Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1300 to 1899. Early C14th church. The chancel was restored in the mid to late 19th century. The church is built of sandstone with Kentish ragstone quoins. The church is in Perpendicular style with some Decorated features.

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval to Modern - 1300 AD to 2050 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TQ 82 NE 3:
[TQ 8974 2696] St. John the Baptist's Ch. (NAT) (1) The Church of St. John the Baptist, Wittersham chancel, nave with aisles, and west tower, are all early 14th c. (2) In normal use. (3) 1. 5272 WITTERSHAM THE STREET Parish Church of St John the Baptist TQ 8927 21/444 16.8.82. I 2. Built of sandstone with Kentish ragstone quoins. Perpendicular with some Decorated features. Chancel with north and south chapels, C14 nave with aisles, north porch and crenellated west tower. Crown post roofs to nave and south aisle. Piscina and sedilia. Chancel restored mid to late C19. The churchyard contains early C18 headstones with cherub or skull motifs, early C19 headstones with sunray design and C19 oval bodystones. (4) (TQ 89752696) Church (NAT) (5) St John the Baptist, Wittersham. Money was left 'to the new steeple' in 1501 and for glazing a window in it. In the chancel the restorations of 1847, and of 1892 and 1898, by E H Parkes, have left almost nothing one can rely on. The Geometrical east window, if correct, is to a pattern of c1300. Use was made of various bits of a thirteenth century church, ie. three arches and two piers in the north arcades, and one later pier in the south arcade. (6) (8)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
WITTERSHAM THE STREET 1. 5272 Parish Church of St John the Baptist TQ 8927 21/444 16.8.62. I
2. Built of sandstone with Kentish ragstone quoins. Perpendicular with some Decorated features. Chancel with north and south chapels, C14 nave with aisles, north porch and crenellated west tower. Crown post roofs to nave and south aisle. Piscina and sedilia. Chancel restored mid to late C19. The churchyard contains early C18 headstones with cherub or skull motifs, early C19 headstones with sunray design and C19 oval bodystones.
Listing NGR: TQ8975026966 (9)

<1> OS 6" 1906-38 (OS Card Reference). SKE48316.

<2> Kent 1935 301 (JC Cox) (OS Card Reference). SKE45692.

<3> F1 ASP 04-MAR-63 (OS Card Reference). SKE41921.

<4> DOE (HHR) Boro of Ashford Kent Aug 1979 138 (OS Card Reference). SKE39808.

<5> OS 1:10000 1982 (OS Card Reference). SKE48168.

<6> Bdgs of Eng W Kent & the Weald 2nd Ed 1980 611 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37604.

<7> Field report for monument TQ 82 NE 3 - March, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE4305.

<8> Diocese of Canterbury (Tim Tatton-Brown), 1998, Wittersham, St John the Baptist:Diocesan church survey (Unpublished document). SKE29535.

<9> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading