Eastwell Church

Summary

St Mary’s Church, 45m north-west of Lake House.

Reasons for Designation

A parish church is a building, usually of roughly rectangular outline and containing a range of furnishings and fittings appropriate to its use for Christian worship by a secular community, whose members gather in it on Sundays and on the occasion of religious festivals. Children are initiated into the Christian religion at the church's font and the dead are buried in its churchyard. Parish churches were designed for congregational worship and are generally divided into two main parts: the nave, which provides accommodation for the laity, and the chancel, which is the main domain of the priest and contains the principal altar. Either or both parts are sometimes provided with aisles, giving additional accommodation or spaces for additional altars. Most parish churches also possess towers, generally at the west end, but central towers at the crossing of nave and chancel are not uncommon and some churches have a free-standing or irregularly sited tower. Many parish churches also possess transepts at the crossing of chancel and nave, and south or north porches are also common. The main periods of parish church foundation were in the 10th to 11th and 19th centuries. Most medieval churches were rebuilt and modified on a number of occasions and hence the visible fabric of the church will be of several different dates, with in some cases little fabric of the first church being still easily visible.

Despite having been partially demolished, St Mary’s Church survives well with a large amount of medieval fabric surviving to roof level. There are many significant medieval architectural details such as the chamfered doorway and perpendicular window to the tower and the sexfoil tracery in the south aisle. The original ground plan and layout of the church will be traceable from the buried foundations. The site will contain archaeological information and environmental evidence relating to the construction, use and history of the church And the landscape in which it was constructed.

History

See Details.

Details

This record was the subject of a minor enhancement on 30 July 2014. The record has been generated from an "old county number" (OCN) scheduling record. These are monuments that were not reviewed under the Monuments Protection Programme and are some of our oldest designation records.

The monument includes a medieval parish church surviving as upstanding and buried remains. It is situated on gently sloping ground at the north side of Eastwell Lake in Eastwell Park.

The church has been partly demolished and is now largely roofless. The walls of the west end survive intact to roof height but elsewhere the footings are up to 1.5m high. The upstanding remains of the west end include a 15th century west tower, the west wall of the south aisle, and a 19th century mortuary chapel to the south-west. The tower is constructed of flint with stone dressings and quoins. It is supported by three stage offset diagonal buttresses. The west elevation has a drip moulded chamfered doorway and a two-light perpendicular window with a cinque foil over. There is a string course below the belfry of the tower. On the north and south faces are single-light windows above the string course. The belfry has two-light trefoil-headed windows with drip moulds and is surmounted by a crenellated parapet. Between the tower and nave is a pointed archway with octagonal piers. The south aisle of the church is of hammer-dressed stone and has a two-light window with sexfoil tracery. The 19th century chapel is built of chalk ashlar with a plain tiled roof. It has cusped lancet windows and a vaulted interior.

The upstanding remains are Grade II listed.

Legacy

The contents of this record have been generated from a legacy data system.

Legacy System number:

KE 381

Legacy System:

RSM - OCN

Sources

Websites
, accessed from http://www.british-history.ac.uk

Other
Kent HER TR 04 NW 7. NMR TR 04 NW 7. PastScape 463114. LBS 181520,

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