All Saints Church (Maidstone)

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The Church of the West View River Medway of view

All Saints is a parish church in Maidstone , Kent. It is a listed building and is considered to be the largest Perpendicular Gothic church in Kent and probably the whole of England.

Construction and decline

William Courtenay , then Archbishop of Canterbury , founded the Church in 1395 as part of the College of All Saints . The church was built on the site of an older St. Mary's Church. Courtenay died a year later and the church and college were completed within a few years by his successor Thomas Arundel . Richard II enfeoffed the college with land and income from the Hospital of St Peter and St Paul at Maidstone, as well as the parishes of Linton , Farleigh , Sutton, and Crundale . The college also received church patronagefor the parishes. For the construction of the college building, Courtenay acquired a bull that entitled him to levy a tax of fourpence in the pound on all church income that arose in his ecclesiastical province .

In 1546, the Chantries Act closed the college . His annual income at the time was £ 208 6 s 2 d . Church and college were separated. The church became a parish church for the whole of Maidstone and the plots of the college went to George Brooke, Baron Cobham , however, reverted to the crown than in 1603, his grandson, Henry Brooke, the 11th Baron Cobham , because of high treason and participation in the Main Plot against James I. was convicted. Under Charles I , the college went to Sir Edward Henden and later to the family of the Earls of Romney .

architecture

North side of the church

The church stands in a small cemetery east of the River Medway ; the remains of the college, including its gatehouse , stand south of it. The Bishop's Palace joins in the northwest and the Zehntscheune ( Tithe Barn ) is located in the northeast. In addition, the medieval walls to the north and west of the churchyard and the Monckton War Memorial in the churchyard are listed separately (Grade II structures).

Monument to Lawrence Washington

The church consists of a blue-greenish limestone ( rag-stone ) ; it is built in the English late Gothic style ( Perpendicular Style ) with buttresses and loopholes interspersed with wall crowns. The tower is on the southwest corner and is approx. 24 m high. Originally there was a pointed helmet , but it was destroyed by lightning in 1730. The nave is supported by six arches and has pews on the north and south sides and upper aisles that run the entire length of the church. On the south side there is a chapel of the "Fraternity of Corpus Christi", a local lay community. The credenza and a four-seat Sedilla are a memory of the first conductor of the college, John Wotton († 1417). There are other memorials for Archbishop Courtenay, Lawrence Washington († 1619), John Davy († 1631) and a joint memorial for John Astley († ~ 1595), his son Sir John Astley († 1639) and their wives. Gravesites in the church belong to the Astleys, Washington and the three Barons Astley of Reading and William Grocyn was buried in the church. In the churchyard is the grave of William Shipley , founder of the Royal Society of Arts .

The baptismal font dates from the early 17th century and the choir stalls show medieval misericords . The wooden roof was replaced by work by John Loughborough Pearson in 1886 . Pearson also designed windows and altarpieces (reredos) . The church tower has ten bells ; these are regularly rung by the Bell Ringing Society. The church clock was manufactured by Gillett & Johnston in 1899 and overhauled in 2007. The clock strikes the quarter and the hour with the strike of Westminster .

See also

  • All Saints Church in Maidstone, KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Web links

Commons : All Saints Church, Maidstone  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d e f g h i Parish Church of All Saints [1225056] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England . Retrieved June 18, 2011.
  2. ^ History of All Saints Church . http://www.visitmaidstone.com/things-to-do/history-and-heritage/history-of-all-saints-church
  3. ^ A b c d e Edward Hasted : The town and parish of Maidstone: Churches, religious houses and charities . In: The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent , Volume vol. 4 1798, pp. 308-327 (accessed June 19, 2011).
  4. ^ A b c The College of Maidstone . In: William Page (ed.): A History of the County of Kent , Volume vol. 2 1926, pp. 232-33 (accessed June 19, 2011).
  5. ↑ In Courtenay's time a pound was 240 pence. The tax amounted to 1.7% of the income.
  6. ↑ An abolition of the estates associated with funeral masses .
  7. ↑ This corresponds to an amount of ₤ 111 590 / € 142,100 in 2015.
  8. ↑ Archbishop's Palace, Tithe Barn and College Gateway are all "Grade I listed buildings". The college and the dungeons of the palace are listed as Grade II * , as are the palace gatehouse and the boundary walls.
  9. ↑ The Archbishop's Palace [1336232] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    Archbishop's Stables Carriage Museum The Tithe Barn [1336233] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    The College Gateway (All Saints Parish Room) The College Tower [1336234] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    The College [1225072] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    The Dungeons at the Archbishop's Palace [1086309] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    The Gate House at the Archbishop's Palace [1086310] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    Wall to Northwest of Archbishop's Palace [1086308] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    Wall to East of Archbishop's Palace [1224889] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Accessed June 26, 2011.
    Gateway and Wall to Palace Gardens [1224844] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Retrieved June 26, 2011.
  10. ^ Wall to North and West of All Saints Church [1086311] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  11. ^ Monckton War Memorial in All Saints Churchyard [1393766] ( English ) In: National Heritage List for England . Historic England. Retrieved June 23, 2011.
  12. ↑ a b c The Bells in All Saints Church, Maidstone . In: Maidstone All Saints . Retrieved June 20, 2011.
  13. ↑ Lawrence Washington was the MP for Maidstone from 1604 to 1611 and the great-uncle of Lawrence Washington , an ancestor of George Washington and the stepfather of Sir Samuel Argall , (Governor of Virginia). The Washington Memorial . In: Maidstone All Saints . Retrieved June 21, 2011.
  14. ↑ a b Our History and Heritage . In: Maidstone All Saints . Retrieved June 20, 2011.
  15. ^ Edward Hasted : The town and parish of Maidstone: Town and manors . In: The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent , Volume vol. 4 1798, pp. 260-307 (accessed June 26, 2011).
  16. ^ DGC Allan: Shipley, William (bap. 1715 of 1803), founder of the Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures, and Commerce . In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography . Oxford University Press . 2006. doi : 10.1093 / ref: odnb / 25412 . Retrieved June 29, 2011.
  17. ↑ Dickon Love: Maidstone, All Saints and Maidstone County Hall ( September 26, 2011 memento in the Internet Archive )
  18. ^ The Tower Clock . In: Maidstone All Saints . Retrieved June 20, 2011.

Coordinates: 51 ° 16 ′ 14.5 ″  N , 0 ° 31 ′ 17.4 ″  E