Church of the Holy Trinity

Details

HEVER

771/53/353 MARKBEECH 10-SEP-54 CHURCH OF THE HOLY TRINITY

II DATES OF MAIN PHASES, NAME OF ARCHITECT: 1852 by David Brandon

MATERIALS: Local, rock-faced semi-coursed sandstone. Red clay tile roofs. Shingled spire.

PLAN: Nave, chancel with three-sided apse, S porch, NW steeple/organ chamber/vestry, SE vestry.

EXTERIOR: A picturesque early Victorian church in the Early English style. The windows throughout are almost exclusively lancets, uncusped in the nave, and with cusping in the chancel. The E window consists of three graded lancets. At the W end there are two tall lancets with a sexfoil light above and in between them. The south porch is of timber and has a low stone plinth. It shelters an incised inscription over the S doorway declaring `This Church was founded and begun by the Hon John Chetwynd Talbot and completed in fulfilment of his intentions by his widow¿ .¿ On the N side of chancel is a low tower with a shingled chamfer spire. The tower is of two stages with angle buttresses to the lower stages and pairs of lancet belfry windows in the upper stage. The N face of the ground floor has a two-light plate tracery window.

INTERIOR: The walls are of bare ashlar. At the E end the E window has detached shafts between the lights and, combined with the absence of intervening masonry between the lights, this creates an impressive three-dimensional effect. The roof over the nave has very plain, rather spindly scissor-braced trusses. In the chancel the roof has square panels and, at the E end, the ribs converge to a central point.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: Much work remains from the C19. The most prominent feature is the pewing which is made of pine and has square ends to the seats. The pulpit is of stone and polygonal with each of the solid faces decorated with blind tracery. Access to the pulpit is via an opening in the wall from the chancel. At the E end the reredos consists of a row of five square panels decorated with instruments of the Passion. Above, the roof of the chancel is painted blue and includes swirling figures of angels: this work was carried out 1958 when decoration by G F Bodley was destroyed. The font has a circular bowl with a pretty trail of foliage encircling it: the stem is of quatrefoil section and has small heads at the top of each valley between the lobes. The E window is by William Wailes.

HISTORY: The building of this church was part of a general movement to provide places of worship for west Kent hamlets which had hitherto lacked them (cf nearby Fordcombe in 1848-9). The designer of the church, David Brandon (1813-97), was a well-known Victorian church architect. He was articled to George Smith from 1828 to 1883 and went on to become a partner of the prolific T H Wyatt between 1838 and 1851 after which he practised alone. Holy Trinity church therefore is among his first solo commissions.

SOURCES: Newman, J., The Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (1969), 400.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION: Holy Trinity Church, Markbeech, is designated at Grade II for the following principal reasons: * It is a good example of a small-scale early Victorian Gothic Revival church in the early English style by a well-known architect. * It retains a number of fixtures of interest from the original building, including reredos, pulpit, stained glass and pewing.

Legacy

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

Legacy System number:

357135

Legacy System:

LBS

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