Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

St Nicholas' Church - St John the Baptist Chapel. Grade II* listed building. Main construction periods 1200 to 1899

Monument Types

• CHAPEL (Medieval to Modern - 1200 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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[TR 12035569 St Nicholas's Church [TU]. (1) The Church of St Nicholas, Thanington Without, is 13thc except for the Norman Chancel. (2) In normal use. (3) Chancel and nave with bell gable at its west end, and tiny vestry in the centre of its south side. C13 restored in C19. Three lancet windows with bead moulding. Tiled roof. (4)
The parish church was totally rebuilt in 1829-30 by John Bell esq. and a new font inserted. Before this, Hasted tells us that it consisted only of 'an isle (sic) and chancel, the whole of it so very small as to be called only a chapel. It has a small pinnacle of stone at the west end, in which there was till lately an aperture in which hung one bell. There are no memorials in it, nor any remains worthy of notice.' (Hasted IX (1800), 31).

The illustrations of the church before the restoration by Petrie (1806) and in Cozens (before 1793) show a door on the north side of the nave, and no west doorway. In 1829 the north doorway was filled up and a new west doorway (with Bathstone dressings) was made. Above it is a 2-light window (in Caen) with reticulated tracery. This is perhaps a copy of the earlier window, shown in Petrie's drawing. It seems very likely that the core of the present walls is medieval even though all the walls have been totally refaced in heavy knapped flint. All the main quoins are of Ragstone and there is a plinth all the way round (not shown on the pre-1829 drawings). All the other windows are 19th century and that on the south and east (a twin-lancet) are in Caen (therefore probably 1829-30), while the three wide lancets on the north have hood-moulds and are in Bathstone. These may be replacements of the 1860s when a small vestry (and new entrance to the vault below its floor) was added on the south. This vestry has quoins and a south 2-light rectangular window in Bathstone (Bathstone was probably not brought to this area until after the Railway arrived in 1846). The work in the 1860s was carried out by R.C. Hussey, who also added blind arcading inside, on the north side of the nave.

The bell cote over the west end of the nave was rebuilt in the 19th century (it still has one bell in it), and Petrie shows an earlier bell cote, with a Dutch-gable-like top).

There is no evidence that the church was built before the late 13th/early 14th century. (5)

Description from record TR 15 NW 1278:
The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5273 THANINGTON WITHOUT ASHFORD ROAD
Chapel of St John, The Baptist, Milton TR 15 NW 8/604 30.1.67
II*
2. Chancel and nave with bell gable at its west end, and tiny vestry in the centre of its south side. C13 restored in C19. Three lancet windows with hood moulding. Tiled roof.
Listing NGR: TR1303356745 (6)

Historic England archive material: BF051879 ST JOHN THE BAPTIST CHAPEL, THANINGTON WITHOUT File of material relating to a site or building. This material has not yet been fully catalogued. Copyright, date, and quantity information for this record may be incomplete or inaccurate.

<1> OS 6" 1962 (OS Card Reference). SKE48371.

<2> MHLG (1953/11/A Dec 1960) 62 (OS Card Reference). SKE46957.

<3> F1 ASP 2.02.63 (OS Card Reference). SKE42195.

<4> DOE (HHR) Dist of City of Canterbury Kent Dec 1960 (OS Card Reference). SKE40219.

<5> Diocese of Canterbury (Tim Tatton-Brown), 1993, Thanington, St John the Baptist:Diocesan church survey (Unpublished document). SKE29518.

<6> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading