St
Margaret's Church, Bethersden
TQ 928 403
CANTERBURY
DIOCESE: HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Tim Tatton-Brown's Survey 1992
LOCATION: The church lies at the S W end of a
village street on a slight rise at c.130ft above OD in the Low Weald.
Most houses and the green are to the south. Lovelace Manor is just SW
of the church.
DESCRIPTION:
Though documentary evidence suggests that there was a church here by
the 12th century at least, the earliest visible remains seem to be of
the early to mid 14th century nave and aisles with its two fine 3 bays
of arcading. The Kentish ragstone masonry for the piers and arches is
very fine, and still clearly exhibits tooling, mason's marks, etc.
There are also 'Decorated' windows above the north doorway and at the
west end of the S aisle, but these have been heavily/totally restored
in Bathstone externally. The south doorway (into the porch) is,
however, still an intact 14th century 2-centred arch. The two light
windows at the west end of the N aisle was perhaps late 13th century,
but it was totally restored in Bathstone in 1873 (see Pearman (1886),
67). The lower outer aisle walls are also 14th century, and they were
heightened in the 15th century when new three light windows were
inserted into the south and north aisle walls on either side of the
doorways (they all have external square hood moulds and have been
heavily restored in Bath stone). Also in the 15th century, crenellated
parapets were added to the aisles, and the fine west tower was built
(in c 1420-30, according to MacMichael) also with a crenelatted
parapet and a large semi-octagonal stair turret, that rises above the
tower.
The chancel arch has carved corbels below it, and a large
rood-screen was built across it and the neighbouring chapels in the
mid 15th century. The remains of this screen were removed in the 19th
century, but fragments of it were reused in the choir stall and vicars
stall fronts and in the pulpit. The stairs to the rood loft start at
the SW corner of the SE (Lovelace) Chapel, and it is likely that the
rood-loft (and screen) were put in at the same time as this chapel was
built (the Chantry for the Lovelaces was founded in this chapel - the
? Lady Chapel in 1460). Earlier there had only been a chapel at the
east end of the S aisle (the piscina here is just visible), and new
arches were made from the end of this aisle and the chancel into this
new chapel after the rebuilding of the chancel (also a new piscina).
The two 3-light windows (E + S) in this chapel have 4-centred heads
with an external drip mould. The crenellated parapet above is slightly
below the level of the aisle parapet, and a wide external 'buttress'
between the aisle and chapel marks the rood stair. It has a small
rectangular window in it, and a strange corbelled head at the top of
its chamfered SW angle. A chantry priest's door into the chapel is
still visible externally but blocked internally.
The plain font has a ? new octagonal bowl on 8 marble
shafts and an octagonal marble base.
In 1851, according to Pearman (op. cit) the church was
're-seated in plain oak pews, open and uniform' and the remains of the
rood screen were removed. The new east window was perhaps also rebuilt
at this time, and a new reredos installed (now covered by a curtain).
In 1873 much external stone work was renewed in Bath
stone, and 'the roofs were opened'. They now appear to be very heavily
restored. The south porch has also been almost completely restored.
There is now a large wooden clock face on the east face
of the tower.
BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc.):
The main building material is ragstone rubble from the Lower Greensand
beds to the north of the parish, but some Paludina limestone
(Bethersden marble) is also used in the rubble. Finer coursed ragstone
is used in the tower, as well as some thin, on-end Paludina linestone
blocks for buttress quoins. (One ? reused gravestone in Lower
Greensand can be seen just above the plinth in the NW tower buttress).
Much Bathstone was used for the late 19th century repairs to windows,
tracery, etc.
The 3-light perp-windows at the east end of the nave
aisles (N & S sides) still contain 15th century stained glass
canopies in their heads. There are 6 bells (also a Sanctus bell on the
tower roof). One, the 4th is early 14th century and inscribed.
EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH
Wall monument to Sir George Chute (of 1722), hidden behind organ in N
chapel. Also Revd. J Whiston (ob. 1697) at W end of N aisle.
Two brasses: William Lovelace (1459) and Thomas Lovelace (1591) are
now on N wall. They have been removed from their leger slabs.
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Shape: Large rectangular area around church
Condition: Good
Apparent extent of burial: Burial in churchyard mentioned in wills
from 1468.
Boundary walls: using 'Bethersden marble' blocks, built in 1873 - but
fine path of 'Bethersden marble' slabs running NW->SE on the NE
side of the church
Building in churchyard or on boundary: (see below)
Exceptional monuments: 3 'oven vaults' NW of the tower (cf Smarden and
Tenterden) built 1796. (now rather overgrown). Also 1686 gravestone
against W wall of N aisle.
Ecological potential: ? Good
HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):
Earliest ref. to church: Foundation charter (1085/13th cent.) of St
Gregory's Priory, Canterbury
Evidence of pre-Norman status (DB, DM, TR etc.): 28d paid by
Baedericesdaenne church in DM
Late med. status: Vicarage - appropriated to St Gregory's in 1385.
Patron: St Gregory's Priory, Canterbury (from late 11th or 12th cent.)
till dissolution (1536), then given by Henry VIII to the archbishop.
Other documentary sources: Hasted VII (1798), 493-6, and Cartulary of
St Gregory's Priory. Also Test. Cant. (E Kent 1907), 14-15.
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: Quite good, but buried vaults
Outside present church: - ? Good - only shallow gutter all the way
around the church
Quinquennial inspection (date\architect): September 1991 Ian Ashby A
very good survey with plan; photos, etc
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
The church and churchyard: Quite a fine 14th/15th century church with
the usual north and south aisles, chapels and west tower.
Over-restored externally, but with fine Kentish rag arcades and
moulded arches internally.
The wider context: One of a group of late medieval 'low weald'
churches, with Ragstone and the local Paludina limestone used for
masonry.
REFERENCES: A J Pearman, 'Bethersden, its church, and monumental
inscriptions', Arch. Cant 16 (1886), 66-98
Guide book: By N H M Mac Michael (c. 1980 revised, post-mortem edition
1990) - Very good.
DATES VISITED: 5th June
1992
REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown