St Lawrence's Church, Mereworth

For other churches dedicated to St. Laurence or St. Lawrence, see St. Laurence's Church.

St. Lawrence's Church, Mereworth
St. Lawrence's, October 2006
St. Lawrence's Church, Mereworth
51°15′36″N 0°22′41″E / 51.26°N 0.37806°E / 51.26; 0.37806
OS grid reference	TQ 660 537
Location	Mereworth, Kent
Country	United Kingdom
Denomination	Church of England
History
Founder(s)	John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland
Consecrated	26 August 1746
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I listed
Style	Palladian
Groundbreaking	1744
Completed	1746
Specifications
Number of spires	One
Administration
Parish	Mereworth
Deanery	West Malling
Diocese	Rochester
Province	Canterbury

St. Lawrence's Church is a Anglican parish church at Mereworth, Kent, United Kingdom. It is in the deanery of West Malling, the Diocese of Rochester and Province of Canterbury. The current church was built to replace the village's 12th-century place of worship, which was destroyed when Mereworth Castle was enlarged. Alterations were made several times in the 19th and 20th centuries, including repairs to wartime bomb damage, and work undertaken in 2009 won its architects an award. The church has been awarded Grade I listed status in view of its architectural and historical importance.

The Palladian-style stone structure has been described as "the outstanding 18th-century church in the county, in scale, ambition and architectural interest".^[1] Designed by an unknown architect – prominent Palladian-era figures such as Colen Campbell, Henry Flitcroft, James Gibbs and Roger Morris have been suggested. Many internal fixtures survive from the old church, including heraldic stained glass and a series of high-quality brass and stone memorials.

History

A church dedicated to St. Lawrence stood in Mereworth during the reign of Henry II (1154–89).^[2] At that time, the advowson of the church was under the ownership of Roger de Mereworth.^[3] The original church was said to have been built by the de Clares and was appropriated by the Knights Hospitallers on its foundation.^[4] During the reign of Henry II, there was a dispute between de Mereworth and Leeds Priory concerning the patronage of the church. Gilbert, Bishop of Rochester was asked to adjudicate on the dispute. He found in favour of de Mereworth, but the parson of the church was to pay the sum of 40s per annum to the priory as a perpetual benefice.^[3] Shortly after the dispute was settled, the church was granted to Tonbridge Priory. It remained the possession of Tonbridge Priory until that institution was dissolved in 1525. The church then came into the possession of Cardinal Wolsey, but was amongst the properties forfeited to the Crown in 1529.^[5][6]

The advowson of the church was granted to Sir George Nevill,^[6] passing on his death to his son Henry Nevill and on Henry's death to his daughter Mary, thus coming into the possession of her husband Thomas Fane.^[7] In 1589, Leeds Priory abandoned their right to the benefice granted by Gilbert of Rochester.^[3] In 1634, the church possessed lands amounting to some 352 acres (142 ha) in Mereworth.^[8] Mereworth Castle was rebuilt in the mid C18th, with new detached pavilions erected in 1740. The old church did not fit in with the symmetry of the castle and in 1744 Fane obtained a faculty for the demolition of the "ancient and most inconvenient" church.^[9] Stables were built on the site of the old church.^[10] No burials or marriages took place in Mereworth in 1745 as the village was without a church.^[11]

The new church was built by the Earl of Westmorland on a site ⅝ mile (1 km) northwest of its predecessor.^[1] Construction was started in 1744 and completed in 1746,^[12] with consecration by Joseph Wilcocks, the Bishop of Rochester,^[10] on 26 August 1746.^[13] Coffins and memorials from the old church were moved to the new church.^[14] John Grinsted, the son of John and Mary Grinsted was the first to be baptised in the church on 23 September 1746.^[11] In 1752, Horace Walpole visited the church. He said that the church seemed designed for Cheapside and that its spire was so tall that the poor church curtsied beneath it.^[9] Writing in 1766, Thomas Benge Burr in his History of Tunbridge Wells stated that the church "will bear, and indeed richly deserves, the attentive inspection of the curious traveller".^[15] In 1770, the church was "repaired and beautified", possibly by Nicholas Revett, who designed Mereworth Rectory in 1780.^[16] In 1798, the advowson of the church was in the ownership of Francis, Lord de Despencer.^[2] The annual income of the church was then valued at £14 2s 6d.^[8]

The spire was rebuilt in 1870,^[9] the same year that the east window was cut into the end wall of the church. The east window is flanked on either side by blind windows. Repairs were carried out to the bells in 1885 and in 1894 the clock was installed in the base of the lantern at the top of the tower. This was in memory of Eliot Stapleton, rector of Mereworth from 1874–92. A plan by George Crickmay FRIBA dated 1896 to extend the church at the east end by building an apse of the same proportions as the west portico was not carried out.^[17]

Major repairs were carried out to the spire in 1946–47 under the supervision of architect Kenneth Dalgleish, following damage sustained during the Second World War.^[17][18] In 1957, the bells were again repaired.^[17] On 25 August 1959, the church was added to the register of listed buildings. It is Grade I listed.^[19] The clock was repaired in 1972 in memory of George Prentice, rector of Mereworth from 1966–70. A new fibreglass clock face was fitted at this time and the winding mechanism converted to electric power.^[17] In 2005, an inspection revealed that the church needed major repairs. English Heritage made a grant that covered 95% of the £500,000 cost of restoration.^[18] The work was carried out under the supervision of architects Thomas Ford & Partners. The restoration of the church earned the 2009 Georgian Group award for best restoration of a Georgian church.^[20]

Description

St. Lawrence's is a Palladian-style building by an unknown architect.^[1] Colen Campbell worked in a similar style, although he died in 1722, so the design may have been executed by one of his followers.^[21] The second-generation Palladian architect Henry Flitcroft has been suggested;^[19] By 1746 he was the master carpenter at three London palaces, and his St Giles in the Fields Church at Holborn was London's first Palladian-style church.^[22] James Gibbs has also been suggested, as the spire of St Lawrence's is similar to that of St Martin-in-the-Fields in the City of Westminster, London. Sir Howard Colvin tentatively attributes the church to Roger Morris; in Colvin's opinion, he is the most likely candidate to have designed the church.^[23]

The church is of blocks of Kentish ragstone with dressed ashlar Wealden sandstone for the porch columns, quoins and tower.^[1][18] The sandstone has galletted joints.^[9] It has a simple rectangular form in the 18th-century "temple church" style. St Paul's, Covent Garden in London, an early Palladian church by Inigo Jones, was the model for the design,^[1][18] which was then "purified by neo-Palladian theory".^[19] The roof is covered in slate and has prominent eaves and pedimented ends.^[19] At the west end, the focal point is a tall tower topped with a steeple flanked by decorative urns. The stone structure, with a square base supporting octagonal upper stages with columned sides and a balustrade, is so similar to the steeple at St Giles in the Fields Church in Holborn.^[19][21] that the Buildings of England series notes that it was "copied almost directly" from that church.^[1] Projecting from the west end below the pedimented end of the roof is a semicircular open porch with Tuscan columns topped by a cornice.^[19] Its design is based on that of the Baroque-style St. Paul's Church at Deptford, London;^[18] St Mary le Strand in central London has also been cited as its inspiration.^[1] The tower has a peal of six bells, cast in 1746 by Joseph Eayre of St. Neots, Huntingdonshire. They are in the Key of G. At the base of the tower are two chapels. That at the north west being the Yotes Court Chapel, where the brass of William Shosmyth and his wife Julian can be found. Shosmyth was the warden of the religious guild of the Worshipful Company of Skinners in 1461. The brass has the earliest known representation of the Skinners' coat of arms. As of 2011, this chapel serves as a vestry. The south west chapel is the Despencer or Lady Chapel. It contains the brasses to Sir John de Mereworth and Thomas Nevill, as well as monuments to either Edward Neville, 3rd Baron Bergavenny or his son George Nevill, 4th Baron Bergavenny. Another memorial contains the heart of George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny. The tomb of Sir Thomas Fane and his wife Mary. Their sons Francis and George are depicted kneeling at the base of the tomb.^[24] At the east end, the three-window range consists of two straight-headed plain windows flanking a larger, round-headed one in the Venetian style, set below a "grandiose" lunette within the pediment on the roof. This has been likened to the Diocletian windows used at Roman baths.^[25]

The interior is in the Neoclassical style,^[18] with a curved ceiling decorated with trompe-l'œil panels. The entrance to the church is through the west-end porch, which leads into a circular chamber in the base of the tower. Rooms at the sides of this vestibule hold monuments from the original church.^[25] Beyond the vestibule is a wide nave with aisles, a seven bays and a barrel-vaulted ceiling (decorated with coffering, "not very convincingly" according to the Buildings of England series),^[25] a chancel and a side chapel. The bays are separated by painted marble-effect stone Doric columns,^[19][21][25] originally partly panelled,^[25] which support a long, flat entablature instead of the usual arches.^[25] The strict geometry of the interior – each bay of the aisles is a square, and the nave is three times wider than each aisle – gives it an "austere Neoclassical appearance" not normally associated with the Georgian era in which it was built.^[25] The crypt contains several Fane coffins.^[26]

Fixtures include a marble font which is contemporary with the church.^[25] There is much stained glass: the oldest, in the form of heraldic emblems in cartouches, dates from 1562 and is visible in the Diocletian window in the east wall and in another window on the southwest side.^[25] The east window was erected in memory of Sir Frank Stapleton, rector of Mereworth 1832–74.^[27] Other similar glass dates from the 17th and 18th centuries. Another, depicting the Raising of Lazarus, was designed by Frederic Shields for the Heaton, Butler and Bayne firm in 1889.^[21][25]

The organ is by Gray and Davison. It was installed in 1882 by Lord Falmouth at a cost of £200. In 1892, the rector, E H Stapleton extended the range of the organ in memory of his wife.^[28]

Memorials, brasses and notable burials

Memorials

• Sir Thomas Fane, High Sheriff of Kent in 1572.^[21] This "grandiose standing monument" dates from 1639 and depicts Fane and his wife (d 1626) reclining above their kneeling sons. It is supported on a prominent entablature carried on Corinthian columns.^[29]
• James Master (d 1689). His memorial is a cartouche of marble.^[29]

Brasses

• Sir John de Mereworth, High Sheriff of Kent in 1340 and joint High Sheriff of Kent in 1341, who fought at the Siege of Calais in 1346.^[14] The "fine brass", 33 inches (84 cm) long, shows de Mereworth as a knight and closely resembles brasses of a similar era at St Mary Magdalene's Church in Cobham, Kent.^[25]
• William Shosmyth (d 1479). Warden of the religious guild of the Worshipful Company of Skinners in 1461.^[24] His brass is 18 inches (46 cm) long.^[25]

Burials

• Evelyn Boscawen, 6th Viscount Falmouth.^[30]
• George Byng, 7th Viscount Torrington, courtier.^[31]
• John Fane, 7th Earl of Westmorland, builder of the church.^[11][11]
• Mary Fane, Countess of Westmorland, wife of John Fane.^[11]
• William Hutcheon Hall, Royal Navy admiral.^[32]
• Charles Davis Lucas, first person to win the Victoria Cross.^[21]
• Thomas Nevill (c1480–1542), Speaker of the House of Commons 1514–15.^[26] He is commemorated inside by a monument decorated with quatrefoil emblems and angels and surmounted by a "poor brass" 18 inches (46 cm) long.^[25]
• Francesco Sleter (d 1775), Italian artist.^[19] He also has a wall-mounted memorial on the south side of the church.^[29]
• Sir Robert Southwell, Master of the Rolls 1541–50.^[11]

The church today

The parish covers Mereworth village, the surrounding rural area and part of the village of Kings Hill.^[33] Administratively, it is part of a joint benefice with St. Dunstan's Church at neighbouring West Peckham.^[34]

As a Grade I listed building, the church is considered by English Heritage to be of "exceptional interest" and greater than national importance.^[35] As of February 2001, it was one of 38 Grade I listed buildings, and 1,291 listed buildings of all grades, in the district of Tonbridge and Malling – the local government district in which Mereworth is situated.^[36]

References

1. ^ ^{a b c d e f g} Newman 1976, p. 421.
2. ^ ^{a b} Hasted 1798, p. 90.
3. ^ ^{a b c} Hasted 1798, p. 87.
4. ^ Burr 1766, p. 243.
5. ^ Hasted 1798, p. 88.
6. ^ ^{a b} Page 1926, pp. 167–69.
7. ^ Hasted 1798, pp. 87–88.
8. ^ ^{a b} Hasted 1798, p. 89.
9. ^ ^{a b c d} Wells 2006, p. 2.
10. ^ ^{a b} Dearn 1814, p. 168.
11. ^ ^{a b c d e f} Wells 2006, p. 11.
12. ^ "Mereworth – a brief history". Kent Parish Councils. http://www.mereworthpc.kentparishes.gov.uk/. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
13. ^ Wells 2006, p. 1.
14. ^ ^{a b} "Mereworth, St Lawrence". The Medieval Combat Society. http://www.themcs.org/churches/Mereworth%20St%20Lawrence.html. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
15. ^ Burr 1766, p. 244.
16. ^ Wells 2006, pp. 10–11.
17. ^ ^{a b c d} Wells 2006, p. 3.
18. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "St. Lawrences' Church, Mereworth: Architect's Account". Thomas Ford & Partners. http://www.thomasford.co.uk/publication%20Mereworth%2001.html. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
19. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h} "Church of St Lawrence, Mereworth". British Listed Buildings. http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-178886-church-of-st-lawrence-mereworth. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
20. ^ "Architectural Awards / 2009 awards". Georgian Group. http://www.georgiangroup.org.uk/docs/awards/winners.php?id=4:49:0:3. Retrieved 19 September 2011. 
21. ^ ^{a b c d e f} "St Lawrence Mereworth". Kent Churches. http://www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Mereworth. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
22. ^ Connor, T.P. (2004). "Oxford DNB article: Flitcroft, Henry". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9753. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/9753. Retrieved 30 August 2011.  Subscription or UK public library membership required
23. ^ Wells 2006, pp. 9–10.
24. ^ ^{a b} Wells 2006, pp. 7–9.
25. ^ ^{a b c d e f g h i j k l m} Newman 1976, p. 422.
26. ^ ^{a b} Wells 2006, p. 9.
27. ^ Wells 2006, p. 6.
28. ^ Wells 2006, p. 7.
29. ^ ^{a b c} Newman 1976, p. 423.
30. ^ "Funeral of the late Lord Falmouth". Freeman's Journal and Daily Commercial Advertiser: p. 7. 12 November 1889. 
31. ^ "Arrangements for this day". The Morning Post (34901): p. 5. 2 May 1884. 
32. ^ Laughton, J.K. (2004). "Oxford DNB article: Hall, Sir William Hutcheon". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/11998. http://oxforddnb.com/view/article/11998?docPos=10. Retrieved 30 August 2011.  Subscription or UK public library membership required
33. ^ "Mereworth". A Church Near You website. Archbishops' Council. 2010. http://www.achurchnearyou.com/parish.php?p=310172/. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
34. ^ "Mereworth: St Lawrence, Mereworth". A Church Near You website. Archbishops' Council. 2010. http://www.achurchnearyou.com/mereworth-st-lawrence/. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
35. ^ "Listed Buildings". English Heritage. 2010. http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/caring/listing/listed-buildings/. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 
36. ^ "Images of England – Statistics by County (Kent)". Images of England. English Heritage. 2007. http://www.imagesofengland.org.uk/StatisticsPage/default.aspx?StatsCounty=KENT. Retrieved 30 August 2011. 

Sources

• Burr, Thomas Benge (1766). The History of Tunbridge Wells. Tunbridge Wells: Thomas Benge Burr.  (p243, p244)
• Dearn, T W (1814). An Historical, Topographical and Descriptive Account of the Weald of Kent. Cranbrook: S Reader. http://www.theweald.org/B10.asp?BookId=TDWD168&v=0&Xid=&xnm=1. 
• Hasted, Edward (1798). The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent – Volume V. Canterbury: W Bristow.  (p87, p88, p89, p90)
• Newman, John (1976). West Kent and the Weald. Buildings of England (2nd ed.). Harmondsworth: Penguin Books. ISBN 0-14-071038-8. 
• Page, Willam (1926). "Houses of Austin canons: The priory of Tonbridge". A History of the County of Kent: Volume 2. Institute of Historical Research. http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=38209. Retrieved 29 August 2011. 
• Wells, Andrew (2006). The Parish Church of St. Lawrence, Mereworth. Mereworth: Andrew Wells. 

Coordinates: 51°15′36″N 0°22′41″E / 51.26°N 0.37806°E / 51.26; 0.37806