Description

TQ 64 SW PEMBURY OLD CHURCH ROAD

5/394 Old Church of St Peter
20.10.54
GV I

Parish church. Norman nave and chancel, C14 tower, porch and nave roof,
chancel much rebuilt in 1867 by R. Wheeler of Brenchley. Nave and older
masonry of the chancel of sandstone rubble with ashlar quoins, rest is coursed
sandstone ashlar. Red tile roof and tower spire is shingled.

Plan: Nave with south porch. lower chancel with C19 lean-to vestry on the
north side. West tower.

Exterior: Relatively short single stage west tower with large diagonal
buttresses. Low spire surmounted by an old, possibly C18, weathercock.
Quatrefoil lights to the belfry. West doorway has a 2-centred arch with
moulded jambs and hoodmould. Above a 3-light window of ogee-arch headed
lancets.

On the south side of the nave gabled porch to left. 2-centred outer arch with
double-chamfered arch ring and hoodmould. Triple lancet above and slit
windows in the side walls. C19 tile floor but roof of old collared common
rafter couples. South doorway is probably Norman, a plain round-headed arch
containing a C19 panelled door. To right the porch covers the lower part of a
Norman round-headed lancet. To right a restored quare-headed 3-light window
with Perpendicular tracery and a hoodmould. South side of chancel is 2 bays,
left one with 2 cinquefoil-headed lancets and the right one has a 2-light
window containing Y-tracery which once descended further down but the lower
part is cut by a small C19 arch-headed priests door. Buttresses on south side
and east end have diagonal buttresses, most enriched with carved armorial
bearings, some are replacements of the C14 originals. Arms of Hardreshull and
Colepeper families. East window C19 3-light window with decorated tracery and
hoodmould. North side of chancel has a similar 2-light window and a triple
lancet window. North side of the nave has a 3-light Perpendicular window
similar to that on the south side and the west bay has 2 tall lancets.

Interior: The glory of the church is the splendid C14 roof over the nave. 3
bays. Moulded tie-beams and arch braces with spandrels carved with open
trefoils and quatrefoils. Tall crown posts and collared common rafters with
soulaces. Chancel roof is C19; 4 bays of a boarded 6-sided arch with
chamfered ribs and purlins. Similar chancel and tower arches, probably C14
with chamfered double arch ring on moulded imposts. Plastered walls C19 tile
floor, mostly red and black tiles but encaustic tiles included in chancel.
Also in chancel 2 good graveslabs, one in memory of William Amhurst (d. 1663)
the other in memory of Richard Amhurst (d. 1664). C19 sedilia.

Furniture and Fittings: Main centre part of the C19 reredos has been removed
but flanking end parts remain combining symbols of the Evangelists. C19 brass
altar rail with tubular standards and leafy brackets. C19 plain pine stalls.
C19 oak drum pulpit on stone base, its sides open with Gothic arcades.
Contemporary brass eagle lectern and C19 plain pine benches. C19 stone font
in Perpendicular style.

Memorials: Oldest is a brass plaque in the north wall in memory of 7-year old
Elizabeth Rowe (d. 1607). A number of memorials have been reset in the tower;
best are those in memory of John Whitaker (d. 1802), Lord Spencer Churchill
(d. 1746) and Henry Woodgate (d. 1818). In nave large Gothic style monument
to Lydia Shaw-Woodgate (d. 1909) carved with praying angels.

Source John Newman. West Kent and the Weald, Penguin Buildings of England
series (1969), pp.450-1.

Listing NGR: TQ6268442960

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17524645

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

• 
  Yorkshire West Riding: Leeds, Bradford and the North (Pevsner Architectural Guides / Buildings of England)
• 
  Suffolk: East (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  The Listed Buildings and Other Principal Structures at the Royal Gunpowder Mills Waltham Abbey
• 
  [(Bedfordshire, Huntingdon and Peterborough)] [By (author) Nikolaus Pevsner] published on (January, 1968)
• 
  Sussex: West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
• 
  Yorkshire: York and the East Riding (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)