St Peter's Church Bekesbourne A History and Guide St. Peter's Church Bekesbourne A History and Guide Bekesbourne Parochial Church Council, September 2006. Reprinted with minor amendments, August 2009, August 2014 Researched and written by David Millyard, with help and expertise from Mary Berg, Jill Thomas and Jane Millyard. Principal Sources: Edward Hasted, History of Kent, 2nd edition, Vol. IX, 1800. Richard B Piper MA, Notes on the History of Bekesbourne, undated (Mr Pyper was Vicar of Bekesbourne from 1913 to 1924). Bekesbourne church records: Vestry Minutes and Churchwardens' Accounts, 1761 to 1880. These are in the Canterbury Cathedral Library. Off the Record, compiled by John and Anne Purchese, Bekesbourne PCC, 1980. Illustrations nos 6 and 7 are reproduced by permission of the Kent Archaeological Society from: Watercolours of Kent Churches by H. Petrie FSA, 1807 and Sepia Drawings of Kent Churches by William F. Saunders, 1867. The plan of the church is based on a scale drawing kindly supplied by Andrew Clague, Consultant Architect to St Peter's. The following list of the Vicars of Bekesbourne is taken from Off the Record, Bekesbourne PCC, 1980. It was compiled for Rev R B Pyper up to 1913, with later additions. From 1250 to 1534 the Vicar was appointed by St Gregory's Priory, Canterbury; from 1541 by the Archbishop. 1180 Michael, parson of Lyvingsbourn 1236 William de St. Edmund (Rector) 1250 Philip 1293 Clement 1333 John de Eyton 1349 John Northyngton 1362 William Wigg 1372 Simon Hitche 1377 William Heir 1380 Thomas Basyngham 1382 John Wengrave 1383 Thomas Webbe 1386 Edmund Godfrey 1386 William Hare 1387 Thomas Colyer 1390 Vincent Snell 1391 William Parys 1418 Thomas Baldeswell 1419 John Catall 1422 William Lychebarwe 1424 Richard Okus 1426 John Knoyel 1430 Simon Kyng 1438 Simon Baumburgh ? Roger Doyle 1444 Walter Andrew 1447 John Norman 1448 John Bernard 1448 John Ruste 1450 John Porter 1479 Stephen Raynold 1507 William Demaclokke 1509 Richard Wrayford 1511 Thomas Colley 1534 Thomas Syll 1541 David Kempe 1550 James Piers 1553 Marmaduke Smith 1557 Thomas Wise 1563 Henry Larke 1575 Thomas Warner 1597 Benjamin Solly 1607 John White 1608 John White (again) 1628 Charles White 1650 Thomas Heron 1661 John Edmunds 1666 Edward Ladbrook 1676 Obadiah Brookesby 1685 Nicholas Batteley 1704 John Paris 1709 Charles Bean 1711 Thomas Wise 1726 William Bedford 1784 Robert Phillips 1798 John Toke 1820 William Eden 1846 James Craigie Robertson 1859 George Taswell 1868 John Firth Franks 1880 Stephen Jenner 1881 George William Cox 1881 Henry John Wardell 1898 Albert Richard Pritchard 1913 Richard Bevan Pyper 1924 JC E Kidson 1928 A A Fletcher Lamplugh 1948 Michael R W Brown 1950 Leonard G Appleton 1956 G A Church 1958 Robert A Penney 1963 Colin EH Perry 1979 Raymond Gilbert 2000 Paul Filmer 2007 Simon Rowlands 2014 Jonathan LLoyd 31 Austen & Sarah Gardner 32 David T Smith 1898 33 A bell being re-hung in 2006 MEMORY OF ELE PRIEST DAY 121395 TRESBOURNE. 34 The memorial Henry to Rev Wardell who su- pervised the resto- ration of the Church in the 1880s 1 St. Peter's Church. An autumn scene Tower PEW'S FON Nave PEWS PEWS 8 10 11 12 CHOIR G Chancel OREAN CHOIR 5 Extent of 12th century church 13th century extension 18thcentury transept D VESTAY Stained Glass Windows (information supplied by Dr Sebastian Ströbl, formerly in charge of the Canterbury Cathedral Stained Glass Workshop). 1 Life and Passion of Christ probably Lavers and Barraud c.1894 2 The Last Supper Lavers and Westlake 1894 3 The Good Shepherd Gibbs and Howard 1885 4 St Augustine Lavers and Westlake 1890 5 Christ's Charge to Peter: "Feed my Sheep" Lavers and Westlake 1886 6 The Risen Christ Gibbs and Howard 1880 7 "Suffer the little children..." Clayton and Bell 1882 8 Christ in the house of Martha and Mary Lavers and Westlake 1892 9 The Virgin Mary Gibbs and Howard 1883 10 St John the Evangelist probably Lavers and Westlake 1886 11 St Peter probably Lavers and Westlake 1886 12 Window containing fragments of 13th century glass 3 2 Memorials mentioned in the text A Coppin family B Sir Henry Palmer C Henry Porrege D Sir Thomas Pym Hales E Sir Philip Hales F Captain Richard Fogge G Nicholas Batteley H William Bedford I William Eden J Henry Wardell K Leonard Appleton L Gipps memorials 29 John Lawrence 1848 30 John Horn 18th century 27 Dr. C T Beke 28 Gipps table tomb mid-19th century stone kerbed surround marking the grave area, became popular, particularly with high church people. Unfortunately the cross was usually fixed to the base with an iron insert which tends to rust, making the upright unstable so that it has to be laid flat. The Bekesbourne churchyard was measured in the 1840 Tithe Commutation Survey as 3 roods or 3/4 acre. Within this area there are examples of all the types of gravestone mentioned above. The following are pictured: 18th century 19th Century John Horn late of Hothe Farm (30), which is outside the parish of Bekesbourne but had land within it Austen and Sarah Gardner late of Cobham Court (31) John Lawrence, Bricklayer (29) Gipps family table tomb (28) David T Smith late of Woolton Farm (32) Charles Tilstone Beke late of the Old Palace (27) Dr. Beke spent much of his life travelling in Abyssinia and elsewhere in Africa, for which he was awarded the Royal Geographical Society's Gold Medal, and was well known among Victorian explorers. He retired to Bekesbourne and took his share of parish responsibilities being for a time. Churchwarden. He believed that he was descended from the original De Bec family who had given their name to the village and his gravestone records that he had returned to the home of his ancestors. When in office as Churchwarden he persuaded the Vestry Meeting to ask Hastings to re- establish the Cinque Ports link with himself as Deputy Mayor, but to no avail. The Lych Gate was erected as a memorial to Jane Gipps, the wife of George Gipps of Howletts. She died in 1870. The gate faces directly downhill along the original footpath to the church. The present gravelled drive was formerly known as 'the hearseway' used only for funerals. St. Peter's Church, Bekesbourne. A History and Guide Introduction The Church as we see it today very largely represents what our late Victorian ancestors believed a Country Church should look like. It is the product of a major restoration towards the end of the nineteenth century of a building whose origin lies in the twelfth century. It was extended about a hundred years later in the thirteenth century, but thereafter underwent only minor alterations, probably mostly to the windows, a south transept being added early in the eighteenth century. Inside, it was fitted out to suit those of a High-Church persuasion, but the fittings were toned down in the 1960s by later inhabitants of more moderate churchmanship. The Church Building In 1085 King William I commissioned the great economic survey of the country, known as the Domesday Book, to record the assets of every community in land, manpower and other resources. It is noteworthy that almost every community had its own church by that time. The community which was recorded in the Kent survey as Burnes, later becoming known as Livingsbourne and subsequently Bekesbourne, was one such. No trace of this church remains. It may have been a timber structure as many churches of that time were. It was probably built where the present church now stands, and with the manorial buildings of the Saxon community just below, on the site of what is now Cobham Court. In the twelfth century a very large number of new churches were built in towns and villages throughout the country. It is as if there was a need to demonstrate for the glory of God the new prosperity which had been achieved with settled peace after the Norman conquest. These churches, or what remains of them, can be recognised by surviving traces of Norman (Romanesque) architecture. A new church was built at Bekesbourne of which some of the structure 20 20 1 remains. In particular the north doorway (2), which is the finest feature of the Church, dates from this time, together with two small plain windows, one on each side of the chancel. The one on the north side remains blocked up, the one on the south was re-opened in the 1960s. From these traces and from small churches surviving elsewhere, one can guess what the Norman church at Bekesbourne looked like. It was probably quite small, extending from just beyond the north door to just beyond the chancel windows. The original ground level is represented by the present level of the north door, which is the level of the church interior. The ground level of the churchyard has risen over the centuries because of the natural annual decay of vegetation, and probably also owing to multiple burials, so that it is now some feet above the base of the nave walls (4). The Church gives the impression now of being a long low building nestling into the hillside. Originally it would have appeared as a dramatically upright structure standing out from the hillside on a platform cut into the chalk In 1182 Eustace de Bourne, the Lord of the manor of Livingsbourne, gave the income of the church to St Gregory's Priory in Northgate, Canterbury which remained the patron of the living, appointing successive Vicars, until the dissolution of the monasteries in the sixteenth century under King Henry VIII. In the thirteenth century the building was enlarged. The chancel was extended eastwards to its present length. Lancet windows were inserted in the chancel walls and two tall lancets were built into the east wall (3). Two lancets, though not uncommon - they exist in other local churches e.g. Kingston and Nackington - are rarer than the more usual three of this period. At the same time the nave was extended west and a tower built. The surviving pointed gothic arch between the nave and the tower dates from this time. The fact that this work was done suggests that there was further prosperity in the village. It may be that this occurred as a result of Hugh de Bec's being appointed by Henry II, towards the end of the twelfth century, as master of memory of two of her relatives also called Mary. The other on the south side of the Chancel depicting The Good Shepherd (26) was given in 1885 by George Bowdler Gipps, the owner of Howletts at the time of the restoration of the Church "in thankful remembrance of a special mercy". Six windows are definitely or probably by the makers Lavers and Westlake. The most interesting perhaps are these. First, the window next to the organ depicting St Augustine meeting King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha after landing in Kent at Ebbsfleet (25). This is dedicated to Augustin Sergeant who was the local builder with his home and yard at the Patrixbourne end of Old Palace Road. The other is the window dedicated to St Peter, the patron saint of the Church, on the north side of the chancel (23). This is in memory of Austen Gardner and two of his children who died young. The Gardners were a large and old-established Bekesbourne family, variously living at Sondes Farm, Cobham Court Farm and The Old Palace during the 19th century. They also branched out to Ash near Sandwich and started Gardners Brewery there. The Austen Gardner of this window was the son of Austen and Sarah Gardner of Cobham Court. His father had also died young in 1838 and Sarah continued to run the farm for many years. Lastly, the window next to the altar on the south wall of the Chancel is also by Lavers and Westlake and depicts The Last Supper (24). It is a memorial to David Thomas Smith, of Woolton Farm, who died in 1893. He was one of the two Churchwardens during the course of the restoration. The Churchyard Churchyards had been used for centuries for burials, but it was not until the late 17th/early 18th century that it became the custom to mark graves with stones bearing inscriptions about the person buried. Early gravestones are usually of an elegant design with some decorative carving as well as the inscription. In the nineteenth century fashion changed towards a plainer, more severe style. The table tomb became popular to mark the family grave of the more affluent residents. More fanciful designs, such as a wreathed broken column, were sometimes used even in country churchyards. Towards the end of the century the upright cross set on a plinth, sometimes within a 2 19 others. This in turn necessitated increasing the height of the tower by two feet. (compare 7 and 8). For the next hundred years the bells were rung regularly but little work was done on them other than routine maintenance. In 2003 an enthusiastic village group decided to raise money to restore the bells, to preserve them for future generations and to encourage new ringers to join the band. They were successful and the restoration was achieved with financial help from national and local charities and by generous donations by many local people, at a total cost of some £35000. The restoration was undertaken by the bell-hangers Whites of Appleton at their works in Oxfordshire and the bells were sent for re-tuning back to the Whitechapel Bell foundry. They were re-hung in the tower in February 2006 (33). The Stained Glass Windows There are some fragments of 13th century glass surviving in the lancet window on the north side of the chancel nearest to the altar. Otherwise all the glass is 19th century, much of it of good quality by the best makers. It seems likely that Henry Wardell persuaded a number of his better-off parishioners to pay for the windows in memory of members of their families and others. The East window is earlier than the others being dated about 1860 and probably br Lavers and Barraud. It depicts The Life and Passion of Christ and was given in memory of two children of George and Jane Gipps of Howletts. The West window in the belfry tower is by Gibbs and Howard. It depicts The Risen Christ and was given by his wife in memory of George Gipps of Howletts who died in 1880. There are two other windows by the same maker Gibbs and Howard. One next to the pulpit depicting The Virgin Mary was given by Mary Wardell in the royal esnecca (a ship) at Hastings with land at Bekesbourne. It was after him that the name of the village, previously known as Livingsbourne, acquired the alternative name of Bekesbourne It was probably through him that the parish became an associate member of the Cinque Port of Hastings, which it continued to be until the connection was abolished by Act of Parliament early in the nineteenth century. This land was probably on the valley floor, on the north bank of the river, on the site of the present Old Palace, land not occupied since early Roman days. In 1314, James de Bourne, "owner of the manor of Bekesbourne", endowed a chantry which became known as Bourne's Chantry. The purpose of a chantry was to provide for a priest to pray for the souls of the departed and in particular for that of the chantry's founder. Often also a special chantry chapel was built onto or within the church, or simply a separate altar was provided. At Bekesbourne there is no evidence that a chapel was built and it is probable that the chantry priest officiated at an altar within the church. However some fifty years after its foundation, in 1363, after a succession of five chantry priests, it proved impossible to find anyone to accept the appointment. The value of the stipend was only small and it was, of course, only a few years after the dramatic reduction in the population caused by the Black Death. The founder's descendent, Bartholomew de Bourne, passed the endowment to Eastbridge Hospital, Canterbury, the priest of their Chapel undertaking to attend at Bekesbourne on a number of occasions during the year. The manor of Bekesbourne was acquired in the sixteenth century by Christ Church Cathedral Priory as what Archbishop Cranmer later called "a house of recreation for the monks". Cranmer himself obtained it in 1543 after the dissolution of the monasteries and re-built it as one of his country palaces. He is known to have used it quite a lot and a number of his letters written from it survive. In one such, written in April 1544, he writes to Lord Cobham who was the king's representative in Calais, still at that time held by the English, and who was also the owner of Cobham Court. It is mostly about ecclesiastical business but it concludes by thanking Lord Cobham for 18 3 some wine and offering to buy more if "there come any to be sold at any reasonable price". Cranmer is perhaps best known as the original author of the Book of Common Prayer and it may well be that he composed some of it in Bekesbourne. The Bekesbourne palace survived a hundred years until it was largely demolished by the Commonwealth Commissioners in 1647. After the thirteenth century few further alterations were made to the structure. Some windows were enlarged to let in more light. A porch over the north door was added at some stage. A south transept was built of brick and still has the date 1715 on the outside gable end. It is reputed to have been clad in mathematical tiles, one of the earliest uses of this material; but, sadly, no trace of these remains. There is nothing really to suggest that the fabric of the building was unduly neglected in the eighteenth or nineteenth century. Indeed a church rate was levied twice a year on qualifying parishioners and money was spent on the fabric from time to time with payments to the local builder and glazier and for gravel for the churchyard paths, as well as expenditure on maintaining regular Services. From the churchwardens' accounts 7-4 1775 April 17 Paid Mr J Baker a glaisers bill Paid Mr J Pilcher a carpenters bill for a new Church gate & two new pannels of pales & a new stile to the churchyard £3-6-8 1818-20 Balance due to late Churchwarden Briefs at the visitation 350 210 0 Mr Taylor for bricks and lime 10 9 10 Mr Corstain for books etc 166. Brice, Claringbold and Shrubsole for workdone in the churchyard To carriage of bricks and lime etc for the church 139 300 60 Pilcher for work done in the Church and the churchyard Lawrence a bill for work done in the Church 6 502 1243 Clerk's fees to Easter 1819 280 White & Brice for work in the churchyard whether Mr Gipps had relented or someone else had paid the debt. Nor can we say whether it was the Bevington instrument which we still have and which would have had to be re-built in 1882 to fit its new position. An outline specification of the organ is as follows:- Two manuals C to g (56 keys) and pedal board C to f (30 keys) Swell 8 8 8 ∞∞∞ +4 Great Cornopean 8 Open Diapason Open Diapason 8 Claribel Bell Gamba 8 Dulciana Lieblich Gedact 8 Principal Harmonic Flute 4 Flute Mixture II Pedal Bourdon 16 Couplers Swell to pedal Swell to great Great to pedal In 2004 the organ was classified Grade II* by the British Institute of Organ Studies as "an instrument of importance to the national heritage and one deserving careful preservation for the benefit of future generations". The organ was fully restored to its original condition in 2005 by F.H.Brown & Sons of Ash who had maintained the instrument since 1890. The cost, some £12000, was raised from local and national charities, the Friends of Bekesbourne Church and many generous local people. The Bells At the end of the eighteenth century there were two bells in the low tower. They were still there in 1884 when it was decided to acquire new bells. The Vicar consulted Taylors, bellfounders of Loughborough, but it was decided to order a ring of four bells from Mears and Stainbank of the Whitechapel Foundry in London. The cost was £245-11-5 against which an allowance of £23-17-5 was made for the old bells which were traded in. These four were duly installed in a new oak frame and the cost was met by Jane Gipps. In 1890 a further two treble bells were ordered at a cost of £85-10-4. Unfortunately it was not possible to instal both in the existing frame at the same level and one had to be set in an extension to the frame above the 4 17 10 24 The last supper Harriet bar to Ort R 23 St. Peter 2 The fine Norman doorway 3 The east end 197 Fam the Lord that healeth thee SARTHE GUITAR GOD IN THANEEVI REMEMBE SEOS A SPECIA HERCY GEORGE BOWLY SP 4 The church from the north showing original floor and ground levels 25 St. Augustine 26 The Good Shepherd 1 5 1807 Watercolour by H. Petrie FSA T 19 William Bedford NICOLAO BATTELY A. M. Hujus Ecclefiæ Vicario Rectori de lvy Church viro Docto prudenti Pio. Marito Benemerenti Anna Battely conivx moeftiffima pofuit. Obiit Maii XIX A.D. MDCCIV. Etatis LV. WIZJAN MENTESEORN. FREDERICK COLBY CORE 3 MOROUS EDWARD VEN ARED VINK CONLIGEN OP THE RON NY EDEX ANH ANNA MANIS SACEED TO THE MOMORY OF THE BOX AND REV WILLIAM EDEN, M. A. YSGEST &N OP FREDERICK MORTON FIRST LORD BENEY RECTOR OF RUSRPSBORNE, SENION SEX FREACHER IN CANTERBURY CATHERERAL 25 YEARS AA de TRES PARISH AND RECTOS OF RAKBYKDOWN DIED MAY 1850017 A CREARS ACTO OF HIS WIDHW ANXANAYOY GREY DERUTHY UNLGHTER OF WILLIAM RELHAM OPEYTON CEMDENSE WAHRIKSHME WOW or sk 20 FORD GES DE RUTHV BORY TOY AGOST 1702 100 250 5 20 Eden memorials 6 The west end of the Church in 1817 21 Nicholas Batteley 22 Richard Fogge Established at Howletts, the Gipps regarded St Peter's as their parish church and were most generous to it. In 1846 they gave a new set of silver communion plate. The lychgate is a memorial to one of the family. They, in particular the lady known as Jane Gipps the Younger, gave most of the money for the restoration of the Church in the 1880s. She also paid for the new bells. Several of the stained glass windows are memorials to members of the family. Eventually in 1910 George Bowdler Gipps sold Howletts and the estate was broken up. He himself had not lived there since 1890. There are three memorial tablets to members of the Gipps family. The Organ In the 1880s when the Church was restored the organ was neatly installed into the new arch opening into the south transept, with pine panelling and some false pipes extending the organ case on the left side to form a doorway into the vestry. The organ was built by Bevington & Sons of Soho, London, but exactly when is not known. An original Bevington's label survives inside the organ case on which the date 1882 has been written. This would coincide with the date of the church's restoration, although no parish records about it survive. However there is a good story recorded in the Vestry minutes of October 1879 when the members present voted to ask George Gipps of Howletts, the largest landowner in the parish, to take the organ and pay off the debt on it of £7-5-6. When he declined, the Vestry meeting voted to sell the pay off the debt and put any surplus money on deposit at Hammonds bank in Canterbury, to be used to keep the harmonium in tune. There the story ends and we do not know what happened. organ, There is one other clue. Some time in 1880, Gray and Davison, a London firm of organ builders, was commissioned by W.G.Habershon, the architect for the restoration of the Church, to examine the organ at Bekesbourne. So there was an organ in 1880 but we still cannot tell whether it was the instrument on which there had been the outstanding debt in 1879, and 16 Mr Fagg a bill for iron gates for the Church Mr Shepherd a bill for Roman Cement Given the boys and girls at the confirmation Paid at the Visitation Clerk's fees to Easter 1820 Lawrence's bill for windows For letters, prayers and proclamations For expenses at seven sacraments signed 24th March 1820 by: Richard Peckham William Gardner 150 212 0 160 15 6 28 0 43 8 2 111 63 A description of the Church by the last vicar of the eighteenth century is as follows: "there was, I believe, originally a tower at he west end of the Church and joining to it; though there is nothing more over the belfry than a tiled roof, about 30 inches or 3 feet higher than the roof of the Church, which is about as much higher than that of the Chancel". Hasted's description is: "The church, which is dedicated to St. Peter, consists of one isle, a high chancel, and a small south sept or cross chancel, having a low roofed tower at the west end, in which are two bells". A watercolour by H Petrie FSA in the collection held by the Kent Archaeological Society (5) shows the church in 1807 in its mature state and confirms these descriptions. Early in the nineteenth century it appears that the low tower partly collapsed. A print, published in 1817, shows the result, albeit probably in a somewhat romanticised view (6). It was rebuilt in 1841 almost in its present form. Curiously there is nothing in the church records or the Vestry Minute Book about either the collapse or the rebuilding. In the intervening years ordinary maintenance and church services continued normally. However the rebuilt tower is shown in a drawing of 1867 from another series held by the Kent Archaeological Society (7). It is to be remarked that the present window in the west wall of the tower has three lights, whereas the original one depicted in the 1817 print had only one. From about the middle of the nineteenth century it is clear that deterioration to the fabric and fittings had occurred. Successive reports by senior church officers, the Archdeacon or the Rural Dean, drew attention to the need for work to be carried out. In particular they noticed advanced dry rot in the 5 interior woodwork. The last such record, of July 1880, by the then Rural Dean, reads: "Inspected the Church - the Chancel and Tower seen to be in substantial repair, but the body of the Church needs attention and the pews and pulpit are in a very bad state and need restoring". Clearly the fabric and fittings of the nave had deteriorated in the nineteenth century and the records show that, during the middle years of the century, it was proving more and more difficult to collect the church rate, the only source of funds for maintenance. The church had become very damp. This would have been exacerbated by the accumulation of soil against the walls as the level of the churchyard rose and the fact that the church was now being heated for services, leading to ideal conditions for the spread of dry rot. Nevertheless from time to time the parish did take note of the problems. For example in April 1862 the Vestry Meeting resolved "to consult Mr Wilson, builder of Canterbury, on better drainage of the Church", and in 1863-4 money was paid to Mr Wilson for "whitewashing and colouring the walls and repairing plastering and tiling", so that in 1866 the then Rural Dean, at his visitation, commented "church dry now" By the end of 1877, however, the parish had already set up a Restoration Committee. A parish meeting was called for 26 October by the usual method of affixing a notice to the church door. Only two people attended: the Curate and one of the Churchwardens They prudently adjourned the meeting until 30 October when six people turned up. They were the Rev Stephen Jenner, the curate (there was an absentee vicar at that time, Rev John Firth Franks of Trinity Hall, Cambridge) and the principal farmers: Bradbury Tassell of Hode Farm in Patrixbourne, Frederick Sams of Shepherds Close, Septimus Sladden of Cobham Court, William Gardner of Sondes House and David Smith of Woolton Farm of which much of the land lies in the parish of Bekesbourne though the house is in Littlebourne. They constituted themselves into a committee and agreed to ask the Marquess of Conyngham to be chairman. His seat was at Bifrons in the neighbouring parish of Patrixbourne but he was the largest landowner in the district, including land in Bekesbourne, and would clearly be a name to lead the committee. They also agreed to consult the Diocesan Architect, Joseph and it was in his time that the tower was rebuilt in 1841. During the whole time he was Vicar of Bekesbourne he was also Rector of Harbledown as his predecessor John Toke had been before him. The odd thing is that, for the first fifteen years of his incumbency, he lived in Bekesbourne and presumably employed a Curate in Harbledown; but in 1835 he moved to Harbledown and employed a Curate in Bekesbourne. He only came back to Bekesbourne to attend Vestry Meetings and to take some funerals. He resigned both livings and was appointed Rector of Bishopsbourne, where he remained for the rest of his life, dying aged 66 in 1859. He was buried back in Bekesbourne churchyard. His widow lived on to the age of 83. The upper tablet records the untimely death of four of their children aged respectively 3 months, 12, 28 and 20 years. It serves as a lesson on the unpredictability of life in the 19th century. As noted above, it fell to Henry J Wardell, who became Vicar in the summer of 1881, to see through the restoration of the Church. He evidently undertook this task with enthusiasm and dedication and in this and other ways endeared himself to the local people; to the extent indeed that, on his death in 1898, his parishioners and friends erected a tablet to his memory in the chancel (34), and another in the grounds of the village school commemorating the interest he had taken in the schoolchildren's welfare. There is a memorial tablet on the north side of the chancel to Canon L G Appleton. Leonard Appleton, appointed in 1950, was the last priest in charge of Bekesbourne as a separate parish. From 1956 the parish was united with the neighbouring parish of Patrixbourne with Bridge in a single Benefice. The Benefice was enlarged in 2000 by the addition of the parish of Nackington with Lower Hardres to form the Bridge Group of Parishes. In 2006 this has been formally constituted as a new Benefice. Lastly, the Gipps family should be mentioned. George Gipps of Harbledown bought the Howletts estate in 1820. His father had been MP for Canterbury. They also rented from the Archbishop of Canterbury the Rectorial tithes of those churches where the Patron had been the Priory of St Gregory before the Reformation, of which Bekesbourne was one. 6 15 a fine ledger stone in the floor of the nave to Nicholas Batteley who died aged 55 in 1704 (21). He was an antiquarian who researched and produced a new revised edition of Somner's Antiquities of Canterbury. He found so much additional material that he produced a supplementary volume of his own. He was Vicar of Bekesbourne from 1685 until his death. His brother John was Archdeacon of Canterbury. There are similar fine ledger stones to Nicholas' wife Anna who died in 1716 and to his mother, also Anna, placed there by John, the Archdeacon. Nicholas Batteley was the donor of the set of silver Communion Plate which is now on display in the Canterbury Cathedral Treasury. This consists of a chalice dating from 1564 (increased in height in 1846), with cover dated 1578 and a paten of 1693. The memorial tablet to William Bedford (19) on the south side of the tower belfry was moved at the restoration from the nave. He became Vicar in 1726 and died still in harness 57 years later in 1783. For 56 years he was also Rector of Smarden though he seems to have lived all his life in Bekesbourne. During this time he and his wife had 15 children of whom 8 pre-deceased him. Susanna his wife died in 1768 at the age of 60 after 37 of marriage. He was probably responsible for building and the first to live in the large new Vicarage (now the Old Vicarage) built early in the eighteenth century. years On the south wall of the nave are two expensive-looking polished black stone memorial tablets one above the other. The lower one (20) commemorates the Honourable and Reverend William Eden and his widow Anna Maria Lady Grey de Ruthyn. The wording of the inscription makes one think they were unduly pompous. In fact Eden came from a most eminent Whig family. His father, as the inscription records, was the first Lord Henley of Chardstock who had himself had a distinguished diplomatic career. His uncle was the first Lord Auckland whose son became Governor General of India during the time that William Eden was Vicar of Bekesbourne. Just before coming to Bekesbourne in 1820, William Eden married the widow of Lord Grey de Ruthyn, aged 28, the same age as himself. It was he who in 1821 set about providing the new singing gallery as noted above. He and George Gipps of Howletts in 1825 each gave £5 for a new altarpiece young Clarke, and to set up a bank account at Hammonds Bank in Canterbury which would pay interest at 22% p.a. Rev Stephen Jenner would be the Committee Secretary. By June 1881 the plans were complete. The Committee met on 23 June and resolved "that the committee be dissolved and the fund standing in the name of the committee be transferred to the Vicar for the time being, the chief subscribers having agreed to pay their donations to the vicar for the carrying out of the restoration of the parish church, which the vicar has agreed to carry out precisely according to the contract entered into with the builder Cephas Foad of Whitstable under the directions of Messrs. Habershon and Fawckner of 38 Bloomsbury Square, London". William Habershon was an architect with an extensive practice in the second half of the 19th century. His obituary in the R.I.B.A. journal of 22 October 1891 states that "He designed and carried out some fifty churches, eighty chapels, sixty schools, thirty vicarages and country mansions, as well as many buildings of a more important and public character........Mr Habershon carried out a very large number of church restorations, and always carefully followed the ancient work." By 1881 Stephen Jenner, who had succeeded John Firth Franks as Vicar in 1880, had died and been succeeded by Rev Sir George Cox bart. He, however, moved to a new parish in the north of England in that same summer of 1881 and it fell to the new vicar, Rev Henry J Wardell, to ensure that the restoration of the Church went ahead as planned. Unfortunately details of the plans do not survive. The restoration went ahead. The chancel was not much altered although, probably, it was re-roofed. The nave was virtually re-built and re-roofed. The porch was removed and not replaced. The tower, having been re-built only forty years previously, was left alone. A new boiler house with chimney was built on the south side of the tower. A photograph, taken around the turn of the century from the northwest (8), shows the restored church looking much as it does today. 14 7 In addition, in order to alleviate the damp which had been a primary cause of the deterioration of the building and fittings, a ground gutter was constructed. This involved digging a trench all around the outside of the building down to the original floor level and building a brick arch within the trench to leave an air gap around the walls below ground level. The arch was then covered with a cement channel at ground level, leading rainwater away from the walls. This is still in use. The Interior There are only a few features of the medieval church remaining. The visitor enters through the twelfth century Norman doorway. Just inside on the left is a holy water stoup into which the churchgoer would dip his fingers and make the sign of the cross (9). The thirteenth century east window and lancets on the north of the chancel are the most noteworthy features. There are some fragments of medieval thirteenth century glass in the lancet window nearest the east wall. In the east wall itself there are two aumbries (11), cupboards for the storage of communion vessels for the Mass, which would originally have had wooden doors. It is unusual to find two aumbries; one is much more common. It may be that the second one here dates from the fourteenth century and was used by the chantry priest (see above), the other being for the church's own vessels and used by the vicar of the parish. On the south wall of the chancel is a double piscina (10), used for washing the communion vessels. At the west end of the church the arch into the tower is original and dates from the 13th century. Otherwise all the features of the interior date from the restoration in the 1880s. It is difficult to imagine what the church looked like inside before the restoration, but something can be pieced together from surviving descriptions and records. First, there was no chancel arch, the chancel roof abutting directly onto the nave. The rafters of the roof were probably visible and the spaces between. inscription to Henry Porrege records that he wrote it himself in his lifetime. It contains eight lines of Latin hexameters in which he admits to being not a very good poet "rudis incultusque poeta". He died in 1593 and it is interesting that a resident of Bekesbourne should have been educated in a classical language at that time. The memorial to Sir Thomas Pym Hales is a fine tablet on the wall of the vestry, which, as noted above, was originally the grand pew of the Hales Family (18). The Hales were a large and distinguished Kentish family of many branches. The Bekesbourne branch had been settled in Thanington on the western outskirts of Canterbury. Early in the seventeenth century they bought the Howletts estate in Bekesbourne, retaining also the Thanington manor, and remained there for over a century. The most distinguished member of the family was Stephen Hales, born at Bekesbourne in 1677, noted scientist but also an active temperance worker denouncing the “demon drink". Sir Thomas Pym Hales was the last of the Hales to live in Bekesbourne. He died without leaving a son and the estate and the title passed to his brother Philip. Sir Philip was settled in Somerset and in 1789 sold the estate to Isaac Baugh who built a new mansion which still survives. There is also a memorial to Sir Philip in the vestry. a Another naval officer is commemorated on a memorial tablet which was originally also on the south wall of the chancel but was removed to the vestry at the 1880s restoration (22). This is to Richard Fogge, a naval Captain of the time of Charles I. It records that when he retired he came to live in Bekesbourne and lived to the age of 83, dying in 1681. He lived in a grand house reputedly built in the reign of Elizabeth I by Archbishop Parker for his son. Later it was occupied by the Hales after the original Howletts mansion fell down early in the eighteenth century, and lastly by Lady Hales after the death of her husband Sir Thomas Pym Hales. It was evidently demolished towards the end of the eighteenth century when it disappears from the parish records. It stood in the meadow next to the former school in School Lane. There are a number of memorials to Vicars of Bekesbourne. The earliest is 8 13 15 The Bevington Organ 16 Sir Henry Palmer 7 1867 Sepia drawing by William F Saunders Sir THOMAS PYM HALES Bar! of the hot of DOVER. and tro FRIEND TO LIBERTY ad the LAWS of his COUNTRY. of wearing Kines to his Famity. Fidelity to his Friends BENEVOLENCE to MANKIND. Homan Virtue domed his fe eignethin für Death He dyed the 18 March 1773. Leaving Fr MARY GERVAS 17 Altar stone with Porrege 18 Sir Thomas Pym Hales memorial 8 About 1900 from an old photograph 9 The Holy Water Stoup 888 10 The double Piscina 11 The east end showing two medieval aumbries and the three 19th century statues 12 Victorian stencils under peeling paint in the chancel 13 The interior about 1900 GL. SAUGOS SIPELS DORES THA 14 The Interior in 2005 new choir vestry. The small Norman window on the south side of the chancel was reopened at the same time. In the last years of the twentieth century the Parochial Church Council embarked on a further major restoration project. This included the stripping and re-tiling of the roofs of the nave, south transept and tower, repairs to external stonework and works to alleviate damp including new gutters at eaves level to the south transept. The total cost of some £50000 was very largely met by grants from English Heritage and national and local charities, but the newly-formed Friends of Bekesbourne Church had already raised significant amount towards the total. Soon after, new altar frontals and other textiles were donated by families and individuals in memory of their loved ones to replace some which had been in use since the earlier restoration in the 1880s and were now worn out (14). Some Monuments a The earliest monuments in the church date from the turn of the sixteenth century. There are a number of small ones, mainly for the Coppin family on the chancel floor in front of the altar rails. The most interesting, however, is for Sir Henry Palmer (16). This was originally on the south wall of the chancel in front of the blocked up Norman window but was removed to its present position on the south wall of the tower by the Victorian restorers. It was taken down, restored and conserved in 2000. At the time of his death Sir Henry Palmer owned Howletts and consequently much of the land in Bekesbourne. He was an Admiral in the reign of Queen Elizabeth I. He is said to have missed the main battle with the Spanish Armada in 1588 because his ship turned up late; but this evidently did not affect his career as he became Controller of the Navy ten years later. The very earliest memorial is to Henry Porrege. This is a brass plate set in a flat stone just in front of the chancel steps (17). The stone itself is interesting because it has six crosses cut into the top surface, at the four corners and half way along each long side. It has long been thought that for this reason the stone was the top of the medieval altar, removed at the Reformation when a wooden table had to be substituted; but there is no proof of this. The Latin plastered and whitewashed. The chancel walls were panelled, the panelling said to have been the gift of Archbishop Parker during the reign of Elizabeth I. Certainly Archbishop Parker knew Bekesbourne well and would have known the Church. He wrote on three occasions to Lord Burghley in 1573 asking him to obtain Queen Elizabeth's permission to enlarge what he describes as “the little house I have at Bekesbourne”, but permission seems never to have been forthcoming. The walls of the nave would probably have been plastered and whitewashed. There were certainly pews and a pulpit which had become very dilapidated. There was a gallery at the west end of the nave. A late-18th century vicar, the Rev Robert Phillips, describes it: "There was a large Gothic Arch in the Wall or Screen that separates the Belfrey from the body of the Church, as is very visible from the cracking of the Plaster. It is almost wholly filled up, in order to build a singing Gallery, and the Entrance into the Church, from the Belfrey, is now through a common sized door, under the Gallery". This gallery was replaced by a larger one in the 1820s. The Vestry Minute Book records the decision: "At a Vestry called by publick notice in the Church for the purpose of providing more sitting room therein, and held on Sunday 30th of December 1821 and afterwards by adjournment on the two following Sundays, it was resolved to take down the present gallery and to erect a new one projecting about four feet further into the Church and to be entered by a staircase and door from the belfry, to have four rows of open sittings in front for the School children of the parish, 2ft wide from front to front of the seats, and two rows with backs to them, behind, for other persons, 2ft 6ins wide in the clear. The back floor of the gallery to be raised 16in higher than the present floor. To be a banister front rounded at the ends and to be supported by four pillars, one at each corner and two in line with the pews of the Church. The Children's seats to rise 8ins one behind the other, and the slope of the Gallery to be regulated by such rise. The whole of the above to be completed in a substantial and workmanlike manner by Mr John Pilcher for the sum of twenty one pounds by the 1st day of April 1822". 12 9 One 19th century observer, (Sir Stewart Glynne: Notes on the Churches of Kent, 1877) records that "there is a plain semicircular arch in the north wall which seems to have opened to a transept now destroyed. There is a similar arch opening to the south transept". This would imply that the church was originally cruciform. However there is no evidence remaining of this nor any corroboration by other early observers. As noted above, the present south transept was built in 1715. It was probably designed to be the "squire's pew" for the use of the Hales family of Howletts, the largest landowners of the parish. As the same late-18th century Vicar put it: "On the South side is a large handsome Pew or Chancel, lately belonging to, and I believe built by the Hales family, and under it their family vault". In the restoration from 1882 all the interior fittings were removed including pews, pulpit and the gallery at the west end. The chancel floor is said to have been raised to its original level. A new large gothic arch was inserted in the Early English style between the nave and the chancel and a similar, smaller arch to lead into the south transept. The nave walls were lined with knapped flint. New round-vaulted timber ceilings were installed in both chancel and nave. The new arches, window surrounds and doorways were decorated with stencilled flower patterns in medieval style (some of which are now "fighting back" against successive layers of obscuring paint) (12). Statues of Our Lord flanked by two Angels were set up on the east wall of the chancel. The altar table was furnished with six brass candlesticks, three on either side of the central cross. Three sanctuary lamps were suspended from a beam across the chancel on which was stencilled the words "Sanctus Sanctus Sanctus Dominus Deus Sabaoth" (Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord God of Hosts). New choir stalls and reading desks were installed. A timber choir screen was erected across the new chancel arch. New pews were installed in the nave to provide a hundred seats. A new lectern for the Bible was provided, but no pulpit. A number of memorials were removed, in particular from the walls of the chancel, and replaced elsewhere (see below). Stations of the Cross were placed around the walls. All this is shown in a photographic postcard of the period (13). The result overall was of a small village church in the Victorian medievalist tradition with "high church" ornaments, presumably reflecting Henry Wardell's churchmanship. In addition the organ was installed in the new arch to the south transept (15) and new bells were installed in the tower. (see below). The total cost of the whole is said to have been about £4,000, of which the Ecclesiastical Commissioners provided £200 towards restoring the Chancel and the greater part was provided by the Gipps family, the owners of Howletts at the time, and in particular by one member of that family known as Jane Gipps the Younger. In the following century only minor modifications were made. Some of these reflected the broadening of the churchmanship of succeeding Vicars or parishioners, some a reaction against Victorian taste, some to bring the church more up-to-date. The carved oak pulpit still in situ was given in 1920 by the Ramsay family, the new owners of Howletts, in memory of one of the family killed in the First World War. The six candlesticks were removed from the altar and the sanctuary lamps taken down and stored. The stations of the cross were removed and presented to a church in Whitstable. This was not without controversy at the time as members of the Wardell family still living locally objected. The colourful stencilling round the arches and windows was covered with distemper. Gas lighting was installed to replace the oil lamps. In the 19th century the Marchioness of Conyngham, of Bifrons in Patrixbourne, had provided a gasworks for the village of Bridge and to supply their mansion house. This was extended to Bekesbourne and enabled a supply for both the village school and the church as well as a number of principal houses. In the 1960s electricity was installed and the gas lighting replaced by electric light. Electric heaters were installed, replacing the old boiler system and the boiler house was demolished. Also at this time the chancel screen was moved to the west end of the Church to screen off the last three ro rows of pews to form a 10 11