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On the way back from Oxfordshire, I thought about stopping off somewhere to take some church shots.
I'm sure Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Sussex have fine churches just off the motorway, but one had stuck in my head, back in Kent, and that Hever.
What I didn't realise is how hard it was to get too.
I followed the sat nav, taking me off the motorway whilst still in Sussex, then along narrow and twisting main roads along the edge of the north downs, through some very fine villages, but were in Sussex.
Would I see the sign marking my return to the Garden of England?
Yes, yes I would.
Edenbridge seemed quite an unexpectedly urban place, despite its name, so I didn't stop to search for an older centre, just pressing un until I was able to turn down Hever Road.
It had taken half an hour to get here.
St Peter stands by the gate to the famous castle, a place we have yet to visit, and even on a showery Saturday in March, there was a constant stream of visitors arriving.
I asked a nice young man who was directing traffic, where I could park to visit the church. He directed me to the staff car park, meaning I was able to get this shot before going in.
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Near the grounds of Hever Castle, medieval home of the Bullen family. Sandstone construction with a nice west tower and spire. There is a prominent chimney to the north chapel, although this is not the usual Victorian addition, but a Tudor feature, whose little fireplace may be seen inside! The church contains much of interest including a nineteenth-century painting of Christ before Caiphas by Reuben Sayers and another from the school of Tintoretto. The stained glass is all nineteenth and twentieth century and includes a wonderfully evocative east window (1898) by Burlisson and Grylls with quite the most theatrical sheep! The south chancel window of St Peter is by Hardman and dated 1877. In the north chapel is a fine tomb chest which displays the memorial brass of Sir Thomas Bullen (d. 1538), father of Queen Anne Boleyn. Just around the corner is a typical, though rather insubstantial, seventeenth-century pulpit with sounding board.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hever
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HEVER.
SOUTH-EASTWARD from Eatonbridge lies Hever, called in the Textus Roffensis, and some antient records, Heure, and in others, Evere.
This parish lies below the sand hill, and is consequently in that district of this county called The Weald.
There is a small part of it, called the Borough of Linckbill, comprehending a part of this parish, Chidingstone, and Hever, which is within the hundred of Ruxley, and being part of the manor of Great Orpington, the manerial rights of it belong to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the owner of that manor.
THE PARISH of Hever is long, and narrow from north to south. It lies wholly below the sand hills, and consequently in the district of the Weald; the soil and face of the country is the same as that of Eatonbridge, last described, the oak trees in it being in great plently, and in general growing to a very large size. The river Eden directs its course across it, towards Penshurst and the Medway, flowing near the walls of Hever castle, about a quarter of a mile southward from which is the village of Hever and the parsonage; near the northern side of the river is the seat of Polebrooke, late Douglass's, now Mrs. Susannah Payne's; and a little farther, the hamlets of Howgreen and Bowbeach; part of Linckhill borough, which is in the hundred of Ruxley, extends into this parish. There is a strange odd saying here, very frequent among the common people, which is this:
Jesus Christ never was but once at Hever.
And then he fell into the river.
Which can only be accounted for, by supposing that it alluded to a priest, who was carrying the bost to a sick person, and passing in his way over a bridge, sell with it into the river.
Hever was once the capital seat and manor of a family of the same name, whose still more antient possessions lay at Hever, near Northfleet, in this county, who bore for their arms, Gules, a cross argent. These arms, with a lable of three points azure, still remained in the late Mote-house, in Maidstone, and are quartered in this manner by the earl of Thanet, one of whose ancestors, Nicholas Tuston, esq. of Northiam, married Margaret, daughter and heir of John Hever of this county. (fn. 1)
William de Heure. possessed a moiety of this place in the reign of king Edward I. in the 2d of which he was was sheriff of this county, and in the 9th of it obtained a grant of free warren within his demesne lands in Heure, Chidingstone, and Lingefield.
Sir Ralph de Heure seems at this time to have possessed the other moiety of this parish, between whose son and heir, Ralph, and Nicholas, abbot of St. Augustine's, there had been, as appears by the register of that abbey, several disputes concerning lands in Hever, which was settled in the 4th year of king Edward I. by the abbot's granting to him and his heirs for ever, the land which he held of him in Hever, to hold by the service of the fourth part of a knight's fee.
William de Hever, in the reign of king Edward III. became possessed of the whole of this manor, and new built the mansion here, and had licence to embattle it; soon after which he died, leaving two daughters his coheirs; one of whom, Joane, carried one moiety of this estate in marriage to Reginald Cobham, a younger son of the Cobhams of Cobham, in this county; (fn. 2) whence this part of Hever, to distinguish it from the other, acquired the name of Hever Cobham.
His son, Reginald lord Cobham, in the 14th year of that reign, obtained a charter for free warren within his demesne lands in Hever. (fn. 3) He was succeeded in this manor by his son, Reginald lord Cobham, who was of Sterborough castle, in Surry, whence this branch was stiled Cobhams of Sterborough.
The other moiety of Hever, by Margaret, the other daughter and coheir, went in marriage to Sir Oliver Brocas, and thence gained the name of Hever Brocas. One of his descendants alienated it to Reginald lord Cobham, of Sterborough, last mentioned, who died possessed of both these manors in the 6th year of king Henry IV.
His grandson, Sir Thomas Cobham, sold these manors to Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who had been lord mayor in the 37th year of king Henry VI. He died possessed of both Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, in the 3d year of king Edward IV. leaving by Anne, his wife, eldest sister of Thomas, lord Hoo and Hastings, Sir William Bulleyn, of Blickling, in Norfolk, who married Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Boteler, earl of Ormond, by whom he had a son and heir, Thomas, who became a man of eminent note in the reign of king Henry VIII. and by reason of the king's great affection to the lady Anne Bulleyn, his daughter, was in the 17th year of that reign, created viscount Rochford; and in the 21st year of it, being then a knight of the Garter, to that of earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; viz. Wiltshire to his heirs male, and Ormond to his heirs general.
He resided here, and added greatly to those buildings, which his grandfather, Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, began in his life time, all which he completely finished, and from this time this seat seems to have been constantly called HEVER-CASTLE.
He died in the 30th of the same reign, possessed of this castle, with the two manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, having had by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, one sonGeorge, executed in his life time; and two daughters, Anne, wife to king Henry VIII. and Mary, wife of William Carey, esquire of the body, and ancestor of the lords Hunsdon and the earls of Dover and Monmouth.
On the death of the earl of Wiltshire, without issue male, who lies buried in this church, under an altar tomb of black marble, on which is his figure, as large as the life, in brass, dressed in the robes of the Garter, the king seised on this castle and these manors, in right of his late wife, the unfortunate Anne Bulleyn, the earl's daughter, who resided at Hever-castle whilst the king courted her, there being letters of both extant, written by them from and to this place, and her chamber in it is still called by her name; and they remained in his hands till the 32d year of his reign, when he granted to the lady Anne of Cleves, his repudiated wife, his manors of Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, among others, and his park of Hever, with its rights, members, and appurtenances, then in the king's hands; and all other estates in Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, lately purchased by him of Sir William Bulleyn and William Bulleyn, clerk, to hold to her during life, so long as she should stay within the realm, and not depart out of it without his licence, at the yearly rent of 931. 13s. 3½d. payable at the court of augmention. She died possessed of the castle, manors, and estates of Hever, in the 4th and 5th year of king Philip and queen Mary, when they reverted again to the crown, where they continued but a short time, for they were sold that year, by commissioners authorised for this purpose, to Sir Edward Waldegrave and dame Frances his wife; soon after which the park seems to have have been disparked.
This family of Waldegrave, antiently written Walgrave, is so named from a place, called Walgrave, in the county of Northampton, at which one of them was resident in the reign of king John, whose descendants afterwards settled in Essex, and bore for their arms, Per pale argent and gules. Warine de Walgrave is the first of them mentioned, whose son, John de Walgrave, was sheriff of London, in the 7th year of king John's reign, whose direct descendant was Sir Edward Waldegrave, who purchased this estate, as before mentioned. (fn. 5) He had been a principal officer of the household to the princess Mary; at the latter end of the reign of king Edward VI. he incurred the king's displeasure much by his attachment to her interest, and was closely imprisoned in the Tower; but the king's death happening soon afterwards, queen Mary amply recompensed his sufferings by the continued marks of her favour and bounty, which she conferred on him; and in the 4th and 5th years of that reign, he obtained, as above mentioned, on very easy terms, the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas; and besides being employed by the queen continually in commissions of trust and importance, had many grants of lands and other favours bestowed on him. But on the death of queen Mary, in 1558, he was divested of all his employments, and committed prisoner to the Tower, (fn. 6) where he died in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He left two sons, Charles, his heir; and Nicholas, ancestor to those of Boreley, in Essex; and several daughters.
Charles Waldegrave succeeded his father in his estates in this parish; whose son Edward received the honour of knighthood at Greenwich, in 1607, and though upwards of seventy years of age, at the breaking out of the civil wars, yet he nobly took arms in the king's defence, and having the command of a regiment of horse, behaved so bravely, that he had conferred on him the dignity of a baronet, in 1643; after which he continued to act with great courage in the several attacks against the parliamentary forces, in which time he lost two of his sons, and suffered in his estate to the value of fifty thousand pounds.
His great grandson, Sir Henry Waldegrave, in 1686, in the 1st year of king James II. was created a peer, by the title of baron Waldegrave of Chewton, in Somersetshire, and had several offices of trust conferred on him; but on the Revolution he retired into France, and died at Paris, in 1689. (fn. 7) He married Henrietta, natural daughter of king James II. by Arabella Churchill, sister of John duke of Marlborough, by whom he had James, created earl of Waldegrave in the 3d year of king George II. who, in the year 1715, conveyed the castle and these manors to Sir William Humfreys, bart. who that year was lord mayor of the city of London. He was of Barking, in Essex, and had been created a baronet in 1714. He was descended from Nathaniel Humfreys, citizen of London, the second son of William ap Humfrey, of Montgomery, in North Wales, and bore for his arms two coats, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, sable, two nags heads erased argent; 2d and 3d, per pale or and gules, two lions rampant endorsed, counterchanged.
He died in 1735, leaving by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of William Wintour, of Gloucestershire, an only son and heir, Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. who died in 1737, having had by Ellen, his wife, only child of colonel Robert Lancashire, three sons and two daughters; two of the sons died young; Robert, the second and only surviving son, had the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, and died before his father possessed of them, as appears by his epitaph, in 1736, ætat. 28.
On Sir Orlando's death his two daughters became his, as well as their brother's, coheirs, of whom Mary, the eldest, had three husbands; first, William Ball Waring, of Dunston, in Berkshire, who died in 1746, without issue; secondly, John Honywood, esq. second brother of Richard, of Mark's-hall, who likewife died without issue, in 1748; and lastly, Thomas Gore, esq. uncle to Charles Gore, esq. M.P. for Hertfordshire; which latter had married, in 1741, Ellen Wintour, the only daughter of Sir Orlando Humfreys, above mentioned.
They, with their husbands, in 1745, joined in the sale of Hever-castle and the manors of Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, to Timothy Waldo. He was descended from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in France, one of the first who publicly opposed the doctrines of the church of Rome, of whom there is a full account in the Atlas Geograph. vol. ii. and in Moreland's History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont. One of his descendants, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to escape the persecution of the duke D'Alva, came over to England, where he and his descendants afterwards settled, who bore for their arms, Argent a bend azure, between three leopards heads of the second; of whom, in king Charles II.'s reign, there were three brothers, the eldest of whom, Edward, was knighted, and died without male issue, leaving two daughters his coheirs; the eldest of whom, Grace, married first Sir Nicholas Wolstenholme, bart. and secondly, William lord Hunsdon, but died without issue by either of them, in 1729. The second brother was of Harrow, in Middlesex; and Timothy, the third, was an eminent merchant of London, whose grandsons were Edward, who was of South Lambeth, esq. and died in 1783, leaving only one daughter; and Timothy, of Clapham, esquire, the purchaser of this estate, as above mentioned, who was afterwards knighted, and died possessed of it, with near thirteen hundred acres of land round it, in 1786; he married, in 1736, Miss Catherine Wakefield, by whom he left an only daughter and heir, married to George Medley, esq. of Sussex, lady Waldo surviving him is at this time intitled to it.
The castle is entire, and in good condition; it has a moat round it, formed by the river Eden, over which there is a draw bridge, leading to the grand entrance, in the gate of which there is yet a port cullis, within is a quadrangle, round which are the offices, and a great hall; at the upper end of which, above a step, is a large oak table, as usual in former times. The great stair case leads up to several chambers and to the long gallery, the cieling of which is much ornamented with soliage in stucco; the rooms are all wainscotted with small oaken pannels, unpainted. On one side of the gallery is a recess, with an ascent of two steps, and one seat in it, with two returns, capable of holding ten or twelve persons, which, by tradition, was used as a throne, when king Henry VIII. visited the castle. At the upper end of the gallery, on one side of a large window, there is in the floor a kind of trap door, which, when opened, discovers a narrow and dark deep descent, which is said to reach as far as the moat, and at this day is still called the dungeon. In a closet, in one of the towers, the window of which is now stopped up, there is an adjoining chamber, in which queen Anne Bulleyn is said to have been consined after her dis grace. The entrance to this closet, from the chamber, is now by a small door, which at that time was a secret sliding pannel, and is yet called Anne Bulleyn's pannel.
In the windows of Hever-castle are these arms; Argent, three buckles gules, within the garter; a shield of four coasts, Howard, Brotherton, Warren, and Mowbray, argent three buckles gules; a shield of eight coats, viz. Bulleyn, Hoo, St. Omer, Malmains, Wickingham, St. Leger, Wallop, and Ormond; and one, per pale argent and gules, for Waldegrave. (fn. 8)
It is reported, that when Henry VIII. with his attendants, came to the top of the hill, within sight of the castle, he used to wind his bugle horn, to give notice of his approach.
There was a court baron constantly held for each of the above manors till within these forty years, but at present there is only one, both manors being now esteemed but as one, the circuit of which, over the neighbouring parishes, is very extensive.
SEYLIARDS is an estate here which extends itself into the parishes of Brasted and Eatonbridge, but the mansion of it is in this parish, and was the antient seat of the Seyliards, who afterwards branched out from hence into Brasted, Eatonbridge, Chidingstone, and Boxley, in this county.
The first of this name, who is recorded to have possessed this place, was Ralph de Seyliard, who resided here in the reign of king Stephen.
Almerick de Eureux, earl of Gloucester, who lived in the reign of king Henry III. demised lands to Martin at Seyliard, and other lands, called Hedinden, to Richard Seyliard, both of whom were sons of Ralph at Seyliard, and the latter of them was ancestor to those seated here and at Delaware, in Brasted. (fn. 9)
This place continued in his descendants till Sir Tho. Seyliard of Delaware, passed it away to John Petley, esq. who alienated it to Sir Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, and he died possessed of it in 1758; and it is now the property of his grandson, Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, esq.
Charities.
A PERSON gave, but who or when is unknown, but which has time out of mind been distributed among the poor of this parish, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid out of land vested in the churchwardens, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. JOHN PETER gave by will, about 1661, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid for the benefit of poor farmers only, out of land vested in the rector, the heirs of Wm. Douglass, and the heirs of Francis Bowty, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. GEORGE BORRASTON, rector, and several of the parishioners, as appears by a writing dated in 1693, purchased, with money arising from several bequests, the names of the donors unknown, except that of WILLIAM FALKNER, to which the parishioners added 15l. a piece of land, the rent to be distributed yearly among the poor of the parish, vested in the rector and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 3l. 12s.
Rev. THOMAS LANCASTER, rector, gave by will in 1714, for buying good books for the poor, and in case books are not wanting for the schooling of poor children at the discretion of the mimister, part of a policy on lives, which was exchanged for a sum of money paid by his executor, being 20l. vested in the minister and churchwardens.
SIR TIMOTHY WALDO gave by will in 1786, 500l. consolidated 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, one moiety of the interest of which to be applied for the placing of some poor boy of the parish apprentice to a farmer, or some handicraft trade, or to the sea service, or in cloathing such poor boy during his apprenticeship, and in case no such poor boy can be found, this moiety to be distributed among such of the industrious poor who do not receive alms. The other moiety to be laid out in buying and distributing flannel waistcoats, or strong shoes, or warm stockings, among such of the industrious or aged poor persons inhabiting within this parish, as do not receive alms, vested in the Salters Company.
HEVER is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham. The church, which stands at the east end of the village, is a small, but neat building, consisting of one isle and two chancels, having a handsome spire at the west end of it. It is dedicated to St. Peter.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the isle is a grave-stone, on which is the figure of a woman, and inscription in black letter in brass, for Margaret, wife of William Cheyne, obt. 1419, arms, a fess wavy between three crescents.—In the chancel, a memorial for Robert Humfreys, esq. lord of the manor of Heaver, only son and heir of Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. of Jenkins, in Effex, obt. 1736. Against the wall is a brass plate, with the figure of a man kneeling at a desk, and inscription in black letter for William Todde, schoolmaster to Charles Waldegrave, esq. obt. 1585.—In the north chancel, an altar tomb, with the figure on it at large in brass, of Sir Thomas Bullen, knight of the garter, earl of Wilcher and earl of Ormunde, obt. 1538. A small slab with a brass plate, for ........ Bullayen, the son of Sir Thomas Bullayen.—In the belsry, a stone with a brass plate, and inscription in black letter in French, for John de Cobham, esquire, obt. 1399, and dame Johane, dame de Leukenore his wife, and Renaud their son; near the above is an antient altar tomb for another of that name, on which is a shield of arms in brass, or, on a chevron, three eagles displayed, a star in the dexter point. These were the arms of this branch of the Cobhams, of Sterborough-castle. (fn. 10)
This church is a rectory, the advowson of which belonged to the priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, and came to the crown with the rest of its possessions at the time of the surrendry of it, in the 7th year of king Henry VIII. in consequence of the act passed that year for the surrendry of all religious houses, under the clear yearly revenue of two hundred pounds. Soon after which this advowson was granted, with the scite of the priory, to Thomas Colepeper, but he did not long possess it; and it appears, by the Escheat Rolls, to have come again into the hands of the crown, and was granted by the king, in his 34th year, to Sir John Gage, to hold in capite by knights service; who exchanged it again with Tho. Colepeper, to confirm which an act passed the year after. (fn. 11) His son and heir, Alexander Colepeper, had possession granted of sundry premises, among which was the advowson of Hever, held in capite by knights service, in the 3d and 4th years of king Philip and queen Mary; the year after which it was, among other premises, granted to Sir Edward Waldegrave, to hold by the like tenure.
Charles Waldegrave, esq. in the 12th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated this advowson to John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, and being entailed to his heirs male, by the last will of Sampson Lennard, esq. his eldest son, under the word hereditament possessed it, and it being an advowson in gross, was never disentailed by Henry, Richard, or Francis, lords Dacre, his descendants, so that it came to Thomas lord Dacre, son of the last mentioned Francis, lord Dacre, afterwards earl of Sussex, in 1673, and at length sole heir male of the descendants of John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, above mentioned; and the same trial was had for the claim of a moiety of it, at the Queen's-bench bar, as for the rest of the earl's estates, and a verdict then obtained in his favour, as has been already fully mentioned before, under Chevening.
The earl of Sussex died possessed of it in 1715, (fn. 12) whose two daughters, his coheirs, on their father's death became entitled to this advowson, and a few years afterwards alienated the same.
It then became the property of the Rev. Mr. Geo. Lewis, as it has since of the Rev. Mr. Hamlin, whose daughter marrying the Rev. Mr. Nott, of Little Horsted, in Sussex, he is now intitled to it.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church of Heure was valued at fifteen marcs.
By virtue of a commission of enquiry, taken by order of the state, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Hever was a parsonage, with a house, and twelve acres of glebe land, which, with the tithes, were worth seventy-seven pounds per annum, master John Petter being then incumbent, and receiving the profits, and that Francis lord Dacre was donor of it. (fn. 13)
This rectory was valued, in 1747, at 1831. per annum, as appears by the particulars then made for the sale of it.
It is valued, in the king's books, at 15l. 17s. 3½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. 8¾d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
¶The priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, was endowed by Robert de Thurnham, the founder of that house, in the reign of king Henry II. with his tithe of Lincheshele and sundry premises in this parish, for which the religious received from the rector of this church the annual sum of 43s. 4d.
Pay day.
Which is good.
So: Dateline Norwich, Norfolk.
I wake at half six, with buses and trucks heading into the city just outside the bedroom window, whatever, I slept well, so messed around online for an hour, had a shower and then went down for breakfast. Dressing first, of course.
I chose the "continental breakfast", of fruit and toast, and two pots of coffee which set me for the day.
I had a number of plans: first was to go to Cantley and the Limpenoe for some churchcrawling, but with the swing bridges at Reedham and Somerleyton closes for maintenance, that meant rail replacement buses. The other choice was to go to Cromer to the church there, have lunch of chips beside the seaside, beside the sea.
But first, a a walk to St Stephen's on Theatre Street, as I had not been there before, and was oepn, apparently.
Despite being the end of October, it was warm and humid, and would exceed 20 degrees in the afternoon. But was cloudy, and there was a chance of rain.
More than a chance as it turned out.
So, after breakfast I set out through Tombland, past The Halls where the beer festival was being held, and fresh supplies were being delivered.
Through the market, up the steps and across from The Forum to Theatre Street where the doors of the church had just been opened. What greeted me was a fine large East Anglian church, but instead of pews or rows of chairs, was tables and chairs all set out to be a café.
All churches do their best, I know, but St Stephens is now a calling point on the entrance to the once new shopping centre, the windows offer a large and bright space, but not very churchy.
I made the mistake of asking a volunteer when it stopped being a church: it's still a church, and the tables can be quickly replaced with rows of chairs, it seems.
I go round and get shots, but avoiding, as warned, not to get people in my shots. Its a big church, so I managed that pretty well.
Ten minutes later, St Peter Mancroft opened I wanted to snap the east windows as best I could, so with my compact I did my best. A guy sat behind me and tutted loudly as I took shots and when I asked a warden if I could take a shot of a memorial in the chancel. He had the whole church to sit in, but chose to sit behind me, already taking shots, apparently just so he could complain.
So screw you.
I got my shots, and left, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
Outside rain had began to fall. Falling hard enough not to be pleasant. My plan had been to walk tot he station, but wasn't going to walk in this weather. So, I walked through the market, lingering as rain fell harder, then crossing to Royal Arcade before emerging onto Back of the Inns, and walking into Castle Mall, taking a series of escalators to the top, all the while hoping that by the time I reached the top, rain would have stopped.
It hadn't.
But I did snap the decorative paving marking the source of an ancient spring, then headed down Timber Hill to the Murderers, where I went in and had a pint. And ended up staying for another and a lunch of nachos.
Last stop was St John Maddermarket, where I retook many shots, but had a long and interesting conversation with the warden about the church and the font found at St John in Folkestone.
I went back to the hotel, lay on the bed for a snooze edit some shots and post them with a description which became the backbone for the previous blog post.
For the evening, I had been invited for dinner at my good friend's, Sarah's.
So at five, I walk up through the City to Pottergate, then along, through the underpass and estate beyond, arriving at her door at just gone six.
Darkness was falling, the street was ankle deep in golden leaves, quite the most fabulous place, really.
We have a drink, chat abut churches, butterflies, orchids and Norwich City, after which we eat: a kind of duck stew, which was hearty and very good. Along with that, we sup from the bottle of fruity red I had bought on the way to her house.
The evening slipped by, and after walking 15,000 steps, I got a taxi back to the hotel, along fairly deserted roads, dropping me at the door of the hotel, where just inside a wedding reception was nearing its end, back in my room, I put in ear plugs and slept long and deep.
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The great urban churches of northern Europe sit on their market places, especially in Cathedral cities. It is as if they were intended as late Medieval statements of civic pride. They are a reminder of the way that the cities rose to prominence in the decades after the Black Death, as if the old order had been broken and a new one was beginning. They were a great affirmation of Catholic orthodoxy and social communion, in the years before the merchants that paid for them embraced Protestantism and capitalism. They are European culture caught on the cusp of the Renaissance, the beacons that lead us into early modern Europe.
These things are more easily sensed in the great late medieval cities of Flanders and the Netherlands, for example at Bruges. The bridges, the medieval triumph, the tourist tat shops and the foreign voices can create an illusion of being in Cambridge or Oxford, but the great Market Church and Belfry on the main square recall Norwich, where St Peter Mancroft and the medieval Guildhall have a similar juxtaposition. The Industrial Revolution would bring a new wave of cities to prominence, but in the provincial cities that were prominent in the 15th century, Norwich, and Bristol, and York, you still sense the power of those times.
Looking at St Peter, the sophistication of its Perpendicular architecture feels a geological age away from the coarse, brutal Norman castle on the far side of the Main Croft ('Mancroft'), which is understandable. Four hundred years had passed since the Norman invasion, and St Peter Mancroft is as close in time to the Industrial Revolution as it is to the Normans. That is true of all late medieval churches, of course, but seeing the architecture in a city you get a sense that it looked to the future more than to the past. St Peter Mancroft feels entirely at home with the clean, Scandinavian lines of the adjacent 1930s City Hall, and perhaps even more so with the retro-Modernism of the new Forum, whch reflects it back to the city. The Forum was built to replace the Norwich City library, tragically destroyed by fire in 1994, but in style it echoes the confidence of a great 19th century railway station, the roof a triumph of engineering. You are reminded of Cologne, where to leave the railway station and step into the shadow of the west front of the great Cathedral is to merely move from one statement of civic pride to another.
The influence of Flanders and the Netherlands is familiar in East Anglia, of course, but it is only at Norwich you sense this sense of civic bullishness. Utilitarian, practical Ipswich demolished St Mildred on the Cornhill in the 19th century - the French Baroque town hall now stands on the site. In Cambridge, the market place has been skewed so that today St Mary the Great sits with its east window facing the stalls, as if keeping them at a distance. Worse, it now styles itself the 'University Church'. The great north side of St Peter Mancroft, its massive tower and clerestory like eternal truths rising above the deckchair jollity of the stall canopies, is a constant presence. You can never ignore it.
We know that the present church was begun by 1430, and was consecrated on St Peter's Day, 1455. That is, it is all of a piece. In the nave and chancel there are echoes of near-contemporary Holy Trinity, Long Melford, in Suffolk. The tower is something else again; idiosyncratic, a symbol of power and wealth. There's nothing else quite like it. Pevsner thought it more rich than aesthetically successful, and this is not helped by Street's spirelet of 1881, a flighty thing. There was a massive Victorian restoration here. Before the Streets, pere et fils, came along, diocesan architect Richard Phipson had given it a going over, and there is a sense of the grand 19th century civic dignity of his St Mary le Tower in Ipswich. Of course, hardly anything of these restorations is visible from the outside, apart from a mid-20th century meeting room down in the south-east corner, a jaunty Festival of Britain affair, now a parish tea room.
A processional way runs beneath the tower, and there is another beneath the chancel, the land sloping steeply away towards the east. You enter from either the north or south sides, through surprisingly small porches which lead into the aisles. Again, a sense of civic confidence pervades as the interior unfolds before you.
There is no chancel arch. The arcades run the full length of the church, the great east window is echoed by that to the west, and if you stand in the middle of the church and look to either end, only the west end organ tells you easily which direction you are facing. The furnishings are pretty much all Phipson's, uneasily heavy under the delicate fluting of the columns. How good modern wooden chairs would look in here! There are civic memorials the lengths of the aisle walls, but because the windows are full of clear glass they are not oppressive here as they are, say, at St Stephen.
At the west end of the north aisle sits the font on its pedestal. You can see at a glance that it was one of the seven sacraments series, and that all of its reliefs have been completely erased, as in the great churches of Southwold and Blythburgh in Suffolk. At Wenhaston, we know that this happened in the 19th century - could the same thing be true here? Above the font is the famous font canopy. Now, font canopies are so rare - there are only four of them, and they are all so different - that it is not particularly useful to compare them. Certainly, that here reflects the rather grander example at Trunch, some twenty miles away. Since the other two are either post-Reformation (Durham) or made of stone (Luton), it might make sense to think of the Norfolk two as a unique pair. Here at St Peter Mancroft, much of the upper part is a 19th century restoration, and there seems to have been some attempt to copy Trunch. The lower part is more interesting, with its niches and canopies. It must have been spectacular when the font was intact.
Pevsner tells us that the gilded reredos in the sanctuary is by JP Seddon, but that Ninian Comper restored and enlarged it in the early 1930s. It is not exciting, but that is probably as well, for above it is one of the greatest medieval treasures of East Anglia. This is the medieval glass that survives from the first few decades of the existence of the church. Some of it was probably in place that first Petertide. It has been moved around a bit since then; the whole east side was blown out by an explosion in 1648, and the glass has been removed on several occasions since, most recently during the Second World War. After East Harling, it is the finest expanse of Norwich School glass of the 15th century.
Books have been written about the glass at St Peter Mancroft, and there is neither time nor space to go into too much detail here. Suffice to say that this is the work of several Norwich workshops, probably working in the Conesford area of the city along what is today King Street. It is obvious that some other glass in East Anglia is from the same workshops using the same or similar cartoons, notably North Tuddenham in Norfolk and Combs in Suffolk, and of course most obviously, East Harling. Indeed, by comparison with East Harling in the 1920s, the historian Christopher Woodforde was able to deduce some of what was missing here, and what there.
There are several sequences, most notably the Story of Christ from the Annunciation to the day of Pentecost. This extends into a Marian sequence depicting the story of the Assumption. There are also scenes from the stories of St Peter and St John, and other individual Saints panels, including St Faith, a significant cult in late medieval Norwich. The panel of St Francis suggests that it was also once part of a sequence. The lower range depicts the donors, some of whom are identified. The central spine is largely modern glass by Clayton and Bell for the Streets in the 1880s. Some of the missing glass is now at Felbrigg Hall.
In any other church, the 1921 glass by Herbert Hendrie in the south chapel aisle chapel would be considered outstanding. It is in the style of Eric Gill, but feels rather heavy handed next to the extraordinary delicacy of its medieval neighbours.
While I was here, I stopped taking photographs for the one o'clock prayers. One of the custodians stood at the lectern and read very eloquently from the Acts of the Apostles, and said prayers for the city and its people. Apart from me, there were only two other listeners in the vast space. It was tenderly and thoughtfully done, but I couldn't help thinking that it is the exterior of this wonderful structure which is the Church's true act of witness in central Norwich now.
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichstpetermancroft/norwichs...
St. Peter's Baldachin is a large Baroque sculpted bronze canopy, technically called a ciborium or baldachin, over the high altar intended to mark the place of Saint Peter's tomb underneath.
Detail of the east window by John Hayward 1964, which depicts a central figure of St Peter surrounded by vignettes and other details connected to his life. It is a fine example of modern stained glass and Hayward's bold personal style in particular.
The glass in the main lights replaced a Victorian window which was then transferred to the west window of the chapel, however its traceries could not be accommodated there and thus remained in place, sitting rather awkwardly alongside Hayward's strikingly different glass in the main lights below.
The chapel of St Peter's College, Oxford was formerly the church of St Peter le Bailey built by Basil Champneys in 1874 but later re-purposed for collegiate use following redundancy.
The interior is somewhat austere but is enlivened by a couple of remarkable modern windows by John Hayward and Ervin Bossanyi.
Parish church of St Peter, c1300, restored after fire of 1486, and by A. Blomfield 1886 at the expense of the Prince of Wales.
More information can be found here:-
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/wolferton/wolferton.htm
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/107758...
www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/101077588-church-of-st-p...
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CHURCH OF ST PETER
Heritage Category: Listed Building
Grade: II*
List Entry Number: 1077588
National Grid Reference: TF 65719 28180
Details
SANDRINGHAM WOLFERTON TF 62 NE 2/66 Church of St Peter 15.,3.60 II* Parish church, c1300, restored after fire of 1486, and by A. Blomfield 1886 at expense of the Prince of Wales. Uncoursed carstone with limestone dressings, tiled roof. West tower, nave, chancel; north and south aisles, south porch, late C19 organbay and vestry to north. 3 stage embattled west tower with full height ashlared buttresses, limestone plinth; west door with continuous mouldings of 3 orders, string course above; 2-light west window with cusped heads under a quatrefoil; traceried sound holes to 2nd stage north, west and south of cinquefoil within wide stone surround; 2-light bell openings with cusped reticulated tracery, string course below parapet of ball flowers within waves. North and south aisles alike: opposing doorways with deep continuous ogee moulding of 2 orders, figure stops, cusped ogee headed niche over south doorway, diagonal buttresses, gable parapet to east; some herringbone work in north aisle and to east return of south aisle; 3 openings to north and south: towards west (south aisle only) 2 trefoil headed lights with trefoil tracery under basket arch, to centre, 3 cinquefoil headed lights under 4-centred arch; towards east, 3 ogee headed lights under segmental arch; double trefoil headed opening to west of south porch; west and east returns of aisles with cusped Y tracery openings, that to east of north aisle now externally blocked by organbay. 5 double light clerestorey openings to north and south nave. Large south porch with gable parapet and angle buttresses, arch of 5 orders with ogee mouldings, a cusped niche either side with stone dressings and carstone to rear, 2-light reticulated openings to returns, roof renewed, octagonal plinth to right of south doorway. Lower chancel with gable parapet and cross; south chancel with central priest's door with continuous moulding, hood mould running into string course and steep pitched pediment integral with arch; low retangular blocked opening to left, double trefoil headed light to right; 3-light multicusped reticulated east window renewed. Late C19 additions of vestry and organbay in carstone to angle of north aisle and chancel. Interior: 5 bay arcade to north and south, octagonal piers, double chamfered arches, the outer chamfers being hollow, hood mould with grotesque stops above arches, piers and arches reddened from fire of 1486. Floor to west bay lower; low octagonal plinth to east side of doorways, that to south a copy, benches to north aisle walls and around piers, small square recess to each wall; low double headed recess with figure corbel between arches to west wall of north aisle. Roof partly renewed in late C19, boarded lining, C15 tie beams arch-braced from wooden wallposts of standing apostles, queen posts supporting collars having tracery above, hammer beams of clerics holding shields alternating with ties. Tall tower arch with polygonal shafts, figure corbel above, fireplace to south wall of tower with stone segmental arch. Chancel: arch with continuous moulding and polygonal shafts having chamfered arch above; C19 roof of arch braced collars with fretwork tracery above; curved wind braces, 3-stepped sedilia with arcade of cusp headed lights having shafts without capitals, attached piscina. with trefoil head; choir stalls incorporate 4 C15 poppyheads and some traceried panels. Wall painting above chancel arch of Christ in glory, late C19 in medieval style perhaps copied from original wall painting, part above collar beam on fabric, stair to roof loft to left with wooden arch. Screens: late C15 chancel screen with traceried painted panels much erased, renewed C19 with traceried lights and rood loft with vine frieze; early C14 parclose screen to south aisle renewed, delicate Decorated tracery, ogee headed tracery lights, grotesques to top rail and cusps of tracery, lion heads to crocketted finials on muntin buttresses; C15 parclose screen to north aisle, traceried lights and tracery to panels with tudor rose and cusps; C15 tower screen renewed, crocketted ogee tracery to some lower panels. Trefoil headed piscina to north aisle, multicusped piscina and some medieval encaustic tiles to south aisle chapel. C16 table with very bulbous legs to north aisle chapel; oak table with frieze dated 1637 and with initials TE TE in marquetry, at time of survey by tower; Baroque C17 lectern painted black with gilded classical ornament; eagle lectern of silvered brass from Church of St. Mary Magdelene Sandringham (q.v. 2/47) presented by HRH Alexandra Princess of Wales as thanks offering for recovery of Prince of Wales from typhoid in 1871. Square sandstone mensa in pavement of west bay of south aisle; 2 consecration crosses on each of north and west walls; alms box from structural timber with braced wrought iron lid having C15 flower head rivets; Royal achievement 1844 in cross stitch on felt, south aisle.
Listing NGR: TF6571928180
historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/107758...
A short drive from Wootton is Swingfield, which lies near the Folkestone to Canterbury road, the A260. In fact beside that road is St John's, a preceptory, that I will endeavour to see inside of during the summer months.
In fact, I thought St John was the sole ecclesiastical building in the parish, but in fact there is a grand church in the centre of the village, opposite what used to the village pub.
The church has a grand tower with an even grander staircase turret running up one side, and in the porch I could see the 'church open' board, all packed away, It did not look good.
But it was open, but the first thing that struck me was the fine porch, apparently 14thC.
The church is a large two cell construction, with simple box pews in the nave, with wooden pews in the chancel.
It's walls are plain with few memorials, considering its history with the Knights of St John.
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This church is built in flint and rubble construction and the west tower has a remarkably wide stair turret. As one enters through the south porch one can see the remains of two mass dials made redundant by the construction of the porch itself. By the pulpit is a most unusual feature - the south-east window of the nave has had its sill cut away to provide space for a wooden ladder to give access to the rood loft. This window now contains a lovely stained glass representation of the Crucifixion with a charming little sun and moon at the top. At Swingfield the nineteenth-century north aisle detracts from the thirteenth-century nave; its scale, materials and lumpy effect do nothing to complement this charming church. It is currently (2005) under threat of conversion to a house.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Swingfield
SWINGFIELD is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, consists of one isle and one chancel, having a square tower, with a beacon turret at the west end, in which is one bell. In the chancel are several memorials for the Pilchers, tenants of St. John's. In the isle are memorials for the Simmons's, of Smersall; arms, parted per fess and pale, three trefoils slipt. One of them, John Simmons, gent. obt. 1677, was great-grandfather of James Simmons, esq. alderman of Canterbury; memorials for the Pilchers; against the north wall is a monument for Mary, widow of Richard Pilcher, gent. of Barham, obt. 1775; arms, Pilcher, argent, on a fess dancette, gules, a fleur de lis, between three torteauxes. In the south-west window is this legend, Ora p aiabs Willi Smersolle & Margarete uxon is sue & paia Saundir Goldfiynch; above were formerly these arms, A cross impaling on a bend, cotized, a mullet between six martlets. Weever says, p. 274, there was an antient faire monument, whereon the portraiture of an armed knight, crosse legged, was to be seen, and only His jacet remaining of the inscription, and that there was this legend in a window: Orate p aia Willi Tonge & Johannis filii ejus qui banc fenestram fieri fecerunt; he died in 1478, and was buried here. And there was formerly in the windows, a figure of a knight of St. John's, habited in his furcoat of arms, a plain cross, and having his sword and spurs, and kneeling on a cushion, in a praying posture, and in one of the windows were these arms, Quarterly, first and fourth, Azure, a square castle, sable; second and third, Or, on a chevron, vert, three bawks heads erased, argent; on a chief, gules, a cross, argent; but there is nothing of these remaining now.
The rectory of this church was early appropriated to the hospital of St. John, which continued in the possessions of all the profits of it, till the dissolution of the hospital in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. After which it was granted, with the preceptory here, to Sir Anthony Aucher, who sold it to Sir Henry Palmer, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. after whose death in 1725 it passed, in manner as before-mentioned, to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Hey, of Wickham, who sold it, with St. John's, and the rectory as before-mentioned, to Mr. Brydges, of Denton, the present owner of it.
This church is now a perpetual curacy, of the yearly certified value of twenty pounds, which stipend is paid by the owner of the rectory, who has the nomination of the curate. In 1640 here were communicants one hundred and twenty-seven.
Plans for the building of St. Peter Cathedral were initiated in 1873 by Bishop Tobias Mullen of the Roman Catholic Diocese of Erie. The cornerstone was laid in a formal ceremony held on St. Peter in Chains Day, 1 August 1875. After years of construction and a fundraising campaign that involved parishes throughout the diocese, the cathedral was completed in 1893. The architect was Patrick Keeley of Brooklyn, a prolific designer of churches whose works include 21 cathedrals in the eastern United States.
St. Peter's Episcopal Church. 823 Water Street. Port Royal, Virginia.
"Perhaps the most significant building from this period, though, is the c. 1835 Gothic Revival St. Peter’s Episcopal Church. A brick building covered in stucco, it has a bell tower on top of the pediment with a round fixed wood window. The church façade has a recessed three-bay porch beneath the pediment on two large stone fluted columns".
Contributing resource, Port Royal Historic District, National Register of Historic Places 70000786
Virginia DHR 284-0047-0049
DSC_0476
A short drive from Wootton is Swingfield, which lies near the Folkestone to Canterbury road, the A260. In fact beside that road is St John's, a preceptory, that I will endeavour to see inside of during the summer months.
In fact, I thought St John was the sole ecclesiastical building in the parish, but in fact there is a grand church in the centre of the village, opposite what used to the village pub.
The church has a grand tower with an even grander staircase turret running up one side, and in the porch I could see the 'church open' board, all packed away, It did not look good.
But it was open, but the first thing that struck me was the fine porch, apparently 14thC.
The church is a large two cell construction, with simple box pews in the nave, with wooden pews in the chancel.
It's walls are plain with few memorials, considering its history with the Knights of St John.
----------------------------------------------
This church is built in flint and rubble construction and the west tower has a remarkably wide stair turret. As one enters through the south porch one can see the remains of two mass dials made redundant by the construction of the porch itself. By the pulpit is a most unusual feature - the south-east window of the nave has had its sill cut away to provide space for a wooden ladder to give access to the rood loft. This window now contains a lovely stained glass representation of the Crucifixion with a charming little sun and moon at the top. At Swingfield the nineteenth-century north aisle detracts from the thirteenth-century nave; its scale, materials and lumpy effect do nothing to complement this charming church. It is currently (2005) under threat of conversion to a house.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Swingfield
SWINGFIELD is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, consists of one isle and one chancel, having a square tower, with a beacon turret at the west end, in which is one bell. In the chancel are several memorials for the Pilchers, tenants of St. John's. In the isle are memorials for the Simmons's, of Smersall; arms, parted per fess and pale, three trefoils slipt. One of them, John Simmons, gent. obt. 1677, was great-grandfather of James Simmons, esq. alderman of Canterbury; memorials for the Pilchers; against the north wall is a monument for Mary, widow of Richard Pilcher, gent. of Barham, obt. 1775; arms, Pilcher, argent, on a fess dancette, gules, a fleur de lis, between three torteauxes. In the south-west window is this legend, Ora p aiabs Willi Smersolle & Margarete uxon is sue & paia Saundir Goldfiynch; above were formerly these arms, A cross impaling on a bend, cotized, a mullet between six martlets. Weever says, p. 274, there was an antient faire monument, whereon the portraiture of an armed knight, crosse legged, was to be seen, and only His jacet remaining of the inscription, and that there was this legend in a window: Orate p aia Willi Tonge & Johannis filii ejus qui banc fenestram fieri fecerunt; he died in 1478, and was buried here. And there was formerly in the windows, a figure of a knight of St. John's, habited in his furcoat of arms, a plain cross, and having his sword and spurs, and kneeling on a cushion, in a praying posture, and in one of the windows were these arms, Quarterly, first and fourth, Azure, a square castle, sable; second and third, Or, on a chevron, vert, three bawks heads erased, argent; on a chief, gules, a cross, argent; but there is nothing of these remaining now.
The rectory of this church was early appropriated to the hospital of St. John, which continued in the possessions of all the profits of it, till the dissolution of the hospital in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. After which it was granted, with the preceptory here, to Sir Anthony Aucher, who sold it to Sir Henry Palmer, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. after whose death in 1725 it passed, in manner as before-mentioned, to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Hey, of Wickham, who sold it, with St. John's, and the rectory as before-mentioned, to Mr. Brydges, of Denton, the present owner of it.
This church is now a perpetual curacy, of the yearly certified value of twenty pounds, which stipend is paid by the owner of the rectory, who has the nomination of the curate. In 1640 here were communicants one hundred and twenty-seven.
I have been doing the Kent church project for 11 years now, so I thought I knew most churches in Kent and all in East Kent, but just before Christmas a contact posted shots of a church I had not heard of before, St Peter-in-Thanet.
Once life settled down, I tried to arrange a visit before Christmas, that was impossible, but the church will be open every days from 2nd January I was told.
And as I had one more day off, why not start the year with a crawl?
I programmed the sat nav with the post code, and let it guide me to Sandwich then to Ramsgate and across the island via Westwood Cross, with the urban sprawl of Ramsgate and Broadstairs merging into one large town all around.
I saw the tower of St Peter from a mile away, surprisingly large. Nearer, I see that the area declares itself a village, also called St Peter, and there is a traditional village pub opposite.
I point out again at this point, the towns of Ramsgate and Broadstairs merge into one, St Peter is now part of Broadstairs. And indeed was the ancient centre of the town before the resort took off.
I park next to the church, present myself in the large and friendly parish offices next door, and told the church is open.
I just have to find which one of the half dozen doors into the church and vestry is actually unlocked.
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The medieval church of Broadstairs, St Peter's stands well inland to serve the original farming community that showed little interest in the coast that was to change the later life of this part of Kent. The tower, however, is easily visible from the sea and was long used as a landmark to shipping, which is why it still flies the White Ensign. Although the church was restored in the nineteenth century by Joseph Clarke and is stamped with the atmosphere he usually managed to create, there is some fine Norman architecture in the five bay aisle arcades (although the central arch in the south arcade is a later insertion into an inexplicable break in the Norman work). The chancel arch is of the thirteenth century and there is a good cut-down sedilia in the sanctuary. The delicate marble font is of eighteenth century date and there are some fine hanging wall tablets of the same period. The stained glass presents a good cross-section of the nineteenth century art, much of it by Heaton, Butler and Bayne.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=St+Peters
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ST. PETER'S
LIES the next parish south-eastward from St. John's, being so called from the dedication of the church of it to St. Peter. This parish is within the liberty and jurisdiction of the cinque ports, and is an antient member of the town and port of Dover, and though united to it ever since king Edward I.'s reign, yet so late as in that of king Henry VI. it became a dispute, whether this parish was not in the county at large; to take away therefore all doubt of it, that king, by his letters patent, united it to Dover, to which place, in like manner as St. John's above-mentioned, it is subsect in all matters of civil jurisdiction. The mayor of Dover here too appoints one of the inhabitants to be his deputy, who is chosen either yearly, or once in two or three years, at the mayor's pleasure; and to the charges of the sessions formerly held at Margate, this parish and Birchington used to contribute their proportion.
THE PARISH OF ST. PETER is as pleasant and healthy a situation as any in this island, the lands open and uninclosed, the soil a dry chalk, with frequent hill and dale interspersed throughout it. At Sowell hill, in the northern part of the parish, the land is reckoned to be the highest in the island. The village stands on a pleasing eminence, surrounded with trees, which is rather uncommon in these parts, having the church on the north-west side of it; at a little distance southward from which, is a small neat chapel, built by the sect of Methodists. Several genteel families reside in this village, situated about the middle of the parish, which is about two miles and a half across each way, and is bounded by the high chalk cliffs on the sea shore towards the north and east. It seems formerly to have been more populous than it is at present, for there were in the year 1563, as appeared by archbishop Parker's return to the orders of the privy council, one hundred and eighty-six housholds within this parish. Besides the village above mentioned, there are several other small hamlets and houses interspersed throughout it, viz. towards the south, Upton, Brompston, which is now the joint property of Henry Jessard, esq. and Mr. John Grey; Dumpton, great part of which extends into St. Laurence, it belongs to the earl of Hardwick; and Norwood. On the north-west side of the parish is Sacket's-hill, so called from its being the estate of an antient yeomanry family of this name, several of whom lie buried in this church, one of whom, John Sackett, as appears by his will, resided here and died possessed of his estate in this parish in 1444; on it there has been lately built a handsome house by Mr. King, for his summer residence, whose children are now possessed of it. In the northern part of the parish is the hamlet of Reading-street, southward of which is a small forstall, and then Sowell-street. In the eastern part of the parish, close to the cliffs, is Hackendon downe, or banks, where several antiquities have been dug up, as will be further mentioned hereafter; and the hamlet of Stone, formerly the residence of the Pawlyns, and then of the Huggets, where a few years ago Sir Charles Raymond, bart. built a small pleasant seat for his summer residence; Sir Harry Harper, bart. is the present owner of it. Not far from hence there formerly stood a beacon, which used to be fired to alarm the country in case of an invasion; a few years since some remains of the timber of it was dug up on the top of the Beacon-hill, about fifty five rods nearer to Stone than the present light-house.
¶About a mile and an half north-eastward from the church, at the extremity of the chalk cliff, is a point of land called the NORTH FORELAND, (suppofed by most to be the Cantium of Ptolemy) so called to distinguish it from the other Foreland, betwixt Deal and Dover, usually called the South Foreland; it is a promontory, or cape of land, that reaches further into the sea, and is somewhat higher than most of the land herebouts. On the top of it was formerly a house, built of timber, lath, and plaister work, with a large glass lanthorn on the top of it, in which a light was kept to direct ships in the night in their course, that they might keep clear of the Goodwin Sands, which lie off this point, and on which ships are apt to strike before they are aware, on account of their endeavouring to keep clear of this land, which extends so far into the sea. This house being by some accident burnt down in 1683, there was for some time a sort of beacon made use of, on which a light was hoisted; but about the latter end of the last century there was built here a strong house of flint, an octagon, on the top of which was an iron greate, quite open to the air, in which was made a blazing fire of coals. But about the year 1732, the top of this light-house was covered with a sort of lanthorn, with large sash lights, and the fire was kept burning by the help of bellows, which the light-men kept blowing all night. This invention was to save coals, but the sailors complained of it, as being very much to the prejudice of the navigation, many vessels being lost on the Goodwin Sands for want of seeing it, and indeed it was so little seen at sea, that some of the sailors asserted, they had in hazy weather seen the Foreland before they saw the light; whereas, before the lanthorn was placed here, when the fire was kept in the open air, as the wind kept the coals constantly alight, the blaze of it was seen in the air far above the light-house; complaint being made of this, the governors of Greenwich hospital ordered Sir John Thomson to view it, who ordered the lanthorn to be taken away, and the light-house to be made nearly the same as it was before, the light to continue burning all night and till day-light; since which, a few years ago, it was again repaired, and two stories of brick were raised on the former building. The height of it at present, including the small room in which the lights are kept, is somewhat more than one hundred feet; this room, which may be perhaps best described as a done raised on a decagon, is about ten feet in diameter, and twelve feet high; it is coated with copper, as is the gallery round it, to prevent fires. From the gallery there is a very extensive view, of which a conception may be formed from these lights being visible in clear weather at the Nore, which is ten leagues distant; in each of the sides of the decagon, towards the sea, is a patent lamp, kept burning all night, with a reflector and magnifier, the latter being very large. The whole building is white-washed, except the light room on the top; and all the rooms in it are used by the man and his family, who take care of it. (fn. 1) To the repair and maintenance of this light-house, every ship belonging to Great Britain, which sails by this Foreland, is obliged to pay two-pence for each ton; and every foreigner four-pence. It is under the direction of the governors of Greenwich hospital, in whom it is vested. There is a signal house between the North Foreland and Stonehouse, erected in 1795, the establishment of it is a lieutenant and midshipman of the navy, and two men.
Here were two fairs formerly kept every year, one on June 29, being St. Peter's day; and the other on March 25, being Lady-day; but they have for several years past been changed to the 10th of july, and the 5th of April.
The manor of Minster claims paramount over the greatest part of this parish; the landholders holding of it, by a certain rent called Pennygavel. Subordinate to this manor is that of
Near this place, in 1574, a monstrous fish shot himself on shore on a little sand, now called Fishness, where, for want of water it died the next day; before which his roaring was heard above a mile; his length, says Kilburne, was twenty-two yards; the nether jaw opening twelve feet; one of his eyes was more than a cart and six horses could draw; a man stood upright in the place from whence his eye was taken; the thickness from his back to the top of his belly (which lay upwards) was fourteen feet; his tail of the same breadth; the distance between his eyes was twelve feet; three men stood upright in his mouth; some of his ribs were fourteen feet long; his tongue was fifteen feet long; his liver was two cart loads, and a man might creep into his nostril. (fn. 7) There were four whales, or monstrous large fish, towed ashore by the fishermen on this island a few years ago, one of which had been found floating on the sea dead, and was brought to Broadstairs, and measured about sixty feet long, and thirty-eight feet round the middle; its forked tail was fifteen feet wide, its lower jaw nine feet long; it had two rows of teeth, twenty-two in each row, about two inches long; the upper jaw had no teeth, only holes for the lower ones to shut in. It had only one nostril. It had two gills, and the lower jaw shut in about three feet from the end of the nose. It is said this fish sold at Deal for twenty-two guineas.
MANY BRASS COINS of the Roman emperors have been found near Broadstairs, on a fall of the adjoining cliff, after much rain and frost at different times; but they have been so much worn and defaced, as not to be distinguished what they were.
Near the cliffs, about midway between the lighthouse and Kingsgate, are two large barrows, or banks of earth, called by the country people Hackendon, or Hackingdown banks, already noticed before. The tradition is, that these banks are the graves of those English and Danes, which were killed in a fight here; and that as one bank is greater than the other, the former is the place where the Danes were buried, who are said to have been defeated. It is not improbable that this battle referred to in history, was that fought A. D. 853, when the Danes having invaded this island with a considerable force, were attacked by earl Alcher with the Kentish men, and earl Huda with those of Surry, and an obstinate battle was fought, in which the English at first got some advantage, yet were at last deseated; great numbers were killed, among which were the two English generals; and the battle being fought so near the sea, a great many on both sides were pushed into it and drowned.
One of these barrows was opened in 1743, in the presence of many hundred people; a little below the surface of the ground several graves were discovered, cut out of the solid chalk and covered with flat stones; they were not more than three feet long, in an oblong oval form, and the bodies seem to have been thrust into them almost double; a deep trench was dug in the middle, and the bodies laid on each side of it; two of the skulls were covered with wood-coals and ashes. The skeletons seem to have been of men, women, and children, and by the smallness of the latter, these were conjectured to have been unborn.
¶Three urns made of very coarse black earth, not half burnt, one of them holding near half a bushel, were found with them, which crambled into dust on being exposed to the air. The bones were rather of a large size, and for the most part perfectly found. In 1765, the smaller barrow was opened, the appearances were similar to the former, but no urns were found. In memory of this battle, lord Holland erected a fantastic house, or monument, with an inscription, on the larger of the two banks.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Westbere.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, stands on a rising ground. It is a small structure which has something pleasing in the appearance of it. It is built, as the rest of the churches are hereabouts, of flints, covered with rough-cast, and the quoins, windows and doors cased with ashlar stone, only the porch has more workmanship used about it; above are stone battlements; the roof is covered with lead, and the portal or door way has a mitred arch of wrought stone. It consists of a nave with a small isle on each side of it, a large middle chancel, and a smaller one on the north side of it, part of which is now made into a vestry. The middle chancel, which is beautiful, is ceiled in compartments, the framing of which is enriched with carved work, as is the cornice round it. The church is elegantly pewed with wainscot, and has a very handsome desk and pulpit. In the middle isle are two handsome brass chandeliers, which were purchased by subscription, and there is a neat gallery at the west end, well contrived for the convenience of the inhabitants, and the whole is kept in excellent order, and more than usual neatness. At the west end of the middle isle, under the gallery, is a handsome font, of white marble, the gift of John Dekewer, esq. as appears by the inscription, erected in 1746; below the inscription are the arms of Dekewer. At the west end of the north isle stands the tower, which is a sea mark. There were antiently five bells in it, which some years ago were cast into six, the great bell being made into two. The high or middle chancel was beautified about the year 1730, at the expence of Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, lessee of Callis grange; who, out of the profits of that estate, ordered this chancel as well as hers and her husband's monuments in it, to be repaired as often as should be needful; and the sum of twenty shillings to be paid yearly to the clerk, on the day of the anniversary of her death, March 29, as an encouragement for him to take due care of the monuments.
At the west end of the south isle is a room taken off for the school house. In this church were antiently, besides the high altar in the middle chancel, three other altars dedicated to St. James the Apostle, St. Mary of Pity, and St. Margaret. Before these altars, on which were the images of these saints, were wax-lights constantly burning, for the maintenance of which there were several fraternities and legacies left. Several antient monuments and inscriptions are in the body and chancels of this church, the principal ones of which are in the middle or high chancel: Among others, a monument for James Shipton, vicar, obt. 1665; another, for George Lovejoy, first school-master at Islington, then of the king's school at Canterbury, obt. 1685. He lies buried within the altar-rails; arms, Azure, three bars, dancette, or, impaling chequy, azure and or, on a fess, three leopards faces of the second. On a marble against the north wall is an account of the charities given by Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, as follows: By her will and testament, to the mayor and commonalty of the city of Canterbury, her lease of Callis grange, upon trust, to pay yearly to the vicar of this parish, forty pounds; to a school master, to teach twenty poor children gratis in the parish, twenty pounds; to Jesus hospital, Canterbury, five pounds; to St. John's hospital, in Canterbury, ten pounds; to Kingsbridge hospital, in Canterbury, five pounds; to Cogan's hospital, in Canterbury, four pounds; to St. Stephens's hospital, five pounds; to Harbledown hospital, five pounds per annum; and she gave by her will to the school and hospital at Islington, 200l. and to the school at Wicomb, in Buckinghamshire, 100l.
She wainscotted and adorned this chancel, and gave plate for the communion table in her life time, and two silver flagons by her will, A. D. 1694. She died of an apoplexy before she had sealed or finished her will, so that it took no effect as to her real estate, but after many suits and controversies was adjudged good as to her personal estate; and twenty shillings she left yearly to be paid to this parish clerk to keep both monuments clean. A memorial for Mr. Leonard Rowntree, minister, obt. 1624. In the north chancel, on an altar tomb, an inscription for Manasses Norwoode, of Dane court, and Norwoode, esq. obt. 1636; arms, Ermine, a cross, engrailed, impaling six coats. There are several brass plates and inscriptions for Culmer and Elmstone. In the north isle an altar tomb for Michael Webb, obt. 1587. A brass plate for Philip Smith, obt. 1451. Another for John Sacket, of this parish, obt. 1623. A memorial for Alexander, son of Alexander Nor woode, esq. of Dane-court. A black marble for Cornelius Willes, A. M. nineteen years vicar of this parish, and prebendary of Wells, obt. 1776. A like stone for the Rev. John Deane, A. M. forty-one years vicar, obt. 1757. A memorial for Daniel Pamflet, gent. and Mary his wife. He died 1719. An antient tomb for Mrs Elizabeth Omer, obt. 1709. A mural monument and inscription for the Rev. Roger Huggett, M. A. late vicar of the king's free chapel of St. George, in Windsor, and rector of Hartley Waspaill, in Southampton, eldest son of Roger Huggett, of Stone, in this parish, who was sole heir of the Pawlyns, an antient and respectable family of that place. He died at Hartley, in 1769, where he was buried; on it are inscriptions for others of the same name; arms, Gules, a chevron, between three stags heads, or, impaling parted per pale, sable and gules, a griffin passant, counterchanged. A tomb for Mr. Henry Huggett, gent. sole heir of the Pawlins, of Stone; he died in 1751; and for others of this family. A mural monument, shewing that in a vault underneath, lies Mary, wife of John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, who died without surviving issue, one son and one daughter lying interred with her, obt. 1748. In the same vault lies the abovementioned John Dekewer, esq. an especial benefactor to this parish, obt. 1762, æt 76; arms, Vert, on a cross, or, five fleurs de lis, sable, between two caltrops, and two lions, rampant, impaling argent, parted per fess, three escallops, two and one, in chief, gules, in base three piles waved, sable. A tomb for John Dekewer, son of the above John, obt. 1740. In the same vault are others of this family. A beautiful mural monument of white marble, on which is the figure of a child sitting, weeping and leaning on an urn, erected to the memory of John-Alexander Dekewer, son of John Dekewer, esq. of Hackney, and Elizabeth his wife, obt. 1778, æt. ten years. A mural monument for the Rev. Tho. Reynolds, obt. 1754. Besides these there are memo rials for Noble, Gray, Read, Witherden, White, Simons, Cooke, Culmer, Wild, Jeken, Tilman, and Kerby. In the middle of the chancel, a memorial for Grace, wife of James White, gent. of Chilham, daugh ter of Gratian Lynch, gent. of Grove, in Staple, obt. 1740, and for Grace her daughter, wife of Thomas Hawkins, obt. 1746. A brass plate in the north isle, for John Sacket, of this parish, obt. 1623, æt. 59. At the end of the north isle is a large white stone, much obliterated, for Michael Pavlen, obt. 1662; Anne his wife, and Anne their daughter. In the church yard are many handsome tombs and grave-stones, of persons of different trades and occupations, residents of this parish. In the tower is a great crack on the east and west sides of it, from the top almost to the bottom, where it opened near an inch, and more than two at the top, so that the tower by it inclines to the northward; and it is wonderful, that when it was so rent it did not fall; the fissure is filled up with stone and mortar. As tradition reports, it was occasioned by the earthquake in queen Elizabeth's reign, in the 22d year of which, Mr. Camden tells us, there was a great one felt in this county.
This church was one of the three chapels belonging to the church of Minister, and very probably was made parochial sometime after the year 1200, when the church of Minster, with its appendages, was appropriated, in the year 1128, to the monastery of St. Augustine; it was at the same time assigned, with the above-mentioned chapels, with all rents, tithes, and other things belonging to that church and those chapels, to the sacristy of the monastery; and it was further granted, that the abbot and convent should present to the archbishop in the above-mentioned chapels, fit perpetual chaplains to the altarages of them; but that the vicar of the mother church of Minister should take and receive in right of his vicarage, the tenths of the small tithes, viz. of lambs and pigs, and the obventions arising from marriages and churchings, which were forbidden at these chapels, and were solemnized, &c. at the mother church only.
As to the chaplains of these chapels, though they were to receive no more than ten marcs of these altarages, yet they were not excluded the enjoyment of the manses and glebes given to these chapels when they were first consecrated, which made some additiou to their income, and enabled them to keep a deacon to assist them on the great and principal festivals. The inhabitants of these three chapelries, preceded by their priests, were accustomed to go in procession to Minster, in token of their subjection to their parochial or mother church. (fn. 10)
After this the appropriation of the church of Minster, with its appendant chapels, and the advowsons of the vicarages of them, continued with the abbot and convent till the dissolution of the monastery in the 30th year of king Henry VIII. when they were surrendered, together with the rest of the possessions of the monastery, into the king's hands.
After the dissolution of the monastery and the change in the service of the churches wrought by the reformation, this parochial chapel of St. Peter became entirely separated from the mother church of Minster, the vicar of this parish having no further subjection to it in any shape whatever; but by the same change he was likewise deprived of several of those emoluments he had before enjoyed in right of his vicarage, and all the great tithes of this parish, being appropriated to Callis and Salmestone granges, formerly belonging to the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, as has been already taken notice of before; the endowment of this vicarage consisted only of the small tithes of this parish, the payment of two bushels of corn yearly at Midsummer, from Salmanstone grange, and a pension of ten pounds to be paid yearly out of Callis grange; besides which he had a vicarage house, orchard, garden, and two parcels of land.
The small tithes of this parish being chiefly arable land, with the other emoluments of the vicarage, by reason of the great increase of every necessary article of life, falling far short of a reasonable maintenance, Mrs. Elizabeth Lovejoy, in the year 1694, further augmented it with the sum of forty pounds per annum, to be paid half yearly out of Callis grange above-mentioned; in consideration of which augmentation, the vicar is obliged, without accepting any dispensation, to be constantly resident on this vicarage, with several other injunctions mentioned in her will.
This vicarage is valued in the king's books at nine pounds, and the yearly tenths at eighteen shillings. In 1588 here were one hundred and forty-six communicants. In 1640 here were three hundred communicants, and it was valued at seventy pounds, but it appears by the return made in 1709, to the enquiry into the clear value of church livings, that this vicarage was worth only thirty pounds clear yearly income, before Mrs. Lovejoy's addition of forty pounds per annum.
¶The advowson of this vicarage coming into the hands of the crown, on the dissolution of the abbey of St. Augustine, continued there till king Edward VI. in his first year, granted the advowson of the vicarage of Minster, with the three chapels appendant to it, one of which was this church of St. Peter, among other premises, to the archbishop; since which this advowson has continued parcel of the possessions of that see, the archbishop being the present patron of it.
In 1630 the churchwardens and assistants reported, that here were belonging to the vicarage a mansion, with a well house, one orchard, one garden, and one acre of land adjoining to it, and one parcel of land, called the Vicar's Acre, lying within the lands of Capt. Norwood, who paid to the vicar, in consideration of it, five shillings a year; but no care being taken to preserve the bounds of this acre, the place where it lay was forgot, and the rent paid for it disputed, and at length quite discontinued.
A church serving no more than a handful of houses, St Peter's in Folkington (pronounced Fowington by the locals) was open for business when I passed by. I didn't enter on account of my very muddy boots!
st peter and st paul, bath. former monastic cathedral.
architects: robert (d.1506) and william vertue (d.1527), george gilbert scott (1811-1878).
there is late gothic and there is too late. st peter and st paul, the old cathedral in bath which was left unfinished at the time of the reformation falls flat in the latter category.
after the dissolution of the monastery, the church was looted for its best materials and changed hands a few times before being given back to bath as a parish church.
the vaults around the crossing show what I believe is a very English building history. the fan vaults to the right are original as planned by the vertue brothers, pre-reformation. the vault at the crossing is 16th century, a post-reformation attempt to complete the building. at the bottom is the south transept, constructed in the 17th century. where else in the world could you find masons proficient in gothic vaulting at that time?
later work was less successful and victorian architect george gilbert scott headed a major clean up in the 1860's which included new vaults over the nave and aisles. the effect is a church too uniform for its own history perhaps, but so light and orderly as to fit well with its georgian surroundings.
more words, yada, yada, yada.
Figure of St Peter inserted into the east window of the south aisle by Anthony Macrae, 1965.
The church of St Peter & St Paul at Weedon is separated from the village by the railway; many times I have seen it whizz by on my way down to London by train, and can even recall noticing it on my first ever such trip as an 8yr old. With that in mind it was thus good to finally get around to visiting Weedon church.
The tower unusually appears to be a complete Norman piece, even the belfry windows are unaltered, only the battlements and inserted west window and doorway are later. The rest of the building however is significantly more recent, the wide nave and aisles having been replaced in 1823 in the simplified Georgian Gothic of the period, whilst the chancel beyond is later still, Victorian work from 1863.
Inside the effect of the 19th century rebuilding is more dramatic, the nave and aisles being separated only by slender wooden columns with the aisles subsequently opened up giving a great emphasis on the width of the space. The chancel beyond by contrast appears narrow and more sober. The nave windows with their slim cast-iron tracery are mainly quarry-glazed with stained glass panels inserted at the centre. The overall effect is a highly unusual and memorable interior.
The church appears to be open now more frequently than it once was, the nice lady I met there told me she opens as often as she can though I'm not sure quite how regularly this is. I wasn't expecting to get inside (having heard it was usually locked and being close to 6pm) so was very pleasantly surprised to find the door open.
St. Peter’s Lutheran
Gunnar Birkerts
1988
Columbus, Indiana
Buy the book: www.blurb.com/b/5480207-columbus-indiana
All rights reserved. No use & distribution without express written permission. Strictly enforced.
Bitte zum Vergrößern in das Bild klicken!
Die erste Klosterkirche von St. Peter wurde um 696 errichtet, als Rupert (Hruodpert) die dort vermutlich seit der Spätantike bestehende romanische Klostergemeinschaft erneuerte. Die heutige Kirche geht im Kern auf einen Bau zurück, der 1125–1143 erbaut und 1147 geweiht wurde. Der mächtige Kirchturm, der um 1400 romanisierend erhöht wurde, stammt im Kern aus dem 9. Jahrhundert.
Die Hauptorgel wurde 1444 vom Mainzer Orgelbauer Heinrich Traxdorf auf dem Lettner geschaffen. Die gotischen Kreuzrippengewölbe sind in der Vorhalle erhalten. Im Stil der Renaissance wurde die Kirche selbst 1605/06 umgestaltet, 1619/20 eingewölbt und 1622 mit einer schlanken Vierungskuppel versehen. Der unverwechselbare barocke Zwiebelturm wurde unter Abt Seeauer 1756 errichtet. Die beiden Hochaltäre sind wesentlich von Martin Johann Schmidt („Kremser-Schmidt“) gestaltet. Bekannt ist auch der Maria-Säul-Altar mit einer Madonna von 1425. Das Innere der Kirche ist 1760–66 durch Roccaillestuck und Deckenbilder mit reicher Rokokoausstattung unter Mitarbeit von Franz Xaver König, Lorenz Härmbler, Johann Högler, Benedikt Zöpf und anderen im Rokokostil neu gestaltet, wobei die alte romanische Baustruktur gut erkennbar bleibt. Das große prunkvolle Rokokogitter (Kirchenabschlussgitter) wurde von Philipp Hinterseer gestaltet.
Die Aufnahme besteht aus 3 ohne Stativ mit der Fuji X100F aufgenommenen Bildern im Querformat , die mit Autopano Giga 4 zusammengerechnet wurden.
St Peter's Church is in Manchester Road, Ashton-under-Lyne, Greater Manchester, England. It is an active Anglican parish church in the deanery of Ashton-under-Lyne, the archdeaconry of Rochdale, and the diocese of Manchester.
With four other local churches, it is part of the Parish of the Good Shepherd, Ashton-under-Lyne. The church is recorded in the National Heritage List for England as a designated Grade II* listed building. It is a Commissioners' Church, having received a grant towards its construction from the Church Building Commission. The authors of the Buildings of England series consider it to be a "large and ambitious" church. In the National Heritage List for England it is described as a "particularly imposing and elaborate example of a Commissioners' Church".
St Peter's was built between 1821 and 1824, and was designed by Francis Goodwin. A grant of £13,191 (equivalent to £1,230,000 in 2021) was given towards its construction by the Church Building Commission. The land for the church was given by the patron of the advowson, George 6th Earl of Stamford and Warrington, whose cousin, Revd Sir George Booth, had been Rector of Ashton from 1758 until 1797. It was the first of three churches designed by Goodwin for the Commission in the Manchester area. In 1840 a clock was installed with its face at the east end, the mechanism at the west end, and connected by a drive shaft running the length of the church. During the latter part of the 20th century, the west end was divided under the gallery.
The church is constructed in ashlar stone with a slate roof. Its plan consists of a seven-bay nave with a canted vestry at the east end acting as a chancel. At the west end is a tower. The tower is in three stages with buttresses at the corners rising to piers surmounted by pinnacles. It has a west door over which is a three-stage window. At a higher level are clock faces under gablets. In the top stage are pairs of open pointed arches acting as bell openings. The parapet is also open and is traceried. Each bay of the nave contains a three-light transomed window. These contain tracery in Perpendicular style constructed in cast iron and painted to look like stone. Between the bays are buttresses rising to pinnacles. The pinnacles at the corners of the church are crocketed. At the east end is a rose window, above which is a clock face in the gable.
There are galleries on three sides in the church, carried on quatrefoil cast iron columns. The church originally contained box pews but these, and many other furnishings, have since been removed. The stained glass in the east rose window dates from the 1830s, and is by David Evans, of Shrewsbury; it depicts the twelve apostles. On the north side of the church is a window by W. Pointer dating from 1923, and three windows by Curtis, Ward and Hughes from the 1890s and 1901. The south side includes windows by Lavers and Westlake. The three-manual organ was built in 1831 by Samuel Renn, and rebuilt in 1959 by J. J. Binns. There is a ring of eight bells, all cast in 1871 by Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Peter%27s_Church,_Ashton-under-Lyne
St. Peter’s Church is the oldest building in Malmö, Sweden. The construction was started in the early 1300s. The tower and several chapels were added during the 15th century.
On the way back from Oxfordshire, I thought about stopping off somewhere to take some church shots.
I'm sure Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Sussex have fine churches just off the motorway, but one had stuck in my head, back in Kent, and that Hever.
What I didn't realise is how hard it was to get too.
I followed the sat nav, taking me off the motorway whilst still in Sussex, then along narrow and twisting main roads along the edge of the north downs, through some very fine villages, but were in Sussex.
Would I see the sign marking my return to the Garden of England?
Yes, yes I would.
Edenbridge seemed quite an unexpectedly urban place, despite its name, so I didn't stop to search for an older centre, just pressing un until I was able to turn down Hever Road.
It had taken half an hour to get here.
St Peter stands by the gate to the famous castle, a place we have yet to visit, and even on a showery Saturday in March, there was a constant stream of visitors arriving.
I asked a nice young man who was directing traffic, where I could park to visit the church. He directed me to the staff car park, meaning I was able to get this shot before going in.
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Near the grounds of Hever Castle, medieval home of the Bullen family. Sandstone construction with a nice west tower and spire. There is a prominent chimney to the north chapel, although this is not the usual Victorian addition, but a Tudor feature, whose little fireplace may be seen inside! The church contains much of interest including a nineteenth-century painting of Christ before Caiphas by Reuben Sayers and another from the school of Tintoretto. The stained glass is all nineteenth and twentieth century and includes a wonderfully evocative east window (1898) by Burlisson and Grylls with quite the most theatrical sheep! The south chancel window of St Peter is by Hardman and dated 1877. In the north chapel is a fine tomb chest which displays the memorial brass of Sir Thomas Bullen (d. 1538), father of Queen Anne Boleyn. Just around the corner is a typical, though rather insubstantial, seventeenth-century pulpit with sounding board.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hever
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HEVER.
SOUTH-EASTWARD from Eatonbridge lies Hever, called in the Textus Roffensis, and some antient records, Heure, and in others, Evere.
This parish lies below the sand hill, and is consequently in that district of this county called The Weald.
There is a small part of it, called the Borough of Linckbill, comprehending a part of this parish, Chidingstone, and Hever, which is within the hundred of Ruxley, and being part of the manor of Great Orpington, the manerial rights of it belong to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the owner of that manor.
THE PARISH of Hever is long, and narrow from north to south. It lies wholly below the sand hills, and consequently in the district of the Weald; the soil and face of the country is the same as that of Eatonbridge, last described, the oak trees in it being in great plently, and in general growing to a very large size. The river Eden directs its course across it, towards Penshurst and the Medway, flowing near the walls of Hever castle, about a quarter of a mile southward from which is the village of Hever and the parsonage; near the northern side of the river is the seat of Polebrooke, late Douglass's, now Mrs. Susannah Payne's; and a little farther, the hamlets of Howgreen and Bowbeach; part of Linckhill borough, which is in the hundred of Ruxley, extends into this parish. There is a strange odd saying here, very frequent among the common people, which is this:
Jesus Christ never was but once at Hever.
And then he fell into the river.
Which can only be accounted for, by supposing that it alluded to a priest, who was carrying the bost to a sick person, and passing in his way over a bridge, sell with it into the river.
Hever was once the capital seat and manor of a family of the same name, whose still more antient possessions lay at Hever, near Northfleet, in this county, who bore for their arms, Gules, a cross argent. These arms, with a lable of three points azure, still remained in the late Mote-house, in Maidstone, and are quartered in this manner by the earl of Thanet, one of whose ancestors, Nicholas Tuston, esq. of Northiam, married Margaret, daughter and heir of John Hever of this county. (fn. 1)
William de Heure. possessed a moiety of this place in the reign of king Edward I. in the 2d of which he was was sheriff of this county, and in the 9th of it obtained a grant of free warren within his demesne lands in Heure, Chidingstone, and Lingefield.
Sir Ralph de Heure seems at this time to have possessed the other moiety of this parish, between whose son and heir, Ralph, and Nicholas, abbot of St. Augustine's, there had been, as appears by the register of that abbey, several disputes concerning lands in Hever, which was settled in the 4th year of king Edward I. by the abbot's granting to him and his heirs for ever, the land which he held of him in Hever, to hold by the service of the fourth part of a knight's fee.
William de Hever, in the reign of king Edward III. became possessed of the whole of this manor, and new built the mansion here, and had licence to embattle it; soon after which he died, leaving two daughters his coheirs; one of whom, Joane, carried one moiety of this estate in marriage to Reginald Cobham, a younger son of the Cobhams of Cobham, in this county; (fn. 2) whence this part of Hever, to distinguish it from the other, acquired the name of Hever Cobham.
His son, Reginald lord Cobham, in the 14th year of that reign, obtained a charter for free warren within his demesne lands in Hever. (fn. 3) He was succeeded in this manor by his son, Reginald lord Cobham, who was of Sterborough castle, in Surry, whence this branch was stiled Cobhams of Sterborough.
The other moiety of Hever, by Margaret, the other daughter and coheir, went in marriage to Sir Oliver Brocas, and thence gained the name of Hever Brocas. One of his descendants alienated it to Reginald lord Cobham, of Sterborough, last mentioned, who died possessed of both these manors in the 6th year of king Henry IV.
His grandson, Sir Thomas Cobham, sold these manors to Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who had been lord mayor in the 37th year of king Henry VI. He died possessed of both Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, in the 3d year of king Edward IV. leaving by Anne, his wife, eldest sister of Thomas, lord Hoo and Hastings, Sir William Bulleyn, of Blickling, in Norfolk, who married Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Boteler, earl of Ormond, by whom he had a son and heir, Thomas, who became a man of eminent note in the reign of king Henry VIII. and by reason of the king's great affection to the lady Anne Bulleyn, his daughter, was in the 17th year of that reign, created viscount Rochford; and in the 21st year of it, being then a knight of the Garter, to that of earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; viz. Wiltshire to his heirs male, and Ormond to his heirs general.
He resided here, and added greatly to those buildings, which his grandfather, Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, began in his life time, all which he completely finished, and from this time this seat seems to have been constantly called HEVER-CASTLE.
He died in the 30th of the same reign, possessed of this castle, with the two manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, having had by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, one sonGeorge, executed in his life time; and two daughters, Anne, wife to king Henry VIII. and Mary, wife of William Carey, esquire of the body, and ancestor of the lords Hunsdon and the earls of Dover and Monmouth.
On the death of the earl of Wiltshire, without issue male, who lies buried in this church, under an altar tomb of black marble, on which is his figure, as large as the life, in brass, dressed in the robes of the Garter, the king seised on this castle and these manors, in right of his late wife, the unfortunate Anne Bulleyn, the earl's daughter, who resided at Hever-castle whilst the king courted her, there being letters of both extant, written by them from and to this place, and her chamber in it is still called by her name; and they remained in his hands till the 32d year of his reign, when he granted to the lady Anne of Cleves, his repudiated wife, his manors of Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, among others, and his park of Hever, with its rights, members, and appurtenances, then in the king's hands; and all other estates in Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, lately purchased by him of Sir William Bulleyn and William Bulleyn, clerk, to hold to her during life, so long as she should stay within the realm, and not depart out of it without his licence, at the yearly rent of 931. 13s. 3½d. payable at the court of augmention. She died possessed of the castle, manors, and estates of Hever, in the 4th and 5th year of king Philip and queen Mary, when they reverted again to the crown, where they continued but a short time, for they were sold that year, by commissioners authorised for this purpose, to Sir Edward Waldegrave and dame Frances his wife; soon after which the park seems to have have been disparked.
This family of Waldegrave, antiently written Walgrave, is so named from a place, called Walgrave, in the county of Northampton, at which one of them was resident in the reign of king John, whose descendants afterwards settled in Essex, and bore for their arms, Per pale argent and gules. Warine de Walgrave is the first of them mentioned, whose son, John de Walgrave, was sheriff of London, in the 7th year of king John's reign, whose direct descendant was Sir Edward Waldegrave, who purchased this estate, as before mentioned. (fn. 5) He had been a principal officer of the household to the princess Mary; at the latter end of the reign of king Edward VI. he incurred the king's displeasure much by his attachment to her interest, and was closely imprisoned in the Tower; but the king's death happening soon afterwards, queen Mary amply recompensed his sufferings by the continued marks of her favour and bounty, which she conferred on him; and in the 4th and 5th years of that reign, he obtained, as above mentioned, on very easy terms, the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas; and besides being employed by the queen continually in commissions of trust and importance, had many grants of lands and other favours bestowed on him. But on the death of queen Mary, in 1558, he was divested of all his employments, and committed prisoner to the Tower, (fn. 6) where he died in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He left two sons, Charles, his heir; and Nicholas, ancestor to those of Boreley, in Essex; and several daughters.
Charles Waldegrave succeeded his father in his estates in this parish; whose son Edward received the honour of knighthood at Greenwich, in 1607, and though upwards of seventy years of age, at the breaking out of the civil wars, yet he nobly took arms in the king's defence, and having the command of a regiment of horse, behaved so bravely, that he had conferred on him the dignity of a baronet, in 1643; after which he continued to act with great courage in the several attacks against the parliamentary forces, in which time he lost two of his sons, and suffered in his estate to the value of fifty thousand pounds.
His great grandson, Sir Henry Waldegrave, in 1686, in the 1st year of king James II. was created a peer, by the title of baron Waldegrave of Chewton, in Somersetshire, and had several offices of trust conferred on him; but on the Revolution he retired into France, and died at Paris, in 1689. (fn. 7) He married Henrietta, natural daughter of king James II. by Arabella Churchill, sister of John duke of Marlborough, by whom he had James, created earl of Waldegrave in the 3d year of king George II. who, in the year 1715, conveyed the castle and these manors to Sir William Humfreys, bart. who that year was lord mayor of the city of London. He was of Barking, in Essex, and had been created a baronet in 1714. He was descended from Nathaniel Humfreys, citizen of London, the second son of William ap Humfrey, of Montgomery, in North Wales, and bore for his arms two coats, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, sable, two nags heads erased argent; 2d and 3d, per pale or and gules, two lions rampant endorsed, counterchanged.
He died in 1735, leaving by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of William Wintour, of Gloucestershire, an only son and heir, Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. who died in 1737, having had by Ellen, his wife, only child of colonel Robert Lancashire, three sons and two daughters; two of the sons died young; Robert, the second and only surviving son, had the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, and died before his father possessed of them, as appears by his epitaph, in 1736, ætat. 28.
On Sir Orlando's death his two daughters became his, as well as their brother's, coheirs, of whom Mary, the eldest, had three husbands; first, William Ball Waring, of Dunston, in Berkshire, who died in 1746, without issue; secondly, John Honywood, esq. second brother of Richard, of Mark's-hall, who likewife died without issue, in 1748; and lastly, Thomas Gore, esq. uncle to Charles Gore, esq. M.P. for Hertfordshire; which latter had married, in 1741, Ellen Wintour, the only daughter of Sir Orlando Humfreys, above mentioned.
They, with their husbands, in 1745, joined in the sale of Hever-castle and the manors of Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, to Timothy Waldo. He was descended from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in France, one of the first who publicly opposed the doctrines of the church of Rome, of whom there is a full account in the Atlas Geograph. vol. ii. and in Moreland's History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont. One of his descendants, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to escape the persecution of the duke D'Alva, came over to England, where he and his descendants afterwards settled, who bore for their arms, Argent a bend azure, between three leopards heads of the second; of whom, in king Charles II.'s reign, there were three brothers, the eldest of whom, Edward, was knighted, and died without male issue, leaving two daughters his coheirs; the eldest of whom, Grace, married first Sir Nicholas Wolstenholme, bart. and secondly, William lord Hunsdon, but died without issue by either of them, in 1729. The second brother was of Harrow, in Middlesex; and Timothy, the third, was an eminent merchant of London, whose grandsons were Edward, who was of South Lambeth, esq. and died in 1783, leaving only one daughter; and Timothy, of Clapham, esquire, the purchaser of this estate, as above mentioned, who was afterwards knighted, and died possessed of it, with near thirteen hundred acres of land round it, in 1786; he married, in 1736, Miss Catherine Wakefield, by whom he left an only daughter and heir, married to George Medley, esq. of Sussex, lady Waldo surviving him is at this time intitled to it.
The castle is entire, and in good condition; it has a moat round it, formed by the river Eden, over which there is a draw bridge, leading to the grand entrance, in the gate of which there is yet a port cullis, within is a quadrangle, round which are the offices, and a great hall; at the upper end of which, above a step, is a large oak table, as usual in former times. The great stair case leads up to several chambers and to the long gallery, the cieling of which is much ornamented with soliage in stucco; the rooms are all wainscotted with small oaken pannels, unpainted. On one side of the gallery is a recess, with an ascent of two steps, and one seat in it, with two returns, capable of holding ten or twelve persons, which, by tradition, was used as a throne, when king Henry VIII. visited the castle. At the upper end of the gallery, on one side of a large window, there is in the floor a kind of trap door, which, when opened, discovers a narrow and dark deep descent, which is said to reach as far as the moat, and at this day is still called the dungeon. In a closet, in one of the towers, the window of which is now stopped up, there is an adjoining chamber, in which queen Anne Bulleyn is said to have been consined after her dis grace. The entrance to this closet, from the chamber, is now by a small door, which at that time was a secret sliding pannel, and is yet called Anne Bulleyn's pannel.
In the windows of Hever-castle are these arms; Argent, three buckles gules, within the garter; a shield of four coasts, Howard, Brotherton, Warren, and Mowbray, argent three buckles gules; a shield of eight coats, viz. Bulleyn, Hoo, St. Omer, Malmains, Wickingham, St. Leger, Wallop, and Ormond; and one, per pale argent and gules, for Waldegrave. (fn. 8)
It is reported, that when Henry VIII. with his attendants, came to the top of the hill, within sight of the castle, he used to wind his bugle horn, to give notice of his approach.
There was a court baron constantly held for each of the above manors till within these forty years, but at present there is only one, both manors being now esteemed but as one, the circuit of which, over the neighbouring parishes, is very extensive.
SEYLIARDS is an estate here which extends itself into the parishes of Brasted and Eatonbridge, but the mansion of it is in this parish, and was the antient seat of the Seyliards, who afterwards branched out from hence into Brasted, Eatonbridge, Chidingstone, and Boxley, in this county.
The first of this name, who is recorded to have possessed this place, was Ralph de Seyliard, who resided here in the reign of king Stephen.
Almerick de Eureux, earl of Gloucester, who lived in the reign of king Henry III. demised lands to Martin at Seyliard, and other lands, called Hedinden, to Richard Seyliard, both of whom were sons of Ralph at Seyliard, and the latter of them was ancestor to those seated here and at Delaware, in Brasted. (fn. 9)
This place continued in his descendants till Sir Tho. Seyliard of Delaware, passed it away to John Petley, esq. who alienated it to Sir Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, and he died possessed of it in 1758; and it is now the property of his grandson, Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, esq.
Charities.
A PERSON gave, but who or when is unknown, but which has time out of mind been distributed among the poor of this parish, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid out of land vested in the churchwardens, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. JOHN PETER gave by will, about 1661, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid for the benefit of poor farmers only, out of land vested in the rector, the heirs of Wm. Douglass, and the heirs of Francis Bowty, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. GEORGE BORRASTON, rector, and several of the parishioners, as appears by a writing dated in 1693, purchased, with money arising from several bequests, the names of the donors unknown, except that of WILLIAM FALKNER, to which the parishioners added 15l. a piece of land, the rent to be distributed yearly among the poor of the parish, vested in the rector and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 3l. 12s.
Rev. THOMAS LANCASTER, rector, gave by will in 1714, for buying good books for the poor, and in case books are not wanting for the schooling of poor children at the discretion of the mimister, part of a policy on lives, which was exchanged for a sum of money paid by his executor, being 20l. vested in the minister and churchwardens.
SIR TIMOTHY WALDO gave by will in 1786, 500l. consolidated 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, one moiety of the interest of which to be applied for the placing of some poor boy of the parish apprentice to a farmer, or some handicraft trade, or to the sea service, or in cloathing such poor boy during his apprenticeship, and in case no such poor boy can be found, this moiety to be distributed among such of the industrious poor who do not receive alms. The other moiety to be laid out in buying and distributing flannel waistcoats, or strong shoes, or warm stockings, among such of the industrious or aged poor persons inhabiting within this parish, as do not receive alms, vested in the Salters Company.
HEVER is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham. The church, which stands at the east end of the village, is a small, but neat building, consisting of one isle and two chancels, having a handsome spire at the west end of it. It is dedicated to St. Peter.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the isle is a grave-stone, on which is the figure of a woman, and inscription in black letter in brass, for Margaret, wife of William Cheyne, obt. 1419, arms, a fess wavy between three crescents.—In the chancel, a memorial for Robert Humfreys, esq. lord of the manor of Heaver, only son and heir of Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. of Jenkins, in Effex, obt. 1736. Against the wall is a brass plate, with the figure of a man kneeling at a desk, and inscription in black letter for William Todde, schoolmaster to Charles Waldegrave, esq. obt. 1585.—In the north chancel, an altar tomb, with the figure on it at large in brass, of Sir Thomas Bullen, knight of the garter, earl of Wilcher and earl of Ormunde, obt. 1538. A small slab with a brass plate, for ........ Bullayen, the son of Sir Thomas Bullayen.—In the belsry, a stone with a brass plate, and inscription in black letter in French, for John de Cobham, esquire, obt. 1399, and dame Johane, dame de Leukenore his wife, and Renaud their son; near the above is an antient altar tomb for another of that name, on which is a shield of arms in brass, or, on a chevron, three eagles displayed, a star in the dexter point. These were the arms of this branch of the Cobhams, of Sterborough-castle. (fn. 10)
This church is a rectory, the advowson of which belonged to the priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, and came to the crown with the rest of its possessions at the time of the surrendry of it, in the 7th year of king Henry VIII. in consequence of the act passed that year for the surrendry of all religious houses, under the clear yearly revenue of two hundred pounds. Soon after which this advowson was granted, with the scite of the priory, to Thomas Colepeper, but he did not long possess it; and it appears, by the Escheat Rolls, to have come again into the hands of the crown, and was granted by the king, in his 34th year, to Sir John Gage, to hold in capite by knights service; who exchanged it again with Tho. Colepeper, to confirm which an act passed the year after. (fn. 11) His son and heir, Alexander Colepeper, had possession granted of sundry premises, among which was the advowson of Hever, held in capite by knights service, in the 3d and 4th years of king Philip and queen Mary; the year after which it was, among other premises, granted to Sir Edward Waldegrave, to hold by the like tenure.
Charles Waldegrave, esq. in the 12th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated this advowson to John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, and being entailed to his heirs male, by the last will of Sampson Lennard, esq. his eldest son, under the word hereditament possessed it, and it being an advowson in gross, was never disentailed by Henry, Richard, or Francis, lords Dacre, his descendants, so that it came to Thomas lord Dacre, son of the last mentioned Francis, lord Dacre, afterwards earl of Sussex, in 1673, and at length sole heir male of the descendants of John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, above mentioned; and the same trial was had for the claim of a moiety of it, at the Queen's-bench bar, as for the rest of the earl's estates, and a verdict then obtained in his favour, as has been already fully mentioned before, under Chevening.
The earl of Sussex died possessed of it in 1715, (fn. 12) whose two daughters, his coheirs, on their father's death became entitled to this advowson, and a few years afterwards alienated the same.
It then became the property of the Rev. Mr. Geo. Lewis, as it has since of the Rev. Mr. Hamlin, whose daughter marrying the Rev. Mr. Nott, of Little Horsted, in Sussex, he is now intitled to it.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church of Heure was valued at fifteen marcs.
By virtue of a commission of enquiry, taken by order of the state, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Hever was a parsonage, with a house, and twelve acres of glebe land, which, with the tithes, were worth seventy-seven pounds per annum, master John Petter being then incumbent, and receiving the profits, and that Francis lord Dacre was donor of it. (fn. 13)
This rectory was valued, in 1747, at 1831. per annum, as appears by the particulars then made for the sale of it.
It is valued, in the king's books, at 15l. 17s. 3½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. 8¾d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
¶The priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, was endowed by Robert de Thurnham, the founder of that house, in the reign of king Henry II. with his tithe of Lincheshele and sundry premises in this parish, for which the religious received from the rector of this church the annual sum of 43s. 4d.
Taken during Storm Herminia in pouring rain!
St. Peter's Church is a Church of England church in Dorchester, Dorset, England. The majority of the church dates from the 15th century, with later alterations and extensions over the following centuries. The church has been a Grade I listed building since 1950. [Wikipedia].
St Peter Mancroft towers over the modern market in the centre of the city. The brutalist City Hall, to it's left, the Norman Keep to the right beyond the shops of Gentleman's Walk and Back of the Inns, and on the other side of the market is the flint Guildhall.
I wanted to return to to St Peter to look again at the font canopy, and the wonderful glass in the Chancel.
I approached the church just after one, I was hot and the walk from the Cathedral had made me hotter.
I walked to the glass door, and a hundred faces turned to look at me, as there was an organ recital going on. Should I stay or go?
I stayed in the cool of the church, even if I did overheat for ten minutes.
In front of me, a video screen showed the organist's hands and feet as he put the instrument through its paces. I learned from this the pedals on the floor didn't just make the organ loud or quiet, they played a melody too. So he played with all four limbs, and the music filled the church.
Yes, I wanted to get on to get my shots, but I needed this to make me stop and consider the space and what I should do with the rest of the day.
The concert ended at quarter to two, I rushed round to get my shots, before hoping to get to the station for the three o'clock train back to London.
-------------------------------------------
Norwich is a fine city. Or so the signs say on every road into it. But, and there can be no denying it, it is a jewel in the Norfolk countryside.
For me it is “just” Norwich Where used to go for our important shopping, for football and later for concerts. We, and I, would take for granted its cobbled streets, Norman cathedral and medieval churches by the dozen. Also it’s a pub for every day, the ramshackle market, and the Norman castle keep looking down on the city sprawled around.
Just Norwich.
Later, it also became where I bought new records from Backs in Swan Lane, and searched for punk classics in the Record and Tape Exchange.
Norwich is lucky that the industrial revolution passed by the city leaving few changes, the character and history intact. World War II did damage, some churches were abandoned, some rebuilt, but many survived.
And Norwich is a friendly city. It sees warm and colourful, and on a hot summer’s day when the locals were in shorts and t-shirts, much white flesh was on display. I also take the football club for granted. I have supported it from nearly 49 years, and being away from the city means I get my news and views largely second hand, but I also forget how central the club is to the people.
Sadly, Norwich isn't really on the way to anywhere, well except Great Yarmouth and Cromer, so people don't come here by accident. So it remains something of a secret to most but locals.
Other cities would have children dressed in any one of a dozen Premier League club’s replica shirts. In Norwich yellow and green was the dominant colour, even after a chastening season that saw us finish rock bottom of the league. The local sports “superstore” has a Norwich Fan’s fanzone, and a third of the window is given to the home city club.
I knew the city like the back of my hand, so knew the route I wanted to take to provide me with views that would refresh those in my mind. I didn’t dally, pressed on to my two targets, the Anglican Cathedral and St Peter Mancroft.
This wasn’t the original plan; that was to meet two friends I used to go to the football with, Ian and Ali, but they both caught a bug in Manchester watching the women’s Euros, so couldn’t meet with me. But I had an alternative plan, maybe with a pub stop or two.
The trip happened as I got a mail offering a tempting 20% off the trip that had been selling poorly, I checked with Ian and Alison, they said they were free, but had yet to fall ill. So seats were booked, as Jools liked the sound of an afternoon in Norwich and meeting my friends.
Up at quarter to five so we could catch the first High Speed service out of Dover, so to be in London in time to catch the railtour to Norwich.
Sun had yet to light up Dover Priory when we arrived, but a few people milling around, including two still at the end of their night out.
Folkestone was light by the warm light of the rising sun, and well worth a shot as we passed over Foord Viaduct.
Later, I was hoping the calm morning meant the Medway would be a mirror, but a breeze disturbed the surface ruining the reflections I had hoped for.
Finally, emerging into Essex, the line climbs as the go over the Dartford Crossing, just enough time to grab a shot.
It was already hot in London, so we stayed in the shade of the undercroft at St Pancras, had a coffee and a pasty from Greggs before walking over to Kings Cross to see if our tour was already at the buffers.
We walked across the road to King's Cross, and find the station packed with milling passengers, all eyes trained on the departure boards waiting for platform confirmations.
Ours was due to be platform 3, and the rake of carriages was indeed there, top and tailed by class 66 freight locomotives.
We get on the train and find we had been allocated a pair of seats nearest the vestibule. This meant that they were a few inches less wide than others, meaning Jools and I were jammed in.
Almost straight away, Jools's back and Achilles began to ache, and the thought of four hours of this in the morning and another four in the evening was too much, and so she decided to get off at the first stop at Potters Bar.
In the end, a wise choice I think.
The guy in the seat opposite to us talked the whole journey. I mean filling any silence with anything: how much he paid for the components of his lunch, his cameras and then his job. In great detail. He also collected train numbers. I didn't know that was really a thin in the days of EMUs, but I helped out from time to time telling him units he had missed.
We had a twenty minute break at Peterborough because of pathing issues, so we all got out to stretch our legs and do some extra trainspotting.
An Azuma left from the next platform, and another came in on the fast line. I snapped them both.
From Peterborough, the train reversed, and after the 20 minute wait, we went out of the station southwards, taking the line towards Ely.
Now that we had done our last stop, the train could open up and we cruised across the Fens at 70mph, the flat landscape botted with wind turbines and church towers slipped by.
Instead of going into Ely station, we took the rarely used (for passenger trains) freight avoiding line, now a single track. Emerging crossing the main line, taking the line eastwards towards Thetford.
Again, the regulator was opened, and we rattled along. Even so, the journey was entering its fourth hour, and with my travelling colleague and without Jools, time was dragging.
We were now back in Norfolk, passing the STANTA training area, all warning signs on the fences telling the trainee soldiers that that was where the area ended. I saw no soldiers or tanks. My only thought was of the rare flowers that would be growing there, unseen.
And so for the final run into Norwich, familiar countryside now.
Under the southern bypass and the main line from London, slowing down where the two lines merged at Trowse before crossing the River Wensum, before the final bend into Norwich Thorpe.
At last I could get off the train and stretch my legs.
Many others were also getting off to board coaches to take them to Wroxham for a cruise on the Broads, or a ride on the Bure Valley Railway, while the rest would head to Yarmouth for four hours at the seaside.
I got off the train and walked through the station, out into the forecourt and over the main road, so I could walk down Riverside Road to the Bishop’s Bridge, then from there into the Cathedral Close.
The hustle and bustle of the station and roadworks were soon left behind, as the only noise was from a family messing about in a rowing boat in front of Pulls Ferry and a swan chasing an Egyptian Goose, so the occasional splash of water.
I reached the bridge and passed by the first pub, with already many folks sitting out in the beer garden, sipping wines and/or summer beers. I was already hot and would loved to have joined them, but I was on a mission.
In the meantime, Jools had texted me and said if I fancied getting a regular service back home, then I should. And a seed grew in my brain. Because, on the way back, departing at just gone five, the tour had to have a 50 minute layover in a goods siding at Peterborough, and would not get back to Kings Cross until half nine, and then I had to get back to Dover.
I could go to the cathedral the church, walk back to the station. Or get a taxi, and get a train back to London at four and still be home by eight.
Yes.
I walked past the Great Hospital, then into the Close via the swing gate, round to the entrance where there was no charge for entry and now no charge for photography. But I would make a donation, I said. And I did, a tenner.
I have been to the cathedral a few times, but not as a churchcrawler. So, I made my way round, taking shots, drinking in the details. But the walk up had got me hot and bothered, I always run with a hot engine, but in summer it can be pretty damp. I struggled to keep my glasses on my nose, and as I went round I knew I was in no mood to go round again with the wide angle, that could wait for another visit.
The church is pretty much as built by the Normans, roof excepted which has been replaced at least twice, but is poetry in stone. And for a cathedral, not many people around also enjoying the building and its history.
At one, bells chimed, and I think The Lord’s Prayer was read out, we were asked to be quiet. I always am when snapping.
In half an hour I was done, so walked out through the west door, through the gate and into Tombland. I was heading for the Market and St Peter which site on the opposite side to the Guildhall.
I powered on, ignoring how warm I felt, in fact not that warm at all. The heat and sweats would come when I stopped, I found out.
I walk up the side of the market and into the church, and into the middle of an organ recital.
Should I turn round and do something else, or should I stop and listen. I stopped and listened.
Everyone should hear an organ recital in a large church. There is nothing quite like it. The organ can make the most beautiful sounds, but at the same time, the bass pipes making noises so deep you can only feel it in your bones.
Tony Pinel knew his way round the organ, and via a video link we could see his hands and feet making the noises we could hear. It was wonderful, but quite how someone can play one tune with their feet and another with their hands, and pulling and pushing knobs and stoppers, is beyond me. But glad some people can.
It finished at quarter to two, and I photograph the font canopy and the 15th century glass in the south chapel. Font canopies are rare, there is only four in England, and one of the others is in Trunch 20 miles to the north. Much is a restoration, but it is an impressive sight when paired with the seven-sacrament font under it.
The glass is no-less spectacular, panels three feet by two, five wide and stretching to the vaulted roof. I can’t photograph them all, but I do over 50%.
I go to the market for a lunch of chips, for old times sake. I mean that was the treat whenever we went either to Norwich or Yarmouth; chips on the market. I was told they no longer did battered sausage, so had an un-battered one, and a can of pop. I stood and ate in the alleyway between stalls, people passing by and people buying chips and mushy peas of their own.
Once done, I had thought of getting a taxi back to the station, but the rank that has always been rammed with black cabs was empty, and two couples were shouting at each other as to who should have the one that was there. So I walked to the station, across Gentleman’s Walk, along to Back of the Inns, then up London Street to the top of Prince of Wales Road and then an easy time to the station across the bridge.
I got my ticket and saw a train to Liverpool Street was due to depart at 14:32. In three minutes.
I went through the barrier and got on the train, it was almost empty in the new, swish electric inter-city unit. I was sweating buckets, and needed a drink, but there appeared to be no buffet, instead just electric efficiency and silence as the train slid out of the station and went round past the football ground to the river, then taking the main line south.
In front of me, two oriental ladies talked for the whole journey. I listened to them, no idea what they talked about to fill 105 minutes.
I thought it would be nearly five when the train got in, but helped by only stopping at Diss, Ipswich, Manningtree and Colchester we got in, on time, at quarter past four.
I walked to the main concourse and down into the Circle Line platforms, getting a train in a couple of minutes the four stops to St Pancras. I knew there was a train soon leaving, and after checking the board and my watch I saw I had five minutes to get along the length of the station and up to the Southeastern platforms.
I tried. I did, but I reached the steps up to the platforms and I saw I had 45 seconds, no time to go up as they would have locked the doors. So, instead I went to the nearby pub and had a large, ice-cold bottle of Weiss beer.
That was better.
I was all hot and bothered again, but would have an hour to cool down, and the beer helped.
At ten past five, I went up and found the Dover train already in, I went through the barriers and took a seat in a carriage I thought would stop near the exit at Dover Priory. I called Jools to let her know I would be back at quarter to seven, and she confirmed she would pick me up.
She was there, people got off all out on a night on the town, dressed in shiny random pieces of fabric covering boobs and bottoms. I was young once, I thought.
Jools was there, she started the car and drove us home via Jubilee Way. Across the Channel France was a clear as anything, and four ferries were plying between the two shores. Take us home.
Once home, Jools had prepared Caprese. I sliced some bread and poured wine. On the wireless, Craig spun funk and soul. We ate.
Tired.
It was going to be a hot night, but I was tired enough to sleep through it. Or so I thought.
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The great urban churches of northern Europe sit on their market places, especially in Cathedral cities. It is as if they were intended as late Medieval statements of civic pride. They are a reminder of the way that the cities rose to prominence in the decades after the Black Death, as if the old order had been broken and a new one was beginning. They were a great affirmation of Catholic orthodoxy and social communion, in the years before the merchants that paid for them embraced Protestantism and capitalism. They are European culture caught on the cusp of the Renaissance, the beacons that lead us into early modern Europe.
These things are more easily sensed in the great late medieval cities of Flanders and the Netherlands, for example at Bruges. The bridges, the medieval triumph, the tourist tat shops and the foreign voices can create an illusion of being in Cambridge or Oxford, but the great Market Church and Belfry on the main square recall Norwich, where St Peter Mancroft and the medieval Guildhall have a similar juxtaposition. The Industrial Revolution would bring a new wave of cities to prominence, but in the provincial cities that were prominent in the 15th century, Norwich, and Bristol, and York, you still sense the power of those times.
Looking at St Peter, the sophistication of its Perpendicular architecture feels a geological age away from the coarse, brutal Norman castle on the far side of the Main Croft ('Mancroft'), which is understandable. Four hundred years had passed since the Norman invasion, and St Peter Mancroft is as close in time to the Industrial Revolution as it is to the Normans. That is true of all late medieval churches, of course, but seeing the architecture in a city you get a sense that it looked to the future more than to the past. St Peter Mancroft feels entirely at home with the clean, Scandinavian lines of the adjacent 1930s City Hall, and perhaps even more so with the retro-Modernism of the new Forum, whch reflects it back to the city. The Forum was built to replace the Norwich City library, tragically destroyed by fire in 1994, but in style it echoes the confidence of a great 19th century railway station, the roof a triumph of engineering. You are reminded of Cologne, where to leave the railway station and step into the shadow of the west front of the great Cathedral is to merely move from one statement of civic pride to another.
The influence of Flanders and the Netherlands is familiar in East Anglia, of course, but it is only at Norwich you sense this sense of civic bullishness. Utilitarian, practical Ipswich demolished St Mildred on the Cornhill in the 19th century - the French Baroque town hall now stands on the site. In Cambridge, the market place has been skewed so that today St Mary the Great sits with its east window facing the stalls, as if keeping them at a distance. Worse, it now styles itself the 'University Church'. The great north side of St Peter Mancroft, its massive tower and clerestory like eternal truths rising above the deckchair jollity of the stall canopies, is a constant presence. You can never ignore it.
We know that the present church was begun by 1430, and was consecrated on St Peter's Day, 1455. That is, it is all of a piece. In the nave and chancel there are echoes of near-contemporary Holy Trinity, Long Melford, in Suffolk. The tower is something else again; idiosyncratic, a symbol of power and wealth. There's nothing else quite like it. Pevsner thought it more rich than aesthetically successful, and this is not helped by Street's spirelet of 1881, a flighty thing. There was a massive Victorian restoration here. Before the Streets, pere et fils, came along, diocesan architect Richard Phipson had given it a going over, and there is a sense of the grand 19th century civic dignity of his St Mary le Tower in Ipswich. Of course, hardly anything of these restorations is visible from the outside, apart from a mid-20th century meeting room down in the south-east corner, a jaunty Festival of Britain affair, now a parish tea room.
A processional way runs beneath the tower, and there is another beneath the chancel, the land sloping steeply away towards the east. You enter from either the north or south sides, through surprisingly small porches which lead into the aisles. Again, a sense of civic confidence pervades as the interior unfolds before you.
There is no chancel arch. The arcades run the full length of the church, the great east window is echoed by that to the west, and if you stand in the middle of the church and look to either end, only the west end organ tells you easily which direction you are facing. The furnishings are pretty much all Phipson's, uneasily heavy under the delicate fluting of the columns. How good modern wooden chairs would look in here! There are civic memorials the lengths of the aisle walls, but because the windows are full of clear glass they are not oppressive here as they are, say, at St Stephen.
At the west end of the north aisle sits the font on its pedestal. You can see at a glance that it was one of the seven sacraments series, and that all of its reliefs have been completely erased, as in the great churches of Southwold and Blythburgh in Suffolk. At Wenhaston, we know that this happened in the 19th century - could the same thing be true here? Above the font is the famous font canopy. Now, font canopies are so rare - there are only four of them, and they are all so different - that it is not particularly useful to compare them. Certainly, that here reflects the rather grander example at Trunch, some twenty miles away. Since the other two are either post-Reformation (Durham) or made of stone (Luton), it might make sense to think of the Norfolk two as a unique pair. Here at St Peter Mancroft, much of the upper part is a 19th century restoration, and there seems to have been some attempt to copy Trunch. The lower part is more interesting, with its niches and canopies. It must have been spectacular when the font was intact.
Pevsner tells us that the gilded reredos in the sanctuary is by JP Seddon, but that Ninian Comper restored and enlarged it in the early 1930s. It is not exciting, but that is probably as well, for above it is one of the greatest medieval treasures of East Anglia. This is the medieval glass that survives from the first few decades of the existence of the church. Some of it was probably in place that first Petertide. It has been moved around a bit since then; the whole east side was blown out by an explosion in 1648, and the glass has been removed on several occasions since, most recently during the Second World War. After East Harling, it is the finest expanse of Norwich School glass of the 15th century.
Books have been written about the glass at St Peter Mancroft, and there is neither time nor space to go into too much detail here. Suffice to say that this is the work of several Norwich workshops, probably working in the Conesford area of the city along what is today King Street. It is obvious that some other glass in East Anglia is from the same workshops using the same or similar cartoons, notably North Tuddenham in Norfolk and Combs in Suffolk, and of course most obviously, East Harling. Indeed, by comparison with East Harling in the 1920s, the historian Christopher Woodforde was able to deduce some of what was missing here, and what there.
There are several sequences, most notably the Story of Christ from the Annunciation to the day of Pentecost. This extends into a Marian sequence depicting the story of the Assumption. There are also scenes from the stories of St Peter and St John, and other individual Saints panels, including St Faith, a significant cult in late medieval Norwich. The panel of St Francis suggests that it was also once part of a sequence. The lower range depicts the donors, some of whom are identified. The central spine is largely modern glass by Clayton and Bell for the Streets in the 1880s. Some of the missing glass is now at Felbrigg Hall.
In any other church, the 1921 glass by Herbert Hendrie in the south chapel aisle chapel would be considered outstanding. It is in the style of Eric Gill, but feels rather heavy handed next to the extraordinary delicacy of its medieval neighbours.
While I was here, I stopped taking photographs for the one o'clock prayers. One of the custodians stood at the lectern and read very eloquently from the Acts of the Apostles, and said prayers for the city and its people. Apart from me, there were only two other listeners in the vast space. It was tenderly and thoughtfully done, but I couldn't help thinking that it is the exterior of this wonderful structure which is the Church's true act of witness in central Norwich now.
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichstpetermancroft/norwichs...
The headstone of Joseph Pike in St Peter and St Paul church yard, Newport Pagnell. The Spire House is in the background.
On the way back from Oxfordshire, I thought about stopping off somewhere to take some church shots.
I'm sure Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Sussex have fine churches just off the motorway, but one had stuck in my head, back in Kent, and that Hever.
What I didn't realise is how hard it was to get too.
I followed the sat nav, taking me off the motorway whilst still in Sussex, then along narrow and twisting main roads along the edge of the north downs, through some very fine villages, but were in Sussex.
Would I see the sign marking my return to the Garden of England?
Yes, yes I would.
Edenbridge seemed quite an unexpectedly urban place, despite its name, so I didn't stop to search for an older centre, just pressing un until I was able to turn down Hever Road.
It had taken half an hour to get here.
St Peter stands by the gate to the famous castle, a place we have yet to visit, and even on a showery Saturday in March, there was a constant stream of visitors arriving.
I asked a nice young man who was directing traffic, where I could park to visit the church. He directed me to the staff car park, meaning I was able to get this shot before going in.
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Near the grounds of Hever Castle, medieval home of the Bullen family. Sandstone construction with a nice west tower and spire. There is a prominent chimney to the north chapel, although this is not the usual Victorian addition, but a Tudor feature, whose little fireplace may be seen inside! The church contains much of interest including a nineteenth-century painting of Christ before Caiphas by Reuben Sayers and another from the school of Tintoretto. The stained glass is all nineteenth and twentieth century and includes a wonderfully evocative east window (1898) by Burlisson and Grylls with quite the most theatrical sheep! The south chancel window of St Peter is by Hardman and dated 1877. In the north chapel is a fine tomb chest which displays the memorial brass of Sir Thomas Bullen (d. 1538), father of Queen Anne Boleyn. Just around the corner is a typical, though rather insubstantial, seventeenth-century pulpit with sounding board.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hever
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HEVER.
SOUTH-EASTWARD from Eatonbridge lies Hever, called in the Textus Roffensis, and some antient records, Heure, and in others, Evere.
This parish lies below the sand hill, and is consequently in that district of this county called The Weald.
There is a small part of it, called the Borough of Linckbill, comprehending a part of this parish, Chidingstone, and Hever, which is within the hundred of Ruxley, and being part of the manor of Great Orpington, the manerial rights of it belong to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the owner of that manor.
THE PARISH of Hever is long, and narrow from north to south. It lies wholly below the sand hills, and consequently in the district of the Weald; the soil and face of the country is the same as that of Eatonbridge, last described, the oak trees in it being in great plently, and in general growing to a very large size. The river Eden directs its course across it, towards Penshurst and the Medway, flowing near the walls of Hever castle, about a quarter of a mile southward from which is the village of Hever and the parsonage; near the northern side of the river is the seat of Polebrooke, late Douglass's, now Mrs. Susannah Payne's; and a little farther, the hamlets of Howgreen and Bowbeach; part of Linckhill borough, which is in the hundred of Ruxley, extends into this parish. There is a strange odd saying here, very frequent among the common people, which is this:
Jesus Christ never was but once at Hever.
And then he fell into the river.
Which can only be accounted for, by supposing that it alluded to a priest, who was carrying the bost to a sick person, and passing in his way over a bridge, sell with it into the river.
Hever was once the capital seat and manor of a family of the same name, whose still more antient possessions lay at Hever, near Northfleet, in this county, who bore for their arms, Gules, a cross argent. These arms, with a lable of three points azure, still remained in the late Mote-house, in Maidstone, and are quartered in this manner by the earl of Thanet, one of whose ancestors, Nicholas Tuston, esq. of Northiam, married Margaret, daughter and heir of John Hever of this county. (fn. 1)
William de Heure. possessed a moiety of this place in the reign of king Edward I. in the 2d of which he was was sheriff of this county, and in the 9th of it obtained a grant of free warren within his demesne lands in Heure, Chidingstone, and Lingefield.
Sir Ralph de Heure seems at this time to have possessed the other moiety of this parish, between whose son and heir, Ralph, and Nicholas, abbot of St. Augustine's, there had been, as appears by the register of that abbey, several disputes concerning lands in Hever, which was settled in the 4th year of king Edward I. by the abbot's granting to him and his heirs for ever, the land which he held of him in Hever, to hold by the service of the fourth part of a knight's fee.
William de Hever, in the reign of king Edward III. became possessed of the whole of this manor, and new built the mansion here, and had licence to embattle it; soon after which he died, leaving two daughters his coheirs; one of whom, Joane, carried one moiety of this estate in marriage to Reginald Cobham, a younger son of the Cobhams of Cobham, in this county; (fn. 2) whence this part of Hever, to distinguish it from the other, acquired the name of Hever Cobham.
His son, Reginald lord Cobham, in the 14th year of that reign, obtained a charter for free warren within his demesne lands in Hever. (fn. 3) He was succeeded in this manor by his son, Reginald lord Cobham, who was of Sterborough castle, in Surry, whence this branch was stiled Cobhams of Sterborough.
The other moiety of Hever, by Margaret, the other daughter and coheir, went in marriage to Sir Oliver Brocas, and thence gained the name of Hever Brocas. One of his descendants alienated it to Reginald lord Cobham, of Sterborough, last mentioned, who died possessed of both these manors in the 6th year of king Henry IV.
His grandson, Sir Thomas Cobham, sold these manors to Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who had been lord mayor in the 37th year of king Henry VI. He died possessed of both Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, in the 3d year of king Edward IV. leaving by Anne, his wife, eldest sister of Thomas, lord Hoo and Hastings, Sir William Bulleyn, of Blickling, in Norfolk, who married Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Boteler, earl of Ormond, by whom he had a son and heir, Thomas, who became a man of eminent note in the reign of king Henry VIII. and by reason of the king's great affection to the lady Anne Bulleyn, his daughter, was in the 17th year of that reign, created viscount Rochford; and in the 21st year of it, being then a knight of the Garter, to that of earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; viz. Wiltshire to his heirs male, and Ormond to his heirs general.
He resided here, and added greatly to those buildings, which his grandfather, Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, began in his life time, all which he completely finished, and from this time this seat seems to have been constantly called HEVER-CASTLE.
He died in the 30th of the same reign, possessed of this castle, with the two manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, having had by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, one sonGeorge, executed in his life time; and two daughters, Anne, wife to king Henry VIII. and Mary, wife of William Carey, esquire of the body, and ancestor of the lords Hunsdon and the earls of Dover and Monmouth.
On the death of the earl of Wiltshire, without issue male, who lies buried in this church, under an altar tomb of black marble, on which is his figure, as large as the life, in brass, dressed in the robes of the Garter, the king seised on this castle and these manors, in right of his late wife, the unfortunate Anne Bulleyn, the earl's daughter, who resided at Hever-castle whilst the king courted her, there being letters of both extant, written by them from and to this place, and her chamber in it is still called by her name; and they remained in his hands till the 32d year of his reign, when he granted to the lady Anne of Cleves, his repudiated wife, his manors of Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, among others, and his park of Hever, with its rights, members, and appurtenances, then in the king's hands; and all other estates in Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, lately purchased by him of Sir William Bulleyn and William Bulleyn, clerk, to hold to her during life, so long as she should stay within the realm, and not depart out of it without his licence, at the yearly rent of 931. 13s. 3½d. payable at the court of augmention. She died possessed of the castle, manors, and estates of Hever, in the 4th and 5th year of king Philip and queen Mary, when they reverted again to the crown, where they continued but a short time, for they were sold that year, by commissioners authorised for this purpose, to Sir Edward Waldegrave and dame Frances his wife; soon after which the park seems to have have been disparked.
This family of Waldegrave, antiently written Walgrave, is so named from a place, called Walgrave, in the county of Northampton, at which one of them was resident in the reign of king John, whose descendants afterwards settled in Essex, and bore for their arms, Per pale argent and gules. Warine de Walgrave is the first of them mentioned, whose son, John de Walgrave, was sheriff of London, in the 7th year of king John's reign, whose direct descendant was Sir Edward Waldegrave, who purchased this estate, as before mentioned. (fn. 5) He had been a principal officer of the household to the princess Mary; at the latter end of the reign of king Edward VI. he incurred the king's displeasure much by his attachment to her interest, and was closely imprisoned in the Tower; but the king's death happening soon afterwards, queen Mary amply recompensed his sufferings by the continued marks of her favour and bounty, which she conferred on him; and in the 4th and 5th years of that reign, he obtained, as above mentioned, on very easy terms, the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas; and besides being employed by the queen continually in commissions of trust and importance, had many grants of lands and other favours bestowed on him. But on the death of queen Mary, in 1558, he was divested of all his employments, and committed prisoner to the Tower, (fn. 6) where he died in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He left two sons, Charles, his heir; and Nicholas, ancestor to those of Boreley, in Essex; and several daughters.
Charles Waldegrave succeeded his father in his estates in this parish; whose son Edward received the honour of knighthood at Greenwich, in 1607, and though upwards of seventy years of age, at the breaking out of the civil wars, yet he nobly took arms in the king's defence, and having the command of a regiment of horse, behaved so bravely, that he had conferred on him the dignity of a baronet, in 1643; after which he continued to act with great courage in the several attacks against the parliamentary forces, in which time he lost two of his sons, and suffered in his estate to the value of fifty thousand pounds.
His great grandson, Sir Henry Waldegrave, in 1686, in the 1st year of king James II. was created a peer, by the title of baron Waldegrave of Chewton, in Somersetshire, and had several offices of trust conferred on him; but on the Revolution he retired into France, and died at Paris, in 1689. (fn. 7) He married Henrietta, natural daughter of king James II. by Arabella Churchill, sister of John duke of Marlborough, by whom he had James, created earl of Waldegrave in the 3d year of king George II. who, in the year 1715, conveyed the castle and these manors to Sir William Humfreys, bart. who that year was lord mayor of the city of London. He was of Barking, in Essex, and had been created a baronet in 1714. He was descended from Nathaniel Humfreys, citizen of London, the second son of William ap Humfrey, of Montgomery, in North Wales, and bore for his arms two coats, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, sable, two nags heads erased argent; 2d and 3d, per pale or and gules, two lions rampant endorsed, counterchanged.
He died in 1735, leaving by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of William Wintour, of Gloucestershire, an only son and heir, Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. who died in 1737, having had by Ellen, his wife, only child of colonel Robert Lancashire, three sons and two daughters; two of the sons died young; Robert, the second and only surviving son, had the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, and died before his father possessed of them, as appears by his epitaph, in 1736, ætat. 28.
On Sir Orlando's death his two daughters became his, as well as their brother's, coheirs, of whom Mary, the eldest, had three husbands; first, William Ball Waring, of Dunston, in Berkshire, who died in 1746, without issue; secondly, John Honywood, esq. second brother of Richard, of Mark's-hall, who likewife died without issue, in 1748; and lastly, Thomas Gore, esq. uncle to Charles Gore, esq. M.P. for Hertfordshire; which latter had married, in 1741, Ellen Wintour, the only daughter of Sir Orlando Humfreys, above mentioned.
They, with their husbands, in 1745, joined in the sale of Hever-castle and the manors of Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, to Timothy Waldo. He was descended from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in France, one of the first who publicly opposed the doctrines of the church of Rome, of whom there is a full account in the Atlas Geograph. vol. ii. and in Moreland's History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont. One of his descendants, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to escape the persecution of the duke D'Alva, came over to England, where he and his descendants afterwards settled, who bore for their arms, Argent a bend azure, between three leopards heads of the second; of whom, in king Charles II.'s reign, there were three brothers, the eldest of whom, Edward, was knighted, and died without male issue, leaving two daughters his coheirs; the eldest of whom, Grace, married first Sir Nicholas Wolstenholme, bart. and secondly, William lord Hunsdon, but died without issue by either of them, in 1729. The second brother was of Harrow, in Middlesex; and Timothy, the third, was an eminent merchant of London, whose grandsons were Edward, who was of South Lambeth, esq. and died in 1783, leaving only one daughter; and Timothy, of Clapham, esquire, the purchaser of this estate, as above mentioned, who was afterwards knighted, and died possessed of it, with near thirteen hundred acres of land round it, in 1786; he married, in 1736, Miss Catherine Wakefield, by whom he left an only daughter and heir, married to George Medley, esq. of Sussex, lady Waldo surviving him is at this time intitled to it.
The castle is entire, and in good condition; it has a moat round it, formed by the river Eden, over which there is a draw bridge, leading to the grand entrance, in the gate of which there is yet a port cullis, within is a quadrangle, round which are the offices, and a great hall; at the upper end of which, above a step, is a large oak table, as usual in former times. The great stair case leads up to several chambers and to the long gallery, the cieling of which is much ornamented with soliage in stucco; the rooms are all wainscotted with small oaken pannels, unpainted. On one side of the gallery is a recess, with an ascent of two steps, and one seat in it, with two returns, capable of holding ten or twelve persons, which, by tradition, was used as a throne, when king Henry VIII. visited the castle. At the upper end of the gallery, on one side of a large window, there is in the floor a kind of trap door, which, when opened, discovers a narrow and dark deep descent, which is said to reach as far as the moat, and at this day is still called the dungeon. In a closet, in one of the towers, the window of which is now stopped up, there is an adjoining chamber, in which queen Anne Bulleyn is said to have been consined after her dis grace. The entrance to this closet, from the chamber, is now by a small door, which at that time was a secret sliding pannel, and is yet called Anne Bulleyn's pannel.
In the windows of Hever-castle are these arms; Argent, three buckles gules, within the garter; a shield of four coasts, Howard, Brotherton, Warren, and Mowbray, argent three buckles gules; a shield of eight coats, viz. Bulleyn, Hoo, St. Omer, Malmains, Wickingham, St. Leger, Wallop, and Ormond; and one, per pale argent and gules, for Waldegrave. (fn. 8)
It is reported, that when Henry VIII. with his attendants, came to the top of the hill, within sight of the castle, he used to wind his bugle horn, to give notice of his approach.
There was a court baron constantly held for each of the above manors till within these forty years, but at present there is only one, both manors being now esteemed but as one, the circuit of which, over the neighbouring parishes, is very extensive.
SEYLIARDS is an estate here which extends itself into the parishes of Brasted and Eatonbridge, but the mansion of it is in this parish, and was the antient seat of the Seyliards, who afterwards branched out from hence into Brasted, Eatonbridge, Chidingstone, and Boxley, in this county.
The first of this name, who is recorded to have possessed this place, was Ralph de Seyliard, who resided here in the reign of king Stephen.
Almerick de Eureux, earl of Gloucester, who lived in the reign of king Henry III. demised lands to Martin at Seyliard, and other lands, called Hedinden, to Richard Seyliard, both of whom were sons of Ralph at Seyliard, and the latter of them was ancestor to those seated here and at Delaware, in Brasted. (fn. 9)
This place continued in his descendants till Sir Tho. Seyliard of Delaware, passed it away to John Petley, esq. who alienated it to Sir Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, and he died possessed of it in 1758; and it is now the property of his grandson, Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, esq.
Charities.
A PERSON gave, but who or when is unknown, but which has time out of mind been distributed among the poor of this parish, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid out of land vested in the churchwardens, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. JOHN PETER gave by will, about 1661, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid for the benefit of poor farmers only, out of land vested in the rector, the heirs of Wm. Douglass, and the heirs of Francis Bowty, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. GEORGE BORRASTON, rector, and several of the parishioners, as appears by a writing dated in 1693, purchased, with money arising from several bequests, the names of the donors unknown, except that of WILLIAM FALKNER, to which the parishioners added 15l. a piece of land, the rent to be distributed yearly among the poor of the parish, vested in the rector and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 3l. 12s.
Rev. THOMAS LANCASTER, rector, gave by will in 1714, for buying good books for the poor, and in case books are not wanting for the schooling of poor children at the discretion of the mimister, part of a policy on lives, which was exchanged for a sum of money paid by his executor, being 20l. vested in the minister and churchwardens.
SIR TIMOTHY WALDO gave by will in 1786, 500l. consolidated 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, one moiety of the interest of which to be applied for the placing of some poor boy of the parish apprentice to a farmer, or some handicraft trade, or to the sea service, or in cloathing such poor boy during his apprenticeship, and in case no such poor boy can be found, this moiety to be distributed among such of the industrious poor who do not receive alms. The other moiety to be laid out in buying and distributing flannel waistcoats, or strong shoes, or warm stockings, among such of the industrious or aged poor persons inhabiting within this parish, as do not receive alms, vested in the Salters Company.
HEVER is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham. The church, which stands at the east end of the village, is a small, but neat building, consisting of one isle and two chancels, having a handsome spire at the west end of it. It is dedicated to St. Peter.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the isle is a grave-stone, on which is the figure of a woman, and inscription in black letter in brass, for Margaret, wife of William Cheyne, obt. 1419, arms, a fess wavy between three crescents.—In the chancel, a memorial for Robert Humfreys, esq. lord of the manor of Heaver, only son and heir of Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. of Jenkins, in Effex, obt. 1736. Against the wall is a brass plate, with the figure of a man kneeling at a desk, and inscription in black letter for William Todde, schoolmaster to Charles Waldegrave, esq. obt. 1585.—In the north chancel, an altar tomb, with the figure on it at large in brass, of Sir Thomas Bullen, knight of the garter, earl of Wilcher and earl of Ormunde, obt. 1538. A small slab with a brass plate, for ........ Bullayen, the son of Sir Thomas Bullayen.—In the belsry, a stone with a brass plate, and inscription in black letter in French, for John de Cobham, esquire, obt. 1399, and dame Johane, dame de Leukenore his wife, and Renaud their son; near the above is an antient altar tomb for another of that name, on which is a shield of arms in brass, or, on a chevron, three eagles displayed, a star in the dexter point. These were the arms of this branch of the Cobhams, of Sterborough-castle. (fn. 10)
This church is a rectory, the advowson of which belonged to the priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, and came to the crown with the rest of its possessions at the time of the surrendry of it, in the 7th year of king Henry VIII. in consequence of the act passed that year for the surrendry of all religious houses, under the clear yearly revenue of two hundred pounds. Soon after which this advowson was granted, with the scite of the priory, to Thomas Colepeper, but he did not long possess it; and it appears, by the Escheat Rolls, to have come again into the hands of the crown, and was granted by the king, in his 34th year, to Sir John Gage, to hold in capite by knights service; who exchanged it again with Tho. Colepeper, to confirm which an act passed the year after. (fn. 11) His son and heir, Alexander Colepeper, had possession granted of sundry premises, among which was the advowson of Hever, held in capite by knights service, in the 3d and 4th years of king Philip and queen Mary; the year after which it was, among other premises, granted to Sir Edward Waldegrave, to hold by the like tenure.
Charles Waldegrave, esq. in the 12th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated this advowson to John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, and being entailed to his heirs male, by the last will of Sampson Lennard, esq. his eldest son, under the word hereditament possessed it, and it being an advowson in gross, was never disentailed by Henry, Richard, or Francis, lords Dacre, his descendants, so that it came to Thomas lord Dacre, son of the last mentioned Francis, lord Dacre, afterwards earl of Sussex, in 1673, and at length sole heir male of the descendants of John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, above mentioned; and the same trial was had for the claim of a moiety of it, at the Queen's-bench bar, as for the rest of the earl's estates, and a verdict then obtained in his favour, as has been already fully mentioned before, under Chevening.
The earl of Sussex died possessed of it in 1715, (fn. 12) whose two daughters, his coheirs, on their father's death became entitled to this advowson, and a few years afterwards alienated the same.
It then became the property of the Rev. Mr. Geo. Lewis, as it has since of the Rev. Mr. Hamlin, whose daughter marrying the Rev. Mr. Nott, of Little Horsted, in Sussex, he is now intitled to it.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church of Heure was valued at fifteen marcs.
By virtue of a commission of enquiry, taken by order of the state, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Hever was a parsonage, with a house, and twelve acres of glebe land, which, with the tithes, were worth seventy-seven pounds per annum, master John Petter being then incumbent, and receiving the profits, and that Francis lord Dacre was donor of it. (fn. 13)
This rectory was valued, in 1747, at 1831. per annum, as appears by the particulars then made for the sale of it.
It is valued, in the king's books, at 15l. 17s. 3½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. 8¾d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
¶The priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, was endowed by Robert de Thurnham, the founder of that house, in the reign of king Henry II. with his tithe of Lincheshele and sundry premises in this parish, for which the religious received from the rector of this church the annual sum of 43s. 4d.
St Peter Mancroft towers over the modern market in the centre of the city. The brutalist City Hall, to it's left, the Norman Keep to the right beyond the shops of Gentleman's Walk and Back of the Inns, and on the other side of the market is the flint Guildhall.
I wanted to return to to St Peter to look again at the font canopy, and the wonderful glass in the Chancel.
I approached the church just after one, I was hot and the walk from the Cathedral had made me hotter.
I walked to the glass door, and a hundred faces turned to look at me, as there was an organ recital going on. Should I stay or go?
I stayed in the cool of the church, even if I did overheat for ten minutes.
In front of me, a video screen showed the organist's hands and feet as he put the instrument through its paces. I learned from this the pedals on the floor didn't just make the organ loud or quiet, they played a melody too. So he played with all four limbs, and the music filled the church.
Yes, I wanted to get on to get my shots, but I needed this to make me stop and consider the space and what I should do with the rest of the day.
The concert ended at quarter to two, I rushed round to get my shots, before hoping to get to the station for the three o'clock train back to London.
-------------------------------------------
Norwich is a fine city. Or so the signs say on every road into it. But, and there can be no denying it, it is a jewel in the Norfolk countryside.
For me it is “just” Norwich Where used to go for our important shopping, for football and later for concerts. We, and I, would take for granted its cobbled streets, Norman cathedral and medieval churches by the dozen. Also it’s a pub for every day, the ramshackle market, and the Norman castle keep looking down on the city sprawled around.
Just Norwich.
Later, it also became where I bought new records from Backs in Swan Lane, and searched for punk classics in the Record and Tape Exchange.
Norwich is lucky that the industrial revolution passed by the city leaving few changes, the character and history intact. World War II did damage, some churches were abandoned, some rebuilt, but many survived.
And Norwich is a friendly city. It sees warm and colourful, and on a hot summer’s day when the locals were in shorts and t-shirts, much white flesh was on display. I also take the football club for granted. I have supported it from nearly 49 years, and being away from the city means I get my news and views largely second hand, but I also forget how central the club is to the people.
Sadly, Norwich isn't really on the way to anywhere, well except Great Yarmouth and Cromer, so people don't come here by accident. So it remains something of a secret to most but locals.
Other cities would have children dressed in any one of a dozen Premier League club’s replica shirts. In Norwich yellow and green was the dominant colour, even after a chastening season that saw us finish rock bottom of the league. The local sports “superstore” has a Norwich Fan’s fanzone, and a third of the window is given to the home city club.
I knew the city like the back of my hand, so knew the route I wanted to take to provide me with views that would refresh those in my mind. I didn’t dally, pressed on to my two targets, the Anglican Cathedral and St Peter Mancroft.
This wasn’t the original plan; that was to meet two friends I used to go to the football with, Ian and Ali, but they both caught a bug in Manchester watching the women’s Euros, so couldn’t meet with me. But I had an alternative plan, maybe with a pub stop or two.
The trip happened as I got a mail offering a tempting 20% off the trip that had been selling poorly, I checked with Ian and Alison, they said they were free, but had yet to fall ill. So seats were booked, as Jools liked the sound of an afternoon in Norwich and meeting my friends.
Up at quarter to five so we could catch the first High Speed service out of Dover, so to be in London in time to catch the railtour to Norwich.
Sun had yet to light up Dover Priory when we arrived, but a few people milling around, including two still at the end of their night out.
Folkestone was light by the warm light of the rising sun, and well worth a shot as we passed over Foord Viaduct.
Later, I was hoping the calm morning meant the Medway would be a mirror, but a breeze disturbed the surface ruining the reflections I had hoped for.
Finally, emerging into Essex, the line climbs as the go over the Dartford Crossing, just enough time to grab a shot.
It was already hot in London, so we stayed in the shade of the undercroft at St Pancras, had a coffee and a pasty from Greggs before walking over to Kings Cross to see if our tour was already at the buffers.
We walked across the road to King's Cross, and find the station packed with milling passengers, all eyes trained on the departure boards waiting for platform confirmations.
Ours was due to be platform 3, and the rake of carriages was indeed there, top and tailed by class 66 freight locomotives.
We get on the train and find we had been allocated a pair of seats nearest the vestibule. This meant that they were a few inches less wide than others, meaning Jools and I were jammed in.
Almost straight away, Jools's back and Achilles began to ache, and the thought of four hours of this in the morning and another four in the evening was too much, and so she decided to get off at the first stop at Potters Bar.
In the end, a wise choice I think.
The guy in the seat opposite to us talked the whole journey. I mean filling any silence with anything: how much he paid for the components of his lunch, his cameras and then his job. In great detail. He also collected train numbers. I didn't know that was really a thin in the days of EMUs, but I helped out from time to time telling him units he had missed.
We had a twenty minute break at Peterborough because of pathing issues, so we all got out to stretch our legs and do some extra trainspotting.
An Azuma left from the next platform, and another came in on the fast line. I snapped them both.
From Peterborough, the train reversed, and after the 20 minute wait, we went out of the station southwards, taking the line towards Ely.
Now that we had done our last stop, the train could open up and we cruised across the Fens at 70mph, the flat landscape botted with wind turbines and church towers slipped by.
Instead of going into Ely station, we took the rarely used (for passenger trains) freight avoiding line, now a single track. Emerging crossing the main line, taking the line eastwards towards Thetford.
Again, the regulator was opened, and we rattled along. Even so, the journey was entering its fourth hour, and with my travelling colleague and without Jools, time was dragging.
We were now back in Norfolk, passing the STANTA training area, all warning signs on the fences telling the trainee soldiers that that was where the area ended. I saw no soldiers or tanks. My only thought was of the rare flowers that would be growing there, unseen.
And so for the final run into Norwich, familiar countryside now.
Under the southern bypass and the main line from London, slowing down where the two lines merged at Trowse before crossing the River Wensum, before the final bend into Norwich Thorpe.
At last I could get off the train and stretch my legs.
Many others were also getting off to board coaches to take them to Wroxham for a cruise on the Broads, or a ride on the Bure Valley Railway, while the rest would head to Yarmouth for four hours at the seaside.
I got off the train and walked through the station, out into the forecourt and over the main road, so I could walk down Riverside Road to the Bishop’s Bridge, then from there into the Cathedral Close.
The hustle and bustle of the station and roadworks were soon left behind, as the only noise was from a family messing about in a rowing boat in front of Pulls Ferry and a swan chasing an Egyptian Goose, so the occasional splash of water.
I reached the bridge and passed by the first pub, with already many folks sitting out in the beer garden, sipping wines and/or summer beers. I was already hot and would loved to have joined them, but I was on a mission.
In the meantime, Jools had texted me and said if I fancied getting a regular service back home, then I should. And a seed grew in my brain. Because, on the way back, departing at just gone five, the tour had to have a 50 minute layover in a goods siding at Peterborough, and would not get back to Kings Cross until half nine, and then I had to get back to Dover.
I could go to the cathedral the church, walk back to the station. Or get a taxi, and get a train back to London at four and still be home by eight.
Yes.
I walked past the Great Hospital, then into the Close via the swing gate, round to the entrance where there was no charge for entry and now no charge for photography. But I would make a donation, I said. And I did, a tenner.
I have been to the cathedral a few times, but not as a churchcrawler. So, I made my way round, taking shots, drinking in the details. But the walk up had got me hot and bothered, I always run with a hot engine, but in summer it can be pretty damp. I struggled to keep my glasses on my nose, and as I went round I knew I was in no mood to go round again with the wide angle, that could wait for another visit.
The church is pretty much as built by the Normans, roof excepted which has been replaced at least twice, but is poetry in stone. And for a cathedral, not many people around also enjoying the building and its history.
At one, bells chimed, and I think The Lord’s Prayer was read out, we were asked to be quiet. I always am when snapping.
In half an hour I was done, so walked out through the west door, through the gate and into Tombland. I was heading for the Market and St Peter which site on the opposite side to the Guildhall.
I powered on, ignoring how warm I felt, in fact not that warm at all. The heat and sweats would come when I stopped, I found out.
I walk up the side of the market and into the church, and into the middle of an organ recital.
Should I turn round and do something else, or should I stop and listen. I stopped and listened.
Everyone should hear an organ recital in a large church. There is nothing quite like it. The organ can make the most beautiful sounds, but at the same time, the bass pipes making noises so deep you can only feel it in your bones.
Tony Pinel knew his way round the organ, and via a video link we could see his hands and feet making the noises we could hear. It was wonderful, but quite how someone can play one tune with their feet and another with their hands, and pulling and pushing knobs and stoppers, is beyond me. But glad some people can.
It finished at quarter to two, and I photograph the font canopy and the 15th century glass in the south chapel. Font canopies are rare, there is only four in England, and one of the others is in Trunch 20 miles to the north. Much is a restoration, but it is an impressive sight when paired with the seven-sacrament font under it.
The glass is no-less spectacular, panels three feet by two, five wide and stretching to the vaulted roof. I can’t photograph them all, but I do over 50%.
I go to the market for a lunch of chips, for old times sake. I mean that was the treat whenever we went either to Norwich or Yarmouth; chips on the market. I was told they no longer did battered sausage, so had an un-battered one, and a can of pop. I stood and ate in the alleyway between stalls, people passing by and people buying chips and mushy peas of their own.
Once done, I had thought of getting a taxi back to the station, but the rank that has always been rammed with black cabs was empty, and two couples were shouting at each other as to who should have the one that was there. So I walked to the station, across Gentleman’s Walk, along to Back of the Inns, then up London Street to the top of Prince of Wales Road and then an easy time to the station across the bridge.
I got my ticket and saw a train to Liverpool Street was due to depart at 14:32. In three minutes.
I went through the barrier and got on the train, it was almost empty in the new, swish electric inter-city unit. I was sweating buckets, and needed a drink, but there appeared to be no buffet, instead just electric efficiency and silence as the train slid out of the station and went round past the football ground to the river, then taking the main line south.
In front of me, two oriental ladies talked for the whole journey. I listened to them, no idea what they talked about to fill 105 minutes.
I thought it would be nearly five when the train got in, but helped by only stopping at Diss, Ipswich, Manningtree and Colchester we got in, on time, at quarter past four.
I walked to the main concourse and down into the Circle Line platforms, getting a train in a couple of minutes the four stops to St Pancras. I knew there was a train soon leaving, and after checking the board and my watch I saw I had five minutes to get along the length of the station and up to the Southeastern platforms.
I tried. I did, but I reached the steps up to the platforms and I saw I had 45 seconds, no time to go up as they would have locked the doors. So, instead I went to the nearby pub and had a large, ice-cold bottle of Weiss beer.
That was better.
I was all hot and bothered again, but would have an hour to cool down, and the beer helped.
At ten past five, I went up and found the Dover train already in, I went through the barriers and took a seat in a carriage I thought would stop near the exit at Dover Priory. I called Jools to let her know I would be back at quarter to seven, and she confirmed she would pick me up.
She was there, people got off all out on a night on the town, dressed in shiny random pieces of fabric covering boobs and bottoms. I was young once, I thought.
Jools was there, she started the car and drove us home via Jubilee Way. Across the Channel France was a clear as anything, and four ferries were plying between the two shores. Take us home.
Once home, Jools had prepared Caprese. I sliced some bread and poured wine. On the wireless, Craig spun funk and soul. We ate.
Tired.
It was going to be a hot night, but I was tired enough to sleep through it. Or so I thought.
-------------------------------------------
The great urban churches of northern Europe sit on their market places, especially in Cathedral cities. It is as if they were intended as late Medieval statements of civic pride. They are a reminder of the way that the cities rose to prominence in the decades after the Black Death, as if the old order had been broken and a new one was beginning. They were a great affirmation of Catholic orthodoxy and social communion, in the years before the merchants that paid for them embraced Protestantism and capitalism. They are European culture caught on the cusp of the Renaissance, the beacons that lead us into early modern Europe.
These things are more easily sensed in the great late medieval cities of Flanders and the Netherlands, for example at Bruges. The bridges, the medieval triumph, the tourist tat shops and the foreign voices can create an illusion of being in Cambridge or Oxford, but the great Market Church and Belfry on the main square recall Norwich, where St Peter Mancroft and the medieval Guildhall have a similar juxtaposition. The Industrial Revolution would bring a new wave of cities to prominence, but in the provincial cities that were prominent in the 15th century, Norwich, and Bristol, and York, you still sense the power of those times.
Looking at St Peter, the sophistication of its Perpendicular architecture feels a geological age away from the coarse, brutal Norman castle on the far side of the Main Croft ('Mancroft'), which is understandable. Four hundred years had passed since the Norman invasion, and St Peter Mancroft is as close in time to the Industrial Revolution as it is to the Normans. That is true of all late medieval churches, of course, but seeing the architecture in a city you get a sense that it looked to the future more than to the past. St Peter Mancroft feels entirely at home with the clean, Scandinavian lines of the adjacent 1930s City Hall, and perhaps even more so with the retro-Modernism of the new Forum, whch reflects it back to the city. The Forum was built to replace the Norwich City library, tragically destroyed by fire in 1994, but in style it echoes the confidence of a great 19th century railway station, the roof a triumph of engineering. You are reminded of Cologne, where to leave the railway station and step into the shadow of the west front of the great Cathedral is to merely move from one statement of civic pride to another.
The influence of Flanders and the Netherlands is familiar in East Anglia, of course, but it is only at Norwich you sense this sense of civic bullishness. Utilitarian, practical Ipswich demolished St Mildred on the Cornhill in the 19th century - the French Baroque town hall now stands on the site. In Cambridge, the market place has been skewed so that today St Mary the Great sits with its east window facing the stalls, as if keeping them at a distance. Worse, it now styles itself the 'University Church'. The great north side of St Peter Mancroft, its massive tower and clerestory like eternal truths rising above the deckchair jollity of the stall canopies, is a constant presence. You can never ignore it.
We know that the present church was begun by 1430, and was consecrated on St Peter's Day, 1455. That is, it is all of a piece. In the nave and chancel there are echoes of near-contemporary Holy Trinity, Long Melford, in Suffolk. The tower is something else again; idiosyncratic, a symbol of power and wealth. There's nothing else quite like it. Pevsner thought it more rich than aesthetically successful, and this is not helped by Street's spirelet of 1881, a flighty thing. There was a massive Victorian restoration here. Before the Streets, pere et fils, came along, diocesan architect Richard Phipson had given it a going over, and there is a sense of the grand 19th century civic dignity of his St Mary le Tower in Ipswich. Of course, hardly anything of these restorations is visible from the outside, apart from a mid-20th century meeting room down in the south-east corner, a jaunty Festival of Britain affair, now a parish tea room.
A processional way runs beneath the tower, and there is another beneath the chancel, the land sloping steeply away towards the east. You enter from either the north or south sides, through surprisingly small porches which lead into the aisles. Again, a sense of civic confidence pervades as the interior unfolds before you.
There is no chancel arch. The arcades run the full length of the church, the great east window is echoed by that to the west, and if you stand in the middle of the church and look to either end, only the west end organ tells you easily which direction you are facing. The furnishings are pretty much all Phipson's, uneasily heavy under the delicate fluting of the columns. How good modern wooden chairs would look in here! There are civic memorials the lengths of the aisle walls, but because the windows are full of clear glass they are not oppressive here as they are, say, at St Stephen.
At the west end of the north aisle sits the font on its pedestal. You can see at a glance that it was one of the seven sacraments series, and that all of its reliefs have been completely erased, as in the great churches of Southwold and Blythburgh in Suffolk. At Wenhaston, we know that this happened in the 19th century - could the same thing be true here? Above the font is the famous font canopy. Now, font canopies are so rare - there are only four of them, and they are all so different - that it is not particularly useful to compare them. Certainly, that here reflects the rather grander example at Trunch, some twenty miles away. Since the other two are either post-Reformation (Durham) or made of stone (Luton), it might make sense to think of the Norfolk two as a unique pair. Here at St Peter Mancroft, much of the upper part is a 19th century restoration, and there seems to have been some attempt to copy Trunch. The lower part is more interesting, with its niches and canopies. It must have been spectacular when the font was intact.
Pevsner tells us that the gilded reredos in the sanctuary is by JP Seddon, but that Ninian Comper restored and enlarged it in the early 1930s. It is not exciting, but that is probably as well, for above it is one of the greatest medieval treasures of East Anglia. This is the medieval glass that survives from the first few decades of the existence of the church. Some of it was probably in place that first Petertide. It has been moved around a bit since then; the whole east side was blown out by an explosion in 1648, and the glass has been removed on several occasions since, most recently during the Second World War. After East Harling, it is the finest expanse of Norwich School glass of the 15th century.
Books have been written about the glass at St Peter Mancroft, and there is neither time nor space to go into too much detail here. Suffice to say that this is the work of several Norwich workshops, probably working in the Conesford area of the city along what is today King Street. It is obvious that some other glass in East Anglia is from the same workshops using the same or similar cartoons, notably North Tuddenham in Norfolk and Combs in Suffolk, and of course most obviously, East Harling. Indeed, by comparison with East Harling in the 1920s, the historian Christopher Woodforde was able to deduce some of what was missing here, and what there.
There are several sequences, most notably the Story of Christ from the Annunciation to the day of Pentecost. This extends into a Marian sequence depicting the story of the Assumption. There are also scenes from the stories of St Peter and St John, and other individual Saints panels, including St Faith, a significant cult in late medieval Norwich. The panel of St Francis suggests that it was also once part of a sequence. The lower range depicts the donors, some of whom are identified. The central spine is largely modern glass by Clayton and Bell for the Streets in the 1880s. Some of the missing glass is now at Felbrigg Hall.
In any other church, the 1921 glass by Herbert Hendrie in the south chapel aisle chapel would be considered outstanding. It is in the style of Eric Gill, but feels rather heavy handed next to the extraordinary delicacy of its medieval neighbours.
While I was here, I stopped taking photographs for the one o'clock prayers. One of the custodians stood at the lectern and read very eloquently from the Acts of the Apostles, and said prayers for the city and its people. Apart from me, there were only two other listeners in the vast space. It was tenderly and thoughtfully done, but I couldn't help thinking that it is the exterior of this wonderful structure which is the Church's true act of witness in central Norwich now.
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichstpetermancroft/norwichs...
St Peter Mancroft towers over the modern market in the centre of the city. The brutalist City Hall, to it's left, the Norman Keep to the right beyond the shops of Gentleman's Walk and Back of the Inns, and on the other side of the market is the flint Guildhall.
I wanted to return to to St Peter to look again at the font canopy, and the wonderful glass in the Chancel.
I approached the church just after one, I was hot and the walk from the Cathedral had made me hotter.
I walked to the glass door, and a hundred faces turned to look at me, as there was an organ recital going on. Should I stay or go?
I stayed in the cool of the church, even if I did overheat for ten minutes.
In front of me, a video screen showed the organist's hands and feet as he put the instrument through its paces. I learned from this the pedals on the floor didn't just make the organ loud or quiet, they played a melody too. So he played with all four limbs, and the music filled the church.
Yes, I wanted to get on to get my shots, but I needed this to make me stop and consider the space and what I should do with the rest of the day.
The concert ended at quarter to two, I rushed round to get my shots, before hoping to get to the station for the three o'clock train back to London.
-------------------------------------------
Norwich is a fine city. Or so the signs say on every road into it. But, and there can be no denying it, it is a jewel in the Norfolk countryside.
For me it is “just” Norwich Where used to go for our important shopping, for football and later for concerts. We, and I, would take for granted its cobbled streets, Norman cathedral and medieval churches by the dozen. Also it’s a pub for every day, the ramshackle market, and the Norman castle keep looking down on the city sprawled around.
Just Norwich.
Later, it also became where I bought new records from Backs in Swan Lane, and searched for punk classics in the Record and Tape Exchange.
Norwich is lucky that the industrial revolution passed by the city leaving few changes, the character and history intact. World War II did damage, some churches were abandoned, some rebuilt, but many survived.
And Norwich is a friendly city. It sees warm and colourful, and on a hot summer’s day when the locals were in shorts and t-shirts, much white flesh was on display. I also take the football club for granted. I have supported it from nearly 49 years, and being away from the city means I get my news and views largely second hand, but I also forget how central the club is to the people.
Sadly, Norwich isn't really on the way to anywhere, well except Great Yarmouth and Cromer, so people don't come here by accident. So it remains something of a secret to most but locals.
Other cities would have children dressed in any one of a dozen Premier League club’s replica shirts. In Norwich yellow and green was the dominant colour, even after a chastening season that saw us finish rock bottom of the league. The local sports “superstore” has a Norwich Fan’s fanzone, and a third of the window is given to the home city club.
I knew the city like the back of my hand, so knew the route I wanted to take to provide me with views that would refresh those in my mind. I didn’t dally, pressed on to my two targets, the Anglican Cathedral and St Peter Mancroft.
This wasn’t the original plan; that was to meet two friends I used to go to the football with, Ian and Ali, but they both caught a bug in Manchester watching the women’s Euros, so couldn’t meet with me. But I had an alternative plan, maybe with a pub stop or two.
The trip happened as I got a mail offering a tempting 20% off the trip that had been selling poorly, I checked with Ian and Alison, they said they were free, but had yet to fall ill. So seats were booked, as Jools liked the sound of an afternoon in Norwich and meeting my friends.
Up at quarter to five so we could catch the first High Speed service out of Dover, so to be in London in time to catch the railtour to Norwich.
Sun had yet to light up Dover Priory when we arrived, but a few people milling around, including two still at the end of their night out.
Folkestone was light by the warm light of the rising sun, and well worth a shot as we passed over Foord Viaduct.
Later, I was hoping the calm morning meant the Medway would be a mirror, but a breeze disturbed the surface ruining the reflections I had hoped for.
Finally, emerging into Essex, the line climbs as the go over the Dartford Crossing, just enough time to grab a shot.
It was already hot in London, so we stayed in the shade of the undercroft at St Pancras, had a coffee and a pasty from Greggs before walking over to Kings Cross to see if our tour was already at the buffers.
We walked across the road to King's Cross, and find the station packed with milling passengers, all eyes trained on the departure boards waiting for platform confirmations.
Ours was due to be platform 3, and the rake of carriages was indeed there, top and tailed by class 66 freight locomotives.
We get on the train and find we had been allocated a pair of seats nearest the vestibule. This meant that they were a few inches less wide than others, meaning Jools and I were jammed in.
Almost straight away, Jools's back and Achilles began to ache, and the thought of four hours of this in the morning and another four in the evening was too much, and so she decided to get off at the first stop at Potters Bar.
In the end, a wise choice I think.
The guy in the seat opposite to us talked the whole journey. I mean filling any silence with anything: how much he paid for the components of his lunch, his cameras and then his job. In great detail. He also collected train numbers. I didn't know that was really a thin in the days of EMUs, but I helped out from time to time telling him units he had missed.
We had a twenty minute break at Peterborough because of pathing issues, so we all got out to stretch our legs and do some extra trainspotting.
An Azuma left from the next platform, and another came in on the fast line. I snapped them both.
From Peterborough, the train reversed, and after the 20 minute wait, we went out of the station southwards, taking the line towards Ely.
Now that we had done our last stop, the train could open up and we cruised across the Fens at 70mph, the flat landscape botted with wind turbines and church towers slipped by.
Instead of going into Ely station, we took the rarely used (for passenger trains) freight avoiding line, now a single track. Emerging crossing the main line, taking the line eastwards towards Thetford.
Again, the regulator was opened, and we rattled along. Even so, the journey was entering its fourth hour, and with my travelling colleague and without Jools, time was dragging.
We were now back in Norfolk, passing the STANTA training area, all warning signs on the fences telling the trainee soldiers that that was where the area ended. I saw no soldiers or tanks. My only thought was of the rare flowers that would be growing there, unseen.
And so for the final run into Norwich, familiar countryside now.
Under the southern bypass and the main line from London, slowing down where the two lines merged at Trowse before crossing the River Wensum, before the final bend into Norwich Thorpe.
At last I could get off the train and stretch my legs.
Many others were also getting off to board coaches to take them to Wroxham for a cruise on the Broads, or a ride on the Bure Valley Railway, while the rest would head to Yarmouth for four hours at the seaside.
I got off the train and walked through the station, out into the forecourt and over the main road, so I could walk down Riverside Road to the Bishop’s Bridge, then from there into the Cathedral Close.
The hustle and bustle of the station and roadworks were soon left behind, as the only noise was from a family messing about in a rowing boat in front of Pulls Ferry and a swan chasing an Egyptian Goose, so the occasional splash of water.
I reached the bridge and passed by the first pub, with already many folks sitting out in the beer garden, sipping wines and/or summer beers. I was already hot and would loved to have joined them, but I was on a mission.
In the meantime, Jools had texted me and said if I fancied getting a regular service back home, then I should. And a seed grew in my brain. Because, on the way back, departing at just gone five, the tour had to have a 50 minute layover in a goods siding at Peterborough, and would not get back to Kings Cross until half nine, and then I had to get back to Dover.
I could go to the cathedral the church, walk back to the station. Or get a taxi, and get a train back to London at four and still be home by eight.
Yes.
I walked past the Great Hospital, then into the Close via the swing gate, round to the entrance where there was no charge for entry and now no charge for photography. But I would make a donation, I said. And I did, a tenner.
I have been to the cathedral a few times, but not as a churchcrawler. So, I made my way round, taking shots, drinking in the details. But the walk up had got me hot and bothered, I always run with a hot engine, but in summer it can be pretty damp. I struggled to keep my glasses on my nose, and as I went round I knew I was in no mood to go round again with the wide angle, that could wait for another visit.
The church is pretty much as built by the Normans, roof excepted which has been replaced at least twice, but is poetry in stone. And for a cathedral, not many people around also enjoying the building and its history.
At one, bells chimed, and I think The Lord’s Prayer was read out, we were asked to be quiet. I always am when snapping.
In half an hour I was done, so walked out through the west door, through the gate and into Tombland. I was heading for the Market and St Peter which site on the opposite side to the Guildhall.
I powered on, ignoring how warm I felt, in fact not that warm at all. The heat and sweats would come when I stopped, I found out.
I walk up the side of the market and into the church, and into the middle of an organ recital.
Should I turn round and do something else, or should I stop and listen. I stopped and listened.
Everyone should hear an organ recital in a large church. There is nothing quite like it. The organ can make the most beautiful sounds, but at the same time, the bass pipes making noises so deep you can only feel it in your bones.
Tony Pinel knew his way round the organ, and via a video link we could see his hands and feet making the noises we could hear. It was wonderful, but quite how someone can play one tune with their feet and another with their hands, and pulling and pushing knobs and stoppers, is beyond me. But glad some people can.
It finished at quarter to two, and I photograph the font canopy and the 15th century glass in the south chapel. Font canopies are rare, there is only four in England, and one of the others is in Trunch 20 miles to the north. Much is a restoration, but it is an impressive sight when paired with the seven-sacrament font under it.
The glass is no-less spectacular, panels three feet by two, five wide and stretching to the vaulted roof. I can’t photograph them all, but I do over 50%.
I go to the market for a lunch of chips, for old times sake. I mean that was the treat whenever we went either to Norwich or Yarmouth; chips on the market. I was told they no longer did battered sausage, so had an un-battered one, and a can of pop. I stood and ate in the alleyway between stalls, people passing by and people buying chips and mushy peas of their own.
Once done, I had thought of getting a taxi back to the station, but the rank that has always been rammed with black cabs was empty, and two couples were shouting at each other as to who should have the one that was there. So I walked to the station, across Gentleman’s Walk, along to Back of the Inns, then up London Street to the top of Prince of Wales Road and then an easy time to the station across the bridge.
I got my ticket and saw a train to Liverpool Street was due to depart at 14:32. In three minutes.
I went through the barrier and got on the train, it was almost empty in the new, swish electric inter-city unit. I was sweating buckets, and needed a drink, but there appeared to be no buffet, instead just electric efficiency and silence as the train slid out of the station and went round past the football ground to the river, then taking the main line south.
In front of me, two oriental ladies talked for the whole journey. I listened to them, no idea what they talked about to fill 105 minutes.
I thought it would be nearly five when the train got in, but helped by only stopping at Diss, Ipswich, Manningtree and Colchester we got in, on time, at quarter past four.
I walked to the main concourse and down into the Circle Line platforms, getting a train in a couple of minutes the four stops to St Pancras. I knew there was a train soon leaving, and after checking the board and my watch I saw I had five minutes to get along the length of the station and up to the Southeastern platforms.
I tried. I did, but I reached the steps up to the platforms and I saw I had 45 seconds, no time to go up as they would have locked the doors. So, instead I went to the nearby pub and had a large, ice-cold bottle of Weiss beer.
That was better.
I was all hot and bothered again, but would have an hour to cool down, and the beer helped.
At ten past five, I went up and found the Dover train already in, I went through the barriers and took a seat in a carriage I thought would stop near the exit at Dover Priory. I called Jools to let her know I would be back at quarter to seven, and she confirmed she would pick me up.
She was there, people got off all out on a night on the town, dressed in shiny random pieces of fabric covering boobs and bottoms. I was young once, I thought.
Jools was there, she started the car and drove us home via Jubilee Way. Across the Channel France was a clear as anything, and four ferries were plying between the two shores. Take us home.
Once home, Jools had prepared Caprese. I sliced some bread and poured wine. On the wireless, Craig spun funk and soul. We ate.
Tired.
It was going to be a hot night, but I was tired enough to sleep through it. Or so I thought.
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The great urban churches of northern Europe sit on their market places, especially in Cathedral cities. It is as if they were intended as late Medieval statements of civic pride. They are a reminder of the way that the cities rose to prominence in the decades after the Black Death, as if the old order had been broken and a new one was beginning. They were a great affirmation of Catholic orthodoxy and social communion, in the years before the merchants that paid for them embraced Protestantism and capitalism. They are European culture caught on the cusp of the Renaissance, the beacons that lead us into early modern Europe.
These things are more easily sensed in the great late medieval cities of Flanders and the Netherlands, for example at Bruges. The bridges, the medieval triumph, the tourist tat shops and the foreign voices can create an illusion of being in Cambridge or Oxford, but the great Market Church and Belfry on the main square recall Norwich, where St Peter Mancroft and the medieval Guildhall have a similar juxtaposition. The Industrial Revolution would bring a new wave of cities to prominence, but in the provincial cities that were prominent in the 15th century, Norwich, and Bristol, and York, you still sense the power of those times.
Looking at St Peter, the sophistication of its Perpendicular architecture feels a geological age away from the coarse, brutal Norman castle on the far side of the Main Croft ('Mancroft'), which is understandable. Four hundred years had passed since the Norman invasion, and St Peter Mancroft is as close in time to the Industrial Revolution as it is to the Normans. That is true of all late medieval churches, of course, but seeing the architecture in a city you get a sense that it looked to the future more than to the past. St Peter Mancroft feels entirely at home with the clean, Scandinavian lines of the adjacent 1930s City Hall, and perhaps even more so with the retro-Modernism of the new Forum, whch reflects it back to the city. The Forum was built to replace the Norwich City library, tragically destroyed by fire in 1994, but in style it echoes the confidence of a great 19th century railway station, the roof a triumph of engineering. You are reminded of Cologne, where to leave the railway station and step into the shadow of the west front of the great Cathedral is to merely move from one statement of civic pride to another.
The influence of Flanders and the Netherlands is familiar in East Anglia, of course, but it is only at Norwich you sense this sense of civic bullishness. Utilitarian, practical Ipswich demolished St Mildred on the Cornhill in the 19th century - the French Baroque town hall now stands on the site. In Cambridge, the market place has been skewed so that today St Mary the Great sits with its east window facing the stalls, as if keeping them at a distance. Worse, it now styles itself the 'University Church'. The great north side of St Peter Mancroft, its massive tower and clerestory like eternal truths rising above the deckchair jollity of the stall canopies, is a constant presence. You can never ignore it.
We know that the present church was begun by 1430, and was consecrated on St Peter's Day, 1455. That is, it is all of a piece. In the nave and chancel there are echoes of near-contemporary Holy Trinity, Long Melford, in Suffolk. The tower is something else again; idiosyncratic, a symbol of power and wealth. There's nothing else quite like it. Pevsner thought it more rich than aesthetically successful, and this is not helped by Street's spirelet of 1881, a flighty thing. There was a massive Victorian restoration here. Before the Streets, pere et fils, came along, diocesan architect Richard Phipson had given it a going over, and there is a sense of the grand 19th century civic dignity of his St Mary le Tower in Ipswich. Of course, hardly anything of these restorations is visible from the outside, apart from a mid-20th century meeting room down in the south-east corner, a jaunty Festival of Britain affair, now a parish tea room.
A processional way runs beneath the tower, and there is another beneath the chancel, the land sloping steeply away towards the east. You enter from either the north or south sides, through surprisingly small porches which lead into the aisles. Again, a sense of civic confidence pervades as the interior unfolds before you.
There is no chancel arch. The arcades run the full length of the church, the great east window is echoed by that to the west, and if you stand in the middle of the church and look to either end, only the west end organ tells you easily which direction you are facing. The furnishings are pretty much all Phipson's, uneasily heavy under the delicate fluting of the columns. How good modern wooden chairs would look in here! There are civic memorials the lengths of the aisle walls, but because the windows are full of clear glass they are not oppressive here as they are, say, at St Stephen.
At the west end of the north aisle sits the font on its pedestal. You can see at a glance that it was one of the seven sacraments series, and that all of its reliefs have been completely erased, as in the great churches of Southwold and Blythburgh in Suffolk. At Wenhaston, we know that this happened in the 19th century - could the same thing be true here? Above the font is the famous font canopy. Now, font canopies are so rare - there are only four of them, and they are all so different - that it is not particularly useful to compare them. Certainly, that here reflects the rather grander example at Trunch, some twenty miles away. Since the other two are either post-Reformation (Durham) or made of stone (Luton), it might make sense to think of the Norfolk two as a unique pair. Here at St Peter Mancroft, much of the upper part is a 19th century restoration, and there seems to have been some attempt to copy Trunch. The lower part is more interesting, with its niches and canopies. It must have been spectacular when the font was intact.
Pevsner tells us that the gilded reredos in the sanctuary is by JP Seddon, but that Ninian Comper restored and enlarged it in the early 1930s. It is not exciting, but that is probably as well, for above it is one of the greatest medieval treasures of East Anglia. This is the medieval glass that survives from the first few decades of the existence of the church. Some of it was probably in place that first Petertide. It has been moved around a bit since then; the whole east side was blown out by an explosion in 1648, and the glass has been removed on several occasions since, most recently during the Second World War. After East Harling, it is the finest expanse of Norwich School glass of the 15th century.
Books have been written about the glass at St Peter Mancroft, and there is neither time nor space to go into too much detail here. Suffice to say that this is the work of several Norwich workshops, probably working in the Conesford area of the city along what is today King Street. It is obvious that some other glass in East Anglia is from the same workshops using the same or similar cartoons, notably North Tuddenham in Norfolk and Combs in Suffolk, and of course most obviously, East Harling. Indeed, by comparison with East Harling in the 1920s, the historian Christopher Woodforde was able to deduce some of what was missing here, and what there.
There are several sequences, most notably the Story of Christ from the Annunciation to the day of Pentecost. This extends into a Marian sequence depicting the story of the Assumption. There are also scenes from the stories of St Peter and St John, and other individual Saints panels, including St Faith, a significant cult in late medieval Norwich. The panel of St Francis suggests that it was also once part of a sequence. The lower range depicts the donors, some of whom are identified. The central spine is largely modern glass by Clayton and Bell for the Streets in the 1880s. Some of the missing glass is now at Felbrigg Hall.
In any other church, the 1921 glass by Herbert Hendrie in the south chapel aisle chapel would be considered outstanding. It is in the style of Eric Gill, but feels rather heavy handed next to the extraordinary delicacy of its medieval neighbours.
While I was here, I stopped taking photographs for the one o'clock prayers. One of the custodians stood at the lectern and read very eloquently from the Acts of the Apostles, and said prayers for the city and its people. Apart from me, there were only two other listeners in the vast space. It was tenderly and thoughtfully done, but I couldn't help thinking that it is the exterior of this wonderful structure which is the Church's true act of witness in central Norwich now.
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichstpetermancroft/norwichs...
The most important church in for the Catholic christians, St Peter's Basilica sits directly atop of Saint Peter the Apostle's tomb. Designed and built by an unprecedentedly lavish All-Star team with names such as Bramante, Raphael, Michelangelo and Bernini, it is one of the most heavily decorated places in the world.
Voigtlander Bessaflex TM + Carl Zeiss Jena Flektogon 2.8/20mm + Fujifilm Velvia 50.
Scanned by Minolta Scan Dual IV.
A short drive from Wootton is Swingfield, which lies near the Folkestone to Canterbury road, the A260. In fact beside that road is St John's, a preceptory, that I will endeavour to see inside of during the summer months.
In fact, I thought St John was the sole ecclesiastical building in the parish, but in fact there is a grand church in the centre of the village, opposite what used to the village pub.
The church has a grand tower with an even grander staircase turret running up one side, and in the porch I could see the 'church open' board, all packed away, It did not look good.
But it was open, but the first thing that struck me was the fine porch, apparently 14thC.
The church is a large two cell construction, with simple box pews in the nave, with wooden pews in the chancel.
It's walls are plain with few memorials, considering its history with the Knights of St John.
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This church is built in flint and rubble construction and the west tower has a remarkably wide stair turret. As one enters through the south porch one can see the remains of two mass dials made redundant by the construction of the porch itself. By the pulpit is a most unusual feature - the south-east window of the nave has had its sill cut away to provide space for a wooden ladder to give access to the rood loft. This window now contains a lovely stained glass representation of the Crucifixion with a charming little sun and moon at the top. At Swingfield the nineteenth-century north aisle detracts from the thirteenth-century nave; its scale, materials and lumpy effect do nothing to complement this charming church. It is currently (2005) under threat of conversion to a house.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Swingfield
SWINGFIELD is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, consists of one isle and one chancel, having a square tower, with a beacon turret at the west end, in which is one bell. In the chancel are several memorials for the Pilchers, tenants of St. John's. In the isle are memorials for the Simmons's, of Smersall; arms, parted per fess and pale, three trefoils slipt. One of them, John Simmons, gent. obt. 1677, was great-grandfather of James Simmons, esq. alderman of Canterbury; memorials for the Pilchers; against the north wall is a monument for Mary, widow of Richard Pilcher, gent. of Barham, obt. 1775; arms, Pilcher, argent, on a fess dancette, gules, a fleur de lis, between three torteauxes. In the south-west window is this legend, Ora p aiabs Willi Smersolle & Margarete uxon is sue & paia Saundir Goldfiynch; above were formerly these arms, A cross impaling on a bend, cotized, a mullet between six martlets. Weever says, p. 274, there was an antient faire monument, whereon the portraiture of an armed knight, crosse legged, was to be seen, and only His jacet remaining of the inscription, and that there was this legend in a window: Orate p aia Willi Tonge & Johannis filii ejus qui banc fenestram fieri fecerunt; he died in 1478, and was buried here. And there was formerly in the windows, a figure of a knight of St. John's, habited in his furcoat of arms, a plain cross, and having his sword and spurs, and kneeling on a cushion, in a praying posture, and in one of the windows were these arms, Quarterly, first and fourth, Azure, a square castle, sable; second and third, Or, on a chevron, vert, three bawks heads erased, argent; on a chief, gules, a cross, argent; but there is nothing of these remaining now.
The rectory of this church was early appropriated to the hospital of St. John, which continued in the possessions of all the profits of it, till the dissolution of the hospital in the 32d year of king Henry VIII. After which it was granted, with the preceptory here, to Sir Anthony Aucher, who sold it to Sir Henry Palmer, in whose descendants it continued down to Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. after whose death in 1725 it passed, in manner as before-mentioned, to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Hey, of Wickham, who sold it, with St. John's, and the rectory as before-mentioned, to Mr. Brydges, of Denton, the present owner of it.
This church is now a perpetual curacy, of the yearly certified value of twenty pounds, which stipend is paid by the owner of the rectory, who has the nomination of the curate. In 1640 here were communicants one hundred and twenty-seven.
St Peter Mancroft is the large church on the corner of Norwich Market Place, close to the county council offices. Much admired by John Wesley the present building dates from 1430 to 1455 with no further structural additions until as recently as 1983.
The roof was lifted up in 1962 to 1964 to allow the walls to be straightened and tied together as the weight of the hammer beams had started to push the walls apart.
Norwich was the second city of England in the Middle Ages and St Peter Mancroft reflects this with as many as 14 bells in its tower. They are still in use.
The name comes from the name Magna Crofta which was the meadow beside the Norman castle in which the market was set up. The church became known as 'St Peter and St Paul in Magna Crofta' but when St Paul was given his own saints day the name was shortened to St Peter and Magna Crofta was corrupted in common usage to Mancroft.
Igtham is well known, at least the nearby moated manor house, Igtham Moat. The village is well travelled through, and many stop here because it is chocolate box picture perfect.
I stopped here at about half ten on a Saturday morning, the place should have been packed with tourists, maybe it will once the pub opens for lunch, but I was able to park in the picturesque village square, take a few shots of the timber-framed buildings, and walk up the hill to the church.
From the lych gate I could see the porch door open, so my hopes were raised, and indeed the church was open, un-manned, and the lights came on, triggered by a pressure pad in the porch.
This I did not know until the lights went out after ten minutes, I went out to find the light switches, returned and the lights were back on.
Upon entering the church, your eyes are drawn to large and impressive memorials on the right hand side of the Chancel, two lying armoured male figures have relaxed for four hundred years, on the east wall, a severe female glares down as she has done since the 17th century.
And in an alcove on the north side, a 14th century knight, covered in armour lies with a lion at his feet.
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The church is built on a steep hillside and displays a rare brick-built north aisle. The chancel is full of unusual memorials, the most noteworthy of which is to Sir Thomas Cawne dating from the end of the fourteenth century. He is wearing armour and chain mail and lies under a canopy beneath a window that forms part of the same composition. In the churchyard is a nice nineteenth-century tomb designed by the famous architect William Burges. The other monuments of note at Ightham are all to the Selby family, the most famous of whom is Dorothy Selby (d. 1641) who is reputed to have had a connection with the Gunpower Plot, although the ambiguous inscription on her tomb is now believed to be no more than an appreciation of her needlework.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ightham
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IGHTHAM.
WESTWARD from Wrotham lies IGHTHAM, so corruptly called for Eightham, which name it had from the eight boroughs or hams lying within the bounds of it, viz. Eightham, Redwell, Ivybatch, Borough-green, St. Cleres, the Moat, Beaulies, and Oldborough. (fn. 1) In the Textus Roffensis it is spelt EHTEHAM.
THE PARISH of Ightham for the most part is in the vale between the chalk and the sand or quarry hills, tho' it reaches above the former northward. Near the chalk hill, and for some distance southward the same soil prevails, thence it is an unsertile deep sand, and at the boundaries towards Shipborne a deep clay and heavy tillage land; from hence, and its situation, however healthy it may be, it is by no means a pleasant or a profitable one. The parish is very narrow, little more than a mile in width, but from north to south it extends near five miles, from Kingsdown, above the hills, to Shipborne, its southern boundary. At the foot of the chalk hill and north-west boundary of this parish, is the mansion of St. Clere, and not far from it Yaldham; about a mile from which is Ightham-court, and at a little distance further southward is the church and village, situated on the high road from Maidstone to Sevenoke and Westerham, which here crosses this parish by the hamlet of Borough-green, and the manor of Oldborough, or Oldbery, as it is now called, with the hill of that name, belonging to Richard James, esq. of this parish, in this part, and by Ivy-hatch plain, there is much rough uninclosed waste ground, the soil a dreary barren sand, consisting in this and the adjoining parish, of several hundred acres, being in general covered with heath and furze, with some scrubby wood interspersed among them. At the southern extremity of the parish, next to Shipborne, and adjoining to the grounds of Fairlawn, is the seat of the Moat, lowly situated in a deep and miry soil. A fair is kept yearly in this parish, upon the Wednesday in Whitsun week, which is vulgarly called Coxcombe fair.
The Roman military way seems to have crossed this parish from Ofham, and Camps directing its course westward through it. The names of Oldborough, now called Oldberry-hill, and Stone-street in it, are certain marks of its note in former times.
At Oldberry-hill there are the remains of a very considerable intrenchment, which is without doubt of Roman origin. It is situated on the top of the hill, and is now great part of it so overgrown with wood as to make it very difficult to trace the lines of it. It is of an oval form, and by a very accurate measurement, contains within its bounds the space of one hundred and thirty-seven acres. Just on the brow of the hill is an entrance into a cave, which has been long filled up by the sinking of the earth, so as to admit a passage but a very small way into it, but by antient tradition, it went much further in, under the hill.
The whole of it seems to have been antiently fortified according to the nature of the ground, that is, where it is less difficult of access by a much stronger vallum or bank, than where it is more so. In the middle of it there are two fine springs of water. The vast size of this area, which is larger even than that at Keston, in this county, takes away all probability of its having been a Roman station, the largest of which, as Dr. Horsley observes, that he knew of, not being near a tenth part of this in compass. It seems more like one of their camps, and might be one of their castra æstiva, or summer quarters, of which kind they had several in this county. An intrenchment of like form seems to have been at Oldbury hill, in Wiltshire, which the editor of Camden thought might possibly be Danish. There are remains of a Roman camp at Oldbury, in Gloucestershire, where the pass of the Romans over the Severn, mentioned by Antonine, is supposed to have been by Camden. And at Oldbury, near Manchester, in Warwickshire, are such like remains.
IGHTHAM was held in the reign of king Henry III. by Hamo de Crevequer, who died possessed of it in the 47th year of that reign, anno 1262, leaving Robert, his grandson, his heir. By his wife, Maud de Albrincis, or Averenches, he had also four daughters, Agnes, wife of John de Sandwich, Isolda, of Nicholas de Lenham; Elene, of Bertram de Criol; and Isabel, of Henry de Gaunt.
Robert de Crevequer left one son, William, who dying without issue, his inheritance devolved on the children of three of the daughters of Hamon de Crevequer, as above-mentioned, Agnes, Isolda, and Elene, and on the division of their inheritance, Ightham seems to have fallen to the share of Nicholas, son of Bertram de Criol, by his wife Elene, above-mentioned. He was a man greatly in the king's favour, and was constituted by him warden of the five ports, sheriff of Kent, and governor of Rochester castle. By Joane his wife, daughter and sole heir of William de Aubervill, he had Nicholas de Criol, who had summons to parliament, and died in the 31st year of king Edward the 1st.'s reign, possessed of this manor, which his heirs alienated to William de Inge, who held it in the first year of king Edward II. and procured free-warren for his lands in Eyghtham, (fn. 2) and in the 9th year of it, a market here, to be held on a Monday weekly, and one fair on the feast of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul. In which last year he was constituted one of the justices of the common pleas. (fn. 3) He bore for his arms, Or, a chevron vert. On his death, in the 15th year of that reign, anno 1286, Joane, his daughter, married to Eudo, or Ivo la Zouch, the son of William, lord Zouch, of Harringworth, by Maud, daughter of John, lord Lovel, of Tichmarsh, became entitled to it.
His descendants continued in the possession of this manor till the reign of king Henry VII. when it was alienated to Sir Robert Read, serjeant at law, afterwards made chief justice of the common pleas, (fn. 4) who died in the next reign of king Henry VIII. leaving by Margaret, one of the daughters and coheirs of John Alphew, esq. of Chidingstone, one son, Edmund, one of the justices of the king's bench, who died before him in 1501, and also four daughters, who became his coheirs, and on the partition of their inheritance this manor was allotted to Sir Thomas Willoughby, (fn. 5) in right of Bridget his wife, the eldest of them. He was in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. promoted to the office of chief justice of the common pleas, and in the 31st year of it, he, among others, procured his lands to be disgavelled by the act then passed for that purpose. He left Robert his son and heir, who alienated this manor to William James, third son of Roger James, of London, who was of Dutch parentage, and coming into England in the latter end of the reign of king Henry VIII. was first as being the descendant of Jacob Van Hastrecht, who was antiently seated at Cleve near Utrecht, called after the Dutch fashion Roger Jacobs, and afterwards Roger James, alias Hastrecht. This Roger James, alias Hastrecht, had several sons and one daughter. Of the former, Roger, the eldest, was of Upminster, in Essex, whose descendants settled at Ryegate, in Surry. William, was of Ightham, as before mentioned; Richard had a son, who was of Creshell, in Essex; John was of Woodnesborough, in this county, and George was of Mallendine, in Cliff, near Rochester. William-James, the third son of Roger as before-mentioned, resided at Ightham-court, as did his son William James, esq. who was a man much trusted in the usurpation under Oliver Cromwell, as one of the committee members for the sequestration of the loyalists estates, during which time he was in five years thrice chosen knight of the shire for Kent. His son Demetrius was knighted, whose son William James held his shrievalty for this county here in 1732. He left by his wife, daughter of Demetrius James, esq. of Essex, two sons, Richard his heir, and Demetrius, late rector of this parish, and a daughter married to Mr. Hindman. He died in 1780, and was succeeded by his eldest son Richard James, esq. now of Ightham-court, and the present possessor of this manor. He is colonel of the West-Kent regiment of militia, and is at present unmarried. The original coat of arms of this family of Haestrecht was, Argent, two bars crenelle, gules, in chief three pheons sable; which arms, without the pheons, are borne by the several branches of James, quartered with, Argent, a chevron between three fer de molins transverse, sable.
ST. CLERES, alias West Aldham, situated in the borough of the latter name, is a manor and seat in the north-west part of this parish, adjoining to Kemsing, which was formerly called by the latter name only, and was possessed by a family of the same denomination, who bore for their arms, Azure, a pile, or.
Sir Thomas de Aldham was owner of it in the reign of king Richard I. and was with that king at the siege of Acon, in Palestine. His descendant Sir Thomas de Aldham, possessed this manor of Aldham in the reign of king Edward II. and dying without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, the eldest of whom married Newborough, called in Latin de Novo Burgo, of Dorsetshire; Margery married Martin Peckham, and Isolda was the wife of John St. Clere, and on the division of their inheritance this manor fell to the share of John St. Clere, who possessed it in his wife's right. (fn. 6)
John de St. Clere, written in Latin deeds De Sancta Claro, died possessed of it in the beginning of king Edward III. leaving Isolda his wife surviving, on whose death John St. Clere, their son, succeeded to this manor, which from this family now gained the name of Aldham St. Cleres, and in process of time came to be called by the latter name only, and their descendants continued in possession of this manor till the beginning of the reign of king Henry VII. when it was alienated to Henry Lovel, who left two daughters his coheirs; Agnes, who married John Empson, cousin to Sir Richard Empson, the grand projector; and Elizabeth, married to Anthony Windsor.
John Empson conveyed his moiety of it, in the 8th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Bulleyn, afterwards created earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, and father of the lady Anne Bulleyn, wife to Henry VIII. (fn. 7) and Anthony Windsor, in the 10th year of that reign, passed his moiety away by sale to Richard Farmer, who that year purchased of Sir Thomas Bulleyn the other part, and so became possessed of the whole of this manor of St. Cleres. In the 28th year of that reign, Richard Farmer conveyed it to George Multon, esq. of Hadlow who removed hither. He bore for his arms, Or, three bars vert; being the same arms as those borne by Sir John Multon, lord Egremond, whose heir general married the lord Fitzwalter, excepting in the difference of the colours, the latter bearing it, Argent, three bars, gules. His grandson Robert Multon, esq. was of St. Cleres, and lies buried with his ancestors in this church. He alienated this manor and estate, in the reign of Charles I. to Sir John Sidley, knight and baronet, a younger branch of those of Southfleet and Aylesford, in this county, who erected here a mansion for his residence, which is now remaining. He was descended from William Sedley, esq. of Southfleet, who lived in the reign of king Edward VI. and left three sons, of whom John was ancestor of the Sedleys, of Southfleet and Aylesford; Robert was the second son, and Nicholas the third son, by Jane, daughter and coheir of Edward Isaac, esq. of Bekesborne, afterwards married to Sir Henry Palmer, left one son, Isaac Sidley, who was of Great Chart, created a baronet in 1621, and sheriff of this county in the 2d year of Charles I. whose son Sir John Sidley, knight and baronet, purchased St. Cleres, as above-mentioned. (fn. 8) He left two sons, Isaac and John, who both succeeded to the title of baronet. The eldest son, Sir Isaac Sidley, bart. succeeded his father in this estate, and was of St. Cleres, as was his son, Sir Charles Sidley, bart. who dying without issue in 1702, was buried in Ightham church. By his will he devised this manor, with the seat and his estates in this parish, to his uncle John, who succeeded him in the title of baronet, for his life, with remainder to George Sedley, his eldest son, in tale male. But Sir Charles having been for some time before his death, and at the time of his making his will of weak understanding, and under undue influence, Sir John Sedley contested the validity of it, and it was set aside by the sentence in the prerogative court of Canterbury.
Soon after which Sir John, and his son George Sedley above-mentioned, entered into an agreement, by which Sir John Sedley waved his right as heir at law, and his further right to contest the will. In consequence of which an act of parliament was obtained for the settling in trustees the manor of West Aldham, alias St. Cleres, with its appurtenances, and the capital messuage called St. Cleres, in Ightham, and other messuages and lands in Ightham, Wrotham, Kemsing, Seal, &c. that they might be sold for the purposes of the agreement, which the whole of them were soon afterwards to William Evelyn, esq. the fifth son of George Evelyn, esq. of Nutfield, in Surry, who afterwards resided here, and in 1723 was sheriff of this county.
He married first the daughter and heir of William Glanvill, esq. and in the 5th year of king George I. obtained an act of parliament to use the surname and arms of Glanvill only, the latter being Argent, a chief indented azure, pursuant to the will of William Glanvill, esq. above-mentioned. By her he had an only daughter Frances, married to the hon. Edward Boscawen, next brother to Hugh, viscount Falmouth, and admiral of the British fleet. His second wife was daughter of Jones Raymond, esq. who died in 1761, by whom he had William Glanvill Evelyn, esq. who on his father's decease in 1766, succeeded to St. Cleres and the rest of his estates in this county. In 1757 he kept his shrievalty at St. Cleres, where he resides at present, and is one of the representatives in parliament for Hythe, in this county.
He married about the year 1760, Susan, one of the two daughters and coheirs of Thomas Borrett, esq. of Shoreham, late prothonotary of the court of common pleas, by whom he had a son, William Evelyn, esq. who died in 1788 at Blandford-lodge, near Woodstock, by a fall from his horse, æct. 21, and unmarried; and a daughter Frances, afterwards his sole heir, married in 1782 to Alexander Hume, esq. of Hendley, in Surry, brother of Sir Abraham Hume, who in 1797 had the royal licence to take and use the name and arms of Evelyn only, and he now resides at St. Clere.
THE MOAT is another borough in this parish, in which is the manor and seat of that name, lying at the southern extremity of it next to Shipborne, which in the reign of king Henry II. was in the possession of Ivo de Haut, and his descendant, Sir Henry de Haut, died possessed of it in the 44th year of Edward III. as appears by the escheat roll of that year. His son, Sir Edmund de Haut, died in his life-time, so that his grandson, Nicholas Haut, became his heir, and succeeded him in the possession of this estate. (fn. 9)
He was sheriff in the 19th year of king Richard II. and kept his shrievalty at Wadenhall, in this county. He left two sons, William, who was of Bishopsborne; and Richard Haut, who succeeded him in this estate, and was sheriff in the 18th and 22d years of king Edward IV. keeping both his shrievalties at this seat of themoat; but having engaged, with several others of the gentry of this county, with the duke of Buckingham, in favor of the Earl of Richmond, he was beheaded at Pontefract, anno 1 Richard III. and afterwards attainted in the 3d year of that reign, and his estates confiscated. (fn. 10) Quickly after which, this manor and seat were granted by that king to Robert Brakenbury, lieutenant of the tower of London, and that year sheriff of this county. He kept possession of the Moat but a small time, for he lost his life with king Richard in the fatal battle of Bosworth, fought that year on August 22, and on the Earl of Richmond's attaining the crown was attainted by an act then passed for the purpose, and though his two daughters were restored in blood by another act four years afterwards, yet the Moat was immediately restored to the heirs of its former owner Richard Haut, whose attainder was likewise reversed, and in their descendants it remained till the latter end of the reign of king Henry VII. when it appears by an old court roll to have been in the possession of Sir Richard Clement, who kept his shrievalty at the Moat in the 23d year of king Henry VIII and bore for his arms, A bend nebulee, in chief three fleurs de lis within a border, gobinated. He died without any legitimate issue, and was buried in the chancel of this church. Upon which his brother, John Clement, and his sister, married to Sir Edward Palmer, of Angmering, in Sussex, became his coheirs, but the former succeeded to the entire fee of this estate.
John Clement died without male issue, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, who carried the Moat in marriage to Hugh Pakenham, and he, in the reign of king Edward VI. joining with Sir William Sydney, who had married Anne, his only daughter and heir passed it away to Sir John Allen, who had been of the privy council to king Henry VIII. and lord mayor of London in the year 1526 and 1536. He was of the company of mercers, a man of liberal charity. He gave to the city of London a rich collar of gold, to be worn by the succeeding lord-mayors: also five hundred marcs as a stock for sea coal, and the rents of those lands which he had purchased of the king, to the poor of London for ever; and during his life he gave bountifully to the hospitals, prisons, &c. of that city. He built the mercers chapel in Cheapside, in which his body was buried, which was afterwards moved into the body of the hospital church of St. Thomas, of Acon, and the chapel made into shops by the mercer's company. He bore for his arms, In three roundlets, as many talbots passant, on a chief a lion passant guardant between two anchors. (fn. 11)
He left a son and heir Sir Christopher Allen, whose son and heir, Charles Allen, esq. succeeded his father in this estate, and resided at the Moat, which he afterwards sold at the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth to Sir William Selby, younger brother of Sir John Selby, of Branxton, in Northumberland. He resided here in the latter part of his life, and died greatly advanced in years in 1611, unmarried, and was buried in this church, bearing for his arms, Barry of twelve pieces, or and azure. He by his will gave this estate to his nephew, Sir William Selby, who resided here, and died likewise without issue, and by his will, for the sake of the name gave the Moat to Mr. George Selby, of London, who afterwards resided here, and was sheriff in the 24th year of king Charles I. and bore for his arms, Barry of eight pieces, or and sable. He died in 1667, leaving several sons and daughters. Of whom William Selby, esq. the eldest son, succeeded to this estate, and was of the Moat. He married Susan, daughter of Sir John Rainey, bart. of Wrotham, by whom he had several children, of whom John Selby, esq. the eldest son, was of the Moat, and by Mary his wife, one of the three daughters and coheirs of Thomas Gifford, esq. left two sons, William, who succeeded him in this seat and estate at Ightham, and John Selby, esq. who was of Pennis, in Fawkham, and died unmarried.
William Selby resided at the Moat, of which he died possessed in 1773, leaving his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Burroughs, surviving, who afterwards possessed this seat and resided here. She died in 1788, and her only son, William Selby, esq. of Pennis, having deceased in 1777, and his only daughter and heir likewise, Elizabeth Borough Selby, by Elizabeth his wife, one of the daughters of John Weston, esq. of Cranbrook, under age, and unmarried in 1781. This seat, with her other estates in this county, devolved to John Brown, esq. who has since taken the name of Selby, and now resides at the Moat, of which he is the present possessor.
The park, called Ightham park, has been already mentioned under the parish of Wrotham, to which the reader is referred.
It appears by the visitation of 1619, that there was a branch of the Suliards, of Brasted, then residing in this parish.
John Gull resided in this parish in the reign of king Henry VIII. and died here in 1547.
Charities.
HENRY PEARCE gave by will in 1545, to be distributed to the poor in bread yearly the annual sum of 6s. 8d. charged on land now vested in Cozens, and she gave besides to be distributed to the poor in bread at Easter yearly, 40l. now of the annual produce of 2l. and for the providing of books for poor children to learn the catechism, the sum of 10l. now of the annual produce of 10s.
HENRY FAIRBRASSE gave by will in 1601, to be distributed in like manner, the annual sum of 1l. to be paid out of land now vested in William Hacket.
WILLIAM JAMES, ESQ. gave by will in 1627, to be distributed in bread to the poor every Sunday, the annual sum of 2l. 12s. to be paid out of lands now vested in Rich. James, esq.
GEORGE PETLEY gave by will in 1705, to be distributed in like manner, every Sunday, 2s. the annual sum of 5l. 4s. to be paid out of land vested in William Evelyn, esq.
ELIZABETH JAMES, gave by will in 1720, for the education of poor children, the annual sum of 5l. to be paid out of land now vested in Elizabeth Solley.
IGHTHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such in the deanry of Shoreham.
¶The church is dedicated to St. Peter. Under an arch on the north side of it, there is a tomb of free stone, having on it a very antient figure at full length of a man in armour, ornamented with a rich belt, sword and dagger, his head resting on two cushions, and a lion at his feet, over his whole breast are his arms, viz. A lion rampant, ermine, double queued. This is by most supposed to be the tomb of Sir Thomas Cawne, who married Lora, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Morant. He was originally extracted from Staffordshire: he probably died without issue, and his widow remarried with James Peckham, esq. of Yaldham. His arms, impaling those of Morant, were in one of the chancel windows of this church.
The rectory is valued in the king's books at 15l. 16s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 11s. 8d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
The patronage of this rectory seems to have been always accounted an appendage to the manor of Ightham, as such it is now the property of Richard James, esq. of Ightham-court.
St Peter on the Wall, Bradwell on Sea, Essex
A short bike ride from Southminster station brings us to the oldest church in England. A church in Sunderland vies for the title, but St Peter on the Wall was certainly here by the end of the 7th Century. In common with other missionaries to the English, St Cedd built his mission church on the wall of the old Roman sea fort (St Felix did the same at Walton in Suffolk, and St Fursey at Burgh Castle, today in Norfolk).
A haunting place, like a barn (which indeed it was used for from the 17th to the early 20th Centuries) and left open all the time. It is a remarkable, moving place, the wide Blackwater spilling out into the North Sea with Mersea Island a couple of miles across the water.
However, it has become a popular spot for both pilgrims and tourists, its remoteness giving a visit here some kudos I imagine. Half a dozen other people were pottering about on the head and in the church, and I think it would be hard to be alone here.
St Peter's, Threekingham. Grade 1 listed and dating from the C12th. The spire was originally constructed in the C13th and restored in 1872. In December 2019 the roofing lead was stripped by thieves. The nave contains the recumberant figures of a knight and his lady, Sir Lambert de Trikyngham, (died 1280), and his wife.
Threekingham, Lincolnshire, England - Parish church of St Peter, Laundon Road
December 2019
St Peter, Nottingham.
East Window by Ward & Hughes, 1878.
Allsop memorial - detail.
The firm of Ward & Hughes spans the history of Victorian stained glass from the Gothic revival to the Aesthetic Movement. Despite having worked in so many styles, their windows are easily recognisable since, unlike those of many artists, they are always signed “Ward & Hughes, London” with the date of manufacture. The partnership of Thomas Ward (1808-1870) and Henry Hughes (1822-1883) began in the early 1850s. Thomas Ward had been a stained glass designer for almost twenty years by this time, in partnership with JH Nixon. When Nixon retired Henry Hughes, one of his pupils and a talented designer, took his place. After Ward’s death in 1870 Hughes was free to run things as he wanted. There was clearly a change of direction in the 1870s away from the now stale Gothic style towards a style influenced by the Aesthetic Movement. Henry Hughes died in 1883 and the firm was taken over by a relative of his, Thomas Figgis Curtis (1845-1924). Soon after, the firm’s output was signed “TF Curtis, Ward & Hughes”. The firm remained operational until the late 1920s, but most of the company’s archives have been lost, so little is known about this remarkable and enduring firm.
St. Peter's Church is an Anglican parish church and is located in the centre of Petersfield, on the south side of the Market square.
The church was built in the early 12th century in dedication to St Peter. The surrounding area became known as St Peter's feld. 'Feld' is an Anglo Saxon word, that means any open area without trees. As the area surrounding the church developed, so did its name, evolving into the modern spelling of Petersfield.
The original Norman church has seen many changes over the centuries. The north and south aisles were added at the end of the 12th century. The tower was raised to its present height during the 14th century and significant modifications occured in the 15th century.
In 1873, a major restoration was implemented by the famed architect, Sir Arthur Blomfield.
The Statue of William III was originally erected in 1757 but moved to its present position in 1812. It was bought by the town in 1911 and restored by public subscription in 1913.
Sir William Jolliffe wished to leave some memorial of the loving zeal which he himself had devoted to the cause of liberty and liberty's royal champion. He provided in his will for this statue to be erected in the town.
William III (Dutch: Willem; 4 November 1650 – 8 March 1702), also widely known as William of Orange, was sovereign Prince of Orange from birth, Stadtholder of Holland, Zeeland, Utrecht, Gelderland, and Overijssel in the Dutch Republic from 1672, and King of England, Ireland, and Scotland from 1689 until his death. It is a coincidence that his regnal number (III) was the same for both Orange and England. As King of Scotland, he is known as William II. He is informally known by sections of the population in Northern Ireland and Scotland as "King Billy".
Petersfield is a market town and civil parish in the East Hampshire district of Hampshire, England. It is 17 miles (27 km) north of Portsmouth, via the A3 road. The town has its own railway station on the Portsmouth Direct Line, the mainline rail link connecting Portsmouth and London. Situated on the northern slopes of the South Downs, Petersfield lies wholly within the South Downs National Park.
The town is on the crossroads of well-used north–south (formerly the A3 road which now bypasses the town) and east–west routes (today the A272 road) and it grew as a coach stop on the Portsmouth to London route. Petersfield is twinned with Barentin in France, and Warendorf in Germany.
stpeterspetersfield.org.uk/about_stpeters/the-history-of-...
Pay day.
Which is good.
So: Dateline Norwich, Norfolk.
I wake at half six, with buses and trucks heading into the city just outside the bedroom window, whatever, I slept well, so messed around online for an hour, had a shower and then went down for breakfast. Dressing first, of course.
I chose the "continental breakfast", of fruit and toast, and two pots of coffee which set me for the day.
I had a number of plans: first was to go to Cantley and the Limpenoe for some churchcrawling, but with the swing bridges at Reedham and Somerleyton closes for maintenance, that meant rail replacement buses. The other choice was to go to Cromer to the church there, have lunch of chips beside the seaside, beside the sea.
But first, a a walk to St Stephen's on Theatre Street, as I had not been there before, and was oepn, apparently.
Despite being the end of October, it was warm and humid, and would exceed 20 degrees in the afternoon. But was cloudy, and there was a chance of rain.
More than a chance as it turned out.
So, after breakfast I set out through Tombland, past The Halls where the beer festival was being held, and fresh supplies were being delivered.
Through the market, up the steps and across from The Forum to Theatre Street where the doors of the church had just been opened. What greeted me was a fine large East Anglian church, but instead of pews or rows of chairs, was tables and chairs all set out to be a café.
All churches do their best, I know, but St Stephens is now a calling point on the entrance to the once new shopping centre, the windows offer a large and bright space, but not very churchy.
I made the mistake of asking a volunteer when it stopped being a church: it's still a church, and the tables can be quickly replaced with rows of chairs, it seems.
I go round and get shots, but avoiding, as warned, not to get people in my shots. Its a big church, so I managed that pretty well.
Ten minutes later, St Peter Mancroft opened I wanted to snap the east windows as best I could, so with my compact I did my best. A guy sat behind me and tutted loudly as I took shots and when I asked a warden if I could take a shot of a memorial in the chancel. He had the whole church to sit in, but chose to sit behind me, already taking shots, apparently just so he could complain.
So screw you.
I got my shots, and left, leaving a bad taste in my mouth.
Outside rain had began to fall. Falling hard enough not to be pleasant. My plan had been to walk tot he station, but wasn't going to walk in this weather. So, I walked through the market, lingering as rain fell harder, then crossing to Royal Arcade before emerging onto Back of the Inns, and walking into Castle Mall, taking a series of escalators to the top, all the while hoping that by the time I reached the top, rain would have stopped.
It hadn't.
But I did snap the decorative paving marking the source of an ancient spring, then headed down Timber Hill to the Murderers, where I went in and had a pint. And ended up staying for another and a lunch of nachos.
Last stop was St John Maddermarket, where I retook many shots, but had a long and interesting conversation with the warden about the church and the font found at St John in Folkestone.
I went back to the hotel, lay on the bed for a snooze edit some shots and post them with a description which became the backbone for the previous blog post.
For the evening, I had been invited for dinner at my good friend's, Sarah's.
So at five, I walk up through the City to Pottergate, then along, through the underpass and estate beyond, arriving at her door at just gone six.
Darkness was falling, the street was ankle deep in golden leaves, quite the most fabulous place, really.
We have a drink, chat abut churches, butterflies, orchids and Norwich City, after which we eat: a kind of duck stew, which was hearty and very good. Along with that, we sup from the bottle of fruity red I had bought on the way to her house.
The evening slipped by, and after walking 15,000 steps, I got a taxi back to the hotel, along fairly deserted roads, dropping me at the door of the hotel, where just inside a wedding reception was nearing its end, back in my room, I put in ear plugs and slept long and deep.
-------------------------------------------
The great urban churches of northern Europe sit on their market places, especially in Cathedral cities. It is as if they were intended as late Medieval statements of civic pride. They are a reminder of the way that the cities rose to prominence in the decades after the Black Death, as if the old order had been broken and a new one was beginning. They were a great affirmation of Catholic orthodoxy and social communion, in the years before the merchants that paid for them embraced Protestantism and capitalism. They are European culture caught on the cusp of the Renaissance, the beacons that lead us into early modern Europe.
These things are more easily sensed in the great late medieval cities of Flanders and the Netherlands, for example at Bruges. The bridges, the medieval triumph, the tourist tat shops and the foreign voices can create an illusion of being in Cambridge or Oxford, but the great Market Church and Belfry on the main square recall Norwich, where St Peter Mancroft and the medieval Guildhall have a similar juxtaposition. The Industrial Revolution would bring a new wave of cities to prominence, but in the provincial cities that were prominent in the 15th century, Norwich, and Bristol, and York, you still sense the power of those times.
Looking at St Peter, the sophistication of its Perpendicular architecture feels a geological age away from the coarse, brutal Norman castle on the far side of the Main Croft ('Mancroft'), which is understandable. Four hundred years had passed since the Norman invasion, and St Peter Mancroft is as close in time to the Industrial Revolution as it is to the Normans. That is true of all late medieval churches, of course, but seeing the architecture in a city you get a sense that it looked to the future more than to the past. St Peter Mancroft feels entirely at home with the clean, Scandinavian lines of the adjacent 1930s City Hall, and perhaps even more so with the retro-Modernism of the new Forum, whch reflects it back to the city. The Forum was built to replace the Norwich City library, tragically destroyed by fire in 1994, but in style it echoes the confidence of a great 19th century railway station, the roof a triumph of engineering. You are reminded of Cologne, where to leave the railway station and step into the shadow of the west front of the great Cathedral is to merely move from one statement of civic pride to another.
The influence of Flanders and the Netherlands is familiar in East Anglia, of course, but it is only at Norwich you sense this sense of civic bullishness. Utilitarian, practical Ipswich demolished St Mildred on the Cornhill in the 19th century - the French Baroque town hall now stands on the site. In Cambridge, the market place has been skewed so that today St Mary the Great sits with its east window facing the stalls, as if keeping them at a distance. Worse, it now styles itself the 'University Church'. The great north side of St Peter Mancroft, its massive tower and clerestory like eternal truths rising above the deckchair jollity of the stall canopies, is a constant presence. You can never ignore it.
We know that the present church was begun by 1430, and was consecrated on St Peter's Day, 1455. That is, it is all of a piece. In the nave and chancel there are echoes of near-contemporary Holy Trinity, Long Melford, in Suffolk. The tower is something else again; idiosyncratic, a symbol of power and wealth. There's nothing else quite like it. Pevsner thought it more rich than aesthetically successful, and this is not helped by Street's spirelet of 1881, a flighty thing. There was a massive Victorian restoration here. Before the Streets, pere et fils, came along, diocesan architect Richard Phipson had given it a going over, and there is a sense of the grand 19th century civic dignity of his St Mary le Tower in Ipswich. Of course, hardly anything of these restorations is visible from the outside, apart from a mid-20th century meeting room down in the south-east corner, a jaunty Festival of Britain affair, now a parish tea room.
A processional way runs beneath the tower, and there is another beneath the chancel, the land sloping steeply away towards the east. You enter from either the north or south sides, through surprisingly small porches which lead into the aisles. Again, a sense of civic confidence pervades as the interior unfolds before you.
There is no chancel arch. The arcades run the full length of the church, the great east window is echoed by that to the west, and if you stand in the middle of the church and look to either end, only the west end organ tells you easily which direction you are facing. The furnishings are pretty much all Phipson's, uneasily heavy under the delicate fluting of the columns. How good modern wooden chairs would look in here! There are civic memorials the lengths of the aisle walls, but because the windows are full of clear glass they are not oppressive here as they are, say, at St Stephen.
At the west end of the north aisle sits the font on its pedestal. You can see at a glance that it was one of the seven sacraments series, and that all of its reliefs have been completely erased, as in the great churches of Southwold and Blythburgh in Suffolk. At Wenhaston, we know that this happened in the 19th century - could the same thing be true here? Above the font is the famous font canopy. Now, font canopies are so rare - there are only four of them, and they are all so different - that it is not particularly useful to compare them. Certainly, that here reflects the rather grander example at Trunch, some twenty miles away. Since the other two are either post-Reformation (Durham) or made of stone (Luton), it might make sense to think of the Norfolk two as a unique pair. Here at St Peter Mancroft, much of the upper part is a 19th century restoration, and there seems to have been some attempt to copy Trunch. The lower part is more interesting, with its niches and canopies. It must have been spectacular when the font was intact.
Pevsner tells us that the gilded reredos in the sanctuary is by JP Seddon, but that Ninian Comper restored and enlarged it in the early 1930s. It is not exciting, but that is probably as well, for above it is one of the greatest medieval treasures of East Anglia. This is the medieval glass that survives from the first few decades of the existence of the church. Some of it was probably in place that first Petertide. It has been moved around a bit since then; the whole east side was blown out by an explosion in 1648, and the glass has been removed on several occasions since, most recently during the Second World War. After East Harling, it is the finest expanse of Norwich School glass of the 15th century.
Books have been written about the glass at St Peter Mancroft, and there is neither time nor space to go into too much detail here. Suffice to say that this is the work of several Norwich workshops, probably working in the Conesford area of the city along what is today King Street. It is obvious that some other glass in East Anglia is from the same workshops using the same or similar cartoons, notably North Tuddenham in Norfolk and Combs in Suffolk, and of course most obviously, East Harling. Indeed, by comparison with East Harling in the 1920s, the historian Christopher Woodforde was able to deduce some of what was missing here, and what there.
There are several sequences, most notably the Story of Christ from the Annunciation to the day of Pentecost. This extends into a Marian sequence depicting the story of the Assumption. There are also scenes from the stories of St Peter and St John, and other individual Saints panels, including St Faith, a significant cult in late medieval Norwich. The panel of St Francis suggests that it was also once part of a sequence. The lower range depicts the donors, some of whom are identified. The central spine is largely modern glass by Clayton and Bell for the Streets in the 1880s. Some of the missing glass is now at Felbrigg Hall.
In any other church, the 1921 glass by Herbert Hendrie in the south chapel aisle chapel would be considered outstanding. It is in the style of Eric Gill, but feels rather heavy handed next to the extraordinary delicacy of its medieval neighbours.
While I was here, I stopped taking photographs for the one o'clock prayers. One of the custodians stood at the lectern and read very eloquently from the Acts of the Apostles, and said prayers for the city and its people. Apart from me, there were only two other listeners in the vast space. It was tenderly and thoughtfully done, but I couldn't help thinking that it is the exterior of this wonderful structure which is the Church's true act of witness in central Norwich now.
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichstpetermancroft/norwichs...
This stained glass of the Annunciation is found in Lewiston New York's St. Peter Roman Catholic Church.
On the way back from Oxfordshire, I thought about stopping off somewhere to take some church shots.
I'm sure Oxfordshire, Buckinghamshire, Surrey and Sussex have fine churches just off the motorway, but one had stuck in my head, back in Kent, and that Hever.
What I didn't realise is how hard it was to get too.
I followed the sat nav, taking me off the motorway whilst still in Sussex, then along narrow and twisting main roads along the edge of the north downs, through some very fine villages, but were in Sussex.
Would I see the sign marking my return to the Garden of England?
Yes, yes I would.
Edenbridge seemed quite an unexpectedly urban place, despite its name, so I didn't stop to search for an older centre, just pressing un until I was able to turn down Hever Road.
It had taken half an hour to get here.
St Peter stands by the gate to the famous castle, a place we have yet to visit, and even on a showery Saturday in March, there was a constant stream of visitors arriving.
I asked a nice young man who was directing traffic, where I could park to visit the church. He directed me to the staff car park, meaning I was able to get this shot before going in.
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Near the grounds of Hever Castle, medieval home of the Bullen family. Sandstone construction with a nice west tower and spire. There is a prominent chimney to the north chapel, although this is not the usual Victorian addition, but a Tudor feature, whose little fireplace may be seen inside! The church contains much of interest including a nineteenth-century painting of Christ before Caiphas by Reuben Sayers and another from the school of Tintoretto. The stained glass is all nineteenth and twentieth century and includes a wonderfully evocative east window (1898) by Burlisson and Grylls with quite the most theatrical sheep! The south chancel window of St Peter is by Hardman and dated 1877. In the north chapel is a fine tomb chest which displays the memorial brass of Sir Thomas Bullen (d. 1538), father of Queen Anne Boleyn. Just around the corner is a typical, though rather insubstantial, seventeenth-century pulpit with sounding board.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Hever
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HEVER.
SOUTH-EASTWARD from Eatonbridge lies Hever, called in the Textus Roffensis, and some antient records, Heure, and in others, Evere.
This parish lies below the sand hill, and is consequently in that district of this county called The Weald.
There is a small part of it, called the Borough of Linckbill, comprehending a part of this parish, Chidingstone, and Hever, which is within the hundred of Ruxley, and being part of the manor of Great Orpington, the manerial rights of it belong to Sir John Dixon Dyke, bart. the owner of that manor.
THE PARISH of Hever is long, and narrow from north to south. It lies wholly below the sand hills, and consequently in the district of the Weald; the soil and face of the country is the same as that of Eatonbridge, last described, the oak trees in it being in great plently, and in general growing to a very large size. The river Eden directs its course across it, towards Penshurst and the Medway, flowing near the walls of Hever castle, about a quarter of a mile southward from which is the village of Hever and the parsonage; near the northern side of the river is the seat of Polebrooke, late Douglass's, now Mrs. Susannah Payne's; and a little farther, the hamlets of Howgreen and Bowbeach; part of Linckhill borough, which is in the hundred of Ruxley, extends into this parish. There is a strange odd saying here, very frequent among the common people, which is this:
Jesus Christ never was but once at Hever.
And then he fell into the river.
Which can only be accounted for, by supposing that it alluded to a priest, who was carrying the bost to a sick person, and passing in his way over a bridge, sell with it into the river.
Hever was once the capital seat and manor of a family of the same name, whose still more antient possessions lay at Hever, near Northfleet, in this county, who bore for their arms, Gules, a cross argent. These arms, with a lable of three points azure, still remained in the late Mote-house, in Maidstone, and are quartered in this manner by the earl of Thanet, one of whose ancestors, Nicholas Tuston, esq. of Northiam, married Margaret, daughter and heir of John Hever of this county. (fn. 1)
William de Heure. possessed a moiety of this place in the reign of king Edward I. in the 2d of which he was was sheriff of this county, and in the 9th of it obtained a grant of free warren within his demesne lands in Heure, Chidingstone, and Lingefield.
Sir Ralph de Heure seems at this time to have possessed the other moiety of this parish, between whose son and heir, Ralph, and Nicholas, abbot of St. Augustine's, there had been, as appears by the register of that abbey, several disputes concerning lands in Hever, which was settled in the 4th year of king Edward I. by the abbot's granting to him and his heirs for ever, the land which he held of him in Hever, to hold by the service of the fourth part of a knight's fee.
William de Hever, in the reign of king Edward III. became possessed of the whole of this manor, and new built the mansion here, and had licence to embattle it; soon after which he died, leaving two daughters his coheirs; one of whom, Joane, carried one moiety of this estate in marriage to Reginald Cobham, a younger son of the Cobhams of Cobham, in this county; (fn. 2) whence this part of Hever, to distinguish it from the other, acquired the name of Hever Cobham.
His son, Reginald lord Cobham, in the 14th year of that reign, obtained a charter for free warren within his demesne lands in Hever. (fn. 3) He was succeeded in this manor by his son, Reginald lord Cobham, who was of Sterborough castle, in Surry, whence this branch was stiled Cobhams of Sterborough.
The other moiety of Hever, by Margaret, the other daughter and coheir, went in marriage to Sir Oliver Brocas, and thence gained the name of Hever Brocas. One of his descendants alienated it to Reginald lord Cobham, of Sterborough, last mentioned, who died possessed of both these manors in the 6th year of king Henry IV.
His grandson, Sir Thomas Cobham, sold these manors to Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, a wealthy mercer of London, who had been lord mayor in the 37th year of king Henry VI. He died possessed of both Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, in the 3d year of king Edward IV. leaving by Anne, his wife, eldest sister of Thomas, lord Hoo and Hastings, Sir William Bulleyn, of Blickling, in Norfolk, who married Margaret, daughter and coheir of Thomas Boteler, earl of Ormond, by whom he had a son and heir, Thomas, who became a man of eminent note in the reign of king Henry VIII. and by reason of the king's great affection to the lady Anne Bulleyn, his daughter, was in the 17th year of that reign, created viscount Rochford; and in the 21st year of it, being then a knight of the Garter, to that of earl of Wiltshire and Ormond; viz. Wiltshire to his heirs male, and Ormond to his heirs general.
He resided here, and added greatly to those buildings, which his grandfather, Sir Geoffry Bulleyn, began in his life time, all which he completely finished, and from this time this seat seems to have been constantly called HEVER-CASTLE.
He died in the 30th of the same reign, possessed of this castle, with the two manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, having had by Elizabeth his wife, daughter of Thomas Howard, duke of Norfolk, one sonGeorge, executed in his life time; and two daughters, Anne, wife to king Henry VIII. and Mary, wife of William Carey, esquire of the body, and ancestor of the lords Hunsdon and the earls of Dover and Monmouth.
On the death of the earl of Wiltshire, without issue male, who lies buried in this church, under an altar tomb of black marble, on which is his figure, as large as the life, in brass, dressed in the robes of the Garter, the king seised on this castle and these manors, in right of his late wife, the unfortunate Anne Bulleyn, the earl's daughter, who resided at Hever-castle whilst the king courted her, there being letters of both extant, written by them from and to this place, and her chamber in it is still called by her name; and they remained in his hands till the 32d year of his reign, when he granted to the lady Anne of Cleves, his repudiated wife, his manors of Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, among others, and his park of Hever, with its rights, members, and appurtenances, then in the king's hands; and all other estates in Hever, Seale, and Kemsing, lately purchased by him of Sir William Bulleyn and William Bulleyn, clerk, to hold to her during life, so long as she should stay within the realm, and not depart out of it without his licence, at the yearly rent of 931. 13s. 3½d. payable at the court of augmention. She died possessed of the castle, manors, and estates of Hever, in the 4th and 5th year of king Philip and queen Mary, when they reverted again to the crown, where they continued but a short time, for they were sold that year, by commissioners authorised for this purpose, to Sir Edward Waldegrave and dame Frances his wife; soon after which the park seems to have have been disparked.
This family of Waldegrave, antiently written Walgrave, is so named from a place, called Walgrave, in the county of Northampton, at which one of them was resident in the reign of king John, whose descendants afterwards settled in Essex, and bore for their arms, Per pale argent and gules. Warine de Walgrave is the first of them mentioned, whose son, John de Walgrave, was sheriff of London, in the 7th year of king John's reign, whose direct descendant was Sir Edward Waldegrave, who purchased this estate, as before mentioned. (fn. 5) He had been a principal officer of the household to the princess Mary; at the latter end of the reign of king Edward VI. he incurred the king's displeasure much by his attachment to her interest, and was closely imprisoned in the Tower; but the king's death happening soon afterwards, queen Mary amply recompensed his sufferings by the continued marks of her favour and bounty, which she conferred on him; and in the 4th and 5th years of that reign, he obtained, as above mentioned, on very easy terms, the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas; and besides being employed by the queen continually in commissions of trust and importance, had many grants of lands and other favours bestowed on him. But on the death of queen Mary, in 1558, he was divested of all his employments, and committed prisoner to the Tower, (fn. 6) where he died in the 3d year of queen Elizabeth. He left two sons, Charles, his heir; and Nicholas, ancestor to those of Boreley, in Essex; and several daughters.
Charles Waldegrave succeeded his father in his estates in this parish; whose son Edward received the honour of knighthood at Greenwich, in 1607, and though upwards of seventy years of age, at the breaking out of the civil wars, yet he nobly took arms in the king's defence, and having the command of a regiment of horse, behaved so bravely, that he had conferred on him the dignity of a baronet, in 1643; after which he continued to act with great courage in the several attacks against the parliamentary forces, in which time he lost two of his sons, and suffered in his estate to the value of fifty thousand pounds.
His great grandson, Sir Henry Waldegrave, in 1686, in the 1st year of king James II. was created a peer, by the title of baron Waldegrave of Chewton, in Somersetshire, and had several offices of trust conferred on him; but on the Revolution he retired into France, and died at Paris, in 1689. (fn. 7) He married Henrietta, natural daughter of king James II. by Arabella Churchill, sister of John duke of Marlborough, by whom he had James, created earl of Waldegrave in the 3d year of king George II. who, in the year 1715, conveyed the castle and these manors to Sir William Humfreys, bart. who that year was lord mayor of the city of London. He was of Barking, in Essex, and had been created a baronet in 1714. He was descended from Nathaniel Humfreys, citizen of London, the second son of William ap Humfrey, of Montgomery, in North Wales, and bore for his arms two coats, Quarterly, 1st and 4th, sable, two nags heads erased argent; 2d and 3d, per pale or and gules, two lions rampant endorsed, counterchanged.
He died in 1735, leaving by his first wife, Margaret, daughter of William Wintour, of Gloucestershire, an only son and heir, Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. who died in 1737, having had by Ellen, his wife, only child of colonel Robert Lancashire, three sons and two daughters; two of the sons died young; Robert, the second and only surviving son, had the castle and manors of Hever Cobham and Brocas, and died before his father possessed of them, as appears by his epitaph, in 1736, ætat. 28.
On Sir Orlando's death his two daughters became his, as well as their brother's, coheirs, of whom Mary, the eldest, had three husbands; first, William Ball Waring, of Dunston, in Berkshire, who died in 1746, without issue; secondly, John Honywood, esq. second brother of Richard, of Mark's-hall, who likewife died without issue, in 1748; and lastly, Thomas Gore, esq. uncle to Charles Gore, esq. M.P. for Hertfordshire; which latter had married, in 1741, Ellen Wintour, the only daughter of Sir Orlando Humfreys, above mentioned.
They, with their husbands, in 1745, joined in the sale of Hever-castle and the manors of Hever Cobham and Hever Brocas, to Timothy Waldo. He was descended from Thomas Waldo, of Lyons, in France, one of the first who publicly opposed the doctrines of the church of Rome, of whom there is a full account in the Atlas Geograph. vol. ii. and in Moreland's History of the Evangelical Churches of Piedmont. One of his descendants, in the reign of queen Elizabeth, to escape the persecution of the duke D'Alva, came over to England, where he and his descendants afterwards settled, who bore for their arms, Argent a bend azure, between three leopards heads of the second; of whom, in king Charles II.'s reign, there were three brothers, the eldest of whom, Edward, was knighted, and died without male issue, leaving two daughters his coheirs; the eldest of whom, Grace, married first Sir Nicholas Wolstenholme, bart. and secondly, William lord Hunsdon, but died without issue by either of them, in 1729. The second brother was of Harrow, in Middlesex; and Timothy, the third, was an eminent merchant of London, whose grandsons were Edward, who was of South Lambeth, esq. and died in 1783, leaving only one daughter; and Timothy, of Clapham, esquire, the purchaser of this estate, as above mentioned, who was afterwards knighted, and died possessed of it, with near thirteen hundred acres of land round it, in 1786; he married, in 1736, Miss Catherine Wakefield, by whom he left an only daughter and heir, married to George Medley, esq. of Sussex, lady Waldo surviving him is at this time intitled to it.
The castle is entire, and in good condition; it has a moat round it, formed by the river Eden, over which there is a draw bridge, leading to the grand entrance, in the gate of which there is yet a port cullis, within is a quadrangle, round which are the offices, and a great hall; at the upper end of which, above a step, is a large oak table, as usual in former times. The great stair case leads up to several chambers and to the long gallery, the cieling of which is much ornamented with soliage in stucco; the rooms are all wainscotted with small oaken pannels, unpainted. On one side of the gallery is a recess, with an ascent of two steps, and one seat in it, with two returns, capable of holding ten or twelve persons, which, by tradition, was used as a throne, when king Henry VIII. visited the castle. At the upper end of the gallery, on one side of a large window, there is in the floor a kind of trap door, which, when opened, discovers a narrow and dark deep descent, which is said to reach as far as the moat, and at this day is still called the dungeon. In a closet, in one of the towers, the window of which is now stopped up, there is an adjoining chamber, in which queen Anne Bulleyn is said to have been consined after her dis grace. The entrance to this closet, from the chamber, is now by a small door, which at that time was a secret sliding pannel, and is yet called Anne Bulleyn's pannel.
In the windows of Hever-castle are these arms; Argent, three buckles gules, within the garter; a shield of four coasts, Howard, Brotherton, Warren, and Mowbray, argent three buckles gules; a shield of eight coats, viz. Bulleyn, Hoo, St. Omer, Malmains, Wickingham, St. Leger, Wallop, and Ormond; and one, per pale argent and gules, for Waldegrave. (fn. 8)
It is reported, that when Henry VIII. with his attendants, came to the top of the hill, within sight of the castle, he used to wind his bugle horn, to give notice of his approach.
There was a court baron constantly held for each of the above manors till within these forty years, but at present there is only one, both manors being now esteemed but as one, the circuit of which, over the neighbouring parishes, is very extensive.
SEYLIARDS is an estate here which extends itself into the parishes of Brasted and Eatonbridge, but the mansion of it is in this parish, and was the antient seat of the Seyliards, who afterwards branched out from hence into Brasted, Eatonbridge, Chidingstone, and Boxley, in this county.
The first of this name, who is recorded to have possessed this place, was Ralph de Seyliard, who resided here in the reign of king Stephen.
Almerick de Eureux, earl of Gloucester, who lived in the reign of king Henry III. demised lands to Martin at Seyliard, and other lands, called Hedinden, to Richard Seyliard, both of whom were sons of Ralph at Seyliard, and the latter of them was ancestor to those seated here and at Delaware, in Brasted. (fn. 9)
This place continued in his descendants till Sir Tho. Seyliard of Delaware, passed it away to John Petley, esq. who alienated it to Sir Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, and he died possessed of it in 1758; and it is now the property of his grandson, Multon Lambarde, of Sevenoke, esq.
Charities.
A PERSON gave, but who or when is unknown, but which has time out of mind been distributed among the poor of this parish, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid out of land vested in the churchwardens, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. JOHN PETER gave by will, about 1661, the sum of 10s. yearly, to be paid for the benefit of poor farmers only, out of land vested in the rector, the heirs of Wm. Douglass, and the heirs of Francis Bowty, and now of that annual produce.
The Rev. GEORGE BORRASTON, rector, and several of the parishioners, as appears by a writing dated in 1693, purchased, with money arising from several bequests, the names of the donors unknown, except that of WILLIAM FALKNER, to which the parishioners added 15l. a piece of land, the rent to be distributed yearly among the poor of the parish, vested in the rector and churchwardens, and of the annual produce of 3l. 12s.
Rev. THOMAS LANCASTER, rector, gave by will in 1714, for buying good books for the poor, and in case books are not wanting for the schooling of poor children at the discretion of the mimister, part of a policy on lives, which was exchanged for a sum of money paid by his executor, being 20l. vested in the minister and churchwardens.
SIR TIMOTHY WALDO gave by will in 1786, 500l. consolidated 3 per cent. Bank Annuities, one moiety of the interest of which to be applied for the placing of some poor boy of the parish apprentice to a farmer, or some handicraft trade, or to the sea service, or in cloathing such poor boy during his apprenticeship, and in case no such poor boy can be found, this moiety to be distributed among such of the industrious poor who do not receive alms. The other moiety to be laid out in buying and distributing flannel waistcoats, or strong shoes, or warm stockings, among such of the industrious or aged poor persons inhabiting within this parish, as do not receive alms, vested in the Salters Company.
HEVER is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such within the deanry of Shoreham. The church, which stands at the east end of the village, is a small, but neat building, consisting of one isle and two chancels, having a handsome spire at the west end of it. It is dedicated to St. Peter.
Among other monuments and inscriptions in it are the following:—In the isle is a grave-stone, on which is the figure of a woman, and inscription in black letter in brass, for Margaret, wife of William Cheyne, obt. 1419, arms, a fess wavy between three crescents.—In the chancel, a memorial for Robert Humfreys, esq. lord of the manor of Heaver, only son and heir of Sir Orlando Humfreys, bart. of Jenkins, in Effex, obt. 1736. Against the wall is a brass plate, with the figure of a man kneeling at a desk, and inscription in black letter for William Todde, schoolmaster to Charles Waldegrave, esq. obt. 1585.—In the north chancel, an altar tomb, with the figure on it at large in brass, of Sir Thomas Bullen, knight of the garter, earl of Wilcher and earl of Ormunde, obt. 1538. A small slab with a brass plate, for ........ Bullayen, the son of Sir Thomas Bullayen.—In the belsry, a stone with a brass plate, and inscription in black letter in French, for John de Cobham, esquire, obt. 1399, and dame Johane, dame de Leukenore his wife, and Renaud their son; near the above is an antient altar tomb for another of that name, on which is a shield of arms in brass, or, on a chevron, three eagles displayed, a star in the dexter point. These were the arms of this branch of the Cobhams, of Sterborough-castle. (fn. 10)
This church is a rectory, the advowson of which belonged to the priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, and came to the crown with the rest of its possessions at the time of the surrendry of it, in the 7th year of king Henry VIII. in consequence of the act passed that year for the surrendry of all religious houses, under the clear yearly revenue of two hundred pounds. Soon after which this advowson was granted, with the scite of the priory, to Thomas Colepeper, but he did not long possess it; and it appears, by the Escheat Rolls, to have come again into the hands of the crown, and was granted by the king, in his 34th year, to Sir John Gage, to hold in capite by knights service; who exchanged it again with Tho. Colepeper, to confirm which an act passed the year after. (fn. 11) His son and heir, Alexander Colepeper, had possession granted of sundry premises, among which was the advowson of Hever, held in capite by knights service, in the 3d and 4th years of king Philip and queen Mary; the year after which it was, among other premises, granted to Sir Edward Waldegrave, to hold by the like tenure.
Charles Waldegrave, esq. in the 12th year of queen Elizabeth, alienated this advowson to John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, and being entailed to his heirs male, by the last will of Sampson Lennard, esq. his eldest son, under the word hereditament possessed it, and it being an advowson in gross, was never disentailed by Henry, Richard, or Francis, lords Dacre, his descendants, so that it came to Thomas lord Dacre, son of the last mentioned Francis, lord Dacre, afterwards earl of Sussex, in 1673, and at length sole heir male of the descendants of John Lennard, esq. of Chevening, above mentioned; and the same trial was had for the claim of a moiety of it, at the Queen's-bench bar, as for the rest of the earl's estates, and a verdict then obtained in his favour, as has been already fully mentioned before, under Chevening.
The earl of Sussex died possessed of it in 1715, (fn. 12) whose two daughters, his coheirs, on their father's death became entitled to this advowson, and a few years afterwards alienated the same.
It then became the property of the Rev. Mr. Geo. Lewis, as it has since of the Rev. Mr. Hamlin, whose daughter marrying the Rev. Mr. Nott, of Little Horsted, in Sussex, he is now intitled to it.
In the 15th year of king Edward I. this church of Heure was valued at fifteen marcs.
By virtue of a commission of enquiry, taken by order of the state, in 1650, issuing out of chancery, it was returned, that Hever was a parsonage, with a house, and twelve acres of glebe land, which, with the tithes, were worth seventy-seven pounds per annum, master John Petter being then incumbent, and receiving the profits, and that Francis lord Dacre was donor of it. (fn. 13)
This rectory was valued, in 1747, at 1831. per annum, as appears by the particulars then made for the sale of it.
It is valued, in the king's books, at 15l. 17s. 3½d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 10s. 8¾d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
¶The priory of Combwell, in Goudhurst, was endowed by Robert de Thurnham, the founder of that house, in the reign of king Henry II. with his tithe of Lincheshele and sundry premises in this parish, for which the religious received from the rector of this church the annual sum of 43s. 4d.
Igtham is well know, at least the nearby moated manor house, Igtham Moat. The village is well travelled through, and many stop here because it is chocolate box picture perfect.
I stopped here at about half ten on a Saturday morning, the place should have been packed with tourists, maybe it will once the pub opens for lunch, but I was able to park in the picturesque village square, take a few shots of the timber-framed buildings, and walk up the hill to the church.
From the lych gate I could see the porch door open, so my hopes were raised, and indeed the church was open, un-manned, and the lights came on, triggered by a pressure pad in the porch.
This I did not know until the lights went out after ten minutes, I went out to find the light switches, returned and the lights were back on.
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The church is built on a steep hillside and displays a rare brick-built north aisle. The chancel is full of unusual memorials, the most noteworthy of which is to Sir Thomas Cawne dating from the end of the fourteenth century. He is wearing armour and chain mail and lies under a canopy beneath a window that forms part of the same composition. In the churchyard is a nice nineteenth-century tomb designed by the famous architect William Burges. The other monuments of note at Ightham are all to the Selby family, the most famous of whom is Dorothy Selby (d. 1641) who is reputed to have had a connection with the Gunpower Plot, although the ambiguous inscription on her tomb is now believed to be no more than an appreciation of her needlework.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Ightham
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IGHTHAM.
WESTWARD from Wrotham lies IGHTHAM, so corruptly called for Eightham, which name it had from the eight boroughs or hams lying within the bounds of it, viz. Eightham, Redwell, Ivybatch, Borough-green, St. Cleres, the Moat, Beaulies, and Oldborough. (fn. 1) In the Textus Roffensis it is spelt EHTEHAM.
THE PARISH of Ightham for the most part is in the vale between the chalk and the sand or quarry hills, tho' it reaches above the former northward. Near the chalk hill, and for some distance southward the same soil prevails, thence it is an unsertile deep sand, and at the boundaries towards Shipborne a deep clay and heavy tillage land; from hence, and its situation, however healthy it may be, it is by no means a pleasant or a profitable one. The parish is very narrow, little more than a mile in width, but from north to south it extends near five miles, from Kingsdown, above the hills, to Shipborne, its southern boundary. At the foot of the chalk hill and north-west boundary of this parish, is the mansion of St. Clere, and not far from it Yaldham; about a mile from which is Ightham-court, and at a little distance further southward is the church and village, situated on the high road from Maidstone to Sevenoke and Westerham, which here crosses this parish by the hamlet of Borough-green, and the manor of Oldborough, or Oldbery, as it is now called, with the hill of that name, belonging to Richard James, esq. of this parish, in this part, and by Ivy-hatch plain, there is much rough uninclosed waste ground, the soil a dreary barren sand, consisting in this and the adjoining parish, of several hundred acres, being in general covered with heath and furze, with some scrubby wood interspersed among them. At the southern extremity of the parish, next to Shipborne, and adjoining to the grounds of Fairlawn, is the seat of the Moat, lowly situated in a deep and miry soil. A fair is kept yearly in this parish, upon the Wednesday in Whitsun week, which is vulgarly called Coxcombe fair.
The Roman military way seems to have crossed this parish from Ofham, and Camps directing its course westward through it. The names of Oldborough, now called Oldberry-hill, and Stone-street in it, are certain marks of its note in former times.
At Oldberry-hill there are the remains of a very considerable intrenchment, which is without doubt of Roman origin. It is situated on the top of the hill, and is now great part of it so overgrown with wood as to make it very difficult to trace the lines of it. It is of an oval form, and by a very accurate measurement, contains within its bounds the space of one hundred and thirty-seven acres. Just on the brow of the hill is an entrance into a cave, which has been long filled up by the sinking of the earth, so as to admit a passage but a very small way into it, but by antient tradition, it went much further in, under the hill.
The whole of it seems to have been antiently fortified according to the nature of the ground, that is, where it is less difficult of access by a much stronger vallum or bank, than where it is more so. In the middle of it there are two fine springs of water. The vast size of this area, which is larger even than that at Keston, in this county, takes away all probability of its having been a Roman station, the largest of which, as Dr. Horsley observes, that he knew of, not being near a tenth part of this in compass. It seems more like one of their camps, and might be one of their castra æstiva, or summer quarters, of which kind they had several in this county. An intrenchment of like form seems to have been at Oldbury hill, in Wiltshire, which the editor of Camden thought might possibly be Danish. There are remains of a Roman camp at Oldbury, in Gloucestershire, where the pass of the Romans over the Severn, mentioned by Antonine, is supposed to have been by Camden. And at Oldbury, near Manchester, in Warwickshire, are such like remains.
IGHTHAM was held in the reign of king Henry III. by Hamo de Crevequer, who died possessed of it in the 47th year of that reign, anno 1262, leaving Robert, his grandson, his heir. By his wife, Maud de Albrincis, or Averenches, he had also four daughters, Agnes, wife of John de Sandwich, Isolda, of Nicholas de Lenham; Elene, of Bertram de Criol; and Isabel, of Henry de Gaunt.
Robert de Crevequer left one son, William, who dying without issue, his inheritance devolved on the children of three of the daughters of Hamon de Crevequer, as above-mentioned, Agnes, Isolda, and Elene, and on the division of their inheritance, Ightham seems to have fallen to the share of Nicholas, son of Bertram de Criol, by his wife Elene, above-mentioned. He was a man greatly in the king's favour, and was constituted by him warden of the five ports, sheriff of Kent, and governor of Rochester castle. By Joane his wife, daughter and sole heir of William de Aubervill, he had Nicholas de Criol, who had summons to parliament, and died in the 31st year of king Edward the 1st.'s reign, possessed of this manor, which his heirs alienated to William de Inge, who held it in the first year of king Edward II. and procured free-warren for his lands in Eyghtham, (fn. 2) and in the 9th year of it, a market here, to be held on a Monday weekly, and one fair on the feast of the apostles, St. Peter and St. Paul. In which last year he was constituted one of the justices of the common pleas. (fn. 3) He bore for his arms, Or, a chevron vert. On his death, in the 15th year of that reign, anno 1286, Joane, his daughter, married to Eudo, or Ivo la Zouch, the son of William, lord Zouch, of Harringworth, by Maud, daughter of John, lord Lovel, of Tichmarsh, became entitled to it.
His descendants continued in the possession of this manor till the reign of king Henry VII. when it was alienated to Sir Robert Read, serjeant at law, afterwards made chief justice of the common pleas, (fn. 4) who died in the next reign of king Henry VIII. leaving by Margaret, one of the daughters and coheirs of John Alphew, esq. of Chidingstone, one son, Edmund, one of the justices of the king's bench, who died before him in 1501, and also four daughters, who became his coheirs, and on the partition of their inheritance this manor was allotted to Sir Thomas Willoughby, (fn. 5) in right of Bridget his wife, the eldest of them. He was in the 29th year of king Henry VIII. promoted to the office of chief justice of the common pleas, and in the 31st year of it, he, among others, procured his lands to be disgavelled by the act then passed for that purpose. He left Robert his son and heir, who alienated this manor to William James, third son of Roger James, of London, who was of Dutch parentage, and coming into England in the latter end of the reign of king Henry VIII. was first as being the descendant of Jacob Van Hastrecht, who was antiently seated at Cleve near Utrecht, called after the Dutch fashion Roger Jacobs, and afterwards Roger James, alias Hastrecht. This Roger James, alias Hastrecht, had several sons and one daughter. Of the former, Roger, the eldest, was of Upminster, in Essex, whose descendants settled at Ryegate, in Surry. William, was of Ightham, as before mentioned; Richard had a son, who was of Creshell, in Essex; John was of Woodnesborough, in this county, and George was of Mallendine, in Cliff, near Rochester. William-James, the third son of Roger as before-mentioned, resided at Ightham-court, as did his son William James, esq. who was a man much trusted in the usurpation under Oliver Cromwell, as one of the committee members for the sequestration of the loyalists estates, during which time he was in five years thrice chosen knight of the shire for Kent. His son Demetrius was knighted, whose son William James held his shrievalty for this county here in 1732. He left by his wife, daughter of Demetrius James, esq. of Essex, two sons, Richard his heir, and Demetrius, late rector of this parish, and a daughter married to Mr. Hindman. He died in 1780, and was succeeded by his eldest son Richard James, esq. now of Ightham-court, and the present possessor of this manor. He is colonel of the West-Kent regiment of militia, and is at present unmarried. The original coat of arms of this family of Haestrecht was, Argent, two bars crenelle, gules, in chief three pheons sable; which arms, without the pheons, are borne by the several branches of James, quartered with, Argent, a chevron between three fer de molins transverse, sable.
ST. CLERES, alias West Aldham, situated in the borough of the latter name, is a manor and seat in the north-west part of this parish, adjoining to Kemsing, which was formerly called by the latter name only, and was possessed by a family of the same denomination, who bore for their arms, Azure, a pile, or.
Sir Thomas de Aldham was owner of it in the reign of king Richard I. and was with that king at the siege of Acon, in Palestine. His descendant Sir Thomas de Aldham, possessed this manor of Aldham in the reign of king Edward II. and dying without male issue, his three daughters became his coheirs, the eldest of whom married Newborough, called in Latin de Novo Burgo, of Dorsetshire; Margery married Martin Peckham, and Isolda was the wife of John St. Clere, and on the division of their inheritance this manor fell to the share of John St. Clere, who possessed it in his wife's right. (fn. 6)
John de St. Clere, written in Latin deeds De Sancta Claro, died possessed of it in the beginning of king Edward III. leaving Isolda his wife surviving, on whose death John St. Clere, their son, succeeded to this manor, which from this family now gained the name of Aldham St. Cleres, and in process of time came to be called by the latter name only, and their descendants continued in possession of this manor till the beginning of the reign of king Henry VII. when it was alienated to Henry Lovel, who left two daughters his coheirs; Agnes, who married John Empson, cousin to Sir Richard Empson, the grand projector; and Elizabeth, married to Anthony Windsor.
John Empson conveyed his moiety of it, in the 8th year of king Henry VIII. to Sir Thomas Bulleyn, afterwards created earl of Wiltshire and Ormond, and father of the lady Anne Bulleyn, wife to Henry VIII. (fn. 7) and Anthony Windsor, in the 10th year of that reign, passed his moiety away by sale to Richard Farmer, who that year purchased of Sir Thomas Bulleyn the other part, and so became possessed of the whole of this manor of St. Cleres. In the 28th year of that reign, Richard Farmer conveyed it to George Multon, esq. of Hadlow who removed hither. He bore for his arms, Or, three bars vert; being the same arms as those borne by Sir John Multon, lord Egremond, whose heir general married the lord Fitzwalter, excepting in the difference of the colours, the latter bearing it, Argent, three bars, gules. His grandson Robert Multon, esq. was of St. Cleres, and lies buried with his ancestors in this church. He alienated this manor and estate, in the reign of Charles I. to Sir John Sidley, knight and baronet, a younger branch of those of Southfleet and Aylesford, in this county, who erected here a mansion for his residence, which is now remaining. He was descended from William Sedley, esq. of Southfleet, who lived in the reign of king Edward VI. and left three sons, of whom John was ancestor of the Sedleys, of Southfleet and Aylesford; Robert was the second son, and Nicholas the third son, by Jane, daughter and coheir of Edward Isaac, esq. of Bekesborne, afterwards married to Sir Henry Palmer, left one son, Isaac Sidley, who was of Great Chart, created a baronet in 1621, and sheriff of this county in the 2d year of Charles I. whose son Sir John Sidley, knight and baronet, purchased St. Cleres, as above-mentioned. (fn. 8) He left two sons, Isaac and John, who both succeeded to the title of baronet. The eldest son, Sir Isaac Sidley, bart. succeeded his father in this estate, and was of St. Cleres, as was his son, Sir Charles Sidley, bart. who dying without issue in 1702, was buried in Ightham church. By his will he devised this manor, with the seat and his estates in this parish, to his uncle John, who succeeded him in the title of baronet, for his life, with remainder to George Sedley, his eldest son, in tale male. But Sir Charles having been for some time before his death, and at the time of his making his will of weak understanding, and under undue influence, Sir John Sedley contested the validity of it, and it was set aside by the sentence in the prerogative court of Canterbury.
Soon after which Sir John, and his son George Sedley above-mentioned, entered into an agreement, by which Sir John Sedley waved his right as heir at law, and his further right to contest the will. In consequence of which an act of parliament was obtained for the settling in trustees the manor of West Aldham, alias St. Cleres, with its appurtenances, and the capital messuage called St. Cleres, in Ightham, and other messuages and lands in Ightham, Wrotham, Kemsing, Seal, &c. that they might be sold for the purposes of the agreement, which the whole of them were soon afterwards to William Evelyn, esq. the fifth son of George Evelyn, esq. of Nutfield, in Surry, who afterwards resided here, and in 1723 was sheriff of this county.
He married first the daughter and heir of William Glanvill, esq. and in the 5th year of king George I. obtained an act of parliament to use the surname and arms of Glanvill only, the latter being Argent, a chief indented azure, pursuant to the will of William Glanvill, esq. above-mentioned. By her he had an only daughter Frances, married to the hon. Edward Boscawen, next brother to Hugh, viscount Falmouth, and admiral of the British fleet. His second wife was daughter of Jones Raymond, esq. who died in 1761, by whom he had William Glanvill Evelyn, esq. who on his father's decease in 1766, succeeded to St. Cleres and the rest of his estates in this county. In 1757 he kept his shrievalty at St. Cleres, where he resides at present, and is one of the representatives in parliament for Hythe, in this county.
He married about the year 1760, Susan, one of the two daughters and coheirs of Thomas Borrett, esq. of Shoreham, late prothonotary of the court of common pleas, by whom he had a son, William Evelyn, esq. who died in 1788 at Blandford-lodge, near Woodstock, by a fall from his horse, æct. 21, and unmarried; and a daughter Frances, afterwards his sole heir, married in 1782 to Alexander Hume, esq. of Hendley, in Surry, brother of Sir Abraham Hume, who in 1797 had the royal licence to take and use the name and arms of Evelyn only, and he now resides at St. Clere.
THE MOAT is another borough in this parish, in which is the manor and seat of that name, lying at the southern extremity of it next to Shipborne, which in the reign of king Henry II. was in the possession of Ivo de Haut, and his descendant, Sir Henry de Haut, died possessed of it in the 44th year of Edward III. as appears by the escheat roll of that year. His son, Sir Edmund de Haut, died in his life-time, so that his grandson, Nicholas Haut, became his heir, and succeeded him in the possession of this estate. (fn. 9)
He was sheriff in the 19th year of king Richard II. and kept his shrievalty at Wadenhall, in this county. He left two sons, William, who was of Bishopsborne; and Richard Haut, who succeeded him in this estate, and was sheriff in the 18th and 22d years of king Edward IV. keeping both his shrievalties at this seat of themoat; but having engaged, with several others of the gentry of this county, with the duke of Buckingham, in favor of the Earl of Richmond, he was beheaded at Pontefract, anno 1 Richard III. and afterwards attainted in the 3d year of that reign, and his estates confiscated. (fn. 10) Quickly after which, this manor and seat were granted by that king to Robert Brakenbury, lieutenant of the tower of London, and that year sheriff of this county. He kept possession of the Moat but a small time, for he lost his life with king Richard in the fatal battle of Bosworth, fought that year on August 22, and on the Earl of Richmond's attaining the crown was attainted by an act then passed for the purpose, and though his two daughters were restored in blood by another act four years afterwards, yet the Moat was immediately restored to the heirs of its former owner Richard Haut, whose attainder was likewise reversed, and in their descendants it remained till the latter end of the reign of king Henry VII. when it appears by an old court roll to have been in the possession of Sir Richard Clement, who kept his shrievalty at the Moat in the 23d year of king Henry VIII and bore for his arms, A bend nebulee, in chief three fleurs de lis within a border, gobinated. He died without any legitimate issue, and was buried in the chancel of this church. Upon which his brother, John Clement, and his sister, married to Sir Edward Palmer, of Angmering, in Sussex, became his coheirs, but the former succeeded to the entire fee of this estate.
John Clement died without male issue, leaving an only daughter and heir Anne, who carried the Moat in marriage to Hugh Pakenham, and he, in the reign of king Edward VI. joining with Sir William Sydney, who had married Anne, his only daughter and heir passed it away to Sir John Allen, who had been of the privy council to king Henry VIII. and lord mayor of London in the year 1526 and 1536. He was of the company of mercers, a man of liberal charity. He gave to the city of London a rich collar of gold, to be worn by the succeeding lord-mayors: also five hundred marcs as a stock for sea coal, and the rents of those lands which he had purchased of the king, to the poor of London for ever; and during his life he gave bountifully to the hospitals, prisons, &c. of that city. He built the mercers chapel in Cheapside, in which his body was buried, which was afterwards moved into the body of the hospital church of St. Thomas, of Acon, and the chapel made into shops by the mercer's company. He bore for his arms, In three roundlets, as many talbots passant, on a chief a lion passant guardant between two anchors. (fn. 11)
He left a son and heir Sir Christopher Allen, whose son and heir, Charles Allen, esq. succeeded his father in this estate, and resided at the Moat, which he afterwards sold at the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth to Sir William Selby, younger brother of Sir John Selby, of Branxton, in Northumberland. He resided here in the latter part of his life, and died greatly advanced in years in 1611, unmarried, and was buried in this church, bearing for his arms, Barry of twelve pieces, or and azure. He by his will gave this estate to his nephew, Sir William Selby, who resided here, and died likewise without issue, and by his will, for the sake of the name gave the Moat to Mr. George Selby, of London, who afterwards resided here, and was sheriff in the 24th year of king Charles I. and bore for his arms, Barry of eight pieces, or and sable. He died in 1667, leaving several sons and daughters. Of whom William Selby, esq. the eldest son, succeeded to this estate, and was of the Moat. He married Susan, daughter of Sir John Rainey, bart. of Wrotham, by whom he had several children, of whom John Selby, esq. the eldest son, was of the Moat, and by Mary his wife, one of the three daughters and coheirs of Thomas Gifford, esq. left two sons, William, who succeeded him in this seat and estate at Ightham, and John Selby, esq. who was of Pennis, in Fawkham, and died unmarried.
William Selby resided at the Moat, of which he died possessed in 1773, leaving his wife Elizabeth, daughter of Mr. Burroughs, surviving, who afterwards possessed this seat and resided here. She died in 1788, and her only son, William Selby, esq. of Pennis, having deceased in 1777, and his only daughter and heir likewise, Elizabeth Borough Selby, by Elizabeth his wife, one of the daughters of John Weston, esq. of Cranbrook, under age, and unmarried in 1781. This seat, with her other estates in this county, devolved to John Brown, esq. who has since taken the name of Selby, and now resides at the Moat, of which he is the present possessor.
The park, called Ightham park, has been already mentioned under the parish of Wrotham, to which the reader is referred.
It appears by the visitation of 1619, that there was a branch of the Suliards, of Brasted, then residing in this parish.
John Gull resided in this parish in the reign of king Henry VIII. and died here in 1547.
Charities.
HENRY PEARCE gave by will in 1545, to be distributed to the poor in bread yearly the annual sum of 6s. 8d. charged on land now vested in Cozens, and she gave besides to be distributed to the poor in bread at Easter yearly, 40l. now of the annual produce of 2l. and for the providing of books for poor children to learn the catechism, the sum of 10l. now of the annual produce of 10s.
HENRY FAIRBRASSE gave by will in 1601, to be distributed in like manner, the annual sum of 1l. to be paid out of land now vested in William Hacket.
WILLIAM JAMES, ESQ. gave by will in 1627, to be distributed in bread to the poor every Sunday, the annual sum of 2l. 12s. to be paid out of lands now vested in Rich. James, esq.
GEORGE PETLEY gave by will in 1705, to be distributed in like manner, every Sunday, 2s. the annual sum of 5l. 4s. to be paid out of land vested in William Evelyn, esq.
ELIZABETH JAMES, gave by will in 1720, for the education of poor children, the annual sum of 5l. to be paid out of land now vested in Elizabeth Solley.
IGHTHAM is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and being a peculiar of the archbishop, is as such in the deanry of Shoreham.
¶The church is dedicated to St. Peter. Under an arch on the north side of it, there is a tomb of free stone, having on it a very antient figure at full length of a man in armour, ornamented with a rich belt, sword and dagger, his head resting on two cushions, and a lion at his feet, over his whole breast are his arms, viz. A lion rampant, ermine, double queued. This is by most supposed to be the tomb of Sir Thomas Cawne, who married Lora, daughter and heir of Sir Thomas Morant. He was originally extracted from Staffordshire: he probably died without issue, and his widow remarried with James Peckham, esq. of Yaldham. His arms, impaling those of Morant, were in one of the chancel windows of this church.
The rectory is valued in the king's books at 15l. 16s. 8d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 11s. 8d. It is now of the yearly value of about 200l.
The patronage of this rectory seems to have been always accounted an appendage to the manor of Ightham, as such it is now the property of Richard James, esq. of Ightham-court.