St Mary Church,
Woodlands, West Kingsdown TQ 564 607
ROCHESTER DIOCESE: HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Tim Tatton-Brown's Survey 1993
LOCATION: Situated at c. 500 feet above O.D.
at the southern end of a remote high downland dry valley, the church
is just over 2 miles N.E. of Otford church.
DESCRIPTION: This church was 'erected and endowed....and
consecrated.... in 1850. The ancient building having fallen into decay
in the reign of Queen Elizabeth (I)', as the marble tablet on the
south side of the nave tells us. The architect was Talbot Bury ( John
Newman - B.O.E. (W. Kent) p.600 - says it was erected in 1851-2).
The old church at Woodland Manor was only a chapel, which was attached
to (West) Kingsdown church. It is in the southern part of the parish,
while another ruined chapel at Maplescombe is situated just within the
north-west bounds of the parish. Before the Reformation, both
Woodlands and Maplescombe were parishes in their own right.
The whole church is in a uniform mid-Victorian Gothic style, with a
nave and chancel and north vestry and south porch, all probably built
at the same time. There are diagonal buttresses at the east end of the
chancel and west end of the nave, and the chancel arch is buttressed
from the north and south. The windows are all in a uniform 'Decorated'
style and externally there is knapped flint, Bath stone dressings and
a plinth. Some of the stone quoins (to the north-west and south-east
diagonal buttresses, for example) have been restored fairly recently
in ? Lepine stone.
Internally the church is very plain, and the Victorian pews have
presumably been removed fairly recently. There is a plain chancel
arch, but on the west side are head stops of a king and bishop. Above
the west window there is a scar of a higher two-centred rear-arch.
BUILDING MATERIALS: Flint and Bath stone
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Size & Shape: Large rectangular area around church (see plan in
typescript Record of Monuments and Inscriptions (1990) which
records and plots all gravestones.
Condition: Good
Building in churchyard or on boundary: Shed in S.E. corner, and ? 19th
cent. school on N.E. boundary.
Ecological potential: Yes, a large Yew is in the N.W. part, and the
whole area around is heavily wooded.
HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):
Earliest ref. to church: Textus Roffensis at 'Watlande'.
Evidence of pre-Norman status (DB, DM, TR etc.): Chapel to Kingsdown,
paying 9d. chrism money.
Late med. status (rectory\vicarage\appropriation): Only became a
parish church in 1850.
Patron: The neighbouring manor, until in 1573 it was united with
Wrotham and left in ruins.
Other documentary sources: Hasted tells us that 'a few years ago....'
it was totally pulled down, and the stones carried away, but the
foundations are still 'visible'. Hasted, II (1797), 489). His map
seems to show the chapel site much nearer to Kingsdown.
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: ?
Outside present church: ?
RECENT DISTURBANCES\ALTERATIONS:
To structure: Repairs to quoins in ? Lepine stone
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
The church and churchyard: The present church was built in 1850. It
may, however, contain remains of the earlier medieval manorial chapel
of Woodlands.
REFERENCES: Records of Monuments and Inscriptions (Typescript,
1990) by N.W. Kent family history society.
Plans & drawings: Plan of churchyard in above typescript.
DATE VISITED:
27/5/93
REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown
To Kent
Churches - Architectural & Historical Information Introduction
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Church Committee Introduction
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