Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1180 to 1220. Church, Norman with later additions. A simple, early Norman church of nave and chancel with a later tower at the south-west corner. Windows and a door were inserted in the nave in the 13th century and the tower was erected in the 14th century. Trottiscliffe was one of the early minsters founded in Kent before 700.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval to Modern - 1180 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 66 SW 9 :
[TQ 6466054] St. Peter & St. Paul's Church (NAT) (1) The church at Trottescliffe is dedicated to St Peter and St. Paul. It was mentioned in Domesday and has always been accounted an appendage of the manor. (2) There was probably a small church at Trottescliffe soon after 788. The present chancel was probably built 1077-1108; the tower added in the late 12thc. when the nave was rebuilt. The fabric contains 14th & 15th c. insertions. [Authy gives detailed history of church, description of glass, etc.] (3) A simple, early Norman church of nave and chancel with a later tower at the south-west corner. Windows and a door were inserted in the nave in the 13th c. and the tower was erected in the 14th c. [Author refers to MSS plans, etc. which he had seen suggesting the present nave to be a later addition to the chancel but states "I cannot discern any factors that would differentiate in date between the eastern and western parts".] [For plan - see AO/59/45/5] (4) The church is at present used for ecclesiastical purposes. List of Rectors given from 1176. An Anon. and undated notice states the church to have been first mentioned in 1086, the chancel to be Norman, the nave 12c, (West wall rebuilt 1885), the tower to have been built in 1340. Dedication, St Peter & St Paul on notices. GP/AO/59/187/1 from S.W. (5) No change. (6) TQ 66 SW TROTTISCLIFFE C.P. CHURCH ROAD 2/25 (north side) 25.8.59 Church of St Peter and St Paul GV I Church. c.1200. Flint with tufa dressings with plain tiled roofs. South west tower, narrow nave, unusually long chancel. Early C16 windows. Flat-headed 2-light belfry openings. Pointed arched doorway in south side of tower, with C13 doorway beyond, hidden by addition of tower. Original north and south windows in chancel. Interior: collar-rafter roof. Piscina built in one piece with C14 window. Reredos: Wood, early C18, 2 cartauches carved with reliefs of Circumcision and Flight into Egypt, not made for church. Altar rails: Wood, early C18, twisted balusters, enriched newels, and leaf bosses, not made for church. Pulpit: 1775, by Henry Keene, originally for Westminster Abbey, where it stood until 1824. Palm tree carrying sounding board. Decoration a mixture of Gothic and classical, with oval wheel motifs decorating sides. Reading desk: Made up of Jacobean remnants. Stained glass: West window 1885 by Ward and Hughes. E. window by Gibbs. (7) A complete, small Norman chruch. The chancel is unusually long, the nave unusual in being only fractionally wider than the chancel. All details of the south west tower are Perpendicular. A will of 1509 refers to work on it. West wall of the nave rebuilt in 1885 as an exercise in knapped flint technique. Full architectural description. (8) Additional bibliography - not consulted. (9) (12)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ 66 SW TROTTISCLIFFE C.P. CHURCH ROAD 2/25 (north side) 25.8.59 Church of St Peter and St Paul GV I
Church. c.1200. Flint with tufa dressings with plain tiled roofs. South west tower, narrow nave, unusually long chancel. Early C16 windows. Flat-headed 2-light belfry openings. Pointed arched doorway in south side of tower, with C13 doorway beyond, hidden by addition of tower. Original north and south windows in chancel. Interior: collar-rafter roof. Piscina built in one piece with C14 window. Reredos: Wood, early C18, 2 cartauches carved with reliefs of Circumcision and Flight into Egypt, not made for church. Alter rails: Wood, early C18, twisted balusters, enriched newels, and leaf bosses, not made for church. Pulpit: 1775, by Henry Keene, originally for Westminster Abbey, where it stood until 1824. Palm tree carrying sounding board. Decoration a mixture of Gothic and classical, with oval wheel motifs decorating sides. Reading desk: Made up of Jacobean remnants. Stained glass: West window 1885 by Ward and Hughes. K. window by Gibbs.
Listing NGR: TQ6454660311 (13)

<1> OS 6" 1936 (OS Card Reference). SKE48337.

<2> Hist of Kent 2 1783 231 (Hasted) (OS Card Reference). SKE43953.

<3> Arch Cant 20 1893 211 (Canon Scott Robertson ) (OS Card Reference). SKE34816.

<4> Arch Cant 62 1949 99 ff plan (FC Elliston-Erwood) (OS Card Reference). SKE35337.

<5> F1 ASP 18-JUN-59 (OS Card Reference). SKE42166.

<6> F2 FGA 20-OCT-64 (OS Card Reference). SKE43330.

<7> DOE (HHR) Dist of Tonbridge & Malling Kent 1984 17 (OS Card Reference). SKE40378.

<8> Bldgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 1980 574-575 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37920.

<9> Ch of St Peter and St Paul Trottiscliffe 1955? NA (OS Card Reference). SKE38945.

<10> Field report for monument TQ 66 SW 9 - June, 1959 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3579.

<11> Field report for monument TQ 66 SW 9 - October, 1964 (Bibliographic reference). SKE3580.

<12> Diocese of Rochester (Tim Tatton-Brown), 1994, Trottiscliffe, St Peter and Paul:Diocesan church survey (Unpublished document). SKE29524.

<13> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading