Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1200 to 1885. A church which was mainly built in the 13th century, except the south porch which was built in the 16th century. Four bay nave. There is strong evidence that Westwell was a minster created in a second wave of minster creation in Kent from the 8th to mid-10th centuries. The church consists of a chancel with north and south chapels, nave with aisles, south porch and west tower with broached shingled spire.

Monument Types

• MINSTER? (Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 701 AD? to 950 AD?)
• CHURCH (Medieval to Modern - 1200 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 94 NE 5 :
[TQ 9906 4748] St. Mary's Ch. [NAT] (1). St. Mary's Church, Westwell, is mainly of 13th century date; the aisles are 14th century and the porch 16th century (2). In use (3) Checked and correct(4). 5272 WESTWELL THE STREET Church of St Mary TQ 94 NE 11/1 14.2.67. 2. Chancel with north and south chapels, nave with aisles, south porch and west tower with broached shingled spire. C13, except C16 south porch. Four bay nave. The columns of the south arcade of the nave lean outwards and are supported by wooden braces or flying buttresses right across the south aisle. The exterior south wall of the aisle is also supported by a brick buttress, added in 1835. The stone chancel arch, or screen, is most unusual and consists of 2 very tall thin columns in the centre, forming 3 narrow arches with trefoil heads. Stone vault to the chancel roof. Choir stalls arranged in monastic fashion. South aisle has a collar beam and crown post roof. Piscina and triple medilia. The churchyard contains C17 headstones, with primitive skulls incised, C13 headstones with cherub motifs and oval bodystones(5). St Mary's Church, built of flint all at once during the 13th century but now unpleasantly rendered. It has a rare vaulted chancel and a yet rarer stone chancel screen. (6)

In 2013, the opportunity for dendrochronological analysis of the tower spire's tinber structure arose during the refurbishment to sections of the church roof. "whilst it is locally assumed that the spire and its internal timber tower structure were of a single constructional period, this was not the case. As with nearly all timber-framed structures numerous repairs and reconstructions had occurred over the years with the earliest identifiable phase consisting of the main timber-framed tower structure and the central spire post as being of early sixteenthcentury. By the early seventeenth-century the spire appears to have undergone extensive reconstruction possibly associated with the re-hanging of the present peal of four bells. A further unrecorded major scheme of repairs to the base of the spire was also identified indicating replacement of the spire wall plates towards the close of the nineteenth-century." (9)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5272 WESTWELL THE STREET Church of St. Mary TQ 94 NE 11/1 14.2.67.
I
2. Chancel with north and south porches, nave with aisles, south porch and west tower with broached shingled stairs. C13, except C16 south porch. Four bay nave. The columns of the south arcade of the nave lean outwards and are supported by wooden braces or flying buttresses right across the south aisle. The exterior south wall of aisle is also supported by a brick buttress, added in 1885. The stone chancel arch, or screen is most unusual and consists of 2 very tall thin columns in the centre, forming 3 narrow arches with trefoil heads. Stone vault to the chancel roof. Choir stalls arranged in monastic fashion. South aisle has a collar beam and crown post roof. Piscina and triple sedilia. The churchyard contains C17 headstones, with primitive skulls incised, C13 headstones with cherub motifs and oval bodystones. Listing NGR: TQ9901247488(10)

<1> OS 6" 1960 (OS Card Reference). SKE48367.

<2> M.H.L.G (West Ashford R.D.) 1887/11/A Oct 1960 p.76 (OS Card Reference). SKE46233.

<3> F1 ASP 14-DEC-61 (OS Card Reference). SKE42098.

<4> F2 ASP 01-JAN-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43071.

<5> DOE (HHR) Boro of Ashford, Kent Oct 1980 253 (OS Card Reference). SKE39838.

<6> Bldgs of Eng NE & E Kent 1983 493-4 illus (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37780.

<7> Field report for monument TQ 94 NE 5 - December, 1961 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4733.

<8> Field report for monument TQ 94 NE 5 - January, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4734.

<9> Canterbury Archaeological Trust, 2013, St Mary’s Church, Westwell Lane, Westwell Archaeological Watching-Brief and Dendrochronological sampling report (Unpublished document). SKE51501.

<10> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading