\ \ ‘

    

   

The Church M’

 

d

 

Kent

 

St Marys Church

HISTORY: Bishops-
bourne is situated on
the intermittent
Nailbourne stream,
which runs through the
Elham Valley south of
the A2 (a Roman road),
along the top of the
downs between Canter-
bury and Dover to the
north of the village.

'l‘he first mention of Burnan, as it
was then called, was in 708 AD, when
Egbert sold the manor to Ealdhur who,
in turn, gave it to the Community of
Christ. In 811 they in turn exchanged it
with Archbishop Wulfred for the manor
of Eastry.

The manor of Hautbourne continued
with the same family from Domesday
until it came into the ownershp of the
second daughter of William Haut. She
married William Culpepper, who ex-
-changed his lands in Bekesbourne for
the paramount manor of Bishopbourne.
‘He then immediately conveyed both
Lmanors to Sir Anthony Auch.er, of
Otterden. The manor remained with the
Auchers and their descendants, the
l3eckinghams, until it was sold to
Matthew Bell in 1844. It was again sold
-to Sir John Prestige in 1027 and in
modern times to Somerset and Lady
Juliet de Chair.

There is no record of the building of

the first church. But it is mentioned in
the Domesday Book of 1086. The
present building is an example of a
parish church ‘belonging to the Arch-
bishop which was totally rebuilt on
large scale in the 13th century.
THE NAVE: This was probably rebuilt
in two stages during the second half of
the 13th century. On the upper walls,
above the arcade, can be seen the
remains of some fine painted figures on
an ‘ashlar’ background. These may have
been painted after the .l5th century
rebuilding, <possi.biy about 1462.

.-‘it the west end of the nave are some
. medieval ‘floor tiles which may predate

the building of the tower. They indicate
the original church floor level.

SEDE AHSLES: These are very narrow
and were remodelled in the 15th cen-
tury. The only surviving features of the
13th century are the outer walls and the
north doorway. On either side of the
-door are slightly projecting pilasters
and on the wall to the east a niche (holy
‘water stoup). The whole was covered
with a porch until 1807. The north aisle,
which now terminates with the vestry
wall, may have been used as a side
chapel to St Nicholas. The stone ledge
at the east end was probably a retable.

The south aisle was possibly in-
tended as a chapel, but there is no
evidence of dedication. During the
extensive renovations by Matthew Bell
in the 19th century an entrance was
made in the south wall and it was used
as a family pew by owners of Bourne
Park.

Sir John Prestige, when he li.ved at
Bourne Park, also made further alter-
ations and his family used it until 1987,
when Richard Neame, then High Sheriff
-of Kent, converted it and furnished it as
a chapel. It was designed by the archi-
tect David Martin and was dedicated to
St Catherine by Archbishop Robert
Runcie on December 6, 1987.
C!-IANCEL: The chancel was
extensively renovated in 1871 by
Matthew "Bell. The floor was raised and
paved with encaustic tiles. A massive
arch was built into the north wall to
house the new organ. The nave was
fitted with new pitch pine pews re-
placing the old box pews. The two
beautiful 15th century stalls, with their
carved fronts and poppy heads, were
added to with modern stalls to resem-
ble them.

A statue of the _Vir,gin Mary once
stood above the.pr‘iest_s stall. William
Haut left in his will a piece of stone for
her image to rest its feeton”, which is
said to have been part of the stone upon
which the Archangel —desr,-ended when
he saliited the Virgin lV'l.€1l.'§".

 

ALTAR: The altar is
modern and the present
reredos was erected in
1877. There was once a
beautiful alabaster
reredos depicting the
life of the Virgin Mary.
This was left by
Edmond Mynot, Town
Clerk of Canterbury, in
1487.

He left directions to be buried in the
nave before the altar of St Mary, near
the grave of his mother Joan.

i"1SCiNA: The piscina in the sanctuary
is late 13th century with a 19th century
backing on the east end of the south
wall.

ROOD LOFT: During the reign of
Elizabeth I nearly all rood lofts were
destroyed. But there was still one here
at the time of the Archdeacon’s
visitation in 1560. The stone corbel, or
bracket, near the pulpit was probably
for its support. The mod is mentioned
in several old wills.

TOWER’.The tower was built in the late
15th century when the entire west wall
of the church was demolished. It was
constmcted of flint with buttresses at
each corner. The two eastern buttresses
were joined to the walls of the 13th
century arcades and new west walls
were built to each aisle. A stone stair-
case leads to the belfiy in the south
west corner.

BELLS: The bells were originally hung
for change ringing but the fittings
became worn with age and one bell was
cracked. In 1974, the three sound. bells
were rehung for chiming only. In 1975,
Canterbury City Council gave a bell,
cast in 1507 by Robert Mot, which had
been lying unused in Westgate Tower
since its removal from the demolished
St Mary Bredman Church in 1880. The

cracked bell was recast by the
Whitechapei Foundry for another
church.

Bell details: Treble, founder, Robert

Mot, 1597, diameter 223/4in, weigin‘.
Bcwt.
Second, founder, Christopher Hudson,
1685, diameter 26in, weight 3‘/2cwt.
Third, founder, Joseph Hatch, 1618,
diameter 30%in, weight 4‘/zcwt. Tenor,
founder, Joseph Hatch, 1618, diameter
34in, weight '63/4CWt.

WINDOWS: There are two pairs of
windows on both sides of the chancel.
There is medieval glass at the top of all
of them, which probably survived dest-
ruction by Cro1nwell’s men as they
were too high to be easily reached.
Another window of interest is on the
lower part of a north window, including
the cap and arms of Cardinal Morton
(1420-1501), Archbishop of Canterbury
and Cardinal to King Henry VIII.

A small window high up on the riordi
wall of the chancel is constructed of
small fragments of ancient glass. It
depicts the head of the Virgin Mary, a
castle and another head reputed to be
that of St Barbara.

The large east window was put up in
1890 in memory of Richard Hooker by
the people of Engiand. There is also
another interesting window in the east
wail of St Cat.herine’s Chapel. It was
brought here by Stephen Beckingham
from his home in Tolleshunt Darcy,
Essex, when he married the niece of the
last baronet Sir_HeWitt Aucher. It con-
sists of delicately executed Fiemish and
German glass depicting scrip-turai
scenes and various coats of arms.

The window at the west end of the
church contains 1874 glass by Morris ti;
Co, with figures by the pre—Raphaeiite
artist Burne Jones and was in memory
of Dr Sandford, Rector of Bishops
bourne in 1870 and later Bishop of
Gibraltar.

 

 

PULEPIT: The pulpit is
the one for which
Rirrharcl Hooker left £3.
To quote his Will: “Item,
i give and lbequeth three
poun-Lls of lawful
English money towards
the building and
»rnake.ing of a newer and
sufficient; pulpitt in the
p’sh of l3ishopsbourne.”

There was also a sounding board
surmounted by a line carved angel,
which has (lisappear-etl.

FONT: The font dates from the 14th
century. When a new font was installed
in Victorian times, the original one was
thought to have been given to the
Rector, who had been curate of Barham
before the separation of the two
zparishes in 1846. The original one was
foumil in 3. garden in Barham and was
returned to Bishopsbourne in 1931. It
was repaired. and i_nstal.led in the nave
in 1975, the new plinth lieirig designed
by architect Anthony Swnine, of Canter-
hury.

\{}ItGAN: The organ was originallly
under the tower arch. Tile new -organ,
which Fanny C. Bell presented, was
installed in the chancel under the new
arch built into the north wall in 1865.
This organ is of gieater merit than is
usually found in rural parishes. It was
made by William Walker, of London,
who started malong orgzms in l828.
Their tonal style is firmly rooted in the
‘English trarlition, which gives them
their charm and special musical in-
terest. It was last overhauled in .1979
with funds raised tmoiiggli an appeal.

.ElCRll'3EI’~l: The screen at the west end
of the have was :formerly part of the
lDral<e—Brocl<:n1an memorial chapel in St
Martirfs Church, Cheriton. Restored in
1986 and dedicated hy the Archbishop
of Canterl)u.ry, it became redundant on
the reorganisation of the church and
'~wats given to this church. The frontal
section was erected in 1977 under
supervision of Anthony Svvaine. The
expense of erection was largely borne
by members of the l°a.mily living in
Australia.

RICHARD HOOKER: ]3j3hopsbourne’s
most famous Rector was born in
lzleavitree, Exeter. in 1595 he came to
the parish because he wished for a
country living “where he might see
Gods hlessings spring out of the -earth,
an-sl to be free of noise and to finish his
work.”

He ‘wrote eight books -of Ecclesiasti-
cal Polity, live of which were published
in his li.l‘etime. The treatise was Sl‘.;3fI',C(l
in i585-6, so Book ‘V was written
l3ishopsbourne.

It was the earliest important work of
its kind in England and was Written to
supply logical and philosophical basis
for the English church at the Ref()l‘lT1—
ation Settlement.

It is a masterpiece of logical argu-
ment and ..a classic in respect of the
beauty of its English prose. He died on
November 2, .l6(){), and is buried in -the
church. The monument to him was
erected in l.6.‘32 by Sir William Cowper,
who called Hooker his spiritual father.

This monument was originally on the
north wall of the chancel, but on the
installation of the new orgim it was
moved. to the south wall. Beneath it is 21
large plain. stone, about .l2l"t long, which
is thoug,lii: to be the original altar stone
am! to be over .‘l—loolcer’s remains.

 

MEMORIAL BRASS:

There are only two
brasses of interest. Un-
fortunately, one of
them lies under the or-
gan and the other
‘under the choir stalls.
The one under the or-
gan reads:

“John Colwell and Elizabeth his wyfe
lyeth here

Grete friends to this church more than
XXX yere

Beying servants to William Haut knight
On whose soules have mercy Chryst full
of myght.”

There is no date, but from the refer-
ence to William Haut it must be 15th
century.

The other, under the choir stalls,
translated from the Latin reads:

“Under the marble rests the body of
John Gibbon gentleman,

formerly a most beloved inhabitant of
this parish.”

He was the owner of Charlton Park
in the 16th century and the brass is
engraved with his arms, a lion rampant
guardant between three escallops im-
paling Hamon of Acrise, quartering
Cossington.

COMMUNION PLATE: The Commu-
nion plate dates from the 17th century
and can now be seen in the crypt of
Canterbury Cathedral

REGISTERS: The Registers of Births,
Marriages and Burials, dating from
1558, are deposited with the Cathedral
Archives, where they can be studied.

THE HOOKER l’0L1'li‘lES: These are
now housed for safe keeping in the
Cathedral Library at Canterbury.

LYCHGATE: The lychgate was erected
by public subscription in 1911

THE RECTORY: The house where
Richard Hooker lived, worked and died
— in 1600 — was demolished in 1954.
Sir John Prestige exchanged it with the
house known as Oswalds next to the
church. This then became the Rectory
until 1970 when Bishopsbourne and
Kingston were combined and a new
Rectory was built in Kingston. There
was further reorganisation in 1975
when Bishopsbourne and Kingston
were amalgamated with Barham and
the Rector took up residence there.

JOSEPH CONRAD lived at Oswalds
and wrote several of his books there. A
memorial porch in front of the village
hall, which is named after him, was
largely contributed to by his American
admirers.

JOCELYN BROOKE lived the later
years of his life in Bishopsbourne in Ivy
Cottage, opposite the forge, and died in
1966. He was a poet, writer and a
distinguished botanist whose book on
wild orchids in Britain has become the
sought after standard work.

THE REV JOSEPH BANCR()F’l‘
READE, FRS, a former Rector, was a
noted chemist, microscopist, photo-
grapher and discoverer. He was Rector
from 1863 to 1870 and is buried in the
churchyard.

@’l‘hese notes are based on those
compiled by Miss Alice Castle and
reviewed in 1961 and 1980, amended in
1992 by Rosemary Eliott, following a
survey for the Canterbury Diocese by
Tim Tatton—Brown of the Canterbury
Archaeological Trust, and edited by
Malcolm Mitchell.

The appeals and organisation of
work on the bells, organ, screen and
font between 1974 and 1978 were
initiated by Col Geoffrey Elliott, then
treasurer of the Parochial Church
Council.

 The front cover illustration is by
Bridget Eaves.

 

         

1b 5 6 io 25 ' 30 ; go )1,

_________ __ _ ‘i-1..‘£v,5'v:o¢C. }\ -7*.’ ' .
;" _______ __ ; \-.::;=.~_§-'-'-§£;mw \\<:mIi:e\»‘*~\\\:T_r._*:_u§r‘*=‘.>f-§D
; ‘ (.. . _  
‘  c‘~¢s€; 

   

  
  

    

  
    

r*--»'~ 5-Zr} ..,-. V“ e" C I '“
~-~~~-\. .. s,_»[L~!’1._, 0; tag’

I - . ' 1 - -
.cc1\l.:£1ur:£PL fznici  _'  ,T.~ .

u

( “I
I_.

I.

IT}
(‘A
73
-“J

' I
IT‘.
.713
/.
4:‘:
C)
C)
'3
:1‘

I
'/x
C];
* _..n
H
:1
v.»
R
r:
F
T‘:
~—A
‘ :2
1, \
FD

 

, r