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Monument details

Summary

The Church of St John, Penshurst, was originally Norman. A north aisle was added in the early 13th c. and widened in 1854.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval to Modern - 1066 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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[TQ 5272 4386] Church of St John the Baptist (NAT) (1) The Church of St John, Penshurst, was originally Norman. A north aisle was added in the early 13th c. and widened in 1854. The south aisle is decorated, widened in 1631. The Western tower and clerestory are Perpendicular. (2) In normal use. (3) 1. 5280 PENSHURST PENSHURST Church of St John the Baptist. TQ 5243 23/795 10.9.54. B 2. Nave and aisles, chancel and aisles, west tower, south porch. Coursed sandstone. C13 North aisle arcade, early C14 south aisle arcade running into south chapel. Later C14 north chapel. Perpendicular clerestory. Sidney chapel, off south chancel chapel, of 1820 by J B Rebecca. Deep diagonal buttresses to Perpendicular west tower, battlemented and with 4 stocky corner turrets. Crown post roof to nave. Restoration of 1864 by Sir G G Scott, including south windows. Chancel screen by Bodley and Garner, 1895. Many mediaeval and later monuments. (4) St John the Baptist's Church, Penshurst, appears wholly 19th century form the outside except for a Perpendicular west tower. Nave and gabled aisles, chancel and galed chapels, not enlarged in the 19th century. North aisle, chancel east wall and south windows by Sir G. G. Scott, 1864-5. Early English north arcade of 3 bays on round piers, the capital of the west one particulary primitive. Early 14th century south arcade continued with the same octagonal piers and bold capitals in the 2 bays to the south chapel. Similar west arch in the chapel, with a big leaf head corbel, set in a wall, dividing chapel from aisle. Here too, is a lancet rebated towards the west, evidence of a 13th century south chapel or vestry. The chancel arch must be Scott's, timber, with pierced spandrels, resting on big stone angels. Two unequal arches to the north chapel, one with a hood mould on typical mid 14th century heads. Perpendicular clerestory in nave and chancel. Sidney Chapel by Rebecca with pointed tunnel vault, panelled with cusped heads to the panels and bumpy foliage bosses but springing from rows of moulded corbels incongruously. Early English in style.(5) Additional bibliography- not consulted.(6)
Listing Text:

PENSHURST

771/23/795 PENSHURST
10-SEP-54 ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

GV I
DATES OF MAIN PHASES/ NAMES OF ARCHITECTS:
C13 N arcade, early C14 S arcade, C15 roofs, clerestory and tower. The S aisle was widened in 1631, and the S porch is also of this date. The S (Sidney) chapel was rebuilt in 1820 by J B Rebecca. The church was restored in 1864-5 by George Gilbert Scott, who rebuilt the N aisle and chancel E wall and replaced the S windows.

MATERIALS:
Coursed sandstone ashlar. Tiled roofs.

PLAN:
Chancel with SE chapel with its own S porch, NE chapel, nave with N and S aisles and S porch, W tower.

EXTERIOR:
In a good setting, back from the street and in close proximity to Penshurst Place. C15, three stage W tower with diagonal buttresses with multiple offsets. It has an embattled parapet and outsized octagonal corner turrets with spirelets, probably C17. Tall, three light W window with vertical tracery; the W door has a pointed head in a square surround. Two light bell openings in square surrounds and single light openings in the middle stage with very shallowly curved surrounds. Late C15 nave and chancel clerestory of two light windows in square surrounds, largely hidden externally behind the steeply pitched roofs of the aisles and chapels.

The C17 S aisle, rebuilt and widened in 1631, is roofed separately from the nave and has three-light C13-style windows, installed in 1864-5 and replacing windows of 1631 with straight mullions and transoms. The C17 S aisle porch has a round arched outer opening with small mouldings dying into the jambs. Hollow chamfered inner S doorway, with a good door, possibly C15 or C16. The S chapel, rebuilt in 1820, rises above the line of the S aisle, and has a C19 E window with reticulated tracery; on the S it has a three light C19 window (one light blocked) with a square head and its own projecting S porch with a curved, embattled parapet, the S door with a square surround with foliage carving in the spandrels and a coat of arms above it flanked by inverted torches. Good outer door with open tracery. Internally the porch is rib-vaulted.

The N aisle, rebuilt in 1864-5 has Decorated-style windows. The N chapel was also rebuilt in the C19 and has a three-light late C13-style window like those in the S aisle, a C19 N door and a polygonal stair turret. Of two stories only at its E end, it has two C19 Decorated-style E windows, the upper with a pointed head, the lower in a square surround. The chancel has a five-light C19 Decorated-style E window.

INTERIOR
No chancel arch, but a large timber arch of 1865-6 with openwork tracery spandrels and large angel corbels serves to divide nave and chancel. Three bay C13 N arcade, the arches of two chamfered orders on round piers with moulded capitals. There are two arches of unequal width from the chancel to the N chapel, one with a hood mould with mid C14 headstops, the other almost plain and much taller, with a triangular, possibly C15 head. The C14 S nave arcade and the arcade to the SE (Sidney) chapel are continuous, and have polygonal piers with moulded capitals and bases. There is a narrow, C13 arch on moulded corbels from S aisle into the S chapel, and next to it a C13 lancet that now opens internally from the chapel to the aisle, indicating that the aisle was once narrower than the chapel. The Sidney chapel has an elegant pointed tunnel vault of 1820, panelled and painted, and with carved bosses on the ribs. Very tall C15 tower arch with chunky polygonal responds with moulded capitals. The scar of the former nave roof is visible on the E face of the tower.

Four-bay crown post roof in the nave, late C15. Short, curved braces to the main beams, with carved spandrels, resting on carved timber corbels. The S aisle roof is 1631 and has an asymmetrical king post and collar design, with the principal rafters below the collar stopped and moulded. The stone corbels on the N side probably survive from an earlier roof in the aisle. The other roofs are C19.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES:
C15 polygonal font with quatrefoils on the bowl and tracery on the stem, garishly recoloured in the C19 or C20. Stone pulpit of c.1865 in a hard Italianate style, with mosaic inlay and Roman-style carved heads. Chancel screen 1895 by Bodley and Garner, in a very elaborate late Perpendicular style with delicate tracery and a coved loft. There is a similar screen in the N aisle.

Some good glass, notably heraldic glass of 1627 in the W window and glass of 1884 in the S clerestory by Holiday, as well as other good C19 and early C20 windows.

The church has an excellent collection of monuments. Among the most notable, two C13 coffin slabs under the tower, one with a cross superimposed over the figure of a praying woman. Sir Stephen de Penchester (d. 1299), a damaged recumbent Purbeck marble figure in chain mail, drawing a sword. Brass to Pawle Yden, d. 1514. Sir William Sidney, d.1554, a late Perpendicular tomb chest with little Renaissance detailing, the back plate framed by twisted shafts carrying a deep cornice. Sir William Coventry, d.1686, a massive architectural wall tablet in black and white marble with putti holding up an urn, probably by William Kidwell. Robert, 4th Earl of Leicester, d.1704, by William Stanton and William Woodman, with dancing angels supporting an urn and baby heads in the clouds. Gilbert Spencer, d. 1730, a large tablet in the chancel. Philip, 5th Earl of Leicester, d.1743, a tomb chest with an obelisk and a good coat of arms. Sophia, Lady De L¿Isle, d.1837 by W Theed, a female figure in Grecian draperies on a pedestal. Viscount Hardinge, d.1856, designed by Salvin and carved by Pfyffers, a Gothic tablet with a medallion.

HISTORY:
There was a church here by the early C12, and the core of the nave may be of that date. The N aisle was added c.1200, and the SE chapel is C13 in origin. Before it was rebuilt in 1820, the SE chapel appears to have been late C13, the E window with a drooping trefoil in the head. The S aisle and S chapel arcade were built or rebuilt in the C14, and the N chapel was also in existence by the mid C14. The nave and chancel walls were raised and provided with a clerestory in the C15, and the W tower is also C15. The S aisle was widened and the S porch built in 1631. Before the Scott restoration, the S aisle windows were of 1631 and had transoms and straight mullions. The unusual corner turrets and pinnacles on the tower may also be C17. The S (Sidney) chapel was rebuilt in 1820 to designs by John Biagio Rebecca (c.1777-1847) a decorative painter and architect, who also built Goring Castle (Sussex) and worked at Penshurst Place c.1818. The church was heavily restored and partially rebuilt in 1864-5 by George Gilbert Scott, a very well known mid C19 church restorer. He rebuilt and enlarged the N aisle and N chapel, replaced many of the roofs, and replaced the C17 S aisle windows with pseudo-medieval windows felt to be more in keeping with the overall style of the church. There was further refurnishing in the late C19.

SOURCES:
Church notes on parish website.
Watercolour by H Petrie, 1807 (Kent Archaeological Society)
Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (1969), 434-6

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
The church of St John the Baptist, Penshurst is designated at Grade I for the following principal reasons:
* Parish church with C13 N arcade and C14 S arcade
* C15 tower
* S aisle and S porch rebuilt 1631
* Heavily restored and partially rebuilt in 1864-5 by George Gilbert Scott
* Fine reworking of the S(Sidney) chapel in 1820 by J B Rebecca
* Excellent monuments of the C13-C19.



Description from record TQ 54 SW 137:
The following text is from the original listed building designation:
1. 5280 PENSHURST PENSHURST
Church of St John the Baptist TQ 5243 23/795 10.9.54.
B
2. Nave and aisles, chancel and aisles, west tower,south porch. Coursed sandstone. C13 North aisle arcade, early C14 south aisle arcade running into south chapel. Later C14 north chapel. Perpendicular clerestory. Sidney chapel, off south chancel chapel, of 1820 by J B Rebecca. Deep diagonal buttresses to Perpendicular west tower, battlemented and with 4 stocky corner turrets. Crown post roof to nave. Restoration of 1864 by Sir G G Scott, including south windows. Chancel screen by Bodley and Garner, 1895. Many mediaeval and later monuments. Listing NGR: TQ5273243859 (8)

<1> OS 25" 1907 (OS Card Reference). SKE48258.

<2> Kent 1935 pp.243-4 (J C Cox) (OS Card Reference). SKE45701.

<3> F1 ASP 21-DEC-62 (OS Card Reference). SKE42218.

<4> DOE(HHR) Dist of Sevenoaks Kent Rd of Sevenoaks Jan 1975 220 (OS Card Reference). SKE41004.

<5> Bldgs of Eng W Kent and the Weald 1980 453-4 photo (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38006.

<6> Parish church of St John the Baptist Penshurst 1960 (Baldwin C) (OS Card Reference). SKE48488.

<7> Field report for monument TQ 54 SW 3 - December, 1962 (Bibliographic reference). SKE2736.

<8> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading

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