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St. Peter's Collegiate Church is located on the highest and the oldest developed site in central Wolverhampton. It is Wolverhampton's Parish Church being the leading church of the Parish of Central Wolverhampton. The Grade I listed building, much of which dates from the 15th century, is of significant architectural and historical interest; although it is not a cathedral, it has a strong choral foundation in the English Cathedral tradition.
Whilst there is a tradition that King Wulfhere of Mercia was involved in its beginnings, Charter evidence reveals that an earlier church was refounded as a Minster in AD994 by Lady Wulfrun (the Latin form is Wulfruna), who was believed to have been the grand-daughter of King Æthelred I and Queen Æthelflæd (daughter of King Alfred the Great).
St Peter's Church is built of red sandstone on an elevated site in the centre of the City of Wolverhampton. The oldest part of the building above ground is the crossing under the tower, which probably dates from the beginnings of the Abbey in 1200, followed by the Chapel of Our Lady and St George (Lady Chapel). Much of the Church was rebuilt and extended in the fourteenth century, in the Decorated Style. However, the Church was to be substantially altered in the middle of the fifteenth century at the expense of the town's Wool Merchants, with the addition of a clerestory to the nave, and reduction in height of the north and south aisles. The upper part of the tower was rebuilt around 1475 to a height of 120 feet, and the Chapel of St Catherine and St Nicholas (Memorial Chapel) was completed at the end of the fifteenth century. The chancel was reconstructed in the 1860s to replace the one which had been rebuilt following considerable damage during the Civil War, and this was followed by extensive restoration of the Church in the 1850s under architect Ewan Christian.
Unique features include the carved stone pulpit with a figure of a lion at the foot of the steps to protect the Minister delivering the sermon. The font dates from 1480 with several stone carved figures and the west gallery dates from 1610, paid for by the Merchant Taylors' Company for use by the boys of the Wolverhampton Grammar School.
Near the south porch is a 14 foot high stone column, carved in the ninth century with birds, animals and acanthus. It may have been a column pillaged from Roman Viroconium and brought to Heantune, either as part of a preaching cross or memorial. The carvings have deteriorated, but a cast made in 1877 can be seen in the Victoria and Albert Museum in London.
St. Peter the Apostle Cathedral is another church in downtown Jackson. The parish dates to 1846 and the present church, of Gothic Revival design, dates to 1900.
A view from the east of St. Peter's church in Milden, Suffolk.
Milden is situated in arable farmland on the rising ground on the south side of the Lavenham Brook, a tributary of the river Brett, in the Babergh district. In the field immediately to the south of the church, once glebe land, a stone marks the second highest point in the county (82 m, 269 ft).
St Peter's is a two-cell flint church with a very wide nave and a chancel almost as wide. The nave has a 12th century south doorway under a 19th century porch , and a plain 12th century lancet. The other nave windows are apparently 15th century but have lost their tracery. The north doorway is later medieval too, and its porch has been converted for vestry use. There was a west tower, damaged in a storm in 1827, and taken down in 1840. The west wall and its single bell-cote were built using the salvaged stones. The chancel is 13th century, to judge from the plain lancet piscina , but there must have been a later rebuilding, when Y-tracery windows were added. The triple lancet east window is not original, and belongs either to the 1840 rebuilding, or to a restoration of 1866. Romanesque features described here are the south doorway and a badly damaged plain font.
Around to the north side, there are about thirty headstones, spanning 200 years, all commemorating the Hawkins family.
St. Peter's Basilica, Vatican
Of all of Rome’s riches, Michelangelo’s Pietà to me was the most moving. I feel as if I had known it all of my life and may be I did. Bellini’s “Madonna of the Meadow” at the National Gallery has always been a favourite. www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/giovanni-bellini-mad.... The similarities are striking. The natural pose of the baby with the mother anticipates the inevitable sadness to follow in the Pietà.
This is what must have been the 4th time I have visited St Peter Old Church. The first was on a Good Friday a few years back, and when I approached the church, there was a service on. Another time there was a wedding, and further, on a Heritage Weekend, it failed to open.
So, when visiting the area at the beginning of the month, I mentioned that St Peter had been a bugbear of mine, Tim said its only a couple of miles away, we could try now.
Of course, driving from a different direction, not along the main road, I did not realise how close we were.
So, we would try.
Apart from the dowser in the churchyard, who was scattering, or rather placing, dozens of small pieces of white cloth about, but would move them if I wanted. I said no thanks, and left him to his stick waggling. Or that is what I said to Tim, but of course, I do not know if dowsing is any good, or what he was dowsing for.
Inside the church, several ladies were making busy, preparing the church for the next day's harvest festival, so many of them are in the shots, but it makes for a very welcoming sight indeed.
So very good to finally get inside, and many thanks to Tim for taking me.
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A much restored Norman church, with a tiny twelfth-century window set just above the (later) porch roof. There is a good example of a fifteenth-century low side window in the south-west corner of the chancel. The pews, pulpit and tiles are typical of mid-nineteenth century restorations, yet above is the fine nave roof of the usual crownpost type. It displays nicely pierced spandrels with a quatrefoil and dagger design. In 1846 Lord Camden built a new church on the main road in the village centre. Even so the old church is extremely well maintained and much loved in the neighbourhood. The churchyard contains many good headstones including one to Sir Morton Peto, the famous nineteenth-century engineer.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Pembury+1
The first known record of Pembury, originally Pepingeberia, is to be found in the 'Textus Roffensis' (c1120). It tells of the manors of Pepenbury Magna (Hawkwell) and Pepenbury Parva (Bayhall).
The Advowson was granted by Simon de Wahull to Bayham Abbey c1239. (Advowson is the right in English Law of presenting a nominee to a vacant parish. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish).
Pembury has two churches dedicated to St Peter. The oldest, known as the Old Church, stands outside the modern village in the woods to the north of the A228 bypass. The newer building, known as the Upper Church, stands in the heart of the village on Hastings Road.
The plan of the Old Church and the little Norman window above the South door indicate that the original Church dates from 1147 at least, or even 1100AD. Most of the present Church was built in 1337 by John Colepeper of Bayhall. He also built the chantry chapel of St Mary in the churchyard in 1355 but this was pulled down at the Dissolution of the smaller Monasteries in 1547 and three windows in the body of the Church were inserted with the money gained from the sale of the lead which had covered the chapel.
The most notable feature inside the Church is the roof of the nave. It is said to be one of the best specimens of the tie-beam and kingpost type in the country.
On the north wall near the pulpit there is an interesting brass with an inscription and a figure of an Elizabethan child, Elizabeth Rowe. There are two slabs set into the Sanctuary floor in memory of Dorothy Amherst (1654) and Richard Amherst (1664). The Amherst family owned the manor of Bayhall at this time.
During the nineteenth century a number of alterations were made to the Church, including the raising of the Chancel floor. This meant that the oldest tombstone was completely covered over. The inscription round the edge of the slab, written in Norman French, tells is that it is the resting place of Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper.
Among the other memorial tablets there are several of the Woodgate family, three of whom were vicars of Pembury in the nineteenth century. Under the tower is a memorial to Lord George Spencer-Churchill.
The Organ, which has one manual and a pedal-board, dates back to 1877. It was made by Hill and Son, London, and cost £130. The organ was fully restored to its former glory in 2006. There are four bells which are now fitted with a chiming apparatus so that they can be rung by one person.
www.pemburychurch.net/pembury_old_church.htm
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Pembury is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, has a spire steeple at the west end. It was built by one of the family of Colepeper, patrons of it, and most probably by John Colepeper, esq. in the reign of king Edward III. for on the three buttresses on the south side of the chancel, there remain three shields of coat armour, each carved on an entire stone of about two feet and an half in depth, and the breadth equal with that of the buttress, which shews them to be coeval with that of the building itself. On the first is a rectangular cross; the second is the coat armour of Hardreshull, A chevron between eight martlets, viz. five and three, the above-mentioned John Colepeper having married the coheir of that family; the third is that of Colepeper, a bend engrailed. On a very antient stone on the pavement of the chancel, is an antient inscription in old French, for Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, which seems as early as the above mentioned reign. There are several monuments and memorials in it of the family of Amherst and their re latives; an inscription and figure in brass for Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Rowe, esq. of Hawkwell, anno 1607; a tomb for George Bolney, esq. who married a Wybarne; and in the porch are two antient stones with crosses on them.
¶The advowson of the church of Pembury was given with it, by Simon de Wahull, to the abbey of Begham, in Sussex, in pure and perpetual alms, as has been already mentioned.
¶Pope Gregory IX. anno 1239, granted licence to the abbot and convent to hold this church, then of their patronage, and not of greater value than ten marcs, as an appropriation upon the first vacancy of it, reserving, a competent portion for a vicar out of the profits of it. Notwithstanding which, it was not appropriated till the year 1278, when Richard Oliver, the rector, resigned it into the hands of John de Bradfield, bishop of Rochester, who granted his letters mandatory, for the induction of the abbot and convent into the corporal possession of the church, with its appurtenances, according to the tenor of the above-mentioned bull. (fn. 7)
¶The parsonage of the church of Pembury, with the advowson of the vicarage appendant to the manor, continued with the abbey of Begham till the dissolution of it in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, after which it passed in the same tract of ownership as the manor of Pembury, and appendant to it, till it became the property of William Woodgate, esq. lord of that manor, and the present patron of it.
¶It is a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of 46l. 10s. the yearly tenths of which are 12s. 8d.
¶Charles Amherst, esq. of Bayhall, by his will in 1702, gave as an augmentation to this vicarage, the sum of ten pounds to be paid yearly by such persons to whom the manor of Bayhall, with its appurtenances, should come and remain after his death.
¶In 1733 the Rev. George May, vicar, augmented it with the sum of 100l. 17s. 6d. to entitle it to the benefit of queen Anne's bounty.
¶There is an annual pension of forty shillings paid out of the parsonage to the vicar, which was settled on him and his successors, at the time of the appropriation of this church. The tithes of corn and grain of which this parsonage consists are now worth about one hundred and twenty pounds per annum.
¶The vicarage is now worth about one hundred and fifty pounds per annum.
Title: St. Peter's Cathedral
Other title: Basilica di San Pietro in Vaticano
Date: 16th century
Current location: Rome, Roma, Lazio, Italy
Description of work: ""The first church of St Peter, initially constructed in the second quarter of the 4th century, on the site of the apostle's traditional grave, was also a basilica with nave and four aisles, and again on imperial land (Old St Peter's). Constantine had large areas of an ancient (pagan) necropoly filled in so that the choir of the church, in the west, could be situated directly above the apostle's grave. While the basilican form of Old St Peter's, which survived until the church was rebuilt under Julius II, and has been well preserved in drawings, is close to that of the Lateran church, a crucial innovation are the transepts inserted between the main building and the apse. Lower than the main building, they were separated from the nave by an arch, the so-called triumphal arch, and from the aisles by inserted columns. This meant that the transepts were part of the apse in liturgical terms. A baldacchino at the point of transition between transept and apse indicated the apostle's tomb below, while the altar was placed in the semicircle of the apse. To the east of the building was a preceding courtyard, the atrium. Thus here in the basilica with nave and four aisles, in contrast to the Lateran cathedral, functioned as a tomb church above the grave of the apostle prince, thereby acquiring particular distinction."" (Grundman, Stefan. The Architecture of Rome. Edition Axel Menges, Stuttgart/London. 1998. pg 67)
Description of view: Plan Showing Nero's Circus at Rome (First century), Basilica of St. Peter (Forth Century), and the present Cathedral of St. Peter (sixteenth century). These structures were built at successive epochs, on the same site.
Work type: Architecture and Landscape
Style of work: Renaissance
Culture: Italian
Source: Commercial Club of Chicago. Plan of Chicago. Chicago: The Commercial Club, 1909. (Image XII)
Resource type: Image
File format: JPEG, TIFF archived offline
Image size: 1389H X 808W pixels
Permitted uses: This image is posted publicly for non-profit educational uses, excluding printed publication. Other uses are not permitted. For additional details see: alias.libraries.psu.edu/vius/copyright/publicrightsarch.htm
Collection: Worldwide Building and Landscape Pictures
Filename: WB2006-870 Cathedral of St Peter 16th c Plan.jpg
Record ID: WB2006-870
Sub collection: churches
Standing on the east side of the village of Foxearth, Essex, St. Peter and St. Paul dates back to the mid 14th century. However, a massive restoration project was begun in the 1860s, supervised by the architect Joseph Clarke, builder George Grimwood and financed by the wealthy rector, the Reverend John Foster. This included the south porch and the uniquely impressive West Tower, which was completed in 1862.
The tower originally had a 130ft high spire, visible for miles around. The genesis for this is said to be because of the rivalry between Foster and his friend Edward Bull, rector/squire of the neighbouring parish of Pentlow. As Bull's church, St. Gregory & St. George was in a valley bottom near the River Stour, he opted to build a 90ft. tower in the grounds of his rectory, the highest point for miles around, in 1858.
Bull's tower still stands. The same, alas, cannot be said for Foster's spire. Despite having its lightning conductor revived in an extensive 1925 restoration, it was totally demolished during a freak summer thunderstorm on 3rd July 1948.
St Peter Hungate sits at the southern end of the historic Elmhill which curves away forth, and the churchyard looks over it.
As before, I had noticed St Peter many times, and when visiting the city for the beer festival, I would hope to find it open. I don't think I tried hard enough, but it was made for a day like this.
I had walked past it twice already that day, but was not going to be open before time, a sandwich board was outside tempting the passerby in.
It is a redundant church, and has been thus since the first world war. Simon Knott tells it used to be a unique museum, which has sadly now closed, but now is open three days a week as a museum to the Norwich stained glass industry.
A young lady sat on watch as visitors milled around, admonishing anyone who said they remembered this being a church or even worshiping here, they would have to have been over 100 years old that to make that claim.
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At the time of the 16th Century protestant Reformation, Norwich had 36 parish churches, and many of these buildings survive today. A handful are still in use for the congregational worship of the Church of England, for which they were never designed of course. Others have found uses as concert venues, artist workshops, day centres and offices. One houses the Norwich Probation Servce, another is even a Pregnancy Advisory Centre. Some stand empty, but far more are in use now than were ten years ago. It is the largest collection of urban medieval buildings in any one city north of the Alps.
Although St Peter Hungate is right in the heart of the urban area, its setting is idyllic; 16th and 17th century cottages flank the north and east sides, and then beautiful Elm Hill drops away below it. To the west is the magnificent chancel window of the Blackfriars church, while to the south are grand 19th century commercial buildings, full of Victorian confidence. Hungate itself no longer exists, but was formerly 'houndsgate', the street of dogs. In this conservation area the roads are cobbled, and it is an oasis of charm in the middle of East Anglia's biggest city. St Peter is that rare beast in Norwich: a cruciform church. It looks older than it actually is; the primitive capped tower is actually a tall 15th century one that was truncated in 1906 for safety reasons. In fact, the whole church was completely rebuilt during the middle thirty years of the 15th century. The chancel collapsed after the Reformation, and was rebuilt by the Laudians in the early 17th century. It is a blessing that they reused the 15th century windows, and in fact most of the window tracery in the church is still original.
In the 19th century, St Peter Hungate was one of the highest of Norwich's many Anglo-catholic churches; it was the first to use vestments, the first to use incense, the first to use candles on the altar. However, as with St Simon and St Jude at the other end of Elm Hill, St Peter has long been redundant, last being used as a church before the First World War. When, in the 1930s, the Norwich Society went on their pioneering crusade to save this area of the city, there was a renewal of interest in finding appropriate uses for the old churches, and in 1936 St Peter Hungate became a museum of church furnishings. The fixtures and fittings from other redundant churches were brought here for display, and the collection was augmented by items from the Norwich and Norfolk museums, as well as by other churches wanting to find a safe home for their treasures.
It was a superb museum, the only one of its kind in England. From a church explorer's point of view, it was a priceless resource; you could read about things, and then go and see them in real life, all in one place: rood screens, bench ends, reredoses, corbels, pyxes and pyx cloths, all at first hand. St Peter Hungate Museum of Church Art lasted until the late 1990s, when a reorganisation of the museum service in Norwich killed it off. All the exhibits were removed, and most went into storage under the Castle. For nearly ten years, the building was completely empty, and can be seen as it was in 2005 in these photographs.
St Peter Hungate, Norwich
angel At the time of the 16th Century protestant Reformation, Norwich had 36 parish churches, and many of these buildings survive today. A handful are still in use for the congregational worship of the Church of England, for which they were never designed of course. Others have found uses as concert venues, artist workshops, day centres and offices. One houses the Norwich Probation Servce, another is even a Pregnancy Advisory Centre. Some stand empty, but far more are in use now than were ten years ago. It is the largest collection of urban medieval buildings in any one city north of the Alps.
Although St Peter Hungate is right in the heart of the urban area, its setting is idyllic; 16th and 17th century cottages flank the north and east sides, and then beautiful Elm Hill drops away below it. To the west is the magnificent chancel window of the Blackfriars church, while to the south are grand 19th century commercial buildings, full of Victorian confidence. Hungate itself no longer exists, but was formerly 'houndsgate', the street of dogs. In this conservation area the roads are cobbled, and it is an oasis of charm in the middle of East Anglia's biggest city. St Peter is that rare beast in Norwich: a cruciform church. It looks older than it actually is; the primitive capped tower is actually a tall 15th century one that was truncated in 1906 for safety reasons. In fact, the whole church was completely rebuilt during the middle thirty years of the 15th century. The chancel collapsed after the Reformation, and was rebuilt by the Laudians in the early 17th century. It is a blessing that they reused the 15th century windows, and in fact most of the window tracery in the church is still original.
In the 19th century, St Peter Hungate was one of the highest of Norwich's many Anglo-catholic churches; it was the first to use vestments, the first to use incense, the first to use candles on the altar. However, as with St Simon and St Jude at the other end of Elm Hill, St Peter has long been redundant, last being used as a church before the First World War. When, in the 1930s, the Norwich Society went on their pioneering crusade to save this area of the city, there was a renewal of interest in finding appropriate uses for the old churches, and in 1936 St Peter Hungate became a museum of church furnishings. The fixtures and fittings from other redundant churches were brought here for display, and the collection was augmented by items from the Norwich and Norfolk museums, as well as by other churches wanting to find a safe home for their treasures.
It was a superb museum, the only one of its kind in England. From a church explorer's point of view, it was a priceless resource; you could read about things, and then go and see them in real life, all in one place: rood screens, bench ends, reredoses, corbels, pyxes and pyx cloths, all at first hand. St Peter Hungate Museum of Church Art lasted until the late 1990s, when a reorganisation of the museum service in Norwich killed it off. All the exhibits were removed, and most went into storage under the Castle. For nearly ten years, the building was completely empty, and can be seen as it was in 2005 in these photographs.
ewg empty view out of the south door
In 2006, a small group of people came together in an attempt to get Hungate open and in use again. Their plan was to use it as an interpretation centre for Norfolk's medieval heritage, with a particular emphasis on the medieval stained glass artists of the city of Norwich. St Peter Hungate is a good place to do this, as it has the best collection outside of the cathedral in the whole city. This glass, largely of the 15th century, is partly from St Peter Hungate originally, and partly a consequence of the medievalist enthusiasms of the 19th Century, when much was collected and brought here. It includes a sequence of the Order of Angels, other angels holding scrolls, the Evangelists, the Apostles, and much else besides. Here are some highlights.
There are squints into the transepts, and image niches in the east walls of both; the south transept, which was a chapel for the guild of St John the Baptist, was the burial place of Sir John Paston. High above, the corbels to the roof are finely gilded; they depict the four evangelists, St Matthew, St Mark, St Luke and St John, and the four Latin Doctors of the Church, St Augustine, St Ambrose, St Gregory and St Jerome. This is the only known example of these eight Saints as roofpost stops. There is a central boss of Christ in Judgement.
The fixtures and fittings of the new Hungate Centre are much less intrusive than those of the old museum, allowing a sense of space and light. Display cases down the sides of the nave explain and interpret the history of Norwich's stained glass industry, and between them are the lovely benches from Tottington, which I had last seen marooned within the fences of the Battle Training Area. There are temporary exhibitions which use the transepts and chancel, and regular activities for adults and children. The Centre is currently open three days a week, and you can read more about it on its website.
If you go out through the north door, you find yourself in the former graveyard, now a pleasant garden overlooking the rooftops of Elm Hill. The 15th century building immediately to the north, now a restaurant, was once a beguinage, a retreat house for nuns. The lawn is surrounded by lavender and rosemary, and it is all very well kept. All in all, this beautiful space, now once again in safe hands, is much to be celebrated.
Simon Knott, November 2005, revised and updated February 2011
www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichpeterhungate/norwichpete...
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The tower is square, and built of black flints in 1431, by Thomas Ingham. Its unusual pyramid cap was put on in 1906, when the tower had become so unsafe that the battlemented belfry stage was demolished.
The south porch was added in 1497, by Nicholas Ingham, who is buried in it. It has angle buttresses and a niche for a statue over the door. Its ceiling has four bosses –one for each Evangelist.
The nave and transepts were totally rebuilt, as ‘a neat building of black flint’, by John and Margaret Paston in 1458, after they had acquired the advowson from St Mary’s College. A stone in a buttress near the north door records this – it shows a tree trunk without branches (= decay of the old church) with a new shoot (= the new building), together with the date of completion – 1460. The windows are uniformly Perpendicular, and allow much light into the building.
The chancel had been rebuilt in 1431 by Thomas Ingham and was rebuilt again in 1604 after it had collapsed: it is of rough rubble, plastered over, contrasting with the nave and transepts. Its windows are of an older pattern and have trefoil tracery in the heads. It is covered with peg-tiles, which date from the 1604 rebuilding.
Both the north and the south doors are original – of about 1460 – and have tracery which is similar to that in the windows.
The nave has wall - arcading, to frame each window. The nave roof is of low pitch, and angels with scrolls adorn it. There is a central boss, of Christ in Judgment.
The font is fifteenth-century, and its cover, with an open-work steeple, is dated 1605.
There are two squints which give a view from the nave into the transepts. In the south transept is a niche for a statue of St John the Baptist, and John Paston was buried in front of it. The headstops on the window in the south transept are supposed to represent him and his wife
In the north transept the doors to the rood-stair can be seen. The collapse of the chancel in 1604 demolished the rood-screen, and it was never replaced.
The east window is filled with pieces of mediæval glass. Blomefield, writing in 1741, says that much of the original glass survived in the chancel, but much was later lost through neglect. What remains has been assembled in this window.
There is one monument – on the west wall, to Matthew Goss, who died in 1779.
The church was one of the earliest to be affected by the Oxford Movement. The square pews were replaced by chairs, and the services took on a very ritualistic character, with candles, incense, and banners, and was ‘one of the most fashionable places of worship in Norwich’.
By the end of the century it was again in a bad way: in 1888, the tower was so dangerous an order was served on the churchwardens. In 1897, a large hole in the chancel roof was covered only by a tarpaulin.
Although restored in 1906, the church was in bad state again by 1931, and was threatened with demolition. The Norfolk Archæological Trust raised money to repair it, and it was used as a museum of church art from 1936 until 1995
The church contains beautiful stained glass. To see magnified pictures and information on all the stained glass in this and other churches across Norfolk visit www.norfolkstainedglass.co.uk
www.norwich-churches.org/St Peter Hungate/home.shtm
This is what must have been the 4th time I have visited St Peter Old Church. The first was on a Good Friday a few years back, and when I approached the church, there was a service on. Another time there was a wedding, and further, on a Heritage Weekend, it failed to open.
So, when visiting the area at the beginning of the month, I mentioned that St Peter had been a bugbear of mine, Tim said its only a couple of miles away, we could try now.
Of course, driving from a different direction, not along the main road, I did not realise how close we were.
So, we would try.
Apart from the dowser in the churchyard, who was scattering, or rather placing, dozens of small pieces of white cloth about, but would move them if I wanted. I said no thanks, and left him to his stick waggling. Or that is what I said to Tim, but of course, I do not know if dowsing is any good, or what he was dowsing for.
Inside the church, several ladies were making busy, preparing the church for the next day's harvest festival, so many of them are in the shots, but it makes for a very welcoming sight indeed.
So very good to finally get inside, and many thanks to Tim for taking me.
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A much restored Norman church, with a tiny twelfth-century window set just above the (later) porch roof. There is a good example of a fifteenth-century low side window in the south-west corner of the chancel. The pews, pulpit and tiles are typical of mid-nineteenth century restorations, yet above is the fine nave roof of the usual crownpost type. It displays nicely pierced spandrels with a quatrefoil and dagger design. In 1846 Lord Camden built a new church on the main road in the village centre. Even so the old church is extremely well maintained and much loved in the neighbourhood. The churchyard contains many good headstones including one to Sir Morton Peto, the famous nineteenth-century engineer.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Pembury+1
The first known record of Pembury, originally Pepingeberia, is to be found in the 'Textus Roffensis' (c1120). It tells of the manors of Pepenbury Magna (Hawkwell) and Pepenbury Parva (Bayhall).
The Advowson was granted by Simon de Wahull to Bayham Abbey c1239. (Advowson is the right in English Law of presenting a nominee to a vacant parish. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish).
Pembury has two churches dedicated to St Peter. The oldest, known as the Old Church, stands outside the modern village in the woods to the north of the A228 bypass. The newer building, known as the Upper Church, stands in the heart of the village on Hastings Road.
The plan of the Old Church and the little Norman window above the South door indicate that the original Church dates from 1147 at least, or even 1100AD. Most of the present Church was built in 1337 by John Colepeper of Bayhall. He also built the chantry chapel of St Mary in the churchyard in 1355 but this was pulled down at the Dissolution of the smaller Monasteries in 1547 and three windows in the body of the Church were inserted with the money gained from the sale of the lead which had covered the chapel.
The most notable feature inside the Church is the roof of the nave. It is said to be one of the best specimens of the tie-beam and kingpost type in the country.
On the north wall near the pulpit there is an interesting brass with an inscription and a figure of an Elizabethan child, Elizabeth Rowe. There are two slabs set into the Sanctuary floor in memory of Dorothy Amherst (1654) and Richard Amherst (1664). The Amherst family owned the manor of Bayhall at this time.
During the nineteenth century a number of alterations were made to the Church, including the raising of the Chancel floor. This meant that the oldest tombstone was completely covered over. The inscription round the edge of the slab, written in Norman French, tells is that it is the resting place of Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper.
Among the other memorial tablets there are several of the Woodgate family, three of whom were vicars of Pembury in the nineteenth century. Under the tower is a memorial to Lord George Spencer-Churchill.
The Organ, which has one manual and a pedal-board, dates back to 1877. It was made by Hill and Son, London, and cost £130. The organ was fully restored to its former glory in 2006. There are four bells which are now fitted with a chiming apparatus so that they can be rung by one person.
www.pemburychurch.net/pembury_old_church.htm
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Pembury is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, has a spire steeple at the west end. It was built by one of the family of Colepeper, patrons of it, and most probably by John Colepeper, esq. in the reign of king Edward III. for on the three buttresses on the south side of the chancel, there remain three shields of coat armour, each carved on an entire stone of about two feet and an half in depth, and the breadth equal with that of the buttress, which shews them to be coeval with that of the building itself. On the first is a rectangular cross; the second is the coat armour of Hardreshull, A chevron between eight martlets, viz. five and three, the above-mentioned John Colepeper having married the coheir of that family; the third is that of Colepeper, a bend engrailed. On a very antient stone on the pavement of the chancel, is an antient inscription in old French, for Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, which seems as early as the above mentioned reign. There are several monuments and memorials in it of the family of Amherst and their re latives; an inscription and figure in brass for Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Rowe, esq. of Hawkwell, anno 1607; a tomb for George Bolney, esq. who married a Wybarne; and in the porch are two antient stones with crosses on them.
¶The advowson of the church of Pembury was given with it, by Simon de Wahull, to the abbey of Begham, in Sussex, in pure and perpetual alms, as has been already mentioned.
¶Pope Gregory IX. anno 1239, granted licence to the abbot and convent to hold this church, then of their patronage, and not of greater value than ten marcs, as an appropriation upon the first vacancy of it, reserving, a competent portion for a vicar out of the profits of it. Notwithstanding which, it was not appropriated till the year 1278, when Richard Oliver, the rector, resigned it into the hands of John de Bradfield, bishop of Rochester, who granted his letters mandatory, for the induction of the abbot and convent into the corporal possession of the church, with its appurtenances, according to the tenor of the above-mentioned bull. (fn. 7)
¶The parsonage of the church of Pembury, with the advowson of the vicarage appendant to the manor, continued with the abbey of Begham till the dissolution of it in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, after which it passed in the same tract of ownership as the manor of Pembury, and appendant to it, till it became the property of William Woodgate, esq. lord of that manor, and the present patron of it.
¶It is a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of 46l. 10s. the yearly tenths of which are 12s. 8d.
¶Charles Amherst, esq. of Bayhall, by his will in 1702, gave as an augmentation to this vicarage, the sum of ten pounds to be paid yearly by such persons to whom the manor of Bayhall, with its appurtenances, should come and remain after his death.
¶In 1733 the Rev. George May, vicar, augmented it with the sum of 100l. 17s. 6d. to entitle it to the benefit of queen Anne's bounty.
¶There is an annual pension of forty shillings paid out of the parsonage to the vicar, which was settled on him and his successors, at the time of the appropriation of this church. The tithes of corn and grain of which this parsonage consists are now worth about one hundred and twenty pounds per annum.
¶The vicarage is now worth about one hundred and fifty pounds per annum.
St.Peter's, South Weald, is a large parish church which seems out of place in the small village that is South Weald today. It was formerly the parish church of nearby Brentwood and also formerly served the Harold Hill area.
www.flickr.com/photos/barryslemmings/sets/72157594283793202/ is a whole set about this church,
A principal landowner is the area in Saxon times was King Harold, killed at Hastings in 1066. The present church dates from the 12th century at least when it had a nave and chancel on the site of the present south aisle. The north aisle was added in the 13th century and the tower was built at the beginning of the 16th century. An extensive rebuilding took place in 1868 to the plans of architect S. S. Teulon. The north aisle was converted into the nave and chancel.
The font dates to 1662 and has a finely carved cover of later date. From 1868 until 1946 the Tower family of nearby Weald Hall [now demolished] had a private chapel in the church but this was converted into a war memorial and marks the death [among others] of two members of the Tower family in WW1.
The family kept a deer park from which the deer escaped in WW2 and took up residence in the area. The Tower family's interest in deer is marked by a stained glass window dedicated to the hunter saint, St Hubert. There is some 15th century Flemish glass high up in the tower but the rest is Victorian or later.
Nearly three years ago, I followed the Nailbourne from its source to where it joins the Great Stour, photographing the bourne as well as the parish churches along the way.
I visited every church along the Nailbourne, except one: Bekesbourne.
St Peter is a way from the village and signs pointing the way to the church give up well before you get there.
Even then the church sits up the side of the valley, mostly hidden behind trees. There is a signboard and if you look, a lychgate in the trees.
But that's it.
So, In October, I did try to revisit, after finding the church beside the dried up bed of the winterbourne.
I took shots of the doorway and carvings, but that's as far as I got.
So, one to go back to.
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A pretty church that suffered at the hands of the nineteenth century restorer when the nave walls were stripped of plaster and the west tower rebuilt. The Norman north doorway is of considerable size - for the Archbishops of Canterbury had a palace here and their wealth is reflected in this structure. The thirteenth century string course in the chancel emphasises the liturgical changes in floor level, and there are two aumbries in the east wall behind the altar. A rather stilted figure of Sir Henry Palmer (d 1611) kneels under an Ionic portal with two Bethersden marble inserts. Another large marble monument commemorates Sir Thomas Pym Hales (d 1773) who is described as having displayed `increased benevolence to Mankind`. There is some surviving thirteenth century glass and a double piscina of the same period.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Bekesbourne
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BEKESBORNE.
The PARISH OF BEKESBORNE lies adjoining to Adisham, heretofore described, westward, being a member or limb of the town and port of Hastings, in Sussex, and as such within the liberty and jurisdiction of the cinque ports, which it has been time out of mind. (fn. 1) It is called in antient writings, Livingsborne, alias Bekesborne, but for a long time since Bekesborne only.
The PARISH is a far different situation from those last-described, lying great part of it pleasantly among small inclosures, and sheltered with trees and woodlands, especially in the western part of it, and stretching eastward up to the high downy country. It is but small, being about a mile and an half in length, and not more than half a mile broad. The village, with the church, is situated in the valley among the meadows, on the bank of the Lesser Stour river, which runs through the parish, and abounds with good trout. There are but five houses in it, viz. the parsonage; the seat to which the Hales's removed when Howlets fell down, and from that time resided in; it was in queen Elizabeth's reign sold to archbishop Parker, who gave it to his son to reside in, as being near his palace here, and John Parker, esq. sold it to Fogge, whence it passed by sale to the Hales's, it now belongs to Mr. Baugh; the vicarage; the remains of the archbishop's palace; and Cobham-court; the latter situated on a rise close to the church. Further on, towards Littleborne, in the vale facing the downs, is the scite of Old Howlets; at a small distance above which, on the high ground, Mr.Baugh has built a seat for his residence, commanding a beautiful view of the neighbouring country and the sea, with Ramsgate cliffs beyond it. It stands among a beautiful scenery of park grounds, of hill and dale, well cloathed with trees and adjoining woodland, having the river running in the vale beneath. The soil is mostly fertile near the valley, and very kindly for hops, of which there are several plantations. In the last century, and before, there were several families of good account resident in it, as the Parkers, Contrys, (fn. 2) Savins, (fn. 3) and Boys's. (fn. 4) There are three small parcels of land which lie separated from the rest of it, the parish of Adisham intervening.
This parish being within the liberty of the town and port of Hastings, which it is said in the most antient charters of the cinque ports to have been a member of time out of mind, is exempt from the jurisdiction of the justices of the county, and subject only to those of that town and port, and till within these few years the mayor of Hastings appointed one of the principal inhabitants of this parish his deputy, who being sworn into his office, acted for him here to the great comfort of the inhabitants, but since that has been omitted, the inhabitants of this parish have upwards of fifty miles to apply for redress upon every occasion whatsoever, the inconvenience of which has made this at present an ungovernable and lawless place.
The MANOR OF BEKESBORNE, antiently called Livingsborne, from one Levine, a Saxon, who held it in the time of king Edward the Confessor, and from the small bourn or stream which runs through it, came, after the Norman conquest, into the possession of Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of of whose lands it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday:
The same bishop of Baieux holds in demesne Burnes. It was taxed at two sulings. The arable land is six carucates. In demesne there are two, and twenty-five villeins, with four borderers having seven carucates. There is a church and six servants, and one mill of thirty-eight pence, and one saltpit of thirty pence, and half a fishery, of four pence. Of pasture forty pence. Wood for the pannage of six hogs and an half. —Levine held it of king Edward.— In the time of king Edward the Confessor it was worth twelve pounds, and afterwards seven pounds, now twelve pounds, and yet it pays eighteen pounds. What Hugo de Montfort holds is worth five shillings. These three manors (viz. this manor, and Hardres and Stelling, both immediately before described) Rannulf (de Columbels) holds to ferme of the bishop of Baieux.
Four years after this, the bishop being disgraced, this manor, among the rest of his possessions, became confiscated to the crown, of which it was afterwards held by a family of the name of Beke, whence it acquired the name of Bekesborne likewise, and in king Henry III.'s reign William de Beke appears by the Testa de Nevil to have held this place, called in it, Bernes, then valued at ten pounds, in grand sergeantry, by the service of finding one ship for the king, when he passed the seas, and a present to him of three marcs. From this name it passed into that of Bourne; for I find that Walter de Bourne was possessed of it in the 37th year of king Edward III. and he sold it to Walter Doget, whose son John passed it away to John Cornwallis, John Weston, and Thomas Thornbury, and they anno 5 Henry IV. joined in the sale of this manor, and the advowson of the chantry adjoining to the lands of it, called Bourne's chantry, to John Browne, plumber, of Canterbury, who in the 1st year of king Henry VI. alienated it to William Bennet and Thomas Cadbury, and they again joined in the sale of this manor to archbishop Chicheley, and his trustees, and they in the 22d year of that reign conveyed it to the priory of Christ-church, in Canterbury, and prior Goldston, in king Henry VII.'s reign, rebuilt the prior's apartment here, and the chapel adjoining, dedicating it to the Annunciation and the patron of this church. He likewise built the hall adjoining to the prior's dormitory, and all the other buildings there, except the lodge and the two barns. And in this state it continued till the suppression of the priory in the 31st year of king Henry VIII. when it came into the king's hands, who, in his 32d year, granted it, with the prior's house, called Christchurch-house, and all other his estates in this parish, (except advowsons) in exchange, to Thomas Colepeper, senior, esq. of Bedgbury, to hold in capite by knight's service, (fn. 5) and he, by an act passed in the 35th year of that reign, specially for the purpose, exchanged it for the manor of Bishopsborne, and other premises, with archbishop Cranmer, to hold in free, pure, and perpetual alms. After which the archbishop made this house one of his palaces for his retirement, for which purpose he made considerable buildings at it, and probably would have done more, had he continued in the prelacy; (fn. 6) and archbishop Parker, who took great delight in the situation, intended further to enlarge it, but he died before he began his purpose of it. After which, in the time of the civil wars, in Charles I.'s reign, this palace was not only pillaged, but almost the whole of it pulled down by the fanatics of that time, so that the gatehouse and a few of the offices on each side of it, were all that were left remaining, which after the restoration were converted into a dwelling, and demised by the archbishop, with the demesnes of the manor, on a beneficial lease, Robert Peckham, esq being the present lessee, and residing in it. The house has lately been much modernized. But the manor of Bekesborne itself, his grace the archbishop retains in his own hands.
The gateway of the palace, which has been pulled down within these few years, through very narrow and sordid motives, was built of brick, and had in the middle of the front of it, the arms of Cranmer. On the inside of the gateway was a stone, on which was A D—T C—1552, and underneath the archbishop's motto, Nosce Teipsum. On the gates were the arms of Parker, and of the see of Canterbury impaling Parker.
HOWLETS, or Owlets, as it was formerly called, was an antient seat in this parish, which was formerly the inheritance of the family of Isaac, of the adjoining parish of Patrixborne, but how long they continued owners of it, I have not found; but that they had quitted the possession of it before the reign of queen Elizabeth, is very certain, for in the 1st year of that reign, John Dorante, of this parish, who was a good benefactor to the poor of Littleborne, was possessed of it, and his descendant, of the same name, alienated it to Sir Henry Palmer, whose family was originally of Snodland, near Rocherster, whence they branched off to Tottington, in Aylesford, and to this parish of Bekesborne. (fn. 7) He afterwards resided here, where he died in 1611, and by his will gave it to his son in-law Sir Isaac Sidley, bart. who conveyed his right in it to his brother-in law Sir Henry Palmer, and he about the year 1620, alienated it to Sir Charles Hales, of Thanington. The original of this family of Hales has been already related before, in vol. vi. p. 88, down to Thomas, second son of John Hales, of the Dungeon, one of the barons of the exchequer, who was seated at Thanington, where he died, and was buried in 1583, whose son Sir Charles Hales purchased Howlets as before-mentioned, and removed thither before his death in 1623. (fn. 8) His grandson Sir Robert Hales was created a baronet on July 12, anno 12 Charles II. 1660, during the time of whose grandson Sir Thomas this seat sell down, and the family removed to another house nearer the church in this parish, where they afterwards resided. At length his descendant Sir Philip Hales, bart. in 1787 alienated the scite of it, with the gardens and offices remaining, and belonging to it, to Isaac Baugh, esq. who is the present possessor of them, and who having entirely pulled down the old seat, has built for his residence a mansion on these grounds, on the hill, at a small distance from the scite of the antient house, but within the precinct of Well, in Ickham parish.
COBHAM-COURT is a manor, situated near the church in this parish, which was once part of the possessions of the eminent family of Cobham, of Cobham, in this country, from whom it assumed its name of Cobham-court. John, son of Henry de Cobham, of Cobham, by Joane, daughter of Robert de Septvans, was possessed of it in the beginning of Edward III.'s reign, in the 17th year of which he obtained a grant of free-warren for this manor. His son John de Cobham, lord Cobham, died anno 9 Henry IV. whose only daughter and heir Joane died in his life-time, leaving by her husband Sir John de Poole, an only daughter and heir, named Joane likewise, who on the death of her grandfather John, lord Cobham, abovementioned, became heir to his estates. She left an only daughter and heir Joane, by her second husband Sir Reginald Braybrooke, (fn. 9) who becoming heir to her estates, as well as to the barony of Cobham, entitled her husband Sir Thomas Brooke, of Somersetshire, to them, in whose descendants, lords Cobham, it continued till Henry, lord Cobham, being attainted in the 1st year of king James I.'s reign, this manor, among the rest of his estates, became forfeited to the crown. How it passed afterwards, I have not found, but that being granted from it, after some intermediate owners, it passed from the family of Palmer into that of Hales, of Bekesborne, in which it has continued, in like manner as Howlets before-mentioned, till it was, with that estate, sold among others, by Sir Philip Hales, bart. in 1787, to Isaac Baugh, esq. the present owner of it.
Charities.
SIR HENRY PALMER, of Bekesborne, by will in 1611, gave the sum of 10s. to be yearly paid out of his manor of Well-court, to the minister and churchwardens, towards the relief of the poor of this parish.
BEKESBORNE, alias Livingsborne, is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, consists of one isle, a high chancel, and a small south sept or cross chancel, having a low roofed tower at the west end, in which are two bells. The building seems to be very antient; it is long and narrow, and from the smallness of the few windows in it, is very obscure, even in the middle of the day. In the high chancel is a monument, with the figure of a knight in armour, kneeling, for Sir Henry Palmer, obt. 1611. A small one for Capt. Richard Fogge, of the royal navy, obt. 1681; arms, Fogge, with a crescent for difference. A hatchment, and under it an inscription for Edward Ladbrook, rector of Ivychurch, and vicar here, obt. August 17, 1676. In the isle are memorials for the Porredge's. A monument for Mary, wife of the Rev. Philip Brandon, obt. 1780; another for William Bedford, vicar of this parish and of Smarden, obt. 1783. A memorial for Nicholas Battely, A. M. vicar here, and rector of Ivychurch, obt. May 19, 1704; and a monument and several memorials for others of the same name. In the north window are these arms: of Sidley, per pale, azure and gules, a fess, chequy, or, and gules, between three goats heads erased, argent. In the north sept, or cross chancel, a monument for Sir Thomas Pym Hales, bart. obt. 1773, leaving by his wife Mary, daughter of Gervas Hayward, esq. five daughters. There is a vault underneath for this family.
The church of Bekesborne belonged to the priory of St. Gregory, perhaps part of its original endowment by archbishop Lanfranc in the reign of the Conqueror. It was very early appropriated to it, and was confirmed to the priory by archbishop Hubert, among its other possessions, about king Richard I. 's reign, by the name of the church of St. Peter of Lyvyngsborne. (fn. 10) The appropriation of it continued part of the possessions of the above priory till the dissolution of it in king Henry VIII.'s reign, when it was surrendered into the king's hands, where this appropriation remained but a small time, before it was granted, with the scite and other possessions of the priory, in exchange, a special act having passed for the purpose, to the archbishop, part of the revenues of whose see it continues at this time, George Gipps, esq. of Harbledown, being the present lessee of it.
But the vicarage of this church seems never to have belonged to the priory, and in the 8th year of king Richard II. appears to have belonged to the abbot of Pontiniac. How long it staid there I have not found; but it became afterwards part of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, and remains so at this time, his grace the archbishop being the present patron of it.
¶This vicarage is valued in the king's books at six pounds, and the yearly tenths at twelve shillings. It is now of the clearyearly certified value of 69l. 12s. 8½d. Archbishop Parker augmented this vicarage, by increasing the vicar's stipend to ten pounds per annum, and with four quarters of wheat, and eighteen quarters of barley, to be paid yearly by the lessee of the parsonage. In 1588 here were communicants eighty; in 1640, one hundred, and it was then valued at sixtyeight pounds. It is now of the yearly value of about eighty pounds.
THERE WAS A CHANTRY, dedicated to St. Mary, founded in this church anno 1314, by James de Bourne, owner of the manor of Livingsborne, alias Bekesborne, whence it came to be called Bourne's chantry, the revenues of which were given in 1362, by his successor Bartholomew de Bourne, then patron of it, to the hospital of Eastbridge, in Canterbury; and the same were confirmed to it by archbishop Sudbury in the year 1375, under the description of which hospital more of it may be seen. It was suppressed, among other foundations of the like sort, in the first year of king Edward VI.
Some churches provide no challenge to see inside, whilst others have an almost mystique about what delights might be inside, so hard are they to gain entrance.
St Peter is one of the nearest churches to home, and yet despite trying so many times to see inside, and even on the Heritage weekend or Ride and Stride, but it remains closed.
But with the internet, it is possible to arrange a meeting, and so it was that this morning I had arranged to meet the warden who would facilitate my visit.
It was the weekly church tidy up, I suppose, so I park outside, grab my camera bag, and see even from the car park, I could see the door ajar.
The first thing I see when I walk in is the altar right in front of me, in what should be the middle of the nave.
It was reorganised in the 1970s, so now the congreation sits in a semi circle around the alter which is in the middle of the north wall.
In the south wall, there were the remains of three ancient pillars, which had been allowed to be seen among the rendered walls.
Many thankls to the warden for allowing me to see inside this wonderful, modernised but ancient church, on the edge of the modern town of Whitfield.
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A picturesque church in the fields – not yet joined up to its village. In the west wall can be seen a double-splayed Saxon window which takes this church back to the 8th or 9th century. From the outside all looks pretty ordinary for a country church but on opening the door we find that in the 1970s the church was reordered so that the altar is in the north aisle! It may be unusual but it works well. The chancel is now a vestry. The original chancel arch was, unfortunately, taken down by Ewan Christian when he restored the church –it would have been a rare survivor indeed. His replacement arch, however, maintains the proportions of Saxon work.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Whitfield
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WHITFIELD, alias BEWSFIELD,
IS the next parish south-eastward from Coldred. It has been variously called by both these names, both which plainly imply its high and open situation; but the latter, written in Domesday, Bevesfel, is its proper name, that of Whitfield being much more modern, by which it is now however in general called. The manor of Norborne claims paramount over great part of this parish.
THIS PARISH is very small and narrow, it is a very unfrequented place, situated on very high ground, in a poor country of open uninclosed land, the soil of which is in general chalk and very light, though there are some few strypes of deep ground more fertile than the rest. The village, called Whitfield-street, having the church in it, is situated at the south-east bounds of it, at a small distance from which is a hamlet of houses, called Lower Whitfield, where is a farm, formerly belonging to the Denews, and then to Brett, of Spring Grove, whence it was sold to the present possessor of it, Peter Fector, esq. of Dover, and at the western bounds, in a dell, Hazling wood. At the northern bounds is the hamlet of Pinham, consisting of three small farms.—There is no fair.
OFFA, king of Mercia, in the first year of his reign, anno 757, gave to the abbot of St. Augustine's monastery, land called Bewesfeld, with the privilege of feeding hogs and cattle in the royal wood, and other liberties mentioned in his charter for that purpose, one of which was that of taking one goat in Snowlyn's wood, where the king's goats went; after which this land continued in the possession of the monastery till the time of taking the survey of Domesday, in which record it is thus entered under the general title of the land of the church of St. Augustine:
Oidelard holds of this manor, viz. Norborne, one suling, and it is called Bevesfel, and there he has two carucates, with ten borderers. It is worth six pounds.
After which, that part of the above land, which comprehended THIS MANOR OF BEWSFIELD, was held of the abbot by knight's service, by the eminent family of Badlesmere. Guncelin de Badlesmere held this manor in Hen. VIII.'s reign, and another Guncelin de Badlesmere held it in like manner in king John's reign, and was a justice itinerant. He left one son, Bartholomew, and two daughters; Joane, married to John de Northwood, and another to John de Coningsby. Before his death he gave this manor in frank marriage, with this eldest daughter Joane, to Sir John de Northwood, of Northwood, who was a man of great account in the reigns of king Edward I. and II. whose descendants continued in the possession of this manor for some length of time, and till it was at length alienated to Chelesford, alias Chelford, from which name it again passed by sale about Henry VII.'s reign, to Wm. Boys, of Fredville, whose descendant Sir E. Boys the elder, afterwards possessed it, at which time the name of this manor seems to have dropped, and to have been blended in that of the adjoining one of LINACRECOURT, by which name it has ever since been called. He gave it to his second son Roger Boys, esq. (fn. 1) whose only son and heir Edward Boys, about the year 1644, conveyed it by sale to Herbert Nowell, esq. and he alienated it to John Day, who sold it to Roger Laming, of Wye, and he parted with it to Hercules Baker, esq. of Deal, whose daughter Sarah carried it in marriage to Thomas Barrett, esq. of Lee, whose third wife she was. She died s. p. as did Mr. Barrett in 1757, possessed of this manor, leaving it in jointure to his fourth wife Katherine, daughter, and at length sole heir of Humphry Pudner, esq. who died in 1785, on which it descended to their only son Thomas Barrett, esq. now of Lee, in Ickham, who is the present possessor of it.
LINACRE MANOR, or LINACRE-COURT, as it is usually called, in which the manor of Bewsfield is now merged, lies in the south-west part of this parish, adjoining to Coldred and River, and was the other part of that land given to St. Augustine's monastery, and described in Domesday as before-mentioned, being held by knight's service of the abbot, by the family of Criol, one of whom, William de Criol, as appears by the book of knights fees in the exchequer, held it as such in the reign of king Edward I. but it did not long afterwards remain with them, for John de Malmains, of Hoo, held it in the next reign of king Edward II. his son John left an only daughter and heir, who carried it in marriage to John Monyn, and he in her right held it in the 20th year of king Edward III. After this it continued but a small time in the name of Monyn, for in the 49th year of that reign, John Solley is entered in the register of the abbey, as holding this manor of the abbot by knight's service. How long it remained in his descendants I have not found, only that it was at length alianated to Chelsesford, alias Chelford, from which name it passed, with the manor of Bewsfield as before related, by sale, about Henry VII.'s reign, to William Boys, esq. of Fredville, who died possessed of both these manors in 1508; after which it descended down to Mr. Edward Boys, who about the year 1644 conveyed this manor by sale to Herbert Nowell, esq. since which it has passed in the like chain of ownership as the manor of Bewsfield described before, down to Thomas Barrett, esq. of Lee, in lckham, who is the present owner of this manor of Linacre, in which that of Bewsfield is included. A court baron is held for this manor.
THE MANOR OF WHITFIELD, with THE MANOR OF LITTLE PISING, and THE LANDS OF PIMHAM, was in the reign of king Henry III. in the hands of the crown, in the 13th year of which that eminent man, Hubert de Burgh, earl of Kent and chief justice of England, had a grant of it, among others, with licence to give of assign it to whomever he would, either to a religious house or otherwise; not long after which, he appears to have settled this manor, with the estate in this parish, called Little Pising, on the hospital of St. Mary, in Dover, afterwards called the Maison Dieu, then lately founded by him; after which Edward I. granted a charter of free-warren to the master and bretheren of this hospital, for their demesne lands in Whytefeld and Coldred adjoining. After which this manor and estate continued part of the revenues of this hospital till king Henry VIII.'s reign, when on the suppression of it they came into the king's hands, where they staid till king Edward VI. in his 2d year granted the manors of Whitfield and Little Pysing, to Sir Thomas Heneage and William lord Willoughbye, to hold in capiteby knight's service. (fn. 2) They seem to have sold their joint interest in them to James Hales, whose heirs possessed them at the latter end of the reign of queen Elizabeth, after which I find no more of the manor of Whitfield, but that the manor of Little Pysing passed by sale into the family of Monins, of Waldershare, in which it continued down to Sir Edward Monins, bart. who died in 1663, after which his heirs and trustees joined in the sale of it, together with other lands at Pinham, to Sir Henry Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, who died possessed of it in 1712, after which his granddaughter Catherine, countess of Rockingham, became possessed of this manor of Little Pising in her own right, and of the lands at Pinham, jointly with her two sisters, as coheirs of their father, in equal shares in coparcenary in tail general, since which her interst in these estates have passed in like manner as Coldred before-mentioned, and her other estates in this county, to her eldest grand son, the present right hon. Geo-Augustus, earl of Guildford, the present possessor of them.
Charities.
THERE was given by a person unknown, for the use of the poor not having relief, land, now vested in Redman Jones, of the annual produce of 10s.
The poor constantly maintained are about ten, casually eight.
THIS PARISH is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, consists of a small nave and two chancels, having one bell in it, but there is no steeple, it is a wretched mean building. The roof is supported by a most uncouth pillar in the middle, so strangely as to prevent, I think, all description of it. There are no monuments in it, nor any thing surther worthy notice.
This church was originally appendant to the manor, and as such was given to St. Augustine's abbey in 757, by king Offa; after which the abbot and convent, in the year 1221, anno 6 Henry III. granted their right in this church to the abbot and convent of Combwell, to hold in perpetual alms, but it was at the same time agreed, that the latter should not exact the tithes of sheaves, arising from twenty-five acres of Napushurst, which the abbot and convent of St. Augustine had sometime granted to Thomas de Newesole, but that the church of Bewefield should enjoy the small tithes of the above lands for the ecclesiastical service, which it should persorm to the tenants of St. Augustine, who inhabited there, and this, by the liberal concession of the abbot and convent of St. Augustine, at the time of making the grant; (fn. 3) upon which, though this church became appropriated to the abbot and convent of Combwell, yet there does not seem to have been a vicarage endowed in it till the year 1441, anno 20 king Henry VI. when a composition was made by archbishop Chicheley, between the abbot and convent, appropriators of this church, and Wm. Geddyng, vicar of it, on account of his portion, and the pensions belonging to this church. In which state this appropriation and vicarage continued till the final dissolution of the priory of Combwell, for so it was then esteemed, in the 27th year of king Henry VIII. when it was suppressed by the act then passed, as being under the clear yearly value of two hundred pounds, and came into the hands of the crown; after which the king, in his 29th year, granted the scite of the priory, with all its lands and possessions, in which this appropriation and advowson of the vicarage of Beausfield,alias Whitfield, was included, to Thomas Culpeper, esq. to hold in capite, who before the 34th of that reign passed them back again to the crown, whence they were immediately afterwards granted to Sir John Gage, comptroller of the king's household, to hold in like manner; and he next year exchanged them both, among other premises, with the archbishop of Canterbury, for the confirmation of which an act passed anno 35 Henry VIII. since which they have continued parcel of the possessions of the see of Canterbury, his grace the archbishop being at this time entitled to them. Thomas Barrett, esq. of Lee, is the present lessee of this parsonage.
This church has been for many years esteemed only as a curacy, to which the archbishop nominates; for Henry Hannington, vicar of it, at the instance of archbishop Abbot, by deed in 1613, renounced all the right and title, that he had by virtue of the endowment or composition made in the time of archbishop Chichele, between the then vicar of this church and the prior and convent of Combwell.
¶This church was valued, anno 8 king Richard II. at twelve pounds, and the vicarage at four pounds, which on account of its smallness was not taxed to the tenth; the latter is valued in the king's books at 5l. 18s. 8d. It formerly paid twelve shillings tenths to the crown receiver, but being certified to be only of the value of twenty-six pounds, it is now discharged of first fruits and tenths. In 1588 here were eighty-two communicants, and it was valued at fifteen pounds only. In 1640 it was valued at forty-five pounds. It was augmented by archbishop Juxon in 1661, with twenty pounds per annum, to be paid by the lessee of the parsonage; and farther confirmed by indenture anno 28 Charles II. It is now a discharged living of the yearly certified value of twenty-six pounds. There was a payment to the parson of Bewsfield, payable yearly out of the lands of the abbot and convent of St. Radigund, which was granted to the archbishop anno 29 Henry VIII.
St Peter in Chains, Coveney, Cambridgeshire
It was Sunday morning. I cycled out of Ely on the West Fen Road, into West Fen. The drop away from the island into the fen is abrupt, a real sense of it once having been a shore, and the long straight roads which dogleg along the dykes are corrugated as the tarmac sinks into the soft ground. Telegraph poles lean at angles, the grey bulk of the cathedral brooding beyond. After a couple of miles the road rises steeply onto the former island of Coveney, and its church of St Peter ad Vincula, which is to say St Peter in Chains.
This is a small church, relatively undistinguished externally, Norman in essence with elaborations of the 14th Century. The tower has a processional way through it, though the churchyard spreads widely up the hill to the west. I got the key from a very nice man across the road and let myself into the vestry.
Well, it was like stepping back into the 1920s, the vestry full of ecclesiastical clutter, candles and vestments. Photographs on the wall showed priests in birettas, one holding a thurible, the incense rising. I unbolted the door and stepped into the chancel. And here was the 1920s Anglo-Catholic movement in its full glory, the vast garish reredos with its sanctuary lamp in front, the stations of the cross along the walls, a huge rood screen shoehorned in with statues on the west side.
But the other fittings were utterly rustic and charming, early 16th Century benches with carvings of the instruments of the passion, mythical beasts and faces. Faces of ghosts in medieval glass looked down from a lancet window. Two 1930s figures by Geoffrey Webb flank the reredos, but otherwise the windows are clear. The cold spring fenland light flooded into the church from the south-east, through a window whose splay was paved with small 17th Century memorials, a setting for a statue of the Blessed Virgin.
It was completely unexpected, a breath-taking interior, devotional, utterly thrilling. The reredos has late medieval panels, probably German, depicting scenes from the Passion, The pulpit is early 18th century Danish, with vividly painted panels of Christ and the four evangelists. There is an inscription in Danish painted around the bottom, and I've never seen the like of it before. All these bizarre fixtures and fittings were collected by the hymn writer and mystic Athelstan Riley, who lived in this parish in the early years of the 20th Century.
I took the key back, full of excitement. Coveney church felt like a real discovery.
St Peter's at Grandborough dates mostly to the 14th century, aside from the handsome west tower crowned by a spire. The churchyard is rather attractive, the approach being through an avenue of trees, whilst a sequoia stands nearby seemingly as tall as the steeple!
The interior is spacious with aisles flanking the nave and less restored than many, the timber roof of the chancel clearly of some antiquity. All the windows are plain-glazed throughout (the east window could do with some colour perhaps, hint hint).
The church is open Fri-Sun from 9am to 6pm in summer months and 9-4pm in winter,
After many years than three attempts to see inside this year alone, finally, the door did open for me.
But, not at first, as the loack had two settings, the first did not work, a little bit of ompf and I was in.
A pleasantly small and simple church, with remains of wall paintings a simple rood screen.
My eye was taken by the roof and support beams, very nice.
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St Peter's is in a windswept location, in open farmland, with ancient yew trees and a patina of great antiquity. Abutting the north side of the tower, and entered from the church, is a rare medieval priest's house. The nave has a distinctly unusual atmosphere. It is lofty and plain, with much light flooding in from the large south windows. While there is no chancel arch there is a horizontal beam which carries the Royal Arms of George III. The three-crownpost roof is beautifully set off by whitewashed walls which are almost devoid of monuments. After the nave the chancel is something of an anti-climax, although there are traces of medieval wall paintings on the south wall.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Molash
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MOLASH
Is the next parish westward from Chilham; it is a parish which lies very obscurely among the hills, being little known, and having very little traffic through it. The village, which is straggling, is situated near the western boundaries of it, the parish of Wye joining close up to it. The church stands close on the north side of the village; there are about fifty houses, and two hundred and sixty-five inhabitants, the whole is much covered with coppice wood, mostly beech, with some little oak interspersed among it; the country is very hilly, and the soil of it very poor, being mostly an unsertile red earth, mixed with abundance of slints.
There is a fair held here on the 16th of July yearly, formerly on the Monday after St. Peter and St. Paul.
The Honor of Chilham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which is The Manor Of Bower, alias Flemings, which is situated in the bo rough of Godsole, northward from the church, it took the latter of those names from the family of Fleming, who were once the possessors of it; one of whom, John de Fleming, appears by a very antient courtroll of this manor, to have been owner of it, and in his descendants it probably continued for some time; but they were extinct here in the reign of Henry VI. in the 24th year of which, as appears by another antient court-roll, it was in the possession of John Trewonnalle, in which name it continued down to the reign of King Henry VIII. and then another John Trewonnalle alienated it to Thomas Moyle, esq. afterwards Knighted, and he owned it in the 30th year of that reign; and in his descendants it remained till the reign of Kings James I. when it was alienated to Mr. Henry Chapman; at length his delcendant Mr. Edward Chapman leaving three sons, Edward, Thomas, and James Chapman, they became possessed of it as coheirs in gavelkind, and afterwards joined in the sale of it to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, who died in 1723, leaving two sons, Gilbert, who succeeded him in the north of England; and William, who possessed his father's seat at Fairlawn, and the rest of his estates in this county, having been in his father's life-time created viscount Vane, of the Kingdom of Ireland. He died in 1734, as did his only son and heir William, viscount Vane, in 1789.s. p. (fn. 1) who devised this manor, among the rest of his estates in this county and elsewhere, to David Papillon, esq. late of Acrise, the present possessor of it.
Witherling is a manor in this parish, situated likewise in the borough of Godsole. In the antient records of Dover castle, this manor is numbered among those estates which made up the barony of Fobert, and was held of Fulbert de Dover, as of that barony, by knight's service, by a family of its own name. Robert de Witherling appears to have held it in the reign of king John, as one knight's see, by the same tenure; in whose descendants it continued down to the reign of King Henry VI. When Joane Witherling was become heir to it, and then carried it in marriage to William Keneworth, whose son, of the same name, passed it away in the reign of Henry VII. to John Moile, of Buckwell, who died possessed of it in the 15th year of that reign, as appears by the inquisition taken after his death, and that it was held of Dover castle. His son John Moyle sold this manor, in the 4th year of Henry VIII. to Hamo Videan, descended of a family of good note in this county. There is mention made of them in the Parish Register, from the first year of it, 1557, to the present time; but they have been decayed a long time, and their possessions dispersed among other owners; but there is still a green in this neighbourhood, called from them Videan's, (by the common people Vidgeon's) forstal. In his descendants it continued till the reign of King Charles II. when it was conveyed, by a joint conveyance, from that name to Mr. Tho. Thatcher, whose daughter Mary carried it in marriage to Mr. Henry Bing, of Wickhambreux, whose son John Bing (fn. 2) sold it to Mr. Edward Baker, for the satisfying his sister's fortune, whom the latter had married; and on his dying intestate, this manor descended to his four sons, Thomas Baker, clerk, Edward, Henry, and Bing Baker, who joined in alienating it, about 1771, to Thomas Knight, esq. of Godmersham, whose only son and heir of the same name died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. and by will devised this manor to Edward Austen, esq. then of Rowling, but now of Godmersham, who is the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Chiles, alias Slow-Court, is a small manor in this parish, which some years since belonged to the family of Goatley, which had been settled here from the time of queen Mary. One of them, Laurence Goatley, died possessed of it in 1608. He then dwelt at his house in this parish, called Bedles, and was lessee of the parsonage. Searles Goatley, esq the last of this family, was brought from Maidstone a few years ago, and buried in this church. Laurence Goatley devised this manor to his third son Laurence, one of whose descendants passed it away to Moter, and in 1661 Alice Moter, alias Mother, of Bethersden, sold it to John Franklyn, gent. of this parish, whose daughter carried it in marriage to Thomas Benson, of Maidstone, and he in 1676, by fine and conveyance, passed it away to Robert Saunders, gent. of that town, as he again did in 1703 to Esther Yates, widow, of Mereworth, whose executors in 1716 conveyed it to David Fuller, gent. of Maidstone, who dying s. p. devised it in 1751 by will to his widow Mary, who at her death in 1775, gave it to her relation, William Stacy Coast, esq. now of Sevenoke, the present proprietor of it.
Charities.
Simon Ruck, gent. of Stalisfield, and Sarah his wife, by indenture in 1672, in consideration of 35l. granted to Thomas Chapman, gent. and John Thatcher, both of Molash, a piece of land containing three acres, called Stonebridge, in this parish, for the use, maintenance, and relief of the poor of this parish for ever.
Thomas Amos, yeoman, of Ospringe, by will in 1769 gave 100l. in trust, to be laid out in the public funds, and the dividends to be yearly paid, on the day of St. Thomas the Apostle, to the churchwardens, to be distributed to the most necessitous poor of Molash; which, with other money of the parish was laid out in the purchase of 125l. three per cent. reduced Bank Annuities.
The poor constantly relieved are about nine, casually twenty. five.
This Parish is within the Ecclesiastical Juris diction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, is a small mean building, consisting of one isle and one chancel, having a pointed turret, shingled, at the west end, in which are three bells. There are several memorials of the Chapmans in this church, and in the isle is a stone, inscribed Pulvis Chapmannorum, under which is a vault, wherein several of them lie. In the chancel there is an antient gravestone, cossin-shaped, with an inscription round, in old French capitals, now, through time, illegible. The font is antient, having on it, Gules, three right hands couped, argent; a crescent for difference. In the Parish Register, which begins in 1558, are continual entries of the Videans, Goatleys, Franklyns, Thatchers, Chapmans, Moyles, and Wildish's, from that year almost to the present time. It is esteemed only as a chapel of ease to Chilham, and as such is not rated separately in the king's books.
¶The great tithes or parsonage of this parish were formerly a part of the rectory or parsonage of Chilham, and as such belonged to the alien priory of Throwley, on the suppression of which, anno 2 king Henry V. they were given to the monastery of Sion, which being dissolved by the act of 31 Henry VIII. they came, with the rest of the possessions of that house, into the king's hands, whence the parsonage of Chilham, which included this of Molash, was granted next year, together with the honor and castle, and other premises, to Sir Thomas Cheney, whose son Henry, lord Cheney, alienated the whole of them in the 10th year of queen Elizabeth, to Sir Thomas Kempe, of Wye, who in the 21st year of that reign alienated the parsonage or great tithes of this parish to William Walch, who held the same in capite, and he that year sold it to John Martyn, who as quickly passed it away to Richard Tooke, whose descendant Nicholas Tooke, in the 25th year of that reign, conveyed it in 1633, by the description of the manor of Molash, and all the glebes and tithes of this parish, to Sir James Hales, in which name it continued some time, till it was at length sold to Sir Dudley Diggs. who devised it to his nephew Anthony Palmer, esq. whose brother Dudley Palmer, esq. of Gray's Inn, in 1653, was become owner of it. It afterwards belonged to the Meads, and from them came to Sir Thomas Alston, bart. of Odell, in Bedfordshire, who lately died possessed of it, and his devisees are now entitled to it.
This church being a chapel of ease to that of Chilham, constitutes a part of that vicarage, the vicar of it being presented and institued to the vicarage of the church of Chilham, with the chapel of Molash annexed.
In 1585 here were communicants one hundred and twenty-six. In 1640 there were only forty communicants here.
St Peter's dates to the 14th-Century standing on site of an earlier building. Additions were made in the 15th-Century and the parish is now part of the Vale of Belvoir.
St Peter's is a rebuilt Tudor church that was dedicated in 1517, the year of Luther's Articles. It must rank among England's last medieval churches before the Reformation. Its patron was Sir Edmund Tame, whose father built St Mary's, Fairford.
The exterior is conventional Perpendicular, with heavy battlements and tower pinnacles, and the churchyard contains a display of chest tombs.
Inside, the 12th century font of the Herefordshire School has twelve apostles - or rather eleven with one left blank for Judas. Another, later, font stands by the pulpit.
Rendcomb comprises a nave with south aisle, divided by an arcade with concave-sided octagonal piers, similar to Northleach and Chipping Campden. Buried in the north wall are the remains of an Early Gothic arcade to a lost north aisle, three piers revealed in the plasterwork.
There is no division between nave and chancel, but the chancel roof is distinct, of Victorian sycamore. The rood screen was also a Victorian concoction, using parts of an old screen and with a frieze of cast iron. This structure straddles the chancel and south chapel. The latter has an iron altar rail with the chained swan emblem of the Guise family, who succeeded the Tames as lords of the manor.
Of interest are the corbels, those in the south aisle carved with angels playing instruments and holding heraldic shields.
The east window glass is unremarkable but some 16th century glass survives in the north windows. It has early Renaissance forms which imply a different designer from Fairford, and a later date of c.1520.
Churchyard cross: The original cross, possibly Celtic and very tall, was destroyed in the Puritan revolution and the rather stumpy one which replaced it is probably only about 150 years old. The great stone base, however, marks the original holy site, which easily predates the earliest church. It probably dates to around 800 AD.
The Castle of St. Peter the Liberator at night (Bodrum, Turkey).
The castle was constructed by the Knights Hospitaller in the 15th century during the crusades of the middle ages. The fortress became known as the Castle of St. Peter The Liberator because it served as the sole place of refuge for all Christians on the west coast of Asia Minor. The Knights kept a special breed of dog in the Castle, who could track down refugees and bring them to safety, much like the famous St. Bernard.
Occupying over 30.000 square feet at its base, construction of this castle took years to complete. The castle was built partly from the left remains of the mausoleum of Mausolus which had collapsed as the result of an earthquake. The huge exterior walls were designed in the early 15th century by the German architect Heinrich Schlegelholt and were strengthened by five towers known usually as the English tower, the Italian tower, the German tower, the French tower and the Snake tower. The French tower of the castle is thought to be the earliest one with the others being added during the following century. After the French Tower The Italian tower was built in 1436 by Italian architect Angelo Mascettola. The final parts of the castle were erected in the time of Pierre d’Abusson between 1476 and 1593, with the English tower being added at around 1480. Towers of the St. Peters Castle, Bodrum The walls of the Bodrum castle contain the nearly 250 coats of arms and armorial bearings of many of the knights that served there. Captured in 1522 by the Ottomans during the reign of Kanuni Sultan Suleyman, the church on the castle was converted into a mosque.
Bodrum Castle has a square-like plan. The castle’s dimensions are 590 x 606 feet (180×185 m), and it’s highest point is 155.8 feet (47.5 m) above sea level. The entrance of the castle is through the first door situated in the northwestern corner. There are 7 doors before you reach the inner castle. The northern and western sides are double-walled. The thick walled structure with a sloping roof at the west side is a cannon blockhouse. All the towers and various places in the Castle of Bodrum have been converted into exhibition halls for the Underwater Archaeology Museum.
St Peter's at Mancetter stands close to a former Roman settlement on Watling Street. The church is a substantial medieval building with spacious nave and aisles and a long and well lit chancel, culminating in the church's best feature, an east window filled with fragments of medieval glass.
The ancient glass here belongs mainly to the 14th and century, though there are late 15th century canopies and other fragments as well as Victorian material mixed into the patchwork in the lower panels. Three figures in the central light belong to the Jesse Tree from Merevale Abbey (the rest of which remains in the church there). The surrounding figures in quatrefoils however appear to originate from the east window of the north aisle in this church.
There is a fine 17th century memorial and an impressive font at the west end, along with an usually small and amusing 18th century royal arms.
The church is normally kept locked without keyholder information so will likely require an appointment to see inside.
For more detail see it's entry on the Warwickshire Churches Site below:-
After many years than three attempts to see inside this year alone, finally, the door did open for me.
But, not at first, as the loack had two settings, the first did not work, a little bit of ompf and I was in.
A pleasantly small and simple church, with remains of wall paintings a simple rood screen.
My eye was taken by the roof and support beams, very nice.
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St Peter's is in a windswept location, in open farmland, with ancient yew trees and a patina of great antiquity. Abutting the north side of the tower, and entered from the church, is a rare medieval priest's house. The nave has a distinctly unusual atmosphere. It is lofty and plain, with much light flooding in from the large south windows. While there is no chancel arch there is a horizontal beam which carries the Royal Arms of George III. The three-crownpost roof is beautifully set off by whitewashed walls which are almost devoid of monuments. After the nave the chancel is something of an anti-climax, although there are traces of medieval wall paintings on the south wall.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Molash
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MOLASH
Is the next parish westward from Chilham; it is a parish which lies very obscurely among the hills, being little known, and having very little traffic through it. The village, which is straggling, is situated near the western boundaries of it, the parish of Wye joining close up to it. The church stands close on the north side of the village; there are about fifty houses, and two hundred and sixty-five inhabitants, the whole is much covered with coppice wood, mostly beech, with some little oak interspersed among it; the country is very hilly, and the soil of it very poor, being mostly an unsertile red earth, mixed with abundance of slints.
There is a fair held here on the 16th of July yearly, formerly on the Monday after St. Peter and St. Paul.
The Honor of Chilham claims paramount over this parish, subordinate to which is The Manor Of Bower, alias Flemings, which is situated in the bo rough of Godsole, northward from the church, it took the latter of those names from the family of Fleming, who were once the possessors of it; one of whom, John de Fleming, appears by a very antient courtroll of this manor, to have been owner of it, and in his descendants it probably continued for some time; but they were extinct here in the reign of Henry VI. in the 24th year of which, as appears by another antient court-roll, it was in the possession of John Trewonnalle, in which name it continued down to the reign of King Henry VIII. and then another John Trewonnalle alienated it to Thomas Moyle, esq. afterwards Knighted, and he owned it in the 30th year of that reign; and in his descendants it remained till the reign of Kings James I. when it was alienated to Mr. Henry Chapman; at length his delcendant Mr. Edward Chapman leaving three sons, Edward, Thomas, and James Chapman, they became possessed of it as coheirs in gavelkind, and afterwards joined in the sale of it to Christopher Vane, lord Barnard, who died in 1723, leaving two sons, Gilbert, who succeeded him in the north of England; and William, who possessed his father's seat at Fairlawn, and the rest of his estates in this county, having been in his father's life-time created viscount Vane, of the Kingdom of Ireland. He died in 1734, as did his only son and heir William, viscount Vane, in 1789.s. p. (fn. 1) who devised this manor, among the rest of his estates in this county and elsewhere, to David Papillon, esq. late of Acrise, the present possessor of it.
Witherling is a manor in this parish, situated likewise in the borough of Godsole. In the antient records of Dover castle, this manor is numbered among those estates which made up the barony of Fobert, and was held of Fulbert de Dover, as of that barony, by knight's service, by a family of its own name. Robert de Witherling appears to have held it in the reign of king John, as one knight's see, by the same tenure; in whose descendants it continued down to the reign of King Henry VI. When Joane Witherling was become heir to it, and then carried it in marriage to William Keneworth, whose son, of the same name, passed it away in the reign of Henry VII. to John Moile, of Buckwell, who died possessed of it in the 15th year of that reign, as appears by the inquisition taken after his death, and that it was held of Dover castle. His son John Moyle sold this manor, in the 4th year of Henry VIII. to Hamo Videan, descended of a family of good note in this county. There is mention made of them in the Parish Register, from the first year of it, 1557, to the present time; but they have been decayed a long time, and their possessions dispersed among other owners; but there is still a green in this neighbourhood, called from them Videan's, (by the common people Vidgeon's) forstal. In his descendants it continued till the reign of King Charles II. when it was conveyed, by a joint conveyance, from that name to Mr. Tho. Thatcher, whose daughter Mary carried it in marriage to Mr. Henry Bing, of Wickhambreux, whose son John Bing (fn. 2) sold it to Mr. Edward Baker, for the satisfying his sister's fortune, whom the latter had married; and on his dying intestate, this manor descended to his four sons, Thomas Baker, clerk, Edward, Henry, and Bing Baker, who joined in alienating it, about 1771, to Thomas Knight, esq. of Godmersham, whose only son and heir of the same name died possessed of it in 1794, s. p. and by will devised this manor to Edward Austen, esq. then of Rowling, but now of Godmersham, who is the present owner of it. A court baron is held for this manor.
Chiles, alias Slow-Court, is a small manor in this parish, which some years since belonged to the family of Goatley, which had been settled here from the time of queen Mary. One of them, Laurence Goatley, died possessed of it in 1608. He then dwelt at his house in this parish, called Bedles, and was lessee of the parsonage. Searles Goatley, esq the last of this family, was brought from Maidstone a few years ago, and buried in this church. Laurence Goatley devised this manor to his third son Laurence, one of whose descendants passed it away to Moter, and in 1661 Alice Moter, alias Mother, of Bethersden, sold it to John Franklyn, gent. of this parish, whose daughter carried it in marriage to Thomas Benson, of Maidstone, and he in 1676, by fine and conveyance, passed it away to Robert Saunders, gent. of that town, as he again did in 1703 to Esther Yates, widow, of Mereworth, whose executors in 1716 conveyed it to David Fuller, gent. of Maidstone, who dying s. p. devised it in 1751 by will to his widow Mary, who at her death in 1775, gave it to her relation, William Stacy Coast, esq. now of Sevenoke, the present proprietor of it.
Charities.
Simon Ruck, gent. of Stalisfield, and Sarah his wife, by indenture in 1672, in consideration of 35l. granted to Thomas Chapman, gent. and John Thatcher, both of Molash, a piece of land containing three acres, called Stonebridge, in this parish, for the use, maintenance, and relief of the poor of this parish for ever.
Thomas Amos, yeoman, of Ospringe, by will in 1769 gave 100l. in trust, to be laid out in the public funds, and the dividends to be yearly paid, on the day of St. Thomas the Apostle, to the churchwardens, to be distributed to the most necessitous poor of Molash; which, with other money of the parish was laid out in the purchase of 125l. three per cent. reduced Bank Annuities.
The poor constantly relieved are about nine, casually twenty. five.
This Parish is within the Ecclesiastical Juris diction of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Bridge.
The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, is a small mean building, consisting of one isle and one chancel, having a pointed turret, shingled, at the west end, in which are three bells. There are several memorials of the Chapmans in this church, and in the isle is a stone, inscribed Pulvis Chapmannorum, under which is a vault, wherein several of them lie. In the chancel there is an antient gravestone, cossin-shaped, with an inscription round, in old French capitals, now, through time, illegible. The font is antient, having on it, Gules, three right hands couped, argent; a crescent for difference. In the Parish Register, which begins in 1558, are continual entries of the Videans, Goatleys, Franklyns, Thatchers, Chapmans, Moyles, and Wildish's, from that year almost to the present time. It is esteemed only as a chapel of ease to Chilham, and as such is not rated separately in the king's books.
¶The great tithes or parsonage of this parish were formerly a part of the rectory or parsonage of Chilham, and as such belonged to the alien priory of Throwley, on the suppression of which, anno 2 king Henry V. they were given to the monastery of Sion, which being dissolved by the act of 31 Henry VIII. they came, with the rest of the possessions of that house, into the king's hands, whence the parsonage of Chilham, which included this of Molash, was granted next year, together with the honor and castle, and other premises, to Sir Thomas Cheney, whose son Henry, lord Cheney, alienated the whole of them in the 10th year of queen Elizabeth, to Sir Thomas Kempe, of Wye, who in the 21st year of that reign alienated the parsonage or great tithes of this parish to William Walch, who held the same in capite, and he that year sold it to John Martyn, who as quickly passed it away to Richard Tooke, whose descendant Nicholas Tooke, in the 25th year of that reign, conveyed it in 1633, by the description of the manor of Molash, and all the glebes and tithes of this parish, to Sir James Hales, in which name it continued some time, till it was at length sold to Sir Dudley Diggs. who devised it to his nephew Anthony Palmer, esq. whose brother Dudley Palmer, esq. of Gray's Inn, in 1653, was become owner of it. It afterwards belonged to the Meads, and from them came to Sir Thomas Alston, bart. of Odell, in Bedfordshire, who lately died possessed of it, and his devisees are now entitled to it.
This church being a chapel of ease to that of Chilham, constitutes a part of that vicarage, the vicar of it being presented and institued to the vicarage of the church of Chilham, with the chapel of Molash annexed.
In 1585 here were communicants one hundred and twenty-six. In 1640 there were only forty communicants here.
St Peter's Collegiate church is Wolverhampton's most important and historic place of worship, a grand crucifiorm edifice in the heart of the city dominated by it's slender central tower. Most of the present building (with the exception of the Victorian chancel) is late medieval in the Perpendicular style, though a church has stood here for far longer, as witnessed by the Saxon cross-shaft standing in the churchyard.
The interior is impressive, the spaces tall and narrow and crowned by fine wooden ceilings studded with bosses, that over the nave being particularly fine. The outstanding furnishing is the rare medieval stone pulpit, it's staircase guarded by an amusing carved lion. There are several noteworthy monuments and some fine stained glass throughout the building.
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 colourful cassocks are notable - including the lower centre one here - of Three Kings.
Threekingham, Lincolnshire, England - Parish church of St Peter, Laundon Road
December 2019
I have been traveling to Leuven once a month for some 17 months now, and have not, until yesterday, visited the church of St Peter.
It stands in the centre of the town, opposite the ornate Town Hall, and around most of it is a wide pedestrianised area, so it doesn't feel hemmed in.
It is undergoing renovation, and a large plastic sheet separates the chancel from the rest of the church, and in the chancel, called the treasury, are many wonderful items of art. And maybe due to the €3 entrance fee, I had the chancel to myself, and just my colleagues with me when I photographed the rest.
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Saint Peter's Church (Dutch: Sint-Pieterskerk) of Leuven, Belgium, is situated on the city's Grote Markt (main market square), right across the ornate Town Hall. Built mainly in the 15th century in Brabantine Gothic style, the church has a cruciform floor plan and a low bell tower that has never been completed. It is 93 meters long.
The first church on the site, made of wood and presumably founded in 986, burned down in 1176.[1] It was replaced by a Romanesque church, made of stone, featuring a West End flanked by two round towers like at Our Lady's Basilica in Maastricht. Of the Romanesque building only part of the crypt remains, underneath the chancel of the actual church.
Construction of the present Gothic edifice, significantly larger than its predecessor, was begun approximately in 1425, and was continued for more than half a century in a remarkably uniform style, replacing the older church progressively from east (chancel) to west. Its construction period overlapped with that of the Town Hall across the Markt, and in the earlier decades of construction shared the same succession of architects as its civic neighbor: Sulpitius van Vorst to start with, followed by Jan II Keldermans and later on Matheus de Layens. In 1497 the building was practically complete,[1] although modifications, especially at the West End, continued.
In 1458, a fire struck the old Romanesque towers that still flanked the West End of the uncompleted building. The first arrangements for a new tower complex followed quickly, but were never realized. Then, in 1505, Joost Matsys (brother of painter Quentin Matsys) forged an ambitious plan to erect three colossal towers of freestone surmounted by openwork spires, which would have had a grand effect, as the central spire would rise up to about 170 m,[2] making it the world's tallest structure at the time. Insufficient ground stability and funds proved this plan impracticable, as the central tower reached less than a third of its intended height before the project was abandoned in 1541. After the height was further reduced by partial collapses from 1570 to 1604, the main tower now rises barely above the church roof; at its sides are mere stubs. The architect had, however, made a maquette of the original design, which is preserved in the southern transept.
Despite their incomplete status, the towers are mentioned on the UNESCO World Heritage List, as part of the Belfries of Belgium and France.
The church suffered severe damage in both World Wars. In 1914 a fire caused the collapse of the roof and in 1944 a bomb destroyed part of the northern side.
The reconstructed roof is surmounted at the crossing by a flèche, which, unlike the 18th-century cupola that preceded it, blends stylistically with the rest of the church.
A very late (1998) addition is the jacquemart, or golden automaton, which periodically rings a bell near the clock on the gable of the southern transept, above the main southern entrance door.
Despite the devastation during the World Wars, the church remains rich in works of art. The chancel and ambulatory were turned into a museum in 1998, where visitors can view a collection of sculptures, paintings and metalwork.
The church has two paintings by the Flemish Primitive Dirk Bouts on display, the Last Supper (1464-1468) and the Martyrdom of St Erasmus (1465). The street leading towards the West End of the church is named after the artist. The Nazis seized The Last Supper in 1942.[3] Panels from the painting had been sold legitimately to German museums in the 1800s, and Germany was forced to return all the panels as part of the required reparations of the Versailles Treaty after World War I.[3]
An elaborate stone tabernacle (1450), in the form of a hexagonal tower, soars amidst a bunch of crocketed pinnacles to a height of 12.5 meters. A creation of the architect de Layens (1450), it is an example of what is called in Dutch a sacramentstoren, or in German a Sakramentshaus, on which artists lavished more pains than on almost any other artwork.
In side chapels are the tombs of Duke Henry I of Brabant (d. 1235), his wife Matilda (d. 1211) and their daughter Marie (d. 1260). Godfrey II of Leuven is also buried in the church.
A large and elaborate oak pulpit, which is transferred from the abbey church of Ninove, is carved with a life-size representation of Norbert of Xanten falling from a horse.
One of the oldest objects in the art collection is a 12th-century wooden head, being the only remainder of a crucifix burnt in World War I.
There is also Nicolaas de Bruyne's 1442 sculpture of the Madonna and Child enthroned on the seat of wisdom (Sedes Sapientiae). The theme is still used today as the emblem of Katholieke Universiteit Leuven.
Situated off the main road into the city, just inside the city marked by the nearby Westgate. St Peter sits at the end of a narrow lane, and is easily overlooked or mistaken for a small church.
In fact it is a tardis of a church, once you walk in, the body of the church opens up revealing, for me, a confused history.
Pews have been removed and replaced with modern chairs, and seems to also be a thriving cafe, judging by the people who came in asking if it was open. On this day it was just open for viewing.
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The earliest visible part of this church is the round-headed arch at the west end of the north arcade (see drawing in Smith (1971), 103 fig 3). This has Caenstone voussoirs and sits on plain rectangular piers with side-alternate Caenstone jambs, at the top of which are plain square imposts with a plain chamfer below. The masonry is diagonally tooled and must date from the first half of the 12th century.
A bit later in date is the small tower on the south-west. This was rebuilt and largely refaced externally in the early 14th century, but inside its east arch into the south aisle is similar to the north arcade arch, but is pointed and has some Reigate stone among its Caenstone quoins. The very large and long external quoins to the tower, which have been called 'Saxo-Norman' re surely a mixture of reused Roman blocks and new Ragstone long ties of the 14th century (compare the 'long and short' work on the north west quoin of the 14th century Lady Chapel).
Soon after the tower was built, probably in the early 13th century, the south door was built. This has jambs largely of Reigate stone, and on its east side a very worn capital and base indicate a missing shaft (no doubt a Purbeck marble column). The beginning of the moulded archway over the door (also in Reigate stone) can be seen on the east, but the rest of it has been restored with plain Caenstone voussoirs. Inside the original hooks for the double doors still survive.
There is a plain font of c.1200 with a square bowl of Bethersden marble at the west end of the nave. It has a 17th century cover and iron crane for lifting it.
During the 13th century, as is commonly found, a longer new chancel was built (confirmed by documentary evidence, which shows that in rental D (Urry, 209 and 304) of c. 1200, the eastern part of the area now occupied by the chancel was still in secular hands). The most obvious evidence for this is the wide lancet on the south-east side of the chancel, which shows that the south aisle was only extended eastwards at a later date. The two wide but plain arches on the north side of the chancel have chamfers with bar stops and comb-tooling which also suggests a 13th century date. The narrower western arch in the south arcade (opposite the south door) is also a plain 13th century arch.
In the early 14th century the tower and west wall of the church was rebuilt. The west wall was realigned, presumably to allow St Peter's Lane, which bifurcated immediately north of the church, more room. At the same time a new 3-light east window was built that has similar 'Decorated' tracery to the new west window. The tower has small single light early 14th century windows in its upper stage, and a probably comtemporary (but now restored) crenellated parapet. Inside the top stage of the tower is a (probably 14th century) timber bell-frame. It was heightened and enlarged for 3 bells in the early 17th century and restored in 1968 when 4 bells were hung there (including a treble, recast in 1903, from St Margaret's Church). There are still two medieval bells in the tower, one of which (the tenor) was cast by William le Belyetere in the early 14th century. The other by William Wodewarde is a bit later (c. 1400).
Also probably of the first half of the 14th century is the new, much wider, Lady Chapel on the north east. It has one original two light window on the north, but unfortunately the east window has its tracery removed and replaced with (c. early 19th century) timber Y-tracery. Between the Lady Chapel and Chancel a fire Easter Sepulcre (with cusped and sub-cusped arches over on both sides) was inserted. Some time perhaps later in the 14th century a new wide but irregularly shaped north aisle was created west of the Lady Chapel and a new crown-post roof was erected over the whole north aisle and Lady Chapel. There is a three light window with hexofoils over at the west end of the enlarged north aisle with a square hood mould externally. However, the Petrie view from the north-west of 1801 shows only a 2 light window without upper quatre-foiled lights.
Also perhaps of the first half of the 14th century, is the rebuilt south aisle which terminated in the Chapel of St John-the-Baptist (see will of 1505). The east window is of the reticulated variety while in the south wall are 2-light, 3-light and 2-light windows all under square hood-moulds. They have all been heavily restored externally in Bathstone. There is a piscina under the eastern 2-light window with a small shelf over the damaged bowl. Between this aisle and the chancel are two contemporary plain arches with simple chamfers and (now worn) brooch-stops at the base. At about the same time the old Romanesque piers were probably demolished at the east end of the nave and two very wide but plain arches were inserted instead. The crown-post roof over the new south aisle may also be 14th century, but that over the nave is perhaps 15th century. There is also a double piscina on the south-east side of the chancel with a Perpendicular head over it, and a small window at the extreme west end of the north aisle on the north side with a simple cinque-foiled head (now into the vestry).
The only late-15th century addition to the church are probably the rood-screen and loft. The extra tie-beam here is probably part of the rood loft (a door through the south pier between the nave and chancel still survives) and the doorway from the north chapel into the late 19th century parish hall beyond. This small doorway dates from c. 1500 and presumably lead originally into a comtemporary vestry.
The major restoration of the church was in 1882, when a new parish hall to the north was built, as we have seen. Much of the external parts of the windows were restored at this time in Bathstone.
BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc.):
The 12th century work has only Caenstone for quoins with flint, reused Roman bricks, etc, for the rubble work. By the end of the 12th century Reigate stone was being introduced, and by the later 13th century Ragstone is used, and this is the most common quoin material for the 14th century work (though Caen is still used).
The usual 19th century restoration in Bathstone, while the east wall of the church was refaced in 19th century buff brick (also the upper part of the south-east buttress). The east window has recently been refaced externally in Lepine.
Bells in tower: Treble - 1903 (S B Goslin, from St Margaret's Church), 2nd 1637 (John Palmer, Canterbury) 3rd c 1400 (William Wodewarde, London), Tenor c.1325 (William Le Belyetere, Canterbury) (rehung for chiming only 1968). Some old glass also survives.
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/C-PET.htm
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St Peter's church is the only one of six Canterbury medieval churches lying on the main city thoroughfare (Westgate to St George's gate) to have survived for parish worship. The others (Holy Cross, All Saints, St Mary Bredman, St Andrews and St George's) have all been removed to assist traffic flow, incorporated into new retail developments, converted to secular use or lost to enemy bombing in World War II. The position of St Peter's parish church (not to be confused with the nearby St Peter's Methodist church) is odd - set back from the highway and tucked away behind retail shops which stand directly on St Peter's Street (Image 1). This location lies on the line of the original Roman road leading from the Westgate, suggesting a possible religious use for the site from early times. The building includes examples of materials and styles reflecting 1000 years of worship here - specific examples are listed below. Specialists have not agreed on the dating of some elements, but in general terms the original 12th century tower and nave were enlarged first with a 13th century sanctuary, followed by the wide north aisle in the early 14th century and the narrower south aisle in the later 14th century. A major refurbishment in 1882 included addition of a parish hall. From 1660 until recent years, the church was used for the annual service to mark the appointment of a new mayor - hence the need for a mace holder (more below). St Peter's closed for parish worship in 1928 but Sunday services resumed in 1953. The City Centre parish currently comprises St Peter's, St Mildred's and St Dunstan's churches.
Several red Roman tiles can be spotted amongst the flint work of the slim Norman tower
Large white quoin stones mark the corners of the tower - a mix of re-used Roman blocks and added ragstone
A single round 12th century Norman arch survives under the eastern face of the tower (Image 2)
The font (Image 3) dates from around 1200, has a square bowl and is carved from Bethersden marble - the 17th century font cover is currently kept on the floor nearby but its winding mechanism (an iron crane) of a similar date remains place
The original door hooks are also in place, whilst the late 17th century mace holder currently stands, hard to spot, high on a window ledge (Image 4)
Two brass plates may be on interest. On the north wall, the memorial to William Lovelle, rector of St George's in the 1430s, provides interesting detail of ecclesiastical dress of the period (Image 5) but has had a chequered existence: rescued from St George's church after the bombing of 1942, removed to the Cathedral Library for safe keeping, remounted in St Peter's church, taken to Whitstable for a few days in January 1978 to improve its fixings, suffered minor damage in the storms and floods that month, cleaned up and returned to St Peter's. A second brass, also on the north wall, includes several French names, reminding us of Huguenot religious refugees whose descendants were buried here in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Near the high altar, note: an Easter sepulchre, a recess used to keep the host and altar crucifix during Easter time under its ogee arch (Image 6); the simple aumbry, a small cupboard used to store chalices and the sacrament (Image 7); and the less common double piscina (Image 8) used to wash hands and communion vessels
A window in the south aisle, inserted in 1904, is by Sir Ninian Comper, who incorporated a strawberry into many of his works as a tribute to his clergyman father (the latter died whist giving strawberries to poor children). Here the strawberry appears in the bottom left corner (Image 9).
The roof structures contain many examples of 14th and 15th century crown posts
The modern rood beam and figures were erected in 1922 in memory of priest-in-charge William Beam and parishioners who gave their lives in World War I
The keys of St Peter can be seen in the weather vane above the tower.
Situated off the main road into the city, just inside the city marked by the nearby Westgate. St Peter sits at the end of a narrow lane, and is easily overlooked or mistaken for a small church.
In fact it is a tardis of a church, once you walk in, the body of the church opens up revealing, for me, a confused history.
Pews have been removed and replaced with modern chairs, and seems to also be a thriving cafe, judging by the people who came in asking if it was open. On this day it was just open for viewing.
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The earliest visible part of this church is the round-headed arch at the west end of the north arcade (see drawing in Smith (1971), 103 fig 3). This has Caenstone voussoirs and sits on plain rectangular piers with side-alternate Caenstone jambs, at the top of which are plain square imposts with a plain chamfer below. The masonry is diagonally tooled and must date from the first half of the 12th century.
A bit later in date is the small tower on the south-west. This was rebuilt and largely refaced externally in the early 14th century, but inside its east arch into the south aisle is similar to the north arcade arch, but is pointed and has some Reigate stone among its Caenstone quoins. The very large and long external quoins to the tower, which have been called 'Saxo-Norman' re surely a mixture of reused Roman blocks and new Ragstone long ties of the 14th century (compare the 'long and short' work on the north west quoin of the 14th century Lady Chapel).
Soon after the tower was built, probably in the early 13th century, the south door was built. This has jambs largely of Reigate stone, and on its east side a very worn capital and base indicate a missing shaft (no doubt a Purbeck marble column). The beginning of the moulded archway over the door (also in Reigate stone) can be seen on the east, but the rest of it has been restored with plain Caenstone voussoirs. Inside the original hooks for the double doors still survive.
There is a plain font of c.1200 with a square bowl of Bethersden marble at the west end of the nave. It has a 17th century cover and iron crane for lifting it.
During the 13th century, as is commonly found, a longer new chancel was built (confirmed by documentary evidence, which shows that in rental D (Urry, 209 and 304) of c. 1200, the eastern part of the area now occupied by the chancel was still in secular hands). The most obvious evidence for this is the wide lancet on the south-east side of the chancel, which shows that the south aisle was only extended eastwards at a later date. The two wide but plain arches on the north side of the chancel have chamfers with bar stops and comb-tooling which also suggests a 13th century date. The narrower western arch in the south arcade (opposite the south door) is also a plain 13th century arch.
In the early 14th century the tower and west wall of the church was rebuilt. The west wall was realigned, presumably to allow St Peter's Lane, which bifurcated immediately north of the church, more room. At the same time a new 3-light east window was built that has similar 'Decorated' tracery to the new west window. The tower has small single light early 14th century windows in its upper stage, and a probably comtemporary (but now restored) crenellated parapet. Inside the top stage of the tower is a (probably 14th century) timber bell-frame. It was heightened and enlarged for 3 bells in the early 17th century and restored in 1968 when 4 bells were hung there (including a treble, recast in 1903, from St Margaret's Church). There are still two medieval bells in the tower, one of which (the tenor) was cast by William le Belyetere in the early 14th century. The other by William Wodewarde is a bit later (c. 1400).
Also probably of the first half of the 14th century is the new, much wider, Lady Chapel on the north east. It has one original two light window on the north, but unfortunately the east window has its tracery removed and replaced with (c. early 19th century) timber Y-tracery. Between the Lady Chapel and Chancel a fire Easter Sepulcre (with cusped and sub-cusped arches over on both sides) was inserted. Some time perhaps later in the 14th century a new wide but irregularly shaped north aisle was created west of the Lady Chapel and a new crown-post roof was erected over the whole north aisle and Lady Chapel. There is a three light window with hexofoils over at the west end of the enlarged north aisle with a square hood mould externally. However, the Petrie view from the north-west of 1801 shows only a 2 light window without upper quatre-foiled lights.
Also perhaps of the first half of the 14th century, is the rebuilt south aisle which terminated in the Chapel of St John-the-Baptist (see will of 1505). The east window is of the reticulated variety while in the south wall are 2-light, 3-light and 2-light windows all under square hood-moulds. They have all been heavily restored externally in Bathstone. There is a piscina under the eastern 2-light window with a small shelf over the damaged bowl. Between this aisle and the chancel are two contemporary plain arches with simple chamfers and (now worn) brooch-stops at the base. At about the same time the old Romanesque piers were probably demolished at the east end of the nave and two very wide but plain arches were inserted instead. The crown-post roof over the new south aisle may also be 14th century, but that over the nave is perhaps 15th century. There is also a double piscina on the south-east side of the chancel with a Perpendicular head over it, and a small window at the extreme west end of the north aisle on the north side with a simple cinque-foiled head (now into the vestry).
The only late-15th century addition to the church are probably the rood-screen and loft. The extra tie-beam here is probably part of the rood loft (a door through the south pier between the nave and chancel still survives) and the doorway from the north chapel into the late 19th century parish hall beyond. This small doorway dates from c. 1500 and presumably lead originally into a comtemporary vestry.
The major restoration of the church was in 1882, when a new parish hall to the north was built, as we have seen. Much of the external parts of the windows were restored at this time in Bathstone.
BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc.):
The 12th century work has only Caenstone for quoins with flint, reused Roman bricks, etc, for the rubble work. By the end of the 12th century Reigate stone was being introduced, and by the later 13th century Ragstone is used, and this is the most common quoin material for the 14th century work (though Caen is still used).
The usual 19th century restoration in Bathstone, while the east wall of the church was refaced in 19th century buff brick (also the upper part of the south-east buttress). The east window has recently been refaced externally in Lepine.
Bells in tower: Treble - 1903 (S B Goslin, from St Margaret's Church), 2nd 1637 (John Palmer, Canterbury) 3rd c 1400 (William Wodewarde, London), Tenor c.1325 (William Le Belyetere, Canterbury) (rehung for chiming only 1968). Some old glass also survives.
www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/01/03/C-PET.htm
------------------------------------------------
St Peter's church is the only one of six Canterbury medieval churches lying on the main city thoroughfare (Westgate to St George's gate) to have survived for parish worship. The others (Holy Cross, All Saints, St Mary Bredman, St Andrews and St George's) have all been removed to assist traffic flow, incorporated into new retail developments, converted to secular use or lost to enemy bombing in World War II. The position of St Peter's parish church (not to be confused with the nearby St Peter's Methodist church) is odd - set back from the highway and tucked away behind retail shops which stand directly on St Peter's Street (Image 1). This location lies on the line of the original Roman road leading from the Westgate, suggesting a possible religious use for the site from early times. The building includes examples of materials and styles reflecting 1000 years of worship here - specific examples are listed below. Specialists have not agreed on the dating of some elements, but in general terms the original 12th century tower and nave were enlarged first with a 13th century sanctuary, followed by the wide north aisle in the early 14th century and the narrower south aisle in the later 14th century. A major refurbishment in 1882 included addition of a parish hall. From 1660 until recent years, the church was used for the annual service to mark the appointment of a new mayor - hence the need for a mace holder (more below). St Peter's closed for parish worship in 1928 but Sunday services resumed in 1953. The City Centre parish currently comprises St Peter's, St Mildred's and St Dunstan's churches.
Several red Roman tiles can be spotted amongst the flint work of the slim Norman tower
Large white quoin stones mark the corners of the tower - a mix of re-used Roman blocks and added ragstone
A single round 12th century Norman arch survives under the eastern face of the tower (Image 2)
The font (Image 3) dates from around 1200, has a square bowl and is carved from Bethersden marble - the 17th century font cover is currently kept on the floor nearby but its winding mechanism (an iron crane) of a similar date remains place
The original door hooks are also in place, whilst the late 17th century mace holder currently stands, hard to spot, high on a window ledge (Image 4)
Two brass plates may be on interest. On the north wall, the memorial to William Lovelle, rector of St George's in the 1430s, provides interesting detail of ecclesiastical dress of the period (Image 5) but has had a chequered existence: rescued from St George's church after the bombing of 1942, removed to the Cathedral Library for safe keeping, remounted in St Peter's church, taken to Whitstable for a few days in January 1978 to improve its fixings, suffered minor damage in the storms and floods that month, cleaned up and returned to St Peter's. A second brass, also on the north wall, includes several French names, reminding us of Huguenot religious refugees whose descendants were buried here in the 17th and 18th centuries.
Near the high altar, note: an Easter sepulchre, a recess used to keep the host and altar crucifix during Easter time under its ogee arch (Image 6); the simple aumbry, a small cupboard used to store chalices and the sacrament (Image 7); and the less common double piscina (Image 8) used to wash hands and communion vessels
A window in the south aisle, inserted in 1904, is by Sir Ninian Comper, who incorporated a strawberry into many of his works as a tribute to his clergyman father (the latter died whist giving strawberries to poor children). Here the strawberry appears in the bottom left corner (Image 9).
The roof structures contain many examples of 14th and 15th century crown posts
The modern rood beam and figures were erected in 1922 in memory of priest-in-charge William Beam and parishioners who gave their lives in World War I
The keys of St Peter can be seen in the weather vane above the tower.
www.canterbury-archaeology.org.uk/stpeter/4590809560
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Early sunset in winter - St. Peter's Basilica in late daylight.
St. Peter's Basilica is of course part of Vatican City (officially the "State of Vatican City") a walled enclave within the city of Rome. But with an area of about 44 hectares, and a population of about 850 it is the smallest state in the world and so I merge it into Rome and Italy.
St. Peter's Basilica of today replaced "Old St. Peter's Basilica", that existed from the 4th to the 16th century, when the construction on the new basilica started. Charlemagne was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire in "Old St. Peter" in 800.
(New) St. Peter's Basilica, designed principally by Donato Bramante, Michelangelo, Carlo Maderno and Gian Lorenzo Bernini is the most renowned work of Renaissance architecture, completed in 1590. It is one of the largest churches worldwide .
Seen in the center of the "St. Peter's Square" is the Vatican Obelisk, that was originally taken by Caligula from Heliopolis in Egypt. Next to the obelisk is a christmas tree and a large crib.
This is what must have been the 4th time I have visited St Peter Old Church. The first was on a Good Friday a few years back, and when I approached the church, there was a service on. Another time there was a wedding, and further, on a Heritage Weekend, it failed to open.
So, when visiting the area at the beginning of the month, I mentioned that St Peter had been a bugbear of mine, Tim said its only a couple of miles away, we could try now.
Of course, driving from a different direction, not along the main road, I did not realise how close we were.
So, we would try.
Apart from the dowser in the churchyard, who was scattering, or rather placing, dozens of small pieces of white cloth about, but would move them if I wanted. I said no thanks, and left him to his stick waggling. Or that is what I said to Tim, but of course, I do not know if dowsing is any good, or what he was dowsing for.
Inside the church, several ladies were making busy, preparing the church for the next day's harvest festival, so many of them are in the shots, but it makes for a very welcoming sight indeed.
So very good to finally get inside, and many thanks to Tim for taking me.
--------------------------------------------------
A much restored Norman church, with a tiny twelfth-century window set just above the (later) porch roof. There is a good example of a fifteenth-century low side window in the south-west corner of the chancel. The pews, pulpit and tiles are typical of mid-nineteenth century restorations, yet above is the fine nave roof of the usual crownpost type. It displays nicely pierced spandrels with a quatrefoil and dagger design. In 1846 Lord Camden built a new church on the main road in the village centre. Even so the old church is extremely well maintained and much loved in the neighbourhood. The churchyard contains many good headstones including one to Sir Morton Peto, the famous nineteenth-century engineer.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Pembury+1
The first known record of Pembury, originally Pepingeberia, is to be found in the 'Textus Roffensis' (c1120). It tells of the manors of Pepenbury Magna (Hawkwell) and Pepenbury Parva (Bayhall).
The Advowson was granted by Simon de Wahull to Bayham Abbey c1239. (Advowson is the right in English Law of presenting a nominee to a vacant parish. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish).
Pembury has two churches dedicated to St Peter. The oldest, known as the Old Church, stands outside the modern village in the woods to the north of the A228 bypass. The newer building, known as the Upper Church, stands in the heart of the village on Hastings Road.
The plan of the Old Church and the little Norman window above the South door indicate that the original Church dates from 1147 at least, or even 1100AD. Most of the present Church was built in 1337 by John Colepeper of Bayhall. He also built the chantry chapel of St Mary in the churchyard in 1355 but this was pulled down at the Dissolution of the smaller Monasteries in 1547 and three windows in the body of the Church were inserted with the money gained from the sale of the lead which had covered the chapel.
The most notable feature inside the Church is the roof of the nave. It is said to be one of the best specimens of the tie-beam and kingpost type in the country.
On the north wall near the pulpit there is an interesting brass with an inscription and a figure of an Elizabethan child, Elizabeth Rowe. There are two slabs set into the Sanctuary floor in memory of Dorothy Amherst (1654) and Richard Amherst (1664). The Amherst family owned the manor of Bayhall at this time.
During the nineteenth century a number of alterations were made to the Church, including the raising of the Chancel floor. This meant that the oldest tombstone was completely covered over. The inscription round the edge of the slab, written in Norman French, tells is that it is the resting place of Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper.
Among the other memorial tablets there are several of the Woodgate family, three of whom were vicars of Pembury in the nineteenth century. Under the tower is a memorial to Lord George Spencer-Churchill.
The Organ, which has one manual and a pedal-board, dates back to 1877. It was made by Hill and Son, London, and cost £130. The organ was fully restored to its former glory in 2006. There are four bells which are now fitted with a chiming apparatus so that they can be rung by one person.
www.pemburychurch.net/pembury_old_church.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Pembury is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, has a spire steeple at the west end. It was built by one of the family of Colepeper, patrons of it, and most probably by John Colepeper, esq. in the reign of king Edward III. for on the three buttresses on the south side of the chancel, there remain three shields of coat armour, each carved on an entire stone of about two feet and an half in depth, and the breadth equal with that of the buttress, which shews them to be coeval with that of the building itself. On the first is a rectangular cross; the second is the coat armour of Hardreshull, A chevron between eight martlets, viz. five and three, the above-mentioned John Colepeper having married the coheir of that family; the third is that of Colepeper, a bend engrailed. On a very antient stone on the pavement of the chancel, is an antient inscription in old French, for Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, which seems as early as the above mentioned reign. There are several monuments and memorials in it of the family of Amherst and their re latives; an inscription and figure in brass for Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Rowe, esq. of Hawkwell, anno 1607; a tomb for George Bolney, esq. who married a Wybarne; and in the porch are two antient stones with crosses on them.
¶The advowson of the church of Pembury was given with it, by Simon de Wahull, to the abbey of Begham, in Sussex, in pure and perpetual alms, as has been already mentioned.
¶Pope Gregory IX. anno 1239, granted licence to the abbot and convent to hold this church, then of their patronage, and not of greater value than ten marcs, as an appropriation upon the first vacancy of it, reserving, a competent portion for a vicar out of the profits of it. Notwithstanding which, it was not appropriated till the year 1278, when Richard Oliver, the rector, resigned it into the hands of John de Bradfield, bishop of Rochester, who granted his letters mandatory, for the induction of the abbot and convent into the corporal possession of the church, with its appurtenances, according to the tenor of the above-mentioned bull. (fn. 7)
¶The parsonage of the church of Pembury, with the advowson of the vicarage appendant to the manor, continued with the abbey of Begham till the dissolution of it in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, after which it passed in the same tract of ownership as the manor of Pembury, and appendant to it, till it became the property of William Woodgate, esq. lord of that manor, and the present patron of it.
¶It is a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of 46l. 10s. the yearly tenths of which are 12s. 8d.
¶Charles Amherst, esq. of Bayhall, by his will in 1702, gave as an augmentation to this vicarage, the sum of ten pounds to be paid yearly by such persons to whom the manor of Bayhall, with its appurtenances, should come and remain after his death.
¶In 1733 the Rev. George May, vicar, augmented it with the sum of 100l. 17s. 6d. to entitle it to the benefit of queen Anne's bounty.
¶There is an annual pension of forty shillings paid out of the parsonage to the vicar, which was settled on him and his successors, at the time of the appropriation of this church. The tithes of corn and grain of which this parsonage consists are now worth about one hundred and twenty pounds per annum.
¶The vicarage is now worth about one hundred and fifty pounds per annum.
St Peter's, Southrop
Location in Gloucestershire
Coordinates:51.7291°N 1.7088°W
OS grid reference SP 20209 03420
Denomination Anglican
Status Parish church
Functional status Active
Heritage designation Grade I
Administration Deanery Fairford
Archdeaconry Cheltenham
Diocese Gloucester
Province Canterbury
St Peter's Church is an Anglican church in Southrop, a Cotswolds village in the English county of Gloucestershire.
It is an active parish church in the Diocese of Gloucester and the archdeaconry of Cheltenham. It has been designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage.
The church—on the site of an older structure—dates from the 12th century.
History and assessment
A church existed on the site in Anglo-Saxon times. The earliest part of the current structure dates from the 12th century.[1][2]
The Rev. John Keble was vicar of St Peter's from 1823–1825.[3] During his time at Southrop, he found a Norman-style circular baptismal font in the church wall.[4]
St Peter's was designated a Grade I listed building by English Heritage on 16 January 1961.[1] The Grade I designation—the highest of the three grades—is for buildings "of exceptional interest, sometimes considered to be internationally important".[5] In his 1982 work Cotswold Churches, David Verey described St Peter's as a "most precious" church.[2]
An active parish church in the Church of England, St Peter's is part of the Diocese of Gloucester, which is in the Province of Canterbury. It is in the archdeaconry of Cheltenham and the Deanery of Fairford.[6]
Model Kate Moss and guitarist Jamie Hince were married at the church on 2 July 2011.
St Peter's is built of limestone rubble and has a stone slate roof.[1]
The masonry has herringbone work.[2]
The plan consists of a nave with a south transept, a porch to the north, and a chancel to the east.[1]
The north entrance is Norman-style; the round arch of the porch has roll moulding.
The church doorway's jamb shafts have capitals with volutes. In the hood mould there is a tympanum with a diaper pattern.[2]
The north and south nave walls each have a window dating from the 12th century, and a later two-light window from the 19th century.
The nave also has a three-light Perpendicular style window with tracery.
The east window in the chancel contains stained glass from 1852 designed by Thomas Willement.[1]
Interior and fittings
The arch between the nave and chancel is Norman-style without moulding.[2]
There are two piscinae (basins) in the south wall of the chancel.[1]
The baptismal font discovered by Rev. John Keble in the 1820s is circular. It has eight arches and relief figures that include the Virtues (depicted as trampling the vices underfoot) and Moses.[2][4]
Monuments inside the church include effigies to Thomas and Elizabeth Conway, and memorials to the Keble family.[1][8]
See also
Grade I listed buildings in Gloucestershire
References
Footnotes
1.^ a b c d e f g "Church of St Peter". National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
2.^ a b c d e f Verey, pp. 106–107
3.^ Moore, p. 89
4.^ a b Moore, p. 90
5.^ "Listed Buildings". National Heritage List for England. English Heritage. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
6.^ "St Peter, Southrop". A Church Near You. Archbishops' Council. 2010. Retrieved 2 July 2011.
7.^ "Kate Moss and Jamie Hince Wedding Shuts Roads". BBC News. BBC. 2 July 2011. Retrieved 10 July 2011.
8.^ Moore, p. 91
Bibliography
Moore, John Frewen (1867). Memorials of the Rev. J. Keble. OCLC 53703981.
Verey, David (1982). Cotswold Churches. London: B.T. Batsford. ISBN 0-7134-3054-0.
[edit] External links
Media related to St Peter's Church, Southrop at Wikimedia Commons
St Peter & St Paul
In common with many medieval churches in Norfolk, Fakenham church probably existed in some shape or form during Saxon times. Stones in the north east corner bear witness to this so worship has gone on here for over a thousand years.
The doorway in the north aisle formed part of the post-conquest Early English building. During the 14th century the Nave and Chancel were built in the Decorated style with the impressive 115 foot tower added in the 15th century.
The building was much neglected during the 16th century, the rector in 1597, Dr Robert West, commenting that the chancel was ‘ruinous and decayed for want of tiling, glassing and paving.’
Major restoration took place in Victorian times and the present nave and chancel roofs date from this period, as do the pine pews.
During the war the church narrowly escaped damage from a stick of bombs in 1941. After the war and up to the present, considerable investment has helped maintain and improve the fabric of this splendid building in the heart of the town.
A circular stairway of 146 steps climbs to the top of the tower, passing the ringing room en route. After a period of silence, the eight bells now ring out regularly every week. In 1828, battlements, pinnacles and weather vanes were added to the summit. The clock face, recently renovated, measures 10 feet across. Its hands are 5 and 6 feet long. British and other national flags are regularly flown from the tower to mark special occasions.
The Porch entrance may have been added when the tower was built. It formerly had an upper room, said to have been used as a powder magazine in the early 1600s.
The octagonal font is from the 15th century, its eight panels depicting the emblems of the four evangelists, the Passion, the Trinity and the Royal Arms. An empty panel may have represented the Crucifixion, removed during the Reformation.
A Poor Box at the west end went missing in the 19th century. It was found in Thomas Charlton’s brewery in Hall Staithe and returned in 1888. The date on it is 1665 – the year of the Great Plague of London.
Four small brasses are set in the floor outside the Trinity Room entrance. They date from around 1470 with one word on each – Jhu, Merci, Ladi and Help.
The Nave pews date from the Victorian restoration period. Those in the north aisle were recently removed to make way for the Trinity Room. The oldest tombstone in the Nave floor dates from 1689 in memory of Covenant Hempsterley. The fine brass eagle lectern was donated by Eliza Damant in 1887 in memory of her husband, a ‘surgeon of this town’.
The Chancel Screen dates from the 14th century but was much restored in 1864. The painting behind the Altar shows St Peter and St Paul and the writers of the four gospels. On the south side of the Chancel is the splendid 14th century Sedilia, the four stalls including a piscina used for washing the communion vessels.
The organ, one of the best in the county, was installed in 1926. It had a major overhaul in 1988, new trombone and pedal stops in the 1990s and a thorough cleaning in 2006. On the north wall is a painting of St.Cecilia, patron saint of organists and music.
A chapel dedicated to St Mary Magdalen was created in the south aisle in 1975. It contains an oil painting of a former rector, Dr John Hacket, painted by Joseph Highmore. The south aisle also acknowledges Dr.Edward Palin, who practiced in Fakenham for 32 years and provides a link for the town with one Michael Palin; and General Sir Harry Tuzo who was Deputy Supreme Allied Commander in Europe from 1976-78.
The Clerestory windows were replaced in 1968. The magnificent stained glass East window was donated by the Reverend Charles Norris in 1805. It illustrates detailed scenes of the life of Christ. The tinted glass in the Tower window was replaced with clear glass in 2007 and re-dedicated in 2008 by former rector the Venerable Hugh Buckingham. In 1890 a stained glass window was placed at the east end of the south aisle in memory of Elizabeth Edgar. The only medieval glass in the church is in the roundel in the westernmost window of the north aisle.
Since 1989, the church tower has been floodlit at night thanks to an anonymous donor and the town council, which pays for the running costs. It is a beacon of light for miles around, an inspiration to those who know and love this ancient and enduring building.
This is what must have been the 4th time I have visited St Peter Old Church. The first was on a Good Friday a few years back, and when I approached the church, there was a service on. Another time there was a wedding, and further, on a Heritage Weekend, it failed to open.
So, when visiting the area at the beginning of the month, I mentioned that St Peter had been a bugbear of mine, Tim said its only a couple of miles away, we could try now.
Of course, driving from a different direction, not along the main road, I did not realise how close we were.
So, we would try.
Apart from the dowser in the churchyard, who was scattering, or rather placing, dozens of small pieces of white cloth about, but would move them if I wanted. I said no thanks, and left him to his stick waggling. Or that is what I said to Tim, but of course, I do not know if dowsing is any good, or what he was dowsing for.
Inside the church, several ladies were making busy, preparing the church for the next day's harvest festival, so many of them are in the shots, but it makes for a very welcoming sight indeed.
So very good to finally get inside, and many thanks to Tim for taking me.
--------------------------------------------------
A much restored Norman church, with a tiny twelfth-century window set just above the (later) porch roof. There is a good example of a fifteenth-century low side window in the south-west corner of the chancel. The pews, pulpit and tiles are typical of mid-nineteenth century restorations, yet above is the fine nave roof of the usual crownpost type. It displays nicely pierced spandrels with a quatrefoil and dagger design. In 1846 Lord Camden built a new church on the main road in the village centre. Even so the old church is extremely well maintained and much loved in the neighbourhood. The churchyard contains many good headstones including one to Sir Morton Peto, the famous nineteenth-century engineer.
www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Pembury+1
The first known record of Pembury, originally Pepingeberia, is to be found in the 'Textus Roffensis' (c1120). It tells of the manors of Pepenbury Magna (Hawkwell) and Pepenbury Parva (Bayhall).
The Advowson was granted by Simon de Wahull to Bayham Abbey c1239. (Advowson is the right in English Law of presenting a nominee to a vacant parish. In effect this means the right to nominate a person to hold a church office in a parish).
Pembury has two churches dedicated to St Peter. The oldest, known as the Old Church, stands outside the modern village in the woods to the north of the A228 bypass. The newer building, known as the Upper Church, stands in the heart of the village on Hastings Road.
The plan of the Old Church and the little Norman window above the South door indicate that the original Church dates from 1147 at least, or even 1100AD. Most of the present Church was built in 1337 by John Colepeper of Bayhall. He also built the chantry chapel of St Mary in the churchyard in 1355 but this was pulled down at the Dissolution of the smaller Monasteries in 1547 and three windows in the body of the Church were inserted with the money gained from the sale of the lead which had covered the chapel.
The most notable feature inside the Church is the roof of the nave. It is said to be one of the best specimens of the tie-beam and kingpost type in the country.
On the north wall near the pulpit there is an interesting brass with an inscription and a figure of an Elizabethan child, Elizabeth Rowe. There are two slabs set into the Sanctuary floor in memory of Dorothy Amherst (1654) and Richard Amherst (1664). The Amherst family owned the manor of Bayhall at this time.
During the nineteenth century a number of alterations were made to the Church, including the raising of the Chancel floor. This meant that the oldest tombstone was completely covered over. The inscription round the edge of the slab, written in Norman French, tells is that it is the resting place of Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper.
Among the other memorial tablets there are several of the Woodgate family, three of whom were vicars of Pembury in the nineteenth century. Under the tower is a memorial to Lord George Spencer-Churchill.
The Organ, which has one manual and a pedal-board, dates back to 1877. It was made by Hill and Son, London, and cost £130. The organ was fully restored to its former glory in 2006. There are four bells which are now fitted with a chiming apparatus so that they can be rung by one person.
www.pemburychurch.net/pembury_old_church.htm
-------------------------------------------------
Pembury is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester and deanry of Malling.
¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, has a spire steeple at the west end. It was built by one of the family of Colepeper, patrons of it, and most probably by John Colepeper, esq. in the reign of king Edward III. for on the three buttresses on the south side of the chancel, there remain three shields of coat armour, each carved on an entire stone of about two feet and an half in depth, and the breadth equal with that of the buttress, which shews them to be coeval with that of the building itself. On the first is a rectangular cross; the second is the coat armour of Hardreshull, A chevron between eight martlets, viz. five and three, the above-mentioned John Colepeper having married the coheir of that family; the third is that of Colepeper, a bend engrailed. On a very antient stone on the pavement of the chancel, is an antient inscription in old French, for Margaret, the daughter of Sir Thomas Colepeper, which seems as early as the above mentioned reign. There are several monuments and memorials in it of the family of Amherst and their re latives; an inscription and figure in brass for Elizabeth, daughter of Richard Rowe, esq. of Hawkwell, anno 1607; a tomb for George Bolney, esq. who married a Wybarne; and in the porch are two antient stones with crosses on them.
¶The advowson of the church of Pembury was given with it, by Simon de Wahull, to the abbey of Begham, in Sussex, in pure and perpetual alms, as has been already mentioned.
¶Pope Gregory IX. anno 1239, granted licence to the abbot and convent to hold this church, then of their patronage, and not of greater value than ten marcs, as an appropriation upon the first vacancy of it, reserving, a competent portion for a vicar out of the profits of it. Notwithstanding which, it was not appropriated till the year 1278, when Richard Oliver, the rector, resigned it into the hands of John de Bradfield, bishop of Rochester, who granted his letters mandatory, for the induction of the abbot and convent into the corporal possession of the church, with its appurtenances, according to the tenor of the above-mentioned bull. (fn. 7)
¶The parsonage of the church of Pembury, with the advowson of the vicarage appendant to the manor, continued with the abbey of Begham till the dissolution of it in the 17th year of king Henry VIII. when it was surrendered into the king's hands, after which it passed in the same tract of ownership as the manor of Pembury, and appendant to it, till it became the property of William Woodgate, esq. lord of that manor, and the present patron of it.
¶It is a discharged living, of the clear yearly certified value of 46l. 10s. the yearly tenths of which are 12s. 8d.
¶Charles Amherst, esq. of Bayhall, by his will in 1702, gave as an augmentation to this vicarage, the sum of ten pounds to be paid yearly by such persons to whom the manor of Bayhall, with its appurtenances, should come and remain after his death.
¶In 1733 the Rev. George May, vicar, augmented it with the sum of 100l. 17s. 6d. to entitle it to the benefit of queen Anne's bounty.
¶There is an annual pension of forty shillings paid out of the parsonage to the vicar, which was settled on him and his successors, at the time of the appropriation of this church. The tithes of corn and grain of which this parsonage consists are now worth about one hundred and twenty pounds per annum.
¶The vicarage is now worth about one hundred and fifty pounds per annum.
South aisle 1851, Edmund Pearce, rest of church, 1855-79, G E Street, large, Purbeck stone with Bath stone dressings, built in stages and fitted out gradually. Dominating west tower, 1869, and spire (important landmark, 202 ft high), 1879: west door up steps with 4-light Geometrical window over, 3rd stage with steeply pointed blind arcade with encircled quatrefoils in spandrels, belfry with paired 2-light windows, elaborate foliage-carved cornice and arcaded panelled parapet, spire of Midlands type, octagonal with 3 tiers of lucarnes and flying buttresses springing from gabled pinnacles with statues (by Redfern) in niches. Western transepts with 4-light Geometrical windows, 1874. Nave, 1855-9, has clerestory of 5 pairs of 2-light plate tracery windows between broad flat buttresses, with red sandstone bands to walls and voussoirs and foliage medallions in spandrels. North aisle has narrow cinquefoiled lancets, Pearce's south aisle 2-light Geometrical windows (glass by Wailes, 1852-9); gabled south porch with foliage-carved arch of 3 order and inner arcade to lancet windows. South transept gable window 4-light plate tracery, south-east sacristy added 1906 (Sir T G Jackson). North transept gable has 5 stepped cinquefoiled lancets under hoodmould, north-east vestries, built in Street style by H E Hawker, 1914-15, have 2 east gables. Big pairs of buttresses clasp corners of chancel, with 5-light Geometrical window- south chapel. Nave arcade of 5 bays, double-chamfered arches on octagonal colunms, black marble colonnettes to clerestory. Wall surfaces painted in 1873-7 by Clayton and Bell, medallions in spandrels, Rood in big trefoil over chancel arch, roof of arched braces on hammerbeams on black marble wall shafts, kingposts high up. North aisle lancets embraced by continuous trefoil-headed arcade on marble colonnettes, excellent early glass by Clayton and Bell, War Shrine Crucifix by Comper, l917. Western arch of nave of Wells strainer type with big openwork roundels in spandrels. Tower arch on piers with unusual fluting of classical type, glass in tower windows by Clayton and Bell. South-west transept has font by Street, 1855, octagonal with grey marble inlay in trefoil panels, south window glass by Percy Bacon, 1896. Chancel arch on black shafts on corbels, low marble chancel screen with iron railing. Pulpit, by Street, carved by Earp, exhibited 1862 Exhibition: circular, pink marble and alabaster with marble-oolumned trefoil-headed arcaded over frieze of inlaid panels, on short marble columns, tall angel supporting desk. Lectern:
brass eagle 1872 (made by Potter) with railings to steps by Comper, 1915. Chancel, 1863-4, has 2-bay choir has elaborate dogtooth and foliage-carved arches on foliage capitals, with clustered shafts of pink marble and stone, sculptured scenes by Earp in cusped vesica panels in spandrels, pointed boarded wagon roof with painted patterning by Booley and Garner, 1891. Choir stalls with poppyheads, 1874, by Street, also by Street (made by Leaver of Maidenhead) the ornate and excellent parclose screens of openwork iron on twisted brass colunms, pavement by Comper, l9l5. Sanctuary, also 2 bays, rib-vaulted, with clustered marble wall shafts with shaft rings and foliage capitals, painted deocrations by Sir Arthur Blomfield, 1899 (executed by Powells). First bay has sedilia on both sides (within main arcade), backed by double arcade of alternating columns of pink alabaster (twisted)and black marble. Second bay aisleless, lined by Powell mosaics. East window has fine glass by Clayton and Bell, designed by Street, 1866. Reredos by Redfern, also designed by Street has Majestas in vesica flanked by angels, under gabled canopies, flanked by purple and green twisted marble columns, flanking Powell mosaics of angels, 1899, echoing design of predecessors by Burne-Jones which disintegrated. North transept screen to aisle by Comper, 1915, Minstrel Window by Clayton and Bell, 1874, sculpture of Christ and St Peter over doorway by Earp. South transept screen to aisle and altar cross and candlesticks to chapel by Sir T G Jackson, l906, murals by Heaton, Butler and Bayne, 1908, windows in transept and over altar by Clayton and Bell, 1867, and to south of chapel (particularly good) by Morris, Marshall, Faulkner and Co, 1864.
It is the weekend. Again.
And with Jools suffering a relapse in her chesty cough, we slept late and I said I'd go to Tesco first thing, before coffee, and she could get dressed in her own time.
So I grabbed my coat, the shoppings bags and shopping list, put them in the car and drove to Tesco. First up was to fill the car with petrol, then drive roud to park up, get a trolley and head into the store, grabbing a scanner on the way in.
Apart from the weekly things, I got some stuffing mix and more blocks of butter for Christmas. Meaning that apart from the fruit and veg and milk, we are all abut done here.
Yay us.
Back home for coffee, unload the car and put shopping away, before finally having breakfast 1 of fruit then bacone butties and brews for breakfast 2.
That's better.
The plan for the day was for some local churchcrawling. After some internet research I had the name of the keyholder at Bekesbourne, I called but was told she was out but would be back "soon". OK, in which case we would visit some other nearby churches and go there last.
Not far to Barham from Chez Jelltex, just along the A2, overtaking lorries and slow cars until we turned off at Wootton, down past the filling station and into Barham, stopping on the road beside the church.
Barham is always open, I thought, no worries here. As I got out all my camera gear and lugged it over the road and through the churchyard.
Round on the north sade, we arrive at the porch and I find the door is locked after all. No news of a keyholder, but next week there is a coffee morning. If we feel OK after our COVID booster, we might go along.
Its a short drive along the Elham Valley to Bridge. And yes there is really a place called Bridge, and it does have a bridge. A bridge in Bridge, which takes the old Watling Street and high road over the bed of the Nailbourne.
Bridge never lets us down. And indeed it was upen, door ajar, and soon a warden came and put all the lights on so snapping was easier. I'd not missed much on previous visits, but with a new-ish lens, it was always worth in redoing shots. I did have the big lens with me, great for details of carvings and in staned glass windows, which I photograph enthuiastically.
From Bridge, its a five minute drive to Patrixbourne.
I wanted to come back here to take close up details of the Tympanum and rose window from the outside, so it wasn't too much of a loss that the door was locked after all.
So, I set about getting my shots and rattle off a couple of hundred.
Back to the car, and next village along is Bekesbourne, where I had called earlier. The keyholder lives in a "large while building opposite the church", the website said. Yes, it's a palace.
An actual palace.
So, there was scruffy me shambling up the large door, ringing the bell and asking if the church keayholder was in.
She wasn't.
And her husband wasn't too keen on letting me have it.
Now I know how to get it, there'll be plenty of other times.
I leave, but on the way back to the main road, a large Audi passes us, and pretty much the only place she could be going was the palace: should we go back?
No, there'll be other times.
I have an idea to go to Swingfield on the way. I mean its just off the main road.
Swingfield has very strong links with the Knights Templar, and the Cammandary in the village is somewhere I have been trying to get into for a decade.
More on that another time.
But there is also a church, now in the care of the CCT, set down a narrow lane off what counts as the main road through the village, to Swingfield Street, as the signpost says.
St Peter is a large church, but it has hardly any monuments, and really only one fairly new window.
Despite being just a few miles outside Dover, Jools has never been here, or knew the village was here.
We're only here because of the mania of mine for churchcrawling.
I get my shots and we leave for home.
We head home, back along the A2, but calling in at Jen's to do some admin. That done it was back home, all back by one, and ready for some more World Cup action from the sofa.
Lunch was pizza and beer, done in ten minutes and easy as anything, so the main task of the day was to fight my heavy eyelids that threatened to send me to sleep.
Argentina beat Mexico in a bad tempered game, then France beat Denmark 2-1, by which time it was nine and time for bed.
Phew.
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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
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SWINGFIELD.
WRITTEN in antient deeds both Swynefelde and Swinfield, lies the next adjoining parish eastward from Acrise.
THIS PARISH lies in a very lonely and unfrequented country, most of it is upon high ground. The church stands in the north-east part of it, having a small village near it. On the eastern side of the minnis is Foxhole, late belonging to Mr. James Hammond, of Dover; and Smersole, formerly belonging to a family of the same name, afterwards to the Simmons's then to Mr. George Rigden, of Wingham, who sold it a few years ago to the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, of Wotton, the present owner of it. At the west end of the minnis is the hamlet of Selsted, the principal farm in which belongs to Mr. Brydges, of Denton. There are several coppice woods in this parish, the largest of which are at the north and southern extremities of it; the former of which is called Swingfield park, consisting of 185 acres. It formerly belonged to the Strangford family, afterwards to the famous Algernon Sidney, who mortgaged it to one of the family of Rushout, who purchased and then sold their interest in it to Edw. Brydges, esq. and it now belongs to his eldest son, the Rev. Mr. Bridges, of Wotton. The soil is much better than most on these hills, especially adjoining to St. John's, where it is less covered with flints, and the fields are more level, larger, and more open. In the western part of this parish is the large common, called Swingfieldminnis, which lies, the greatest part, within it, and the remainder in Acrise and Eleham. It is about two miles and an half long, and not quite half a mile wide, consisting of about 550 acres of land. The property of this minnis was always supposed to belong to the crown, accordingly after the death of Charles I. when the royal lands were surveyed, in order to their being sold for the public use, it was returned, that this minnis contained 540 acres, of the annual improved rent of two hundred and sixteen pounds, which they finding to lie in common, imagined it to belong to the crown; but Colonel Dixwell, owner of the barony and hundred of Folkestone, claimed it as paramount, as lying within it, alledging, that the seeding and commonage thereupon was enjoyed by the inhabitants of the parishes before-mentioned, with all such other persons bordering thereto; and who had any lands adjoining, on paying to him some small acknowledgment for the same, as lord paramount, which he said had been enjoyed by him and his ancestors for many generations; and the earl of Radnor, now lord paramount, and owner of the barony and hundred of Folkestone, claims as such a like right to it.
In 1745 there was a large assembly of the noblemen, gentry, and commonalty of the eastern parts of this county, to the number of four thousand, who met here accoutred with arms and ammunition, to oppose any invasion which might be made on these coasts, of which there was then great apprehension in this county.
THIS PARISH was part of those lands which made up the barony of Averenches, or Folkestone as it was afterwards called. The manors of Folkestone and Tirlingbam claim paramount over it, subordinate to which are THE MANORS OF NORTH, alias HALL-COURT, and Boynton, alias BONNINGTON, which were the two moieties of which the manor of Swingfield once consisted; the former of which appears by antient records to have been held by a family of the name of Swynefeld, and the latter by that of Bonnington; both being held by the performance of ward to the castle of Dover.
John de Criol, younger son of Bertram, died possessed of the manor of Boyton anno 48 Henry III. whose descendant Nocholas Criol, in the 3d year of king Richard II. gave it to John Fineaux, esq. in gratitude for his having saved his life at the battle of Poictiers, and he seems to have been possessed of both Boynton and North-court; but whether the latter came to him by the above gift, or by descent, I am not certain, only that they both continued in his descendants till John Fineux, esq. of Herne, the grandson of Sir John Fineux, chief justice of the king's bench, who was born here and afterwards resided at Herne, (fn. 1) leaving an only daughter and heir Elizabeth. She entitled her husband Sir John Smythe, of Westenhanger, to the possession of them, whose grandson Philip, viscount Strangford, conveyed them to trustees for the payment of his debts; and they, at the latter end of king Charles II.'s reign, alienated them to William Gomeldon, esq. of Sellindge, whose son Richard, anno 10 queen Anne, obtained an act for the sale of the manors of Northcourt and Bointon, for the discharging of his incumbrances, and immediately afterwards passed them away by sale to Sir Henry Furnese, bart. of Waldershare, whose grand-daughter Catherine, countess of Guildford, at her death in 1767, devised them by will to her husband Francis, earl of Guildford, whose grandson the right hon. George Augustus, earl of Guildford, is the present possessor of them.
ST. JOHN'S, as it is now usually called, was formerly a preceptory, appertaining to the order of the knights of St. John of Jerusalem, to whom it belonged in king Henry II.'s reign. A preceptory was a mansion, of which sort they had several in different places, in which some of their brethren were placed, to take care of their lands and estates in the neighbourhood of them. This preceptory appears to have had several benefactions of lands made to it. This preceptory, with the lands belonging to it, continued as such till the general dissolution of this order of knights, in the 33d year of king Henry VIII when they were suppressed by an act then specially passed for that purpose, and all their lands and revenues given to the king; this preceptory being then valued at 87l. 3s. 3½d. clear, and 111l. 12s. 8d. total annual revenue. But it did not remain long in the hands of the crown; for the king, in his 33d year, granted it to Sir Anthony Aucher, of Orterden, by the description of the late monastery of Swynfield, and the rectory of the same, to hold in capite by knight's service, and he, anno 5 Edward VI. passed it away to Sir Henry Palmer, of Wingham, whose son of the same name was created a baronet, and in his descendants it continued down to Sir Thomas Palmer, bart. who died in 1723, and by will bequeathed it to his natural son Herbert Palmer, esq. who died likewise s. p. in 1760, and by his will devised it first to trustees for the payment of his debts, and lastly to his sister Mrs. Frances Palmer, in tail. These trustees refusing to accept the trust, the court of chancery decreed, this estate among others to be sold for that purpose, for the term of ninety-nine years, to commence from his death; which it accordingly was, in 1777, to the Rev. Dr. Thomas Hey, of Wickhambreux, who likewise became entitled to the fee of it by the will of Mrs. Frances Palmer abovementioned, who having suffered a recovery of it, and barred the entails, had devised it to him at her death in 1770. He sold it in 1792 to Samuel Egerton Bridges, esq. of Denton, the present possessor of it.
There is much remaining of this antient building of the preceptory, now made use of as the farm-house of the estate, particularly the east end, which is lofty and handsome, in which are three narrow lancet windows with pointed arches, and three circular ones above them. This remains in its original state, and seems to have been part of the chapel, which no doubt adjoined to the mansion of it.
Richard de Swinfield, S. T. P. a native of this parish, was bishop of Hereford. He died anno 1316, and was buried in his own cathedral. He filled all the dignities of his church with Kentish men, of which two were likewise of the name of this parish.
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's Square
Gloucester MA, 01930
www.discovergloucester.com/venue/st-peters-square/?tribe_...
The HarborWalk winds through Historic Downtown Gloucester where you will find shops, art galleries, museums, historic homes and a wide range of restaurant and food establishments serving everything from authentic Italian sandwiches and pastries to casually sophisticated dining – and of course the freshest seafood you’ll ever taste. Downtown Gloucester is also home to numerous whale watches, boat excursions, theatre, art house cinema, lectures, readings, exhibitions, a monthly summer block-party and an outdoor ‘Bazaar’ in August.
Photo by: Holly Perry
It didn't take me long to find St Peter's church once I'd reached Spexhall after a long meandering ride from my previous destination, there isn't much in the way of a village here, all is rural and peaceful, very much like the delightful churchyard I soon encountered. First sight of the church is of the east wall with its diamond-pattern peering through the foliage, beckoning the visitor into its quiet enclosure.
The initial approach shows the building from its most attractive side, the textured chancel has more of a sense of antiquity than the rest of the building which is rather more restored, culminating in the slender round tower at the west end which is an early 20th century rebuilding of the original tower which collapsed in 1720. This is a small building without aisles, but despite the obvious restoration it has great charm owing to its intimate scale and idyllic setting.
Inside the restoration is more apparent and the church feels as much Victorian as medieval with most of the fittings being of 19th century date. There are however earlier features such as a Tudor memorial brass and some medieval heraldic glass in the traceries of a window on the north side of the nave. There are also several old benches in the chancel which feature carved poppyheads in various foliate forms.
This is a church to reflect in as much as explore and happily it appears to normally be open and welcoming to visitors and is a place of great charm.
For more see its entry below on the Suffolk Churches site:-