntingfield is one of the county's most obscure villages; there are hardly any signposts to it. It is the nearest village to the great pile of Heveningham Hall, and perhaps these two facts are not unconnected. But it is worth getting out the old Ordnance Survey map, because here at St Mary was a remarkable 19th century restoration.
In the second half of that century, many parish churches were drawn by the excitement of the age into major reconstructions and revisions. They often looked to London stars like Scott and Butterfield, or local plodders like Phipson, or else mavericks like Salvin. The demands of the new liturgical arrangements, coupled with a renewed sense of the need to glorify God, led them into what was often a rebuilding rather than a restoration. Internal decorations were, perhaps, the bespoke work of the architect; witness Phipson's meticulous attention to detail at St Mary le Tower, Ipswich.
Other restorers relied on the big picture, a vision that encompassed walls and floors, but left the fittings to others; as, for example, Salvin's Flixton St Mary. What was the driving force behind Victorian revisionism? Essentially, what happened in England between about 1830 and 1870 was a cultural revolution, a ferment of new ideas and the reaction to them. The changes proposed by the Oxford Movement were, at first, objectionable, and then merely controversial; but gradually, they seeped into the mainstream, until by about 1890 they had become as natural as the air we breathe.
By the centenary of the movement in the 1930s, one Anglican clergyman could observe "It is as if the Reformation had never happened". Well, not quite. And now, the pendulum has swung the other way, leaving the ritualists high and dry. But the evidence of the energy of those days survives, especially at Huntingfield, where it was the local vicar who drove the Oxford Movement through the heart of the parish, like a motorway through a Site of Special Scientific Interest.
What the vicar of Huntingfield had, and many other ministers didn't, was a visionary wife. Between 1859 and 1866, Mrs Mildred Holland planned, designed and executed the most elaborate redecoration of a church this county had seen since the Reformation. For seven years, she lay on her back at the top of scaffolding, first in the chancel (angels) and then in the nave (saints on the ceilure, fine angels on the beam ends), gilding, lettering and painting this most glorious of small church roofs. Her husband, the Reverend William Holland, kept a journal throughout this period, and there is no suggestion that she had any assistance, beyond that of workmen to raise the scaffolding, and a Mr E.L. Blackburne FSA, who was, apparently, an 'authority on medieval decoration'.
J.P. St Aubyn was responsible for the structural restoration of this largely 15th century building, and it is very restrained and merciful. He did, however, refit the little windows in the south clerestory. But you come here to see the painted roofs, which are perfectly splendid. Beware if you come with children, or it will cost you a fortune in pound coins to activate the illuminations.
The font cover is not part of Mildred Holland's work; rather, it is her memorial, as is the art nouveau lectern. It is as if her art was a catalyst, inspiring others to acts of beauty. She died in the 1870s, predeceasing her husband by twenty years. They are both now buried by the churchyard gate. How fitting, that they should lie in the graveyard of the church they loved so much, and to which they gave so much of their time, energy and money.
Curiously, Ann Owen, the wife of the vicar of nearby Heveningham, produced the stained glass there; a novel is waiting to be written about these two women.
For such an obscure village, St Mary has had its share of influential patrons. Four major families in particular have left their mark here. Before the Reformation, the de la Poles and Uffords, whose shields you'll find on the font, and in later years the Cokes and the Pastons, both more usually associated with Norfolk.
But, as I have said, you don't come to Huntingfield because of important dead people. Look up, look all around, and see the true memorial to Mrs Holland. It does not have the gravitas of Lound, or the piety of Kettlebaston. And I really love it for that. I think this is a place that should be better known, and not just because of the way it contrasts with the less successful 19th century restorations at neighbouring Cookley and Walpole.
What we have here is as fine a display of 19th century folk art as you'll find anywhere in the county.
Simon Knott, 2001 (updated 2007)
William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his lifetime, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual arts of the Romantic Age. What he called his prophetic works were said by 20th-century critic Northrop Frye to form "what is in proportion to its merits the least read body of poetry in the English language".[2] His visual artistry led 21st-century critic Jonathan Jones to proclaim him "far and away the greatest artist Britain has ever produced".[3] In 2002, Blake was placed at number 38 in the BBC's poll of the 100 Greatest Britons.[4] While he lived in London his entire life, except for three years spent in Felpham,[5] he produced a diverse and symbolically rich œuvre, which embraced the imagination as "the body of God"[6] or "human existence itself".[7]
Although Blake was considered mad by contemporaries for his idiosyncratic views, he is held in high regard by later critics for his expressiveness and creativity, and for the philosophical and mystical undercurrents within his work. His paintings and poetry have been characterised as part of the Romantic movement and as "Pre-Romantic".[8] A committed Christian who was hostile to the Church of England (indeed, to almost all forms of organised religion), Blake was influenced by the ideals and ambitions of the French and American Revolutions.[9] Though later he rejected many of these political beliefs, he maintained an amiable relationship with the political activist Thomas Paine; he was also influenced by thinkers such as Emanuel Swedenborg.[10] Despite these known influences, the singularity of Blake's work makes him difficult to classify. The 19th-century scholar William Michael Rossetti characterised him as a "glorious luminary",[11] and "a man not forestalled by predecessors, nor to be classed with contemporaries, nor to be replaced by known or readily surmisable successors"
Blake's first collection of poems, Poetical Sketches, was printed around 1783.[31] After his father's death, Blake and former fellow apprentice James Parker opened a print shop in 1784, and began working with radical publisher Joseph Johnson.[32] Johnson's house was a meeting-place for some leading English intellectual dissidents of the time: theologian and scientist Joseph Priestley, philosopher Richard Price, artist John Henry Fuseli,[33] early feminist Mary Wollstonecraft and English revolutionary Thomas Paine. Along with William Wordsworth and William Godwin, Blake had great hopes for the French and American revolutions and wore a Phrygian cap in solidarity with the French revolutionaries, but despaired with the rise of Robespierre and the Reign of Terror in France. In 1784 Blake composed his unfinished manuscript An Island in the Moon.
Blake illustrated Original Stories from Real Life (2nd edition, 1791) by Mary Wollstonecraft. They seem to have shared some views on sexual equality and the institution of marriage, but there is no evidence proving that they met. In 1793's Visions of the Daughters of Albion, Blake condemned the cruel absurdity of enforced chastity and marriage without love and defended the right of women to complete self-fulfilment.
From 1790 to 1800, William Blake lived in North Lambeth, London, at 13 Hercules Buildings, Hercules Road.[34] The property was demolished in 1918, but the site is now marked with a plaque.[35] There is a series of 70 mosaics commemorating Blake in the nearby railway tunnels of Waterloo Station.[36][37][38] The mosaics largely reproduce illustrations from Blake's illuminated books, The Songs of Innocence and Experience, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell, and the prophetic books.
In 1788, aged 31, Blake experimented with relief etching, a method he used to produce most of his books, paintings, pamphlets and poems. The process is also referred to as illuminated printing, and the finished products as illuminated books or prints. Illuminated printing involved writing the text of the poems on copper plates with pens and brushes, using an acid-resistant medium. Illustrations could appear alongside words in the manner of earlier illuminated manuscripts. He then etched the plates in acid to dissolve the untreated copper and leave the design standing in relief (hence the name).
This is a reversal of the usual method of etching, where the lines of the design are exposed to the acid, and the plate printed by the intaglio method. Relief etching (which Blake referred to as "stereotype" in The Ghost of Abel) was intended as a means for producing his illuminated books more quickly than via intaglio. Stereotype, a process invented in 1725, consisted of making a metal cast from a wood engraving, but Blake's innovation was, as described above, very different. The pages printed from these plates were hand-coloured in water colours and stitched together to form a volume. Blake used illuminated printing for most of his well-known works, including Songs of Innocence and of Experience, The Book of Thel, The Marriage of Heaven and Hell and Jerusalem.
Although Blake has become better known for his relief etching, his commercial work largely consisted of intaglio engraving, the standard process of engraving in the 18th century in which the artist incised an image into the copper plate, a complex and laborious process, with plates taking months or years to complete, but as Blake's contemporary, John Boydell, realised, such engraving offered a "missing link with commerce", enabling artists to connect with a mass audience and became an immensely important activity by the end of the 18th century.[40]
Europe Supported by Africa and America is an engraving by Blake dating to 1792 held in the collection of the University of Arizona Museum of Art. It depicts three attractive women embracing one another. Black Africa and White Europe hold hands in a gesture of equality as the barren earth blooms beneath their feet. Europe wears a string of pearls while her sisters Africa and America, wearing slave bracelets, are depicted as "contented slaves".[41] Some scholars have speculated that the bracelets represents the historical fact while the handclasp Stedman's "ardent wish": "we only differ in color, but are certainly all created by the same Hand."[41] Others have said it "expresses the climate of opinion in which the questions of color and slavery were at that time being considered, and which Blake's writings reflect".[42] The engraving was for a book written by Blake's friend John Gabriel Stedman called The Narrative of a Five Years Expedition against the Revolted Negroes of Surinam (1796).[43]
Blake employed intaglio engraving in his own work, such as for the illustrations of the Book of Job, completed just before his death. Most critical work has concentrated on Blake's relief etching as a technique because it is the most innovative aspect of his art, but a 2009 study drew attention to Blake's surviving plates, including those for the Book of Job: they demonstrate that he made frequent use of a technique known as "repoussage", a means of obliterating mistakes by hammering them out by hitting the back of the plate. Such techniques, typical of engraving work of the time, are very different to the much faster and fluid way of drawing on a plate that Blake employed for his relief etching, and indicates why the engravings took so long to complete.
The commission for Dante's Divine Comedy came to Blake in 1826 through Linnell, with the aim of producing a series of engravings. Blake's death in 1827 cut short the enterprise, and only a handful of watercolours were completed, with only seven of the engravings arriving at proof form. Even so, they have earned praise:
'[T]he Dante watercolours are among Blake's richest achievements, engaging fully with the problem of illustrating a poem of this complexity. The mastery of watercolour has reached an even higher level than before, and is used to extraordinary effect in differentiating the atmosphere of the three states of being in the poem.
Blake's illustrations of the poem are not merely accompanying works, but rather seem to critically revise, or furnish commentary on, certain spiritual or moral aspects of the text.
Because the project was never completed, Blake's intent may be obscured. Some indicators bolster the impression that Blake's illustrations in their totality would take issue with the text they accompany: In the margin of Homer Bearing the Sword and His Companions, Blake notes, "Every thing in Dantes Comedia shews That for Tyrannical Purposes he has made This World the Foundation of All & the Goddess Nature & not the Holy Ghost." Blake seems to dissent from Dante's admiration of the poetic works of ancient Greece, and from the apparent glee with which Dante allots punishments in Hell (as evidenced by the grim humour of the cantos).
At the same time, Blake shared Dante's distrust of materialism and the corruptive nature of power, and clearly relished the opportunity to represent the atmosphere and imagery of Dante's work pictorially. Even as he seemed to be near death, Blake's central preoccupation was his feverish work on the illustrations to Dante's Inferno; he is said to have spent one of the very last shillings he possessed on a pencil to continue sketching.
Woodchurch is the latest bete noir of Kent churches for me. Or has been for some while. Along with Hinxhill, these two have proved to be impossible to get into. The lat time I tried here was last year's heritage weekend where I found the church locked just after five in the afternoon.
So, after a flurry of e mails this week, and the warden's surprise I have always failed to get in: "its open from seven in the morning to five every day". Maybe I just went on the three or four occasions this did not happen.
Whatever, this was the first stop of the day.
Woodchurch is on the route to Cranbrook and Sissinghurst, so this is the third week I have driven through Ham Street.
We park opposite the two pubs that sit beside each other, one, The Bonny Cravat looked fine with hanging baskets outside.
But too early for a pint, so we walk up the path to the porch and pushed....
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An enormous church with much of interest. The fabric dates from the thirteenth century, and the nave arcades of alternate round and octagonal piers are made of ragstone, which was polished in the nineteenth century to resemble Bethersden marble. In fact there are some genuine pieces of Bethersden marble in the church, particularly important visually being the shafts between the east window lancets. On the south-east buttress of the chancel is a mass dial, and on the main south wall is an excellent large sundial. The rood loft stairway survives in the north chapel where there is a good and rare double hagioscope. The sedilia are made up of three graduated thirteenth-century seats with a double piscina incorporated as part of the same scheme. In the south aisle is a medallion of the Blessed Virgin Mary, while the nearby east window depicting the Crucifixion is by Kempe. In front of the pulpit is the brass to a priest, Nicholas Gore (d. 1333), a quatrefoil with a circular inscription, into which is set the figure of Gore in his vestments. The Royal Arms are those of George III and were painted by a local artist, Joseph Gibson, in 1773.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Woodchurch
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WOODCHURCH
IS the next parish south-eastward from Halden, and is within the court of the bailiwic of the Seven Hundreds, which claims paramount over the denne of Ilchenden, being a great part of it; though the manors of Apledore and of Wye claim over some parts of it.
This PARISH, which stands rather on high ground, is about five miles in length from north to south, and three miles and an half in breadth. The soil of it is in general a stiff clay, though in the southern part of it there is some light land, inclining to sand. It is exceedingly covered, throughout most of it, with oaken coppice wood, and the face of the country here, as well as the roads, are much like those of Halden, last described. The village is near the centre of the parish, built mostly round a green, with the church on the north-west side of it, and the parsonage-house. In the south-west part of the parish is Shirley-house and farm, which formerly belonged to the family of Clarke, and afterwards to the Harlackendens, from whom it was purchased by Anne Blackmore, widow of John Blackmore, esq. of Tenterden, who died in 1717; and their grandson Thomas Blackmore, esq. of Hertfordshire, now owns it, with other adjoining estates in this parish. Below this farm southward is a large tract of marshes, called Shirley, or Sherles-moor, being about three miles in length and two in breadth, lying in Woodchurch, Apledore, Eboney, and Tenterden, containing 1245 acres, and is what is called the Upper Levels, the waters of which few through Scots-float into Rye harbour. It is allowed to be the richest land for satting cattle in all these levels. It belongs to several different proprietors, among whom Sir Edward Hales, bart. Thomas Blackmore, esq. the dean and chapter of Canterbury, Richard Curteis, and the heirs of William Henley, esqrs. are the most considerable.
Sir Edward Hales, bart. and Richard Hulse, esq. are lessees of the dean and chapter of Canterbury, for lands in this level, which formerly belonged to the priory of Christ-church there.
About three quarters of a mile northward from the church, is Redbrooke-street, at which formerly resided a family named At-hale, possessed of lands in this and the neighbouring parishes.
THE MANOR OF TOWNLAND, alias WOODCHURCH, is subordinate to that of Apledore, and was part of those lands and estates assigned for the desence of Dover-castle, to the constable of which it was allotted, and made a part of his barony, which was usually stiled from him, the Constabularie, being held by him of the king in capite by barony, by the service of maintaining a certain number of soldiers from time to time for the desence of the castle. Of him and his heirs this manor was held in capite by the service of ward to the castle, Ralph de la Thun held this manor and other lands in Woodchurch, by the above service, in the 43d year of Henry III. in which year he died possessed of it, and from him it acquired the name of Thunland, or Townland, as it was afterwards called. After him Richard de Tunland became possessed of it, whose grandson John Ate Towneland paid aid for it in the 20th year of Edward III. and in his descendants it continued down to Thomas Townland, who died possessed of it in the 7th year of Henry IV. (fn. 1) After which it passed by sale into the family of Norton, whence it was sold, about the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, to the prior and convent of Leeds, who were then possessed of it, as appears by the receipt in the exchequer anno 8 of that reign, Mich. Rot. 35; and it remained part of their possessions till the dissolution of the priory, in the 31st year of that reign, when it came into the hands of the crown; from whence it was granted that year to Thomas, lord Cromwell, earl of Essex, on whose attainder next year, this manor, among the rest of his estates, became forfeited to the crown, where it staid but a small time, for the king, in his 36th year, granted it to Sir Thomas Moile, chancellor of his court of augmentation, who in the 4th year of Edward VI. alienated it to Thomas Ancos, who afterwards sold it to Thomas Lucas, gent, who died possessed of it in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth, hold ing it in capite by knight's service. He was descended from William Lucas, gent. of Ashford, who is recorded in Fuller's history, among those gentry who were returned as such, and qualified to bear arms, by the commissioners anno 12 Henry VI. (fn. 2) By the inquisition taken after his death, it was found, that Thomas Godfrey was his nephew and next heir. He died in the 7th year of that reign, and was succeeded by his brother James Godfrey, who two years afterwards alienated it to Mary, the widow of Sir John Guldeford, of Hemsted, who in the 19th year of that reign sold it to John Shellie, whose son John Shelley, esq. of Michelgrove, was created a baronet in 1611; and in his descendants, baronets, this manor continued till the reign of Charles II. How long it continued in this name, I do not find; for it was now become but of very little note. At length, after some intermediate owners, it became the property of Mr. Gabriel Richards, and since his decease of Mr. William Evans, the present possessor, who resides in it.
THE PLACE-HOUSE, or Woodchurch house, is a seat situated at a small distance eastward from the church, and was the habitation of a family who took both their surname and original from it. Anchitel de Woodchurch was possessed of it about the time of the Conqueror, and gave for his arms, Gules, three swords, erected in pale, argent. His grandson Roger de Woodchurch, is the first that is mentioned in the antient deeds, without date, of this estate, and his grandson Sir Simon de Woodchurch, is in the register of those Kentish gentlemen who accompanied king Edward I. in his victorious expedition into Scotland, where he was knighted, with many others of his countrymen. But in him the name, though not the male line, determined; for by matching with Susan, daughter and heir of Henry le Clerk, of Munsidde, in the parish of Kingsnoth, who brought a large inheritance into his family; his successors, out of gratitude to those who had added so much splendour, and annexed so plentiful a revenue to their name, altered their paternal appellation from Woodchurch to Clerke; and in several of their deeds subsequent to this match were written, Clerke, alias Woodchurch. He left two sons, Simon, who died without male issue; (fn. 3) and Clerke Woodchurch, heir to his mother's lands, as well as to his elder brother at this place, on his failure of male issue; which latter left a son Peter Clerke, alias Woodchurch, who inherited this seat on his father's death, and in his descendants it continued down to Humphry Clarke, for so they then wrote their name, who resided at Buckford, in Great Chart. He sold this seat, with the estate belonging to it, to Martin Harlackenden, esq. of this parish, whose successor Walter Harlackenden resided here in the reign of James I. and his descendant Geo. Harlackenden, esq. of Woodchurch, sold it to Winifred Bridger, widow, and Laurence her son, the latter of whom at his death devised it to his son John, who dying s.p. his sister Mrs. Winifrid Bridger, of Canterbury, succeeded to it, and dying in 1776, unmarried, by will gave it to the Rev. William Dejovas Byrch, of Canterbury, and Elizabeth his wife. He died in 1792, and she in 1798, having surviving issue an only daughter Elizabeth, since deceased, who married Samuel Egerton Brydges, esq. of Denton, who is now in his late wife's right became entitled to it.
Great part of this house has been pulled down, and the remainder of it makes but a very mean appearance, and is inhabited by several different persons.
HENDEN is an estate in this parish, which from having had for a length of time the same owners as that last-described, was once almost accounted an ap pendage to it. This place is supposed (for there are no records existing of it) to have been the original seat of the Hendens, who were in much later times seated at Biddenden-place, in this neighbourhood, as has been mentioned before, where they continued till within these few years. How long they remained possessors of it, cannot therefore be traced; but in the reign of king Richard II. the Capells, of Capellscourt, in Ivychurch, were become owners of it; in the 15th year of which reign Richard Capell died possessed of it. At length, after it had continued in his descendants for some generations, it went by the marriage of a female heir into the family of Harlackenden, of this parish, where it remained till Deborah, daughter and heir of Martin Harlackenden, entitled her husband Sir Edward Hales, knight and baronet, to the possession of this estate, together with others in this parish and neighbourhood, and in his descendants it has continued down to Sir Edward Hales, bart. of St. Stephen's, the present owner of it.
HARLACKENDEN, usually called Old Harlackenden, situated within the boroughof that name which extended likewise over part of the adjoining parish of Shadoxhurst) was for some hundred years the patrimonial demesnes of that name and family, as appeared by a tomb in this church, the inscription on which, long since obliterated, shewed that one of them lay interred there soon after the conquest. Philipott says, the proportion and shape of the characters were much like those in use in the reigns of king Henry IV. and V. which he thinks was occasioned by this tomb having been renewed by one of this person's successors and descendants in one of the above reigns, and the former one might have been in old characters, suitable to the time in which it was first erected. There are none now remaining on it. Kilburne says, it was for William Harlackenden, anno 1081. They bore for their arms, Azure, a sess, ermine, between three lions beads erased, or; which arms were painted in an upper window of Grays-Inn hall, and appeared to have been of long standing there. In his descendants, residents here, many of whom lie buried in this church, this seat continued down to Thomas Harlackenden, esq. of Woodchurch, who procured his lands to be disgavelled by the acts of 31 Henry VIII. and 2 and 3 Edward VI. He died in 1558. (fn. 4) At length his descendant George Harlackenden, esq. of this place, alienated it to Winifried Bridger, widow, and Laurence her son, whose heirs, in the 9th year of queen Anne, procured an act to vest it in trustees, and they accordingly sold it, in 1711, to dame Sarah, widow of Sir Paul Barrett, sergeant-at-law. She died that same year, and by the limitation in her will, (fn. 5) this estate devolved to her grandson Sir Francis Head, bart. son of her first husband Francis Head, esq. who died possessed of it in 1768. After which his widow, lady Head, by virtue of her jointure, came into the possession of it. She died in 1792, and it then devolved to the daughters and coheirs of her late husband Sir Francis Head, and to their heirs, in the like proportions as the Hermitage, in Higham, and his other estates in this county, in which state it remains at present. (fn. 6)
HENHURST is an estate in the north-east part of this parish, which formerly belonged to a family of the same name, whose more antient seat was at Henhurst, in Staplehurst, of which this was but a younger branch. They were likewise often written in old deeds both Henhurst and Enghurst, and continued owners of this place until the reign of king Henry VII. and then Sir Thomas Henghurst dying without issue male, his daughter and sole heir carried it in marriage to Humphry Wife, whose daughter and heir Agnes entitled her husband Mr. Robert Master to the possession of it, who bore for his arms, A lion, rampant, holding in his paws an escallop shell. His son Mr. Thomas Master resided here, but his son Giles Master quitted this residence and removed to Canterbury, where he died in 1644. At length it descended to Sir Harcourt Master, alderman of London, who became possessed of it for the term of his life, by the will of his father's eldest brother's daughter, Mary Master. He died in 1648. Since which it has continued in his descendants, one of whom, Harcourt Masters, esq. of Greenwich, owns it at this time.
HENGHAM, now usually called Great Hengham, corruptly for Engeham, its original name, lies enveloped by woods, about a mile and an half northward from Woodchurch. It was once accounted a manor, and was in early times possessed by a family of the same name, who resided at it, and were stiled sometimes Engham, alias Edingham, in antient deeds, relating to their possessions in different parts of Romney marsh, the latter being probably their original name, and the former one an abbreviation of it. (fn. 7) Alanus de Engham resided here in the reign of king John, and married the daughter of Townland, of this parish, as did his descendant Moses de Engham, alias Edingham, who by marriage with Petronell, daughter of Alan de Plurenden, greatly increased his estate in Woodchurch; and probably of kindred to this family was Odomar Hengham, esq. who died in 1411, and lies buried in the body of Canterbury cathedral. They bore for their arms, Argent, a chevron, sable, between three pellets; on a chief, gules, a lion passant, guardant, or. A branch of this family became possessed of Singleton, in Great Chart, where they rebuilt the mansion, and afterwards resided; but the last residence of the Enghams, in this county, was at Gunston, where they flourished till the beginning of this century. At length Robert Engham, of Woodchurch, leaving two daughters his coheirs, this manor, about the latter end of the reign of Henry VIII. was carried in marriage by Mary, the eldest of them, to Thomas Isley, who leaving five daughters his coheirs, Mary, married to Francis Spelman; Frances, to William Boys, esq. Elizabeth, to Anthony Mason, esq. Anne, to George Delves, esq. and Jane, to Francis Haut, esq. they, in right of their respective wives, became jointly entitled to it. This occasioned a partition of this estate, which was afterwards called by the name of Great and Little Hengham; the former having the antient mansion and manor annexed to it. This part was afterwards alienated to William Hales, esq. of Nackington, who possessed it in the reign of king James I. and in 1640, passed it away by sale to Thomas Godfrey the younger, esq. of Lid, who conveyed it to Clerke, whence it was sold in the reign of king Charles II. to John Grove, gent. of Tunstall, whose descendant Richard Grove, esq. of London, who died unmarried in 1792, by will devised it to Mr. William Jemmott and Mr. William Marshall, the former of whom, on a partition of his estates, became the sole proprietor of it, and continues so at this time. A court baron is held for this manor.
THE OTHER PART of this manor, now called Little Hengham, which lies adjoining to it southward, is now the property of the heirs of Abbot, the Whitfields, and the Combers.
PLERYNDEN, now corruptly called Plunden, is situated in the north-west part of this parish, in the midst of a wood, and in the denne of the same name. It had in early times owners, who took their furname from it and continued so till Petronell, daughter and heir of Alan de Plerynden, who bore for his arms, Perchevron, in chief, two mullets, in base, a martlet, as they appear, carved in stone, on the roof of Canterbury cloysters, carried it in marriage to Moses de Engham, in whose descendants it remained till Vincent Engham, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, passed it away by sale to William Twysden, esq. of Chelmington, whose descendant Sir Thomas Twysden, bart. of Roydon-hall, in East Peckham, about the beginning of queen Anne's reign, sold it to Mr. John Hooker, of Maidstone, who died possessed of it in 1717, and devised it to his second son John, of Broadoak, in Brenchley, gent. who dying unmarried in 1762, devised it to his youngest and only surviving brother Stephen Hooker, gent. of Halden, and he alienated it to John Children, esq. of Tunbridge, whose son George Children, esq. of that place, is the present owner of it.
Charities.
RICHARD BROWNE, late of Woodchurch, by will in 1562, gave to the poor of this parish a rent charge of 4l. 10s. per annum, on every Trinity Sunday for ever, out of a messuage called Webbes, in this parish, of the clear annual produce of 3l. 8s.
SIR EDWARD HALES, of Woodchurch, by deed in 1610, gave to the poor yearly rents out of a farm, called the Legg farm, in Kenardington.
PHEBE GOBLE, of Woodchurch, by will in 1692, gave to the poor 2l. per annum, to be paid by her heirs for ever, out of a farm, called the Bonny Cravat, in Woodchurch, (now an alehouse) the first Sunday after Old Lady-day.
THERE IS A SCHOOL, for reading and writing, supported by contribution, in this parish.
The poor constantly relieved are about ninety, casually 45.
WOODCHURCH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the dioceseof Canterbury, and deanry of Limne.
¶The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is large and handsome, consisting of three isles and three chancels, with a spire steeple, shingled, at the west end, in which hang six bells. The windows in the high chancel are small and elegant. There are some very small remains of good painted glass. In this chancel is a stone, with the figure in brass, of a priest praying, and inscription for master Nicholas de Gore, in old French; and another stone, with inscription in brass, for William Benge Capellanus, obt. 1437. In this church are many tombs and gravestones of the family of Harlackenden, which have already been mentioned before. In the south chancel there is a handsome tomb, of Bethersden marble, for Sir Edward Waterhous, chancellor of the exchequer, and privy counsellor to queen Elizabeth, in Ireland, third son of John Waterhous, esq. of Whitechurch, in Buckinghamshire, obt. s. p. 1591, his arms on his tomb, Or, a pile engrailed, sable, quartered with other coats. Kilburne says, in the east window of this chancel, were the arms of Ellis; and in the east window of the north chancel, were several essigies of the Clerkes; and in the north window of it, those of William Harey; all long since gone. The sont in this church seems very antient, being of Bethersden marble, square, and standing on four pillars.
This church was part of the antient possessions of the see of Canterbury, and continues so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
It is a rectory, valued in the king's books at 26l.13s. 4d. and the yearly tenths at 2l. 13s. 4d. In 1640 it was valued at one hundred and ten pounds. Communicants three hundred and forty-nine. In 1729 at two hundred and thirty pounds per annum.
Among the Lambeth MSS. is a decree of archbishop Peckham, concerning the tithes of Woodchurch, anno 1281. (fn. 8) There are about two acres of glebe land.
I am indebted to John Fielding (www.flickr.com/photos/john_fielding/) for posting an aerial shot of Holy Trinity, and my interest was piqued by the timber-framed building with the triple gable at the east end. Turned out this was the Lady Chapel, and more of that later. So, on my way back home to Kent, I called in to see if it looked as remarkable in the flesh as in photographs.
I arrived at Long Melford, after being taken on a magical mystery tour in light drizzle from Wortham, down narrow and narrower lanes, under and over railway lines, through woods, up and down hills until, at last, I saw the town laid out beyond the church.
I parked at the bottom of Church Walk then walked up past the line of timber framed houses, the tudor hospital and the tudor manor house.
Holy Trinity sits on top of the hill, spread out, filling its large churchyard and the large tower not out of proportion.
Inside it really is a collection of wonders, from brasses, the best collection of Medieval glass in Suffolk, to side chapels, and behind, the very unusual Lady Chapel.
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The Church of the Holy Trinity, Long Melford is a Grade I listed parish church of the Church of England in Long Melford, Suffolk, England. It is one of 310 medieval English churches dedicated to the Holy Trinity.
The church was constructed between 1467 and 1497 in the late Perpendicular Gothic style. It is a noted example of a Suffolk medieval wool church, founded and financed by wealthy wool merchants in the medieval period as impressive visual statements of their prosperity.
The church structure is highly regarded by many observers. Its cathedral-like proportions and distinctive style, along with its many original features that survived the religious upheavals of the 16th and 17th centuries, have attracted critical acclaim. Journalist and author Sir Simon Jenkins, Chairman of the National Trust, included the church in his 1999 book “England’s Thousand Best Churches”. He awarded it a maximum of 5 stars, one of only 18 to be so rated. The Holy Trinity Church features in many episodes of Michael Wood's, BBC television history series Great British Story, filmed during 2011.
A church is recorded as having been on the site since the reign of King Edward the Confessor (1042–1066). It was originally endowed by the Saxon Earl Alric, who bequeathed the patronage of the church, along with his manor at Melford Hall and about 261 acres of land, to the successive Abbots of the Benedictine Abbey of Bury St Edmund’s. There are no surviving descriptions of the original Saxon structure, although the roll of the clergy (see below) and the history of the site extend back to the 12th century.
The church was substantially rebuilt between 1467 and 1497. Of the earlier structures, only the former Lady Chapel (now the Clopton Chantry Chapel) and the nave arcades survive.
The principal benefactor who financed the reconstruction was wealthy local wool merchant John Clopton, who resided at neighbouring Kentwell Hall. John Clopton was a supporter of the Lancastrian cause during the Wars of the Roses and in 1462 was imprisoned in the Tower of London with John de Vere, 12th Earl of Oxford and a number of others, charged with corresponding treasonably with Margaret of Anjou. All of those imprisoned were eventually executed except John Clopton, who somehow made his peace with his accusers and lived to see the Lancastrians eventually triumphant at the Battle of Bosworth in 1485.
The dates of the reconstruction of the church are derived from contemporary wills, which provided endowments to finance the work
In 1710 the main tower was damaged by a lightning strike.[3] It was replaced with a brick-built structure in the 18th century and subsequently remodelled between 1898 and 1903 to its present-day appearance, designed by George Frederick Bodley in the Victorian Gothic Revival style. The new tower was closer to its original form with stone and flint facing and the addition of four new pinnacles.
The nave, at 152.6 feet (46.5 m), is believed to be the longest of any parish church in England. There are nine bays, of which the first five at the western end are believed to date from an earlier structure.
The interior is lit by 74 tracery windows, many of which retain original medieval glass. These include the image of Elizabeth de Mowbray, Duchess of Norfolk, said to have provided the inspiration for John Tenniel's illustration of the Queen of Hearts in Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
The sanctuary is dominated by the large reredos, of Caen stone and inspired by the works of Albrecht Dürer. It was installed in 1877, having been donated by the mother of the then Rector Charles Martyn.
On the north side is the alabaster and marble tomb of Sir William Cordell who was the first Patron of the Church after the dissolution of the Abbey of Bury St Edmund's in 1539. On either side of the tomb are niches containing figures that represent the four Cardinal virtues of Prudence, Justice, Temperance and Fortitude.
The sanctuary also holds one of the earliest extant alabaster bas relief panels, a nativity from the second half of the 14th century. The panel was hidden under the floor of chancel, probably early in the reign of Elizabeth I, and was rediscovered in the 18th century.[6] The panel, which may be part of an altar piece destroyed during the Reformation, includes a midwife arranging Mary's pillows and two cows looking from under her bed.
The Clopton Chapel is in the north east corner of the church. It commemorates various Clopton family members and was used by the family as a place of private worship.
The tomb of Sir William Clopton is set into an alcove here, in the north wall. An effigy of Sir William, wearing chain mail and plate armour, is set on top of the tomb. Sir William is known to have died in 1446 and it is therefore believed that this corner of the church predates the late 15th-century reconstruction. There are numerous brasses set in the floor commemorating other members of the Clopton family; two date from 1420, another shows two women wearing head attire in the butterfly style from around 1480, and a third depicts Francis Clopton who died in 1558.
There is an altar set against the east wall of the chapel and a double squint designed to provide priests with a view of the high altar when conducting Masses.
The Clopton Chantry Chapel is a small chapel at the far north east corner of the church, accessed from the Clopton Chapel. This was the original Lady Chapel and is the oldest part of the current structure. After John Clopton's death in 1497, his will made provision for the chapel to be extended and refurbished and for him to be buried alongside his wife there.[10] The chapel was then renamed, while the intended Chantry Chapel became the Lady Chapel.
The tomb of John Clopton and his wife is set in the wall leading into the chapel. Inside, the canopy vault displays faded portraits of the couple. Also displayed is a portrait of the risen Christ with a Latin text which, translated, reads Everyone who lives and believes in me shall never die. A series of empty niches in the south wall most likely once held statues of saints. Around the cornice, John Lydgate's poem "Testament" is presented in the form of a scroll along the roof, while his "Lamentation of our Lady Maria" is along the west wall.
The Lady Chapel is a separate building attached to the east end of the main church. In an unusual layout, it has a central sanctuary surrounded by a pillared ambulatory, reflecting its original intended use as a chantry chapel with John Clopton's tomb in its centre. Clopton was forced to abandon this plan when his wife died before the new building was completed and consecrated; so she was buried in the former Lady Chapel and John Clopton was subsequently interred next to her.[12]
The stone carving seen in the Lady Chapel bears similarities to work at King's College Chapel, Cambridge and at Burwell Church in Cambridgeshire. It is known that the master mason employed there was Reginald Ely, the King's Mason, and although there is no documentary proof, it is believed that Ely was also responsible for the work at Holy Trinity, Long Melford.[13]
The chapel was used as a school from 1670 until the early 18th century, and a multiplication table on the east wall serves as a reminder of this use. The steep gables of the roof also date from this period.
The Martyn Chapel is situated to the south of the chancel. It contains the tombs of several members of the Martyn family, who were prominent local wool merchants in the 15th and 16th centuries, and who also acted as benefactors of the church. These include the tomb chest of Lawrence Martyn (died 1460) and his two wives. On the floor are the tomb slabs of Roger Martyn (died 1615) and his two wives Ursula and Margaret; and of Richard Martyn (died 1624) and his three wives.
Originally, the Martyn chapel contained an altar flanked by two gilded tabernacles, one displaying an image of Christ and the other an image of Our Lady of Pity. These tabernacles reached to the ceiling of the chapel, but were removed or destroyed during the English Reformation in the reign of King Edward VI.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Holy_Trinity_Church,_Long_Melford
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The setting of Holy Trinity is superlative. At the highest point and square onto the vast village green, its southern elevation is punctuated by the 16th Century Trinity Hospital almshouses. Across the green is the prospect of Melford Hall's pepperpot turrets and chimneys behind a long Tudor wall. Another great house, Kentwell Hall, is to the north. Kentwell was home to the Clopton family, whose name you meet again and again inside the church. Norman Scarfe described it as in a way, a vast memorial chapel to the family.
Holy Trinity is the longest church in Suffolk, longer even than Mildenhall, but this is because of a feature unique in the county, a large lady chapel separate from the rest of the church beyond the east end of the chancel. The chapel itself is bigger than many East Anglian churches, although it appears externally rather domestic with its triple gable at the east end. There is a good collection of medieval glass in the otherwise clear windows, as well as a couple of modern pieces, and a very mdern altarpiece at the central altar. Jacqueline's mother remembered attending Sunday School in this chapel in the 1940s.
The intimacy of the Lady Chapel is in great contrast to the vast walls of glass which stretch away westwards, the huge perpendicular windows of the nave aisles and clerestories, which appear to make the castellated nave roof float in air. An inscription in the clerestory records the date at which the building was completed as 1496. Forty years later, it would all have been much more serious. Sixty years later, it would not have been built at all. A brick tower was added in the early 18th Century, and the present tower, by GF Bodley, was encased around it in 1903. As Sam Mortlock observes, this tower might seem out of place in Suffolk, but it nevertheless matches the scale and character of the building. It is hard to imagine the church without it.
I came here back in May with my friend David Striker, who, despite living thousands of miles away in Colorado, has nearly completed his ambition to visit every medieval church in Norfolk and Suffolk. This was his first visit to Long Melford, mine only the latest of many. We stepped down into the vast, serious space.. There was a fairly considerable 19th Century restoration here, as witnessed by the vast sprawl of Minton tiles on the floor, although perhaps the sanctuary furnishings are the building's great weakness. Perhaps it is the knowledge of this that fails to turn my head eastwards, but instead draws me across to the north aisle for the best collection of medieval glass in Suffolk. During the 19th century restoration it was collected into the east window and north and south aisles, but in the 1960s it was all recollected here. Even on a sunny day it is a perfect setting for exploring it.
The most striking figures are probably those of the medieval donors, who originally would have been set prayerfully at the base of windows of devotional subjects. Famously, the portrait of Elizabeth, Duchess of Norfolk is said to have provided the inspiration for John Tenneil's Duchess in his illustrations to Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland, although I'm not sure there is any evidence for this. Indeed, several of the ladies here might have provided similar inspiration.
The best glass is the pieta, Mary holding the body of Christ the Man of Sorrows. Beneath it is perhaps the best-known, the Holy Trinity represented in a roundel as three hares with their ears interlocking. An angel holding a Holy Trinity shield in an upper light recalls the same thing at Salle. Other glass includes a fine resurrection scene and a sequence of 15th Century Saints. There is also a small amount of continental glass collected in later centuries, including a most curious oval lozenge of St Francis receiving the stigmata.
Walking eastwards down the north aisle until the glass runs out, you are rewarded by a remarkable survival, a 14th century alabaster panel of the Adoration of the Magi. It probably formed part of the altar piece here, and was rediscovered hidden under the floorboards in the 18th century. Fragments of similar reliefs survive elsewhere in East Anglia, but none in such perfect condition. Beyond it, you step through into the north chancel chapel where there are a number of Clopton brasses, impressive but not in terribly good condition, and then beyond that into the secretive Clopton chantry. This beautiful little chapel probably dates from the completion of the church in the last decade of the 15th century. Here, chantry priests would have celebrated Masses for the dead of the Clopton family. The chapel is intricately decorated with devotional symbols and vinework, as well as poems attributed to John Lidgate. The beautiful Tudor tracery of the window is filled with elegant clear glass except for another great survival, a lily crucifix. This representation occurs just once more in Suffolk, on the font at Great Glemham. The panel is probably a later addition here from elsewhere in the church, but it is still haunting to think of the Chantry priests kneeling towards the window as they asked for intercessions for the souls of the Clopton dead. It was intended that the prayers of the priests would sustain the Cloptons in perpetuity, but in fact it would last barely half a century before the Reformation outlawed such practices.
You step back into the chancel to be confronted by the imposing stone reredos. Its towering heaviness is out of sympathy with the lightness and simplicity of the Perpendicular windows, and it predates Bodley's restoration. The screen which separates the chancel from the south chapel is medeival, albeit restored, and I was struck by a fierce little dragon, although photographing it into the strong south window sunshine beyond proved impossible. The brasses in the south chapel are good, and in better condition. They are to members of the Martyn family.
The south chapel is also the last resting place of Long Melford's other great family, the Cordells. Sir William Cordell's tomb dominates the space. He died in 1581, and donated the Trinity Hospital outside. His name survives elsewhere in Long Melford: my wife's mother grew up on Cordell Road, part of a council estate cunningly hidden from the High Street by its buildings on the east side.
Simon Knott, January 2013
I used a toy horse and tried to make it look almost life-size by making it look like it was drinking from the creek.
I chose to show proportion on a chess board because it there is a small proportion of chess pieces at the front while there are more at the back. I took this picture using a shutter speed of 1/80 and an aperture of F 6.3. This picture didnt need much editing, just a little bit of sharpening and levels adjustment.
Stanford sits beside the junction on the M20 for Hythe and the junction with the bottom of the old Roman Road of Stone Street, and is the chosen location for the massive lorry park for any Brexit-related delays/jams. Only the DoT seemed to have forgotten to include an environmental impact assessment with the application, and was withdrawn.
Could still happen I guess, and the fine fellow in mustard coloured cords seemed to think it was still a possibility.
But for the time being, Stanford is quiet enough, with a fine looking pub, The Drum, and this mostly Victorian church, which I was rather taken with.
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What a delightful church! It is almost completely Victorian with the nave and chancel being rebuilt 30 years apart. The nave is severely plain, but the west windows may be part of the medieval church re-used. The font is a most unusual piece and is either Victorian or seventeenth century. It ahs certainly been recut over the years and has no Christian iconography. The chancel is well proportioned and entered via a well carved chancel arch. The east windows are shafted and have rere-arches. The stonework over the organ is typical late nineteenth century with castellations and niches, all probably designed by Carpenter. All in all this is a lovely church with a warm feeling and magnificent proportions. It deserves to be better known.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Stanford
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THE next parish south-eastward from Horton is that of Stanford, which takes its name both from its soil and situation, slane in Saxon signifying a stone, and ford, a rivulet. The parish of Stanford itself lies in the hundred of Stowring, but that of Westenhanger, now united to it, is within the hundred of Street.
It is, the greatest part of it, a low unpleasant situation, lying at a small distance below the down hills. The greatest part of it is pasture ground, and very wet. The soil is very clity and poor near the hill, where the ground lies higher, but lower down it becomes richer, and has some good fertile meadows in it. There is but little wood, only two small coppices in the northern part of it; the rents are about 900l. per annum. The high road along the Stone-street way from Canterbury, and over Hampton hill, leads through this parish towards Newinn-green, whence it continues strait forward to Limne, the Portus Lemanis of the Romans, and to the right and left to Ashford and Hythe. Stanford-street is built on this road, in which there is a neat modern-built house, belonging to Mr. Jones, who lives in it; the church stands on a gentle rise eastward from it. The parish is watered by the stream which rises above Postling church, being the head of that branch of the river called the Old Stour, which running from thence hither, having been joined by several smaller streams from the north-west, crosses the high road westward below Stanford-street towards Ashford. The bridge under which it runs here, being broken down anno 7 Edward I. the jury found, that it ought to be repaired by Nicholas de Criol, and not by the adjacent hundreds. At a small distance westward from this bridge, and not far from the stream, stands the antient mansion of Westenhanger, having a gloomy appearance, in a low unpleasant situation, having an extent of flat country and pasture grounds in front of it, the above stream supplying the broad deep moat which surrounds it.
The ruins of this mansion, though very small, shew it to have been formerly a very large and magnificent pile of building. The antiquity of this mansion was, no doubt, very high, and if not originally built by one of the family of Criol, was afterwards much enlarged and strengthened by them. From one of the towers still retaining the name of Rosamond's tower, where the tradition is, that fair mistress of king Henry II. was kept for some time, it should seem to have been built before his reign, or perhaps even belonging to him. Which seems the more probable from there having been found among the ruins the left hand of a well carved statue, with the end of a sceptre grasped in it; a position peculiar to this prince, one of whose seals was so made in the life time of his father. (fn. 1) The scite of the house, moated round, had a drawbridge, a gatehouse and portal, the arch of which was large and strong, springing from six polygonal pillars, with a portcullis to it. The walls were very high, and of great thickness, the whole of them embattled, and fortified with nine great towers, alternately square and round, and a gallery reaching throughout the whole from one to the other. One of these, with the gallery adjoining to it on the north side, was called, as has been already mentioned, Fair Rosamond's; and it is suppoted she was kept here some time before her removal to Woodstock. The room called her prison, was a long upper one, of 160 feet in length, which was likewise called her gallery. Over the door of entrance into the house was carved in stone, the figure of St. George on horseback, and under it four shields of arms; one of which was the arms of England, and another a key and crown, supported by two angels. On the right hand was a slight of freestone steps, which led into a chapel, now a stable, curiously vaulted with stone, being erected by Sir Edward Poynings, in the reign of king Henry VIII. At each corner of the window of this chapel was curiously carved in stone, a canopy. There were likewise in it several pedestals for statues, and over the window stood a statue of St. Anthony, with a pig at his feet, and a bell hanging to one of its ears. At the west end were the statues of St. Christopher and king Herod. The great hall was fifty feet long, with a music gallery at one end of it, and at the other a range of cloisters which led to the chapel, and other apartments of the house. There were one hundred and twenty-six rooms in it, and, by report, three hundred and sixty-five windows. In the year 1701, more than three parts of it was pulled down, for the sake of the sale of the materials, which were then sold for 1000l. After this Mr. Champneis, the purchaser of it, converted the remainder into a small neat edifice for his residence; which house, within these few years, has been again pulled down, and a yet smaller modern one built on the scite of it. All that now remains therefore of this great mansion and its extensive surrounding buildings, are the walls and two towers on the north and east sides of it, which being undermined by length of time, are yearly falling in huge masses into the adjoining moat; and the remaining ruins being covered with ivy and trees, growing spontaneously on and through the sides of every part of them, exhibit an awful scene, and a melancholy remembrance of its antient grandeur; the under part of the great entrance yet remains, the arch over it having been taken down but lately; and there are numberless fragments of carved stone-work lying scattered about. The whole was built of quarry-stone, said to have been dug in the quarries of the adjoining manor of Otterpoole, in Limne, ornamented with sculptured stone brought from Caen. The park which belonged to this mansion, extended over the east and south parts of this parish, rather on rising ground, formerly comprehending the whole parochial district of Ostenhanger, at the southern boundary of which is New-Inn-green, so called from a new inn built there in king Henry the VIIIth's time, near which there is a small hamlet built on the road leading from Hythe to Ashford. Near the western boundary of the parish is a small green, built round with houses, called Gibbins brook, situated in the borough of Gimminge, its proper name, in a very wet and swampy country.
There was an annual fair instituted in 1758, to be holden in Stanford-street on June 7, for all sorts of cattle, but it was soon left off, and there has not been any held for near twenty years past.
THE MANOR OP STANFORD was antiently part of the possessions of the family of De Morinis, whose descendants the Derings continued afterwards to possess it. Sir Richard Dering, of Hayton, was owner of it anno 22 Richard II. and then quitted the possession of it to Sir Arnald St. Leger. (fn. 2) How it passed afterwards, I have not found; but in 1659 it was the property of Richard Busbridge, of Nottinghamshire, one of whose descendants sold it in 1699 to George Hamond, of Stanford, and he in 1733 alienated it to Michael Lade, of Canterbury, who parted with it again two years afterwards to Wile, of Sandwich, from which name it came to Mr. Odiarne Coates, of New Romney, whose heirs now possess it.
THE MANOR OF BEKEHURST, alias SHORNECOURT, lay somewhere in, or near this parish; for by the Book of Aid, levied anno 20 Edward III. it appears, that the heirs of Walter de Shorne paid aid for it, as the eighth part of a knight's see, which the said Walter before held in Bokehurst of John de Criell, as of his manor of Westenhanger. In king Henry VIII.'s reign, this manor was in the possession of Humphry Gay, gent. but in 1613 it was become the property of Sir Thomas Hardres, who that year levied a fine of it; but where it is situated, or who have possessed it since, I have not, with all my eldeavours, been able to discover.
HEYTON is another manor, lying at the north-west corner of this parish, next to Horton, being frequently mentioned in antient deeds by the name of Hayte. It was in very early times possessed by a family which took its surname from it, and bore for their cognizance in antient armorials, Gules, three piles, argent. Alanus de Heyton was owner of this manor in the reign of king Henry II. in which reign he held by knight's service of Gilbert de Magminot, but dying s.p. Elveva his sister, married to Deringus de Morinis, became his heir, and entitled her husband to it, and wrote himself, as appears by several dateless deeds, Dominus de Heyton. Their son Deringus Fitz Dering, was the first who deserted the name of Morinis, whose son Richard Fitz Dering, who likewise wrote himself Dominus de Heyton, died possessed of it at the latter end of the reign of king Henry III. and left it to his son Peter Dering, whose grandson Sir Richard Dering appears to have possessed it in the 22d year of king Richard II. and that year to have quitted the possession of it to Sir Arnald Seyntleger. After which it passed into the family of Scott, of Braborne, in which it continued till the reign of queen Elizabeth, when it was alienated by one of them to Mr. William Smith, of Stanford, yeoman, in whose descendants, resident at it, this manor continued down to Mr. William Smith, gent, of Heyton, who dying s.p. by will devised it to his widow Anne, daughter of Mr. John Drake, of London, and she having in 1769 remarried with the Rev. George Lynch, he in her right became possessed of it, and for some time resided here, till on the death of his brother Robert Lynch, M. D. he removed to Ripple, where he died in 1789, s.p. and by his will devised it to his two surviving sisters, who are the present possessors of it. (fn. 3) A court baron is held for this manor.
WESTENHANGER is an eminent manor here, which was once a parish of itself, though now united to Stanford: Its antient and more proper name, as appears by the register of the monastery of St. Angustine, was Le Hangre, yet I find it called likewise in records as high as the reign of Richard I. by the names both of Ostenhanger and Westenhanger, which certainly arose from its having been divided, and in the hands of separate owners, being possessed by the two eminent families of Criol and Auberville. Bertram de Criol, who was constable of Dover castle, lord warden of the five ports, and sheriff of Kent, for several years in the reign of king Henry III. who from his great possessions in this country, was usually stiled the great lord of Kent, is written in the pipe-rolls of the 27th year of that reign, of Ostenhanger, where it is said he rebuilt great part of the then antient mansion. He left two sons, Nicholas and John, the former of whom marrying with Joane, daughter and heir of Sir William de Aubervilse, inherited in her right the other part of this manor, called Westenhanger, as will be further mentioned hereafter. John, the younger son, seems to have inherited his father's share of this manor, called Ostenhanger, of which he died possessed in the 48th year of king Henry III. as did his son Bertram de Criol in the 23d year of Edward I. leaving two sons, John and Bertram, who both died s.p. and a daughter Joane, who upon the death of the latter became his heir, and carried Ostenhanger, among the rest of her inheritance, in marriage to Sir Richard de Rokesle, seneschal and governor of Poictu and Montreul in Picardy, a man of eminent character in that time, having been created a knight-banneret by king Edward I. at the siege of Carlaverock, in Scotland. He died without issue male, leaving his two daughters his coheirs, of whom Agnes, the eldest, married Thomas de Poynings; and Joane, the youngest, first Hugh de Pateshall, and secondly Sir William le Baud, and upon the division of their inheritance, Ostenhanger was wholly allotted to Thomas de Poynings, who died anno 13 Edward III. bearing for his arms, Barry of six, or, and vert, over all a bend, gules. He left three sons, Nicholas, Michael, and Lucas de Poynings, all three summoned at different times to parliament, among the barons of this realm. The descendants of the latter being summoned as barons Poynings de St. John, which barony became vested in the late duke of Bolton. Upon the division of their inheritance, this manor was allotted to the second son Michael, who died anno 43 king Edward III. and left two sons, Thomas and Richard. Thomas de Poynings, the eldest son, possessed it on his father's death, but he died anno 49 Edward III. s.p. having bequeathed his body to be buried in the midst of the choir of St. Radigund's, of his own patronage, before the high altar, appointing that a fair tomb should be placed over his grave, with the image of a knight made thereon. Upon his death, Richard de Poynings, his youngest brother, succeeded to it, and died possessed of it in the IIth year of king Richard II. as did his son Robert anno 25 Henry VI. having had two sons, Richard de Poynings, who died in his life-time, leaving a sole daughter and heir Alianore, who married Sir Henry Percy, afterwards earl of Northumberland, and brought him a large inheritance, together with the baronies of Poynings, Bryan, and Fitzpain, now enjoyed by the present duke of Northumberland; and a second son Robert, who succeeded his father in Ostenhanger, of which he died possessed anno 9 Edward IV. (fn. 4) who, as well as his several ancestors above-mentioned, were summoned among the barons to parliament, and his son Sir Edward Poynings, who having purchased the other part of this great manor, called Westenhanger, became possessed of the whole property of it, as will be further mentioned hereafter.
To return now to that part of this eminent manor, distinguished from its situation by the name of Westenhanger, which was in the reign of king Richard I. in the possession of the family of Auberville, one of whom, Sir William de Auberville, descended from William de Ogburville, mentioned in the survey of Domesday, being one of those who attended the Conqueror in his expedition hither, resided in that reign in the borough of Westenhanger, and was founder of the abbey of West Langdon, and a benefactor to the priory of Christ church, and as appears by his seal appendant to a deed in the Surrenden library, dated 29 Henry III. bore for his arms, Parted per dancette, two annulets in chief, and one in base. His grandson, of the same name, left an only daughter and heir Joane, who marrying with Nicholas de Criol, brought him this estate as part of her inheritance. His descendant Sir John de Criol, in the 19th year of Edward III. obtained a licence to found and endow a chantry in the chapel of St. John, in Westenhanger,; and before, in the 17th year of that reign, he had a grant to embattle and make loop-holes in his mansion-house of Westenhanger. His descendant Sir Nicholas de Criol, or Keriel, died possessed of it in the 3d year of king Richard II. and from him it devolved at length by succession to Sir Thomas Keriel, for so their name was then in general spelt, who was slain in the second battle of St. Albans, in the 38th year of Henry VI. in asserting the cause of the house of York. On his death without male issue, his two daughters became his coheirs, (fn. 5) viz. Elizabeth, married to John Bourchier, esq. and Alice, to John Fogge, esq. of Repton, afterwards knighted, whose second wife she was; and on the division of their inheritance, Westenhanger was allotted to the latter. He had by her one son, Sir Thomas Fogge, sergeant-porter of Calais in the reigns of king Henry VII. and VIII. who sold his interest in it to his elder brother, (by his father's first wise Alice Haut) Sir John Fogge, of Repton, and he, about the beginning of king Henry VIII.'s reign, alienated it to Sir Edward Poynings, the possessor of the other part of this manor, who thereupon became possessed of both Ostenhanger and Westenhanger, being the entire property of the whole manor. He was a man of much eminence of that time, and greatly in favour both with king Henry VII. and VIII. being governor of Dover castle, lord warden of the five ports, and knight of the garter. He resided at Westenhanger, where he began building magnificently, but he died before his stately mansion here was finished, anno 14 Henry VIII. having married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir John Scott, of Scotts-hall, by whom he had one only child John, who died in his life time; so that thus deceasing without legitimate issue, and even without any collateral kindred, who could make claim to his estates, this manor, among the rest of them, escheated to the crown. Although Sir Edward Poynings died without legitimate issue, yet he left by four different concubines three sons, Sir Thomas, who afterwards died s. p. Sir Adrian Poynings, who died without male issue; and Edward, slain at Bologne in the 38th year of Henry VIII. and likewise four daughters.
This manor thus becoming vested in the crown, was by the king's bounty soon afterwards conferred on his eldest natural son Sir Thomas Poynings abovementioned, who was a gentleman noted for the beauty and elegance of his person, and was of equal merit; and being of remarkable strength and courage, greatly signalized himself at the justs and tournaments of those times of which the king being himself exceedingly fond, it recommended him still more to the royal favour, and he was made K. B. and was summoned to parliament as baron Poynings, of Ostenhanger. But in the 32d year of the same reign, he, with dame Catherine his wife, exchanged this manor, park, and sundry premises belonging to it, with the king, for other estates in Dorsetshire and Wiltshire. (fn. 6) Soon after which, the king seems to have intended this manor as a mansion fit for his royal residence; for he not only expended much on the completing of the unfinished state of it, but two years afterwards laid into the park a large circuit of land, inclosing many mansions, houses, and buildings of the inhabitants within the pale of it; at which time this manor seems to have been indiscriminately called by both the names of Ostenhanger and Westenhanger. After which, the manor, together with the mansion, park, and other appurtenances belonging to it, continued in the hands of the crown till the reign of Edward VI. when that prince, in his first year, granted it with its appurtenances, to John Dudley, earl of Warwick, to hold in capite by knight's service; but in the 3d year of that reign, the earl joined with dame Joane his wife, in the reconveyance of it to the king, in exchange for premises in other counties. The next year after which the king granted it, among other premises, to Edward Fynes, lord Clinton, son of Thomas, lord Clinton, by Mary, one of the four daughters of Sir Edward Poynings before-mentioned, to hold in capite by knight's service, and in the 6th year of his reign, he made a new grant to him and Henry Herdson, his trustee of it, together with the advowson of the rectory, to hold by the like service; and they not long afterwards alienated the manor of Westenhanger with its appurtenances, to Richard Sackville, esq. who died possessed of it in the 8th year of queen Elizabeth; but it should seem that he had it only for his life, or perhaps might not be in possession of the mansion of Westenhanger itself; for that queen, in the progress which she made through this county, at the latter end of the summer in the year 1573, is said in the course of it to have stayed at her own house of Westenhanger, the keeper of which was then Thomas, lord Buckhurst, son of Richard Sackville, before-mentioned, And further, for that the queen, in her 27th year, granted the manor of Eastenhanger with its appurtenances, in see to Thomas Smith, esq. He was commonly called the Customer, from his farming the customs of the port of London, and he having greatly increased the beauty of this mansion, which had been impaired and defaced by fire, with magnificent additions, resided here; and when Lambarde wrote his Perambulation in 1570, there were here two parks, which continued till one of the family of Smith disparked them both. He died in 1591, and was succeeded by his eldest son Sir John Smythe, who was of Ostenhanger, where he kept his shrievalty in the 42d year of queen Elizabeth, and died in 1609. His son Sir Thomas Smythe, K. B. resided likewise at Westenhanger, (for by both these names this place was yet at times differently called) and was in 1628 created viscount Strangford, of the kingdom of Ireland. His son Philip, viscount Strangford, conveyed it to trustees, (fn. 7) and they, at the latter end of king Charles II.'s reign, alienated this manor, with its mansion, lands, and appurtenances, to Finch, who having in 1701 pulled down by far the greatest part of this stately mansion, then passed it away by sale to Justinian Champneis, esq. The family of Champneis are descended from Sir Amyan Champneis, who flourished in king Henry the IId's reign, whose descendants settled in Somersershire; one of whom, Robt. Champneis, of Chew, in that county, was father of Sir John Champneis, lord mayor of London anno 26 king Henry VIII. who was possessed of Hall-place, in Bexley, where he resided, and in which he was succeeded by his son, the youngest and only surviving son of seven, Justinian. One of his descendants, Walter Champneis, son of William, appears by the parish register of Boxley to have lived in that parish in queen Elizabeth's reign, anno 1582. After which there is continued mention in it of them down to the burial of Justinian Champneis, esq in 1712. Justinian Champneis, the purchaser of this estate, bore for his arms, Parted per pale, argent and sable, a lion rampant, gules, within a bordure, engrailed and counterchanged, of the field. He afterwards resided here, having built a smaller house on the same scite, out of the ruins remaining of it. He was one of the five Kentish gentlemen, who in 1701, delivered the noted petition from this county to the house of commons. He died possessed of this manor and estate, far advanced in years, in 1748, leaving three sons, Justinian, William, and Henry. On his death, by the settlement made on his marriage, one sixth part of this estate devolved to the two younger sons, and the rest of it on the eldest son Justinian Champneis, esq. who dying abroad, s. p. in 1754, gave by will his interest in it to his younger brother Henry; and the remaining sixth part came by compromise wholly to the then eldest surviving brother William Champneis, esq. who resided at Vintners, in Boxley. He left by his first wife two daughters his coheirs, Frances, now unmarried, and Harrior, who married John Burt, esq. of Rochester, by whom she had two sons, WilliamHenry and Thomas, and a daughter Harriot, as will be further mentioned hereafter. On his death in 1762, his sixth part of this estate came to his two daughters and coheirs before-mentioned, the eldest of whom, in her own right, and the two sons of John Burt, esq. deceased, in right of the youngest, is at this time entitled to it. The remaining part of this estate was by Henry Champneis, esq. of Vintners, in Boxley, who died unmarried in 1781, devised to his great nephew William-Henry Burt, the eldest son of John Burt, esq. by his wife Harriot before-mentioned, for whom he had in his life-time obtained a privy seal, to take the surname and bear the arms of Champneis. Which William-Henry Champneis, esq. is now entitled to the inheritance of it.
¶The parish of Ostenbanger stood, as to its ecclesiastical jurisdiction, in the deanry of Limne and diocese of Canterbury. The church, which was a rectory, was formerly in the patronage of the owners of the manor, and came to the crown on the death of Sir Edward Poynings, in the 14th year of king Henry VIII. whence it was granted, as appurtenant to the manor, to Sir Thomas Poynings, who in the 34th year of that reign, granted it to the crown in exchange; in which year the king having laid a large circuit of land into his park here, of which the rector had received the yearly tithes, and having likewise inclosed and imparked in it many houses, barns, and glebe-lands belonging to the rectory, and injoined the parishioners and inhabitants to resort to the parish to which they lay nearest, by which means the rector was destitute of a maintenance, granted to him for life, a yearly pension of six pounds, to be had of his treasurer of the Augmentation-office. Thus this parish became, as to its ecclesiastical juridiction, united to Stanford, to which church the owners of this estate, in whom the tithes of the whole of it are vested, pay a composition of eleven shillings as an acknowledgment for the privilege the inhabitants within it enjoy of the rites of the church there.
The rectory of Eastenhanger is valued in the king's books at 7l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 15s. 3d. which are paid to the crown receiver, and not to the archbishop.
The church of Westenhanger has been entirely pulled down, and the materials removed, several years ago. It stood at a small distance westward of the house, and of the drawbridge at the entrance to it, between the latter and the great barn, which report says, was partly built out of the ruins of it. Several skeletons have from time to time been dug up within the scite of it and adjoining to it; and in some of the graves, several sculls in one grave; and some years ago a stone coffin was dug up. The font, which was in this church, was removed to, the church of Stanford, where it now remains.
I find the names of only two of the rectors of this parish, viz. William Lambard, in the 34th year of king Henry VIII. (fn. 8) and Thomas Eaton, A. M. presented by the crown in 1636. (fn. 9)
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A short drive from Aylesford is Birling, a small but attractive village, stretched out along a winding street, and dominated by the church on a rise. The road winds round it then out of the village.
I was past the church and out of the village again before I knew it.
I found a place to park and walked to the church, hopeful it might be open.
It was not.
But details of the keyholder said they lived opposite, so I knocked and was presented with the large key from a rusty nail on the wall. I thought you were selling something she said.
I walk back through the lych gate, up the steps and turn the key in the lock. Turning the handle, I push and the door swung open, revealing the church to be dark. But there were light, I flicked them on.
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Dominating the centre of this tiny village, Birling tower is a thinned down version of the familiar `beacon turret` so commonly found in Kent. Thinned down because there wasn't room for a properly proportioned structure, so close is it built to the end of the escarpment on which the church stands. The church is famed for two features, both connected with the Nevill family. The first is the cast-iron trapdoor the their burial vault in the chancel, resplendent with highly coloured bulls (the family emblem) and the family motto. The second is the font cover, carved by daughters of the family in the nineteenth century. Each section is initialled on the inside so that you can see who carved it. West tower, south aisle, nave, north aisle, chancel.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is a handsome building, consisting of a nave, south isle, and chancel. It has a good tower at the west end of it.
The church of Birling, with certain land in this parish, was given by Walkelin de Maminot, lord of this place, in the 15th year of king Henry II. anno 1168, to the priory of Bermondsey, in perpetual alms; which gift was confirmed by that king. Soon after which it seems to have been confirmed and appropri ated to it by Walter, bishop of Rochester, at the king's request; and again more amply by the bishops Gualeran and Gilbert, his successor; and again by the Says, as heirs to the Maminots; and by Geoffry de Say, who married Alice, sister and coheir of Wakelin Maminot. The prior and convent of Rochester, in 1270, John, prior of, and the convent of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, acknowledged an annual pension of 20s. due from this church to the bishop of Rochester, which pension continues to be paid to the bishops of that see.
Upon a writ in the 20th year of king Edward III. the bishop certified, that the prior and convent possessed the appropriation of this church, which was taxed at ten pounds, and that the religious were not resident upon it. (fn. 14)
Richard Mann, perpetual vicar of this church, about the year 1447, anno 26 Henry VI. made complaint to the archbishop of Canterbury, of the insufficiency of the revenue of the vicarage for his maintenance, and that the prior and convent of Bermondsey, proprietaries of this church, refused to augment the portion of it; and he set forth that the produce and income belonging to the vicar and vicarage, did not exceed the annual value or sum of 4l. 15s. 8d. in the tithes of calves, milk, and foals 8s. 9d. yearly; in the tithes of lambs, wool, pigs, geese, apples, hemp, and in the tithes of the oblations of the four days yearly; and for sheep and cows forty one shillings and twelve-pence, in the pension paid to the vicar by the abbot and convent forty-four shillings and tenpence. And further, that the portion of the vicar and vicarage had been for some time, and was then insufficient, incompetent, and too slender; and that he could not, out of it, be supported in a proper manner, nor undergo the rights and burthens incumbent on him, or his vicarage, nor use that hospitality which he ought and was bound to do. That the parish church had a large and extended parish, containing six miles in circuit, having some of the parishioners of both sexes two miles or thereabout distant from the church, which, when there was occasion, he was bound to visit, and to administer to them the church offices and sacraments. That the mansion of the vicar there, and the buildings belonging to it, were, through the negligence of the abbot and convent, in a ruinous state, and would very soon, fall to the ground; which if they should they could not be rebuilt again for twenty pounds. That he the vicar had exercised the no small cure of fouls of the parish church, of one hundred parishioners, or thereabouts, although with great inconvenience, and in great misery and want during the whole time of his having been vicar, and had employed himself in every religious duty to the best of his abilities, and still continued so to do. That the portion of the fruits and profits of the parish church, belonging to the abbot and convent, proprietaries of it, had been from the time of the appropriation of it, and was then so rich and abundant, that, according to common estimation, the portion of the vicar might well be augmented out of it to the value of twenty marcs sterling, or thereabout; and that the abbot and convent, although they had been often requested, to augment the portion of the vicarage, out of the revenues of the church, in a competent manner, had, without alledging any reason, always refused it, or at least deferred it beyond reason, to the great damage, &c. Upon which it was decreed, that the prior and convent should augment the portion of the vicarage out of the fruits and profits of this church, or in money, to the amount of eight marcs sterling, beyond the antient portion of it, within the space of one month; and they were condemned in all costs, &c. but on their neglecting to obey this decree, a further one was made, that in satisfaction of the payment of the said eight marcs, there should be set apart and assigned to the vicar, and his successors, (at his request) the tithes, as well great as small, yearly accruing and arising from the lands, fields, and places below the lane, vulgarly called Benetis-lane, westward, and from the north side of the said lane, according to the bounds and limits of this parish, to those of the parish of Snodland on the north side, and from thence to the bounds and limits of the parish of East Malling on the east side, to the common pasture of Hordo, and from thence to the south end of Benetis-lane aforesaid, &c.
¶When the church of Birling, and the advowson of the vicarage passed from the above mentioned monastery, I have not found, but it appears by an inrolment made in chancery, and now in the Augmentation-office, that in the 13th year of king Henry VIII. George Nevill, lord Abergavenny, was possessed of a barn, and one hundred and fifty acres of land late belonging to that monastery, and then inclosed in the park of Birling, and also of the rectory of Birling, and all tithes, tenths, &c. belonging to it, and the advowson of the vicarage late belonging to the abbot and convent. Since which, they have descended down to the Right Hon. Henry, earl of Abergavenny, the present owner and patron of them.
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp474-488
LOCATION: At c. 110 feet above O.D. on a Folkestone beds knoll at the north end of the village. Birling Place lies ¾ mile to the north-west.
DESCRIPTION: A church is mentioned in Domesday Book (1086), and it is probable that the nave of the present church, without its aisles, is Norman. The only evidence for this, however, is one tufa block on the south-west corner of the nave, and some detached (?reused) tufa blocks in the west face of the south-west buttress to the south aisle.
In the early 14th century first one aisle, then the other, was rebuilt with finely-tooled octagonal arcade piers of Kentish Ragstone. Above them are moulded capitals (slightly different south and north) with pointed arches over with double hollow chamfers. There are four bays of arcading, but the arches are not exactly regularly spaced, and the centre pier on the north is more elongated east-west, with an indication that there might have been a narrow partition on its north and south sides. There is also a slight scar opposite in the north wall. The south side has a separate gabled roof (of plain rafters, collars, braces and unmoulded tie-beams), and this is also perhaps 14th century. The aisle wall has three buttresses on the south, and at its east end (possibly the chapel of St. James) is a double trefoiled window. There is another in the south wall at the east end, with piscina just east of it. All the other windows in the south aisle are single trefoiled lights. The south doorway is also contemporary and has a hoodmould over its 2-centred arch. The door and hinges may also be original. Outside the door was a porch, but this was removed in the mid-19th century.
The north aisle outer wall has a more complicated history. At its east end, which may have been the Lady Chapel, two 2-light 15th century windows (on the north and east) seem to have been inserted into the 14th century fabric. There is also a high lancet over the east window, and a small blocked doorway (visible outside) in the north-east corner. A long thin pilaster buttress on the outside of the north wall, which slopes back into the wall, may have related to a later 15th century Rood stair. The west end of the aisle, which has an external plinth seems certainly to have been rebuilt in the late 15th or early 16th century, though the 2-light north window here appears to be a reset 14th century one. The north doorway has pyramid stops, and an early 14th century single-light trefoil-headed window above. It now leads into a 19th century vestry. There is also perhaps an original door here. The roof over the aisle has moulded beams and wall-plates, and a partitioned off vestry at its west end. Also the ground level in this aisle appears to have been lowered.
The west tower is a fine early 15th century ‘Kentish’ tower with a crenellated parapet and pyramid roof. It contains 8 bells (three of 1631) set in a new (1987) iron frame. It has also had many of its find Kentish ragstone dressings restored (also in 1986-7) with many new stones. This has been an over-zealous restoration. On the south-east side of the tower is a semi-octagonal stair-turret, which rises above the tower-top, and has its own tiled octagonal roof. The tower has diagonal western buttresses, and a square-headed western doorway with pyramid stops (all the dressings of this doorway, and the tracery of the Perpendicular windows above have recently - 1987 - been restored). Under the tower arch was a gallery until 1866.
As has already been seen, the west end of the north aisle was probably rebuilt in the later 15th century (there are a few red-bricks in the walls), and at the east end of this aisle a north and a south window seems to have been inserted, as well as possibly a Rood-stair. There is also a 15th century Ragstone font (with 1853 cover).
There is no chancel arch, and a large wide early 16th century chancel. This chancel must have been completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family after they had acquired the patronage of the church from Bermondsey Abbey. On the south side are four square-headed early Tudor 2-light windows, and only the western one has Perpendicular tracery. The wall is in quasi-checker work, and has a hollow-chamfered plinth, which also goes round a diagonal (south-east) buttress and along the east wall. Here there is a large six-light window (also without tracery and perhaps with original ferromenta) that Hasted says contained glass with the arms of Sir George Nevill, Lord Bergavenney, ‘within the garter’ (He was a knight of the garter from 1514, and was buried here in 1535). There is also a small round-headed window in the east gable, with red bricks around it, but the wall and window had to be repaired after 1942 bomb damage. The very plain north wall of the chancel contains large Rag and ironstone blocks in quasi-checker pattern. It has no plinth and only one window (at the extreme western end), but also a north doorway from it into a 19th century vestry. Was there an earlier larger vestry?
The chancel has a moulded flat ceiling (painted in 1963), and the earlier steep-pitched roof was replaced in c.1828 with a low-pitched slate covered roof. At about the same time the Nevill family burial vault was rebuilt under the eastern third of the chancel. It has a cast-iron cover to the entry steps, and there are two early 19th century niches on either side of the sanctuary, with air-vents to the vault beneath. The family pews in the chancel, and the other fittings and memorials were put there in the mid-19th century. (Two fire helms from the chancel are now in ‘safekeeping’).
BUILDING MATERIALS: c.):
The principle rubble materials are local Ragstone and ironstone, with Ragstone dressings. A few perhaps reused tufa blocks from the early church are in the west wall, and some red brick is used in the early 16th century work.
Some Caenstone (?for restoration) and cement repairs.
EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: -
Various 19th century Nevill monuments in the church, especially in the chancel (with early 19th century burial vault below it). Royal Arms of 1700 above south doorway.
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Size & Shape: Large irregular area around the church with a steep drop to the north, west and south. It has been much extended to the north- east. There is a very good plan of the whole churchyard (with all known graves surveyed on it) hanging in the Church. Enlarged in the 19th century from small graveyard around the church. Very steep slope on the east side, down to the road (Horn Street)
Condition: Good.
Boundary walls: Ragstone walls retaining sunken lanes on north and west
Building in churchyard or on boundary: 1987 Lychgate to the south-west.
Exceptional monuments: Some good headstones.
Ecological potential: Yes.
HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):
Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book.
Late med. status: Vicarage.
Patron: Given by the Lord of Birling manor to Bermondsey Abbey in 1168. It was appropriated soon afterwards. After the Dissolution (by c.1530) to Lord Abergavenny (Nevill formerly) till 1959.
Other documentary sources: Hasted IV (1798), 485 - 8.
Testamenta Cantiana (W.Kent, 1906), 5, mentions: Repair to one window on the south side of the church (1501). Also altars of ‘Our Lady in the chapel’ (1516) and ‘To be buried by side of Chaunsell of Birlyng at the hede of Saynt James aulter’ 1523).
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD:
Reused materials: A few reused Roman bricks, and tufa blocks in S.W. corner of south aisle.
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: ? Good, though there is a large vault under the chancel, and the floor level of the north aisle appears to have been lowered.
Outside present church: ? Good.
RECENT DISTURBANCES/ALTERATIONS:
To structure: The tower was very heavily restored with many new dressings, and a new iron bellframe on a reinforced concrete ringbeam in 1986-7.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
The church and churchyard: A few tufa blocks perhaps from the Norman nave west quoins, but otherwise the earliest visible fabric are the 14th century nave aisles and arcades. Early 15th century west tower. West end of north aisle rebuilt in c. 1500, and possibly a Rood stair made on the north side. Chancel completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family.
The wider context: One of a small group with a rebuilt (by an important patron) early 16th century chancel.
REFERENCES: -
Guide Book: Leaflet (Revised) 1989 Anon.
Photographs: Photo of font and font cover in Kent Churches 1954, 127 (cover made 1853).
Plans & early drawings: Petrie 1807 view of church from S.E., showing steep-pitched roof over chancel. Also a porch on the south side of the church.
A short drive from Aylesford is Birling, a small but attractive village, stretched out along a winding street, and dominated by the church on a rise. The road winds round it then out of the village.
I was past the church and out of the village again before I knew it.
I found a place to park and walked to the church, hopeful it might be open.
It was not.
But details of the keyholder said they lived opposite, so I knocked and was presented with the large key from a rusty nail on the wall. I thought you were selling something she said.
I walk back through the lych gate, up the steps and turn the key in the lock. Turning the handle, I push and the door swung open, revealing the church to be dark. But there were light, I flicked them on.
-------------------------------------------------
Dominating the centre of this tiny village, Birling tower is a thinned down version of the familiar `beacon turret` so commonly found in Kent. Thinned down because there wasn't room for a properly proportioned structure, so close is it built to the end of the escarpment on which the church stands. The church is famed for two features, both connected with the Nevill family. The first is the cast-iron trapdoor the their burial vault in the chancel, resplendent with highly coloured bulls (the family emblem) and the family motto. The second is the font cover, carved by daughters of the family in the nineteenth century. Each section is initialled on the inside so that you can see who carved it. West tower, south aisle, nave, north aisle, chancel.
The church, which is dedicated to All Saints, is a handsome building, consisting of a nave, south isle, and chancel. It has a good tower at the west end of it.
The church of Birling, with certain land in this parish, was given by Walkelin de Maminot, lord of this place, in the 15th year of king Henry II. anno 1168, to the priory of Bermondsey, in perpetual alms; which gift was confirmed by that king. Soon after which it seems to have been confirmed and appropri ated to it by Walter, bishop of Rochester, at the king's request; and again more amply by the bishops Gualeran and Gilbert, his successor; and again by the Says, as heirs to the Maminots; and by Geoffry de Say, who married Alice, sister and coheir of Wakelin Maminot. The prior and convent of Rochester, in 1270, John, prior of, and the convent of St. Saviour, Bermondsey, acknowledged an annual pension of 20s. due from this church to the bishop of Rochester, which pension continues to be paid to the bishops of that see.
Upon a writ in the 20th year of king Edward III. the bishop certified, that the prior and convent possessed the appropriation of this church, which was taxed at ten pounds, and that the religious were not resident upon it. (fn. 14)
Richard Mann, perpetual vicar of this church, about the year 1447, anno 26 Henry VI. made complaint to the archbishop of Canterbury, of the insufficiency of the revenue of the vicarage for his maintenance, and that the prior and convent of Bermondsey, proprietaries of this church, refused to augment the portion of it; and he set forth that the produce and income belonging to the vicar and vicarage, did not exceed the annual value or sum of 4l. 15s. 8d. in the tithes of calves, milk, and foals 8s. 9d. yearly; in the tithes of lambs, wool, pigs, geese, apples, hemp, and in the tithes of the oblations of the four days yearly; and for sheep and cows forty one shillings and twelve-pence, in the pension paid to the vicar by the abbot and convent forty-four shillings and tenpence. And further, that the portion of the vicar and vicarage had been for some time, and was then insufficient, incompetent, and too slender; and that he could not, out of it, be supported in a proper manner, nor undergo the rights and burthens incumbent on him, or his vicarage, nor use that hospitality which he ought and was bound to do. That the parish church had a large and extended parish, containing six miles in circuit, having some of the parishioners of both sexes two miles or thereabout distant from the church, which, when there was occasion, he was bound to visit, and to administer to them the church offices and sacraments. That the mansion of the vicar there, and the buildings belonging to it, were, through the negligence of the abbot and convent, in a ruinous state, and would very soon, fall to the ground; which if they should they could not be rebuilt again for twenty pounds. That he the vicar had exercised the no small cure of fouls of the parish church, of one hundred parishioners, or thereabouts, although with great inconvenience, and in great misery and want during the whole time of his having been vicar, and had employed himself in every religious duty to the best of his abilities, and still continued so to do. That the portion of the fruits and profits of the parish church, belonging to the abbot and convent, proprietaries of it, had been from the time of the appropriation of it, and was then so rich and abundant, that, according to common estimation, the portion of the vicar might well be augmented out of it to the value of twenty marcs sterling, or thereabout; and that the abbot and convent, although they had been often requested, to augment the portion of the vicarage, out of the revenues of the church, in a competent manner, had, without alledging any reason, always refused it, or at least deferred it beyond reason, to the great damage, &c. Upon which it was decreed, that the prior and convent should augment the portion of the vicarage out of the fruits and profits of this church, or in money, to the amount of eight marcs sterling, beyond the antient portion of it, within the space of one month; and they were condemned in all costs, &c. but on their neglecting to obey this decree, a further one was made, that in satisfaction of the payment of the said eight marcs, there should be set apart and assigned to the vicar, and his successors, (at his request) the tithes, as well great as small, yearly accruing and arising from the lands, fields, and places below the lane, vulgarly called Benetis-lane, westward, and from the north side of the said lane, according to the bounds and limits of this parish, to those of the parish of Snodland on the north side, and from thence to the bounds and limits of the parish of East Malling on the east side, to the common pasture of Hordo, and from thence to the south end of Benetis-lane aforesaid, &c.
¶When the church of Birling, and the advowson of the vicarage passed from the above mentioned monastery, I have not found, but it appears by an inrolment made in chancery, and now in the Augmentation-office, that in the 13th year of king Henry VIII. George Nevill, lord Abergavenny, was possessed of a barn, and one hundred and fifty acres of land late belonging to that monastery, and then inclosed in the park of Birling, and also of the rectory of Birling, and all tithes, tenths, &c. belonging to it, and the advowson of the vicarage late belonging to the abbot and convent. Since which, they have descended down to the Right Hon. Henry, earl of Abergavenny, the present owner and patron of them.
www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol4/pp474-488
LOCATION: At c. 110 feet above O.D. on a Folkestone beds knoll at the north end of the village. Birling Place lies ¾ mile to the north-west.
DESCRIPTION: A church is mentioned in Domesday Book (1086), and it is probable that the nave of the present church, without its aisles, is Norman. The only evidence for this, however, is one tufa block on the south-west corner of the nave, and some detached (?reused) tufa blocks in the west face of the south-west buttress to the south aisle.
In the early 14th century first one aisle, then the other, was rebuilt with finely-tooled octagonal arcade piers of Kentish Ragstone. Above them are moulded capitals (slightly different south and north) with pointed arches over with double hollow chamfers. There are four bays of arcading, but the arches are not exactly regularly spaced, and the centre pier on the north is more elongated east-west, with an indication that there might have been a narrow partition on its north and south sides. There is also a slight scar opposite in the north wall. The south side has a separate gabled roof (of plain rafters, collars, braces and unmoulded tie-beams), and this is also perhaps 14th century. The aisle wall has three buttresses on the south, and at its east end (possibly the chapel of St. James) is a double trefoiled window. There is another in the south wall at the east end, with piscina just east of it. All the other windows in the south aisle are single trefoiled lights. The south doorway is also contemporary and has a hoodmould over its 2-centred arch. The door and hinges may also be original. Outside the door was a porch, but this was removed in the mid-19th century.
The north aisle outer wall has a more complicated history. At its east end, which may have been the Lady Chapel, two 2-light 15th century windows (on the north and east) seem to have been inserted into the 14th century fabric. There is also a high lancet over the east window, and a small blocked doorway (visible outside) in the north-east corner. A long thin pilaster buttress on the outside of the north wall, which slopes back into the wall, may have related to a later 15th century Rood stair. The west end of the aisle, which has an external plinth seems certainly to have been rebuilt in the late 15th or early 16th century, though the 2-light north window here appears to be a reset 14th century one. The north doorway has pyramid stops, and an early 14th century single-light trefoil-headed window above. It now leads into a 19th century vestry. There is also perhaps an original door here. The roof over the aisle has moulded beams and wall-plates, and a partitioned off vestry at its west end. Also the ground level in this aisle appears to have been lowered.
The west tower is a fine early 15th century ‘Kentish’ tower with a crenellated parapet and pyramid roof. It contains 8 bells (three of 1631) set in a new (1987) iron frame. It has also had many of its find Kentish ragstone dressings restored (also in 1986-7) with many new stones. This has been an over-zealous restoration. On the south-east side of the tower is a semi-octagonal stair-turret, which rises above the tower-top, and has its own tiled octagonal roof. The tower has diagonal western buttresses, and a square-headed western doorway with pyramid stops (all the dressings of this doorway, and the tracery of the Perpendicular windows above have recently - 1987 - been restored). Under the tower arch was a gallery until 1866.
As has already been seen, the west end of the north aisle was probably rebuilt in the later 15th century (there are a few red-bricks in the walls), and at the east end of this aisle a north and a south window seems to have been inserted, as well as possibly a Rood-stair. There is also a 15th century Ragstone font (with 1853 cover).
There is no chancel arch, and a large wide early 16th century chancel. This chancel must have been completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family after they had acquired the patronage of the church from Bermondsey Abbey. On the south side are four square-headed early Tudor 2-light windows, and only the western one has Perpendicular tracery. The wall is in quasi-checker work, and has a hollow-chamfered plinth, which also goes round a diagonal (south-east) buttress and along the east wall. Here there is a large six-light window (also without tracery and perhaps with original ferromenta) that Hasted says contained glass with the arms of Sir George Nevill, Lord Bergavenney, ‘within the garter’ (He was a knight of the garter from 1514, and was buried here in 1535). There is also a small round-headed window in the east gable, with red bricks around it, but the wall and window had to be repaired after 1942 bomb damage. The very plain north wall of the chancel contains large Rag and ironstone blocks in quasi-checker pattern. It has no plinth and only one window (at the extreme western end), but also a north doorway from it into a 19th century vestry. Was there an earlier larger vestry?
The chancel has a moulded flat ceiling (painted in 1963), and the earlier steep-pitched roof was replaced in c.1828 with a low-pitched slate covered roof. At about the same time the Nevill family burial vault was rebuilt under the eastern third of the chancel. It has a cast-iron cover to the entry steps, and there are two early 19th century niches on either side of the sanctuary, with air-vents to the vault beneath. The family pews in the chancel, and the other fittings and memorials were put there in the mid-19th century. (Two fire helms from the chancel are now in ‘safekeeping’).
BUILDING MATERIALS: c.):
The principle rubble materials are local Ragstone and ironstone, with Ragstone dressings. A few perhaps reused tufa blocks from the early church are in the west wall, and some red brick is used in the early 16th century work.
Some Caenstone (?for restoration) and cement repairs.
EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: -
Various 19th century Nevill monuments in the church, especially in the chancel (with early 19th century burial vault below it). Royal Arms of 1700 above south doorway.
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Size & Shape: Large irregular area around the church with a steep drop to the north, west and south. It has been much extended to the north- east. There is a very good plan of the whole churchyard (with all known graves surveyed on it) hanging in the Church. Enlarged in the 19th century from small graveyard around the church. Very steep slope on the east side, down to the road (Horn Street)
Condition: Good.
Boundary walls: Ragstone walls retaining sunken lanes on north and west
Building in churchyard or on boundary: 1987 Lychgate to the south-west.
Exceptional monuments: Some good headstones.
Ecological potential: Yes.
HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):
Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book.
Late med. status: Vicarage.
Patron: Given by the Lord of Birling manor to Bermondsey Abbey in 1168. It was appropriated soon afterwards. After the Dissolution (by c.1530) to Lord Abergavenny (Nevill formerly) till 1959.
Other documentary sources: Hasted IV (1798), 485 - 8.
Testamenta Cantiana (W.Kent, 1906), 5, mentions: Repair to one window on the south side of the church (1501). Also altars of ‘Our Lady in the chapel’ (1516) and ‘To be buried by side of Chaunsell of Birlyng at the hede of Saynt James aulter’ 1523).
ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD:
Reused materials: A few reused Roman bricks, and tufa blocks in S.W. corner of south aisle.
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: ? Good, though there is a large vault under the chancel, and the floor level of the north aisle appears to have been lowered.
Outside present church: ? Good.
RECENT DISTURBANCES/ALTERATIONS:
To structure: The tower was very heavily restored with many new dressings, and a new iron bellframe on a reinforced concrete ringbeam in 1986-7.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
The church and churchyard: A few tufa blocks perhaps from the Norman nave west quoins, but otherwise the earliest visible fabric are the 14th century nave aisles and arcades. Early 15th century west tower. West end of north aisle rebuilt in c. 1500, and possibly a Rood stair made on the north side. Chancel completely rebuilt in the 1520s by the Nevill family.
The wider context: One of a small group with a rebuilt (by an important patron) early 16th century chancel.
REFERENCES: -
Guide Book: Leaflet (Revised) 1989 Anon.
Photographs: Photo of font and font cover in Kent Churches 1954, 127 (cover made 1853).
Plans & early drawings: Petrie 1807 view of church from S.E., showing steep-pitched roof over chancel. Also a porch on the south side of the church.
Studies in Nature
This group of images: "Nature" is part of an academic work done from nature "objects" bringing by architecture students to the design studio in the University. It's goal is to discover in these objects, some intrinsec caracteristics like: proportion, harmony, geometry, ritm, patron of develop, etc.
We look for undestand such nature virutes to apply them on their own designs.
Some of these images have photographic value by theirsevelsand for this reason I want to share them in this stream
Este conjunto de imagenes: "Nature" forman parte de un trabajo academico hecho a partir de objetos de la naturaleza aportados estudiantes de Arquitectura al taller de diseño en la Universidad y que tiene como objetivo el descubrir en ellos ciertas características implicitas como: proporción, armonía, geometría, ritmo, patrón de desarrollo etc.
Se busca con ello el comprender estas virtudes en la naturaleza para luego aplicarlas a sus propios diseños.
Algunas de estas imagenes tienen valor fotográfico en si mismas y por eso las comparto en esta galería.
Kodak C875.
SO: Ubuntu Linux.
Software: ShowFoto
A look around the outside of Aston Hall. I was there for the Birmingham Heritage Week Siege event, but was also an opportunity to get exterior photos of the hall that I didn't get on previous visits to Aston Park.
The area of Aston Park with colourful flowers, the Pan sculpture and stone vases.
Grade I listed building
Listing Text
ASTON PARK
1. Aston PARK
5104 Aston B6
Aston Hall
[formerly listed as
Aston Hall (City of
Birmingham Museums)]
SP 08 NE 7/4 25.4.52
I
2.
1618-35 for Sir Thomas Holte. A major early Jacobean house on a grand scale
with a main block facing east, the forecourt enclosed by projecting flanking
wings each with a square turret breaking slightly from the inner face. Shaped
gables to front of wings and across symmetrical elevation of main block which
in surmounted by an axial tower rising in 3 stages from the balustraded parapet
to terminate in a 2 tier cupola: the dome on a square base over the original
lower tier. Surprisingly restrained ornament to the elevations of red brick
with darker brick diaper, the stone facings and quoins reserved for the corners.
Well proportioned mullion and transom windows, with 2 storey canted oriel
windows crested by strapwork to the ends of the wings. The central stone
doorway, giving immediately into the centre of the hall, has Doric columns,
entablature and cartouches above framed by strapwork and surmounted by ball
finials. An inscription bears the date 1618. Plans for the ground and first
floors survive in John Thorpe's book of drawings in the Soame Museum but there
are differences in execution, particularly the plan of the hall, a provision
for a polygonal end to the chapel on the south front and 3 bays on the west
the foundations of which survive. Alterations may well have taken place following
damage in the Civil War. Narrow wings abut the outer faces of the main forecourt
wings but were originally of one storey only at their east and west ends
heightened in the late C17. An arcaded loggia flanks the chapel projection
in the centre of the south front. The west range has a 2 storey main elevation
with a flat roof ro the Long Gallery on the first floor, the main block of
the hall rising on the third storey behind with 6 shaped gables and a chimney
stack with 6 grouped octagonal shafts. Archway to loggia at south end originally
one storey but as on east front heightened late C17, corresponding archway
added to north end in C18. The north elevation service/kitchen range with
considerable alterations to fenestration in the late C17 and C18 and with
early C19 service one storey additions. Very fine interior with wealth of
decorations in contrast to almost classical restraint of exterior. Much panelling
and architectural framework to doorways in great hall and to many of the monumental
chimney pieces in stone end alabaster. Richly carved strapwork balustrade
staircase in square well. One hundred and thirty six feet long, well preserved,
long gallery. Considerable amount of original decorative plasterwork to frieze
and ceilings but desceptively successful imitation Jacobean plasterwork carried
out for John Watt the younger, leasee of the Hall in the 1818 to 1848.
Listing NGR: SP0792989845
This text is from the original listing, and may not necessarily reflect the current setting of the building.
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I set my camera on timer for this one at B-Dubs when we were waiting at my table. These are my 2 best friends, Kenzie & Taylor. I chose this picture because we go from tallest to shortest, :)
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