Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1000 to 1899 Church, 11th-15th centuries. North west tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel. Ragstone rubble with some dressed stone dressings.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon to Modern - 1000 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 76 SW 35 :
[TQ 7125 6439] All Saints' Church [NAT] (1) "Wouldham. All Saints. Nave and aisles, S cross-aisle, the tower NW. The arches on the N 13th c.; The chancel arch retained; the rood loft access unusual; the staircase on N wall, at the top, the passage is conducted in the cross-wall, which has had its core removed for it. Bench tables in the chancel. The chancel has on the N side 13th c. windows; the E window 14th c. with good tracery. In the cross-aisle isa square-headed 14th c. window and a three-light 15th century, the tower plain". (2) Fuller description. (3) Illustration. (4) Still in use for public worship. (5) Church of All Saints, High Street (W side), Grade I. Church. C11, c.1200, C13, C14, C15. NW tower, N and S aisles, chancel,Ragstone rubble with some dressed stone dressings. Plain tiled roofs. 3-stage tower with strings dividing stages. Crenellated parapet and octagonal SE stair turret. 3 windows to N aisle and five to S, with simple C14 and C15 windows and C19 timber gabled porch to SW. 2 windowchancel with C13 window. Interior: 3 bay S arcade with remains of C12 window over central arch. 4 bay N arcade. Slightly chamfered arches toarcades. Internal arcading to S side of chancel. Kneelers: in S chapelc15, square-headed panels in 2 tiers. (6) All Saints. In the beginning was a late Saxon church. Its chancel creates the narrowness of the W half of the present chancel. One double splayed window of its nave above the S arcade. The W quoins, including tile and tufa, visible outside. A narrow one-bay C12th aisleat the NW end of the nave (an add place) would explain the W respond with scallop capital made of small blocks of stone. This aisle c.1200 was lengthened to two bays round pier and two slightly chamfered arches. In the same campaign a two bay S aisle, C13th, lengthening of the S aisle to the W end. Also C13th the narrow N chancel chapel, and the lengthened chancel with various lancets, set in crude wall arcading. Two square aumbries in the E wall. In the C14th the N aisle was completed and a S chancel chapel built. Good three light DecoratedE window of the chancel. Later the S aisle was widened to align with it. The last item was a tower, built most unusually for the C15th NW of the N aisle. No buttresses. Several bequests towards its erection between 1460 and 1483. (7) Wouldham. A double splayed window in the S wall of the originally aisleless nave at Wouldham is partially cut away by a Norman arch, thus showing that the window and the main walls of the nave are Anglo-Saxon, including the western quoins of flint and tile. (8,9, 11)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
WOULDHAM CP HIGH STREET TQ 76 SW (west side) 4/237 Church of All Saints 25.8.59
- I
Church. Cll, c.1200, C13, C14, C15. North west tower, nave, north and south aisles, chancel. Ragstone rubble with some dressed stone dressings. Plain tiled roofs. 3-stage tower with strings dividing stages. Crenellated parapet and octagonal south-east stair turret. 3 windows to north aisle and five to south, with simple C14 and C15 windows and C19 timber gabled porch to south west. 2 window chancel with C13 window. Interior: 3 bay south arcade with remains of C12 window over central arch. 4 bay north arcade. Slightly chamfered arches to arcades. Internal arcading to south side of chancel. Kneelers: in south chapel, C15, square-headed panels in 2 tiers.
Listing NGR: TQ7132164366(12)

<1> OS 6" 1938-9 (OS Card Reference). SKE48357.

<2> County Churches Series Kent Vol 2 p.137-8 1913 (F Grayling) (OS Card Reference). SKE39486.

<3> The Churches of Kent 1877 p.340-341 (Sir Stephen R Glynne) (OS Card Reference). SKE50274.

<4> Notes on Kent Churches 1852 p.166 illus (Rev A Hussey) (OS Card Reference). SKE47697.

<5> F1 CFW 24-JUN-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42749.

<6> DOE (HHR) Dist of Tonbridge and Malling Kent 1987 89 (OS Card Reference). SKE40407.

<7> The Buildings of England West Kent and the Weald 1980 614-615 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE50248.

<8> AS Architecture 2 693-4 725 (H M and J Taylor) (OS Card Reference). SKE37383.

<9> AS Architecture 3 750 (H M and J Taylor) (OS Card Reference). SKE37385.

<10> Field report for monument TQ 76 SW 35 - June, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4195.

<11> Diocese of Rochester (Tim Tatton-Brown), 1994, Wouldham, All Saints:Diocesan church survey (Unpublished document). SKE29536.

<12> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading