Description

TR 03 NE SMEETH CHURCH ROAD
(east side)
4/109 Church of St.
Mary
27.11.57
GV I
Parish church. C11 and extended C13, restored with rebuilt west tower
and vestry 1881 Ragstone with plain tiled roof; timbered porch.
Chancel with north chapel and south vestry, nave with north aisle,
west tower and south porch. Single stage tower, the lower stage at
least genuine C11, with C19 details (shafted and zig-zag moulded doorway,
coupled belfry orates and parapet on corbel table). Nave with restored
2 light square headed window with ogee tracery and C19 3 light
Decorated style window, north aisle with 3 uneven sized 2 light Y-
tracery windows, and cusped lancet to west. Chancel with east wall
largely rebuilt, with C19 triple lancet East window, the head of C11
round headed window over, and C15 south window, with short projecting
C19 south vestry. North chapel with C19 3 light East window, with
plaque below recording Peter Holloway, d.1644, servant to Sir Edward
Scott. Simple north door and cusped 2 light window in quatrefoil. South
porch weather boarded, with cusped bargeboard and double wicket gate,
the interior with crown post roof on cambered tie beams and south
doorway with shafts with scalloped capitals, roll mould and incised
circle and nailhead mouldings, with scratch dials and fine plank and
stud door, with bifurcated straps and hinges and C-straps, all of
same antiquity. Interior: tall narrow door to west tower, with
fragment of chevron moulding in restored surround. Identical south
door. Three bay north arcade c.1200, with simple chamfered arches on
abaci with nook shafts. Roof of 3 tall octagonal crown posts and
chancel arch with roll moulded and chevron moulded orders on moulded
abaci supported by voluted nook shafts. North aisle with blocked rood
passage and simple chamfered arch to north chapel and roof of 4
octagonal crown posts. Chancel with plain arch to north chapel with
fragment of carved decoration, C19 roll moulded door to south vestry,
plastered ceiling. Wide squint to north aisle. The head of the C11
round headed East window composition is visible North chapel with
hacked off rood stair and doorways, square headed north door and roof
of 2 crown posts on chamfered tie beams. Fittings: chancel with some
encaustic tiling, C20 wainscotting and C19 altar rail. The nave with
C17 strapwork panelling, the pattern for that on the sanctuary.
Octagonal font on squat round pier; C15. Poppy head bench and in
north chapel, with panelled bench. Pulpit, with surrounding panelling,
dated 1615, but inserted c.1890 and said to be from the demolished
Scotts Hall. Pulpit on columnar stem, with bolection moulded base with
ribband decoration and fluted and reeded panels, with anthemion frieze
to arcaded upper panels with strapwork, modillion and egg and tongue
cornices. Back panels with reeded arcading with guilloche pilasters.
Tester, cross-beamed with fluted valance, knop pendants and jewel-
shaped soffit decoration. Glass: C16 continental roundel in chapel
east window; the Passeley Arms in north chapel, and C14 head.
Monuments: C15 cusped tomb recess in north chapel, with depressed
arch on colonettes, with pierced quatrefoil frieze and embattled top.
Priscilla and Mary Scott, d.1648 and 1652, erected 1654. Wall
monument in black and white marble, with scrolled pediment on pilaster,
with inscription plaques in enriched brackets with draped skulls. The
Central arcaded panel with 2 frontal figures leaning disconsolately
on central prayer desk. Loftie memorial, over the chancel arch, to
Paul Loftie, d.1703 and family; plaque of grey marble, a simple aedicule
with Arms over and enriched apron with cherub's head below. On nave
west wall are 2 C17 wooden plaques, again taken from Scott's Hall, both
with double scalloped arches, with pendants and Arms over. The left
hand panel with date 1461, - the Bedingfield Arms and initials E.B.,
the right hand panel with date 1429, the Scott Arms and initial W.S.
Former chapel of Aldington, St. Martin. (See B.O.E. Kent II, 464-5;
see also Church Guide).

Listing NGR: TR0722539614

External Links

• Historic England Listing
• Wikidata Q17529268

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Churches: An Architectural Guide (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Introductions)
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  Northamptonshire: Buildings of England Series (Pevsner Architectural Guides) (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Bedfordshire, Huntingdonshire, and Peterborough (Pevsner Architectural Guides): Written by Charles O'Brien, 2014 Edition, Publisher: Yale University Press [Hardcover]
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