Exploring Kent's Past

It should not be assumed that this site is publicly accessible and it may be on private property. Do not trespass.

Monument details

Summary

Grade I listed building. Main construction periods 1200 to 1918. Wye was one of the early minsters founded in Kent before 700. Of the 13th century cruciform Church, the arcades of the Nave survive. The clerestory, the roof of the Nave, the Aisles and the South Porch date from between 1432, when Cardinal Archbishop John Kempe founded Wye College of which this become the collegiate Church, in 1447. The Tower collaped in 1686, destroying the Transepts and Chancel. The transepts were not rebuilt, but the Tower and the Chancel with its apsidal end were rebuilt in 1702 of medieval materials. Restored 1873-1878.

Monument Types

• MINSTER (CHURCH, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 600 AD? to 700 AD?)
• CHURCH (Medieval to Modern - 1200 AD to 2050 AD)
• COLLEGE OF SECULAR PRIESTS (CHURCH, Medieval to Post Medieval - 1432 AD to 1545 AD)

Full description

If you do not understand anything on this page please contact us.

Description from record TR 04 NE 7 :
(TR 05404690) St. Gregory & St. Martin's Church (NAT) (1) The Church of Sts. Gregory and Martin at Wye was rebuilt in 1706, after it had been largely destroyed in 1686. Only the nave of the old church remains - probably c.1400 and altered c.1431-47 when it became collegiate. Excavations in 1952 uncovered the foundations of the old chancel. A counter of 1281 and fragements of early window glass were found. (2-4) In normal use. (5) 29/1 Church of St Gregory & St Martin. Grade A. Parish Church. Chancel with Tower at its south-west corner, Nave with Aisles and South Porch with room over. Of the C.13 cruciform Church, the arcades of the Nave survive. The clerestory, the roof of the Nave, the Aisles and the South Porch date from between 1432, when Cardinal Archbishop John Kempe founded Wye College of which this become the collegiate Church, and 1447. The Tower collaped in 1686, destroying the Transepts and Chancel. The transepts were not rebuilt, but the Tower and the Chancel with its apsidal end were rebuilt in 1702 of medieval materials. (6) St Gregory & St Martin, full architectural description. Excavations in 1948 (sic) revealed that the medieval chancel extended 60 ft further east. (7) Additional bibliography - not consulted. (8-13)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TR 0446 0546 WYE HIGH STREET (north side)
8/263 Church of St 27.11.57 Gregory and St Martin
GV I
Parish church. C13 origin, remodelled C15 for Cardinal Archbishop John Kempe. East end rebuilt 1701-1710. Restored 1873/1878. Flint and rubble with plain tiled roof. Nave with aisles, chancel, south-eastern tower and south porch. Kneelered gabled west end with Perpendicular style west window (1950's), with triple shafted and moulded C13 doorway. Aisles buttressed throughout, with coved corbel table and battlements. The north aisle (carried round to east of nave) in particular with fine series of grotesque heads (some to south). Battlements. Perpendicular fenestration throughout. Two storey porch, the side elevations treated as one with aisles, the south elevation reworked e-C18, with rusticated ashlar quoins and arch, with round eastern angle vice. Large 2 stage south-eastern tower on site of C13 transept with massive triple offset diagonal buttresses, and polygonal north-eastern stair turret, crowned with battlements and pyramidal finials. Keyed round headed brick belfry lights, simple moulded door. Many stones set in tower recording benefactors, 1701-10. Short, low chancel, with shallow apse and battlements. Three round headed windows, and blocked round headed openings visible especially in north elevations, 1873 set in window cills, T.D. 1706 in apse wall. Fine C18 raised and fielded panelled double doors in west and south doorways. Wall plaque sunk into north aisle, to John, Elizabeth and Sarah Hudson, d. 1718-19, with double skull head. Interior: nave of 4 bays, with springing of a fifth to the east. C13 capitals and deeply undercut moulded arches, the piers remodelled with hollow chamfers mid C15. Clerestory with segmentally headed 3 light windows added at same time. Trussed collar beam roof with moulded knee-braced tie beams. Lean-to aisles, the window reveals all segment headed. South aisle with four centred arched doorway to porch upper chamber, and C18 round headed door east to tower. Simple round headed chancel arch. Fittings: the chancel arranged as if a college chapel (and indeed so used from its building by the school/college opposite). Large raised and fielded panelled wainscotting with separately articulated dado panelling, incorporating panelled benches on the north and south sides, with reading desks to the same pattern on the chancel arch jambs. The panelling follows the apse round, and is ramped up to form a round headed central reredos with painted text boards (some oval). Integral altar rail, with turned baluster and square principals. All circa 1706. C19 pulpit and nave benches and wooden lectern (1914-18 war memorial). Octagonal font with roses and shields in quatrefoils, and doubled octagonal base. Monuments: Alice Palmere, brass, 35 inches. A Lady with 2 husbands, C.1440. In the chancel: Agnes and Mary Johnson, d. 1763 and 1767. Simple urn on plaque with obelisk and wreath, and Calamitous inscription: "Their days were imbittered by various evils". Lady Joanna Thornhill, d. 1708. First class wall plaque of white marble, the inscription of roll call of the Royalist and Restoration faithful, surmounted by a group of cherubs in draped surround, with only the top segment of a pediment, arms cartouche over and fruity festoons mounted separately to the wall, the whole supported on barley-sugar twist columns, with bracketed apron and pulls, that to right weeping into his cloak. Barley sugar columns are also used on the porch to the old Wye College, used in part for Lady Joanna Thornhill's school foundation. Simple aedicule plaque to Mrs Elizabeth Sawbridge, d. 1862, with obelisk and urn and wreathed portrait in profile. Eight Sawbridge hatchments in the nave and aisles. A small stone plaque over the west door records the (early C18) contribution to the Church of Thomas Gillman, bricklayer of Wye. The mid C15 in the church corresponds with Archbishop Kempe's contemporary work in his foundation at Wye College. The Church was originally cruciform, with a 5 bay nave, and chancel at least 60 feet longer than at present, the transepts and east end destroyed by the of the original tower in 1686. (See b.o.e. Kent II, 504-5). Listing NGR: TR0540446906 (14)

<1> OS 6" 1908 (OS Card Reference). SKE48323.

<2> Kent 1935 304-5 (J C Cox) (OS Card Reference). SKE45693.

<3> Country Life 13-JUN-1947 1110 (OS Card Reference). SKE39402.

<4> Arch Cant 66 1953 149-50 (R F Jessup) (OS Card Reference). SKE35414.

<5> F1 CFW 15-MAY-1963 (OS Card Reference). SKE42593.

<6> DOE(HHR) East Ashford RD Kent July 1955 57 (OS Card Reference). SKE41160.

<7> Bldgs of Eng NE & E Kent 1983 504-5 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE37782.

<8> Wye Church: its history & principal features 1960 (S G Brade-Birks) (OS Card Reference). SKE51419.

<9> Church of St Gregory & St Martin Wye 1949 (OS Card Reference). SKE38968.

<10> A Hist of Wye Church & Wye College, compiled from various sources 1913 (C S Orwin) (OS Card Reference). SKE32817.

<11> St Gregory & St Martin Wye 1958 (OS Card Reference). SKE49607.

<12> Field report for monument TR 04 NE 7 - May, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5123.

<13> Diocese of Rochester (Tim Tatton-Brown), 1992, Wye, St Gregory and Martin:Diocesan church survey (Unpublished document). SKE29538.

<14> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading