Church of St Peter and St Paul

Details

SEAL

TQ5556NW CHURCH STREET
771/28/993 SEAL
10-SEP-54 (West side)
CHURCH OF ST PETER AND ST PAUL

I

Church. C13 core (S aisle arcade and S side blocked lancet), much rebuilt in the C15 and early C16. The tower was under construction in c.1520-9 (Pevsner); 1855 N aisle, organ chamber in eastward lengthening of aisle in 1879. Sandstone rubble masonry, the tower masonry galletted, tiled roofs. Nave, chancel, W tower, N and S aisles, NE organ chamber, SE chapel, the E wall flush with the chancel E wall, SE vestry roofed at right angles to the chapel, SW porch.
3-stage embattled Kentish tower with diagonal buttresses with set-offs and octagonal SE stair turret rising above the tower roof. W doorway and W window with renewed (C20) masonry. S aisle has renewed (C20) square-headed Perpendicular style windows with cusped heads and one blocked lancet. Perpendicular porch with stoup, diagonal buttresses and doorway in square-headed frame with carved spandrels. 3-light E window with shallow segmental arch and cusped lights; E window of SE chapel uncusped. 1855 Decorated style buttressed N aisle with 3-light windows.
Interior has 3-bay S aisle with round and octagonal piers with deep mouldings. Early Cl6 tower arch with engaged shafts, filled with glazed screen. Nave has medieval crown-post roof on moulded ties on arched braces with carved posts on moulded stone corbels. The crown-posts have moulded bases and capitals and 4-way bracing. Chancel arch marked by timber wall posts and pierced traceried spandrels to the tie beam braces and a carved boss on the soffit. Common rafter chancel roof with moulded wallplate is probably late Perpendicular. Medieval Perpendicular S aisle roof with moulded tie beams with arched braces and open spandrels. Medieval Perpendicular porch roof with curved braces and a brattished wallplate. 1855 3-bay N arcade. Remains of rood stair in SW chancel pier.
Plain octagonal late Perpendicular stone font with C17 ogival openwork font cover. C.1630 timber drum pulpit with upper panels with blind perspective arches, lower panels and cornice with strapwork decoration. Late Cl9/early C20 benches and choir-stalls with poppyheads. Timber traceried screens to organ chamber and SE chapel early C20 (SE chapel screen dated 1932)(The chancel screen of 1931 by C R Ashbee, noted in Pevsner, was removed in 1990). E windows of the chancel and chancel chapel signed F W Oliphant, 1856 and 1858. Chandelier dated 1725. Numerous monuments including c.late C14 brass (of very high quality) and late Cl6 brasses and many wall monuments, including a cartouche dated 1680 to John Chichester 'of the highest sculptural quality'(Pevsner) and five Grecian tablets to the Pratt family of 1832 by Chantrey. Unusual and original c.1908 bronze sleeping child on a pedestal to Elizabeth Mills.
A church with a C13 core but extensive Perpendicular rebuilding including a good example of a Kent tower; medieval roofs to the nave, S aisle porch and probably chancel. Fittings include a Perpendicular font with Cl7 font cover, good Cl7 pulpit and numerous monuments, some of the best quality.
Sources
Pevsner, West Kent and the Weald, 1980 edn., 508-509
Information from the incumbent.

Listing NGR: TQ5505956958

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

447378

Legacy System:

LBS

End of official list entry

All text content is available under the Open Government Licence v3.0 , except where otherwise stated. Any supplied maps are © Crown Copyright [and database rights] 2026 OS AC0000815036 and may not be reproduced without permission.