Church of St Peter and St Paul

Details

EDENBRIDGE

771/12/373 CHURCH STREET 10-SEP-54 EDENBRIDGE (North side) CHURCH OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL

GV I DATES OF MAIN PHASES/ NAMES OF ARCHITECTS The earliest visible fabric is a blocked late C11 or very early C12 window in the nave N wall. Tower, responds of the S arcade and the S wall are C13; the rest of the S arcade and the chancel are C14. Roofs probably C15. S chapel is C13 in origin, rebuilt c.1499. C19 N vestry extended in the C20

MATERIALS Stone rubble, stone slate and tiled roofs. Shingled spire.

PLAN Nave with large S aisle, W tower and S porch. Chancel with S chapel and N vestry.

EXTERIOR The C13 W tower with small trefoiled lights and bell openings. It has a C15 broach spire, giant diagonal buttresses with set-offs and a projecting SW stair turret. Moulded Perpendicular W door with carved spandrels; 3-light Perpendicular W window and a clock, with the hour hand only. The nave N wall is buttressed and has towards the W end a narrow, early C13 lancet and adjacent to it, a small blocked window with a monolithic head of the C11 or very early C12. There are also three C15 windows with vertical tracery in varying patterns in the N wall. The chancel has a very unusual, early C20 E window, of three lights, the outer two cinque-foiled, the inner opening out at the top in a curious open shape like a quatrefoil without its bottom lobe. The chancel N windows are late C13 and have cusped Y-tracery. C20 N vestry running at right angles to the nave and behind it the remains of the C19 lean-to N vestry. The SE chapel has a very large C15 E window with vertical tracery, and there is a late C13 or early C14 two-light window and a narrow, early C13 lancet, in the chapel S wall. The S aisle has three C15 windows with vertical tracery and to the W of the porch, a narrow C13 lancet, probably reset. The S porch is C18 in origin, but was rebuilt in 1909 and has a depressed segmental-headed outer doorway. The nave S door is C14, and has hollow chamfered mouldings.

INTERIOR The interior of both the nave and the chancel are divided lengthwise into two almost equal halves by the S nave and chancel arcade. The S nave arcade is in two phases: the E and W responds, which are half round and have moulded capitals, are early C13; the octagonal piers and hollow-chamfered arches are a rebuilding of the C14, when the arcade was also heightened. The three-bay, C15 chancel arcade was built c.1499, replacing earlier openings, and has octagonal piers with moulded capitals in a Perpendicular style. C14 arch between the S aisle and the S chapel, with two hollow chamfered orders, the inner on moulded corbels, the outer order dying into the wall. C14 chancel arch of two chamfered orders on polygonal responds with moulded capitals. A late C13 window with cusped Y-tracery open internally from the chancel N wall into the vestry. The stair to the former rood loft survives in the NE corner of the nave. The W end of the nave and the base of the tower is closed off with glass and timber screens, with the organ placed above, hiding the tower arch.

The roofs are entirely medieval. The nave and S aisle have C15 crown post roofs; the main beams have short, curved braces supported on carved corbels, some with angels or grotesques. The chancel also has a probably C15 crown post roof, but without braces to the main beams. The S chapel roof is c.1499, and is of common rafter design.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES C13 font with a square bowl decorated with blind arcading on five shafts, and a late C14 or C15 cover, ogee shaped with crockets on the ribs and terminating in a finial. There is an aumbry in chancel E wall, concealed behind Jacobean-style panelling of c. 1912. Very unusual (as it is late for its type) C14 pillar piscina in the S chapel, with Decorated style leaves on the bowl. Good pulpit of c.1630-40, with strapwork panels in two tiers, tapering pilasters and a projecting cornice on the drum, which is mounted on an early C20 base. Royal arms of George I. Early C20 screens in a Jacobean style between the S chapel and the chancel.

Some good glass, including fragments of medieval glass releaded in a chancel N window. The E window has a crucifixion by Burne Jones, originally intended for Crockham Hill church, and installed in 1909, when the outer panels were made. The C19 chapel E window is also very good.

Monuments: a single end piece of Richard Martyn¿s tomb of 1499 is reset over the S chapel altar as a reredos; the rest is lost. Wall tablet to William Selyard, d.1595 and another to Nicholas Seyliad, d.1625, as well as a brass for John Selyard, d.1558.

HISTORY There was almost certainly a church in Edenbridge in the Anglo-Saxon period, and definitely one here by the early C12. The earliest surviving fabric the small, C11 or very early C12 window at the W end of the nave. By the early C13, the church had a S aisle. The tower is C13, and the S chancel chapel may also be C13 in origin. It was greatly extended and rebuilt in the C14, when the chancel was rebuilt, the S arcade rebuilt and heightened and the aisle widened. The S chapel, formerly dedicated to St John the Baptist, was rebuilt in c.1499 as a chantry for John Martyn. The pulpit is evidence for refurnishing in the early C17. The tower clock is said to have been brought from a Southwark church in 1795. The church was restored, and the NE vestry added in 1860 to designs by Charles Ainslie (1820-1863). There was further work in the early C20, including rebuilding parts of the S wall and extensive refurnishing. The E window of the chancel was installed in 1908, replacing a C19 window in a Decorated style, and is said to be based on a drawing made by George Gilbert Scott of the medieval E window that was removed in the C19; however, if this is the case, it is likely that the drawing either misunderstood a late C13 window of 3 cusped lights with a quatrefoil in the head. More likely, the design was altered to allow for a better field for stained glass of the crucifixion in the central light. The glass by Burne Jones, commemorating John Storr, was intended for nearby Crockham Hill church, but was installed here instead and augmented with additional panels.

SOURCES Lambeth Palace Library, ICBS 05500, 10717 Buildings of England, West Kent and the Weald 91969), 263-4 Boardbridge, G. The Parish Church of St Peter and St Paul, Edenbridge: A Guide (1997) REASONS FOR DESIGNATION The church of St Peter and St Paul, Edenbridge, is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons: * Parish church with C11 or very early C12 origins. * S arcade and S tower are C13 in origin. * C13 font with C15 cover. * Church remodelled in the C14, when the chancel and S aisle were rebuilt. * Roofs throughout are C15. * S chapel rebuilt in 1499. * Jacobean pulpit. * Glass by Burne Jones.

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