St Peter and St Paul Church, Trottiscliffe TQ
6460 6052
ROCHESTER DIOCESE: HISTORICAL AND ARCHAEOLOGICAL SURVEY
Tim Tatton-Brown's Survey 1994
LOCATION: Situated below the North Downs on the
lowest levels of the Lower Chalk, just above a spring on the Gault
Clay top at c. 280 feet above O.D. Trosley Court is immediately
to the west, while the village is half a mile west on the north-south
street.
DESCRIPTION: This small church is unusual in having an early Norman
nave and (long) chancel of almost equal length. Also the nave is only
very slightly wider than the chancel, and there is (and probably was)
no chancel arch. Externally there are several windows and eastern
quoins which have tufa dressings. This and the herringbone masonry
suggest a date for the church in the late 11th century, and it is
quite likely that this church was first built by Bishop Gundulf in c.
1080, soon after he had reclaimed the manor. (It had first been given
to Rochester in 788, - see Sawyer charter no. 129). The nave and
chancel appear to have been built on a continuous foundation of large
blocks, including some in sarsen, and the later medieval roof over the
church is continuous over the nave and chancel.
Internally the rere-arches of the four surviving Norman windows are
plain blocks of greensand, which may suggest a slightly later date, in
the 12th century. On the south side of the chancel, the western window
has been rebuilt externally, and it is unusually far to the west.
In the 13th century, the present plain south doorway into the nave was
put in, as well as lancets at the west end of the nave, on the north
and south sides. It is just possible that the nave was also lengthened
westwards in the 13th century. This is, however, unlikely, in view of
the early long chancel, and the core of the western walls of the nave,
are also probably Norman, though the external facework is hidden. The
south window in the nave was completely rebuilt in the 19th century,
so it is not possible to tell if it too was made in the 13th century.
The north wall of the nave appears to have been refaced in the 13th or
early 14th century.
In the first half of the 14th century, perhaps under Bishop Hamo de
Hethe, new decorated windows were put into the north-east side of the
nave, and the south-east side of the chancel; the latter had a
contemporary trefoil-headed piscina just below it to the east. There
is also the rare survival of the original stained glass in the
traceried top part of the north nave window. It consists of canopies,
and above this in the top (quatrefoil) light is a fine figure of the
Trinity. The simple rafter, collar and soulace roof over the whole of
the nave and chancel may also be early 14th century. It has a wider
moulded wallplate in the nave which overlaps into the chancel as far
as the first tie-beam, and it is perhaps beneath this tie-beam that
the later rood-screen was situated. At the very far west end of the
nave, there is the cut-off end of another tie-beam on the north side
(on the south the wall-plate has been renewed). This tie-beam, which
is not far from another surviving tie-beam to the east, may also have
supported a timber-framed bell-cote. The octagonal font may also be
14th century.
The bell-tower, with porch underneath, was probably built in the 15th
century. It has thick walls in its lowest stage, including a north
wall which abuts the nave south wall. It has a small tunnel-vault
through its north-east side to allow access to the earlier south door.
The tower has two contemporary buttresses on the south and a large
ragstone doorway. Access to the tower, was only via a hatch, and there
is now only one 1639 William Hatch bell. (Earlier there were at least
3 bells.) More unusual is the timber-framed doorway set just inside
the large south doorway. The tower has a small trefoiled window at
ground level on the west, and another on the south side as well as
three two-light perpendicular cinquefoil-headed windows (under square
hood-moulds) in the upper stage of the tower on the west, south and
east sides. It also had a parapet, and a low pyramid roof.
The church still contains box pews and various reused 18th century
fittings including a reredos and twisted-baluster altar rails. The
very large pulpit with staircase and sounding board was brought from
Westminster Abbey in 1824. (It was made to designs by the abbey
surveyor in 1775.) There was an earlier doorway on the south side of
the chancel, and this was bricked up, perhaps in the early 19th
century. Various other repairs were also done at this time to the
south side of the nave and chancel.
The three-light east window was completely replaced in 1875, while the
four-light west window was completely rebuilt in 1885 (with strange
tracery). The whole of the west wall was also completely refaced with
very-carefully-cut tabular flintwork. Brick and tile floors in the
church, but no new 19th century pews in the nave.
BUILDING MATERIALS: (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc.):
The earliest herribone masonry is of whole flints, ironstone (from the
Folkestone Beds just to the south, and ragstone. All the original
dressings are of tufa, though the rere-arches of the original windows
are (?upper) greensand. In the early 14th century, Ragstone jambs were
used (and for quoins on the N.E. corner of the nave), as well as
possibly Tunbridge Wells sandstone in the S.E. chancel window. The
15th century south-west tower has Ragstone dressings, but there has
been much restoration.
For the 18th/early 19th century repairs red brick was used, with
Portland and Bath stone for later 19th century work. More recent
repairs in cement and thin tiles.
EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH: -
Fine brass, dated 1483, in front of the chancel steep.
CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Size & Shape: Small rectangular area around church with extension
on N.E. of c. 1875
Condition: Good
Boundary walls: Large flint and rag boundary wall on south, rebuilt in
1975.
Building in churchyard or on boundary: Farm building on S.E. side, and
Trosley Court immediately along west boundary.
HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):
Earliest ref. to church: Domesday Book
Late med. status: (Rectory): Rectory, and appropriated to the bishop's
table.
Patron: Bishop of Rochester
Other documentary sources: Test. Cant. (W. Kent 1906),
78 gives a will of 1509 giving one bullock to the reparacioni campanalis;
also, in 1512, 'to the hanging of the sanctus bell'. Hasted IV (1798),
554-5.
SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: ? Good, though there are some burial vaults
under the church (the Whittaker vault was rediscovered in 1929 - see
guide).
Outside present church: ? Good, except cut by drainage trench (down to
foundations) all around church, except for tower.
ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
The church and churchyard: An early Norman nave, and only slightly
smaller chancel with 13th century lancets and doorway at west end of
nave. Fine earlier 14th century windows inserted into the nave (north)
and chancel (south), with original stained glass still surviving in
the head of the former. 15th century new tower added on the
south-west. Continuous roof over nave and chancel probably 14th
century. Box pews still survive as well as other 18th century
fittings, including the 1775 pulpit from Westminster Abbey. New east
and west windows of the later 19th century.
The wider context: This is of a group of churches belonging to, and
built by, the bishop of Rochester (probably Gundulf).
REFERENCES: Arch. Cant. 20 (1893), 211-8 (by Canon Scott
Robertson). Also "55 rectors of Trottescliffe" by T.S.
Frampton in Arch. Test. 20 (1893) 187 - 194 + Arch.
Cant. 62 (1949), 99-101 (by F.C. Elliston Erwood) S. Glynne, Churches
of Kent (1877), 277-8. (He visited in 1831).
Guide Books: Undated/Unsigned leaflet (c. 1990).
Photographs: The in situ early 14th cent. stained glass
is in Kent Churches 1954, 100.
Plans and early drawings: Petrie's view from the S.E. in 1807. Plan in
Elliston Erwood (see above).
DATE VISITED: 10/11/91 +
10/02/94.
REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown