Brass to Jerem Ewstes (Eustace) d.1587.
Brass in the sanctuary to Sir John Greville (d.1546). All Saints at Weston on Avon doesn't feel like a Warwickshire church, having more of a Cotswold look with it's yellow stone and late 15th century battlements and gargoyles of a type one is more used to seeing in Gloucestershire, the reason for this being changes to the border between the two counties, and along with neighbouring Welford on Avon and Quinton remains part of the Gloucester Diocese. Everything looks all of a piece, late 15th / early 16th century Perpendicular, judging by the large square headed six-light window on the south side. One of the oddest features externally has been caused by the disappearance of the former south aisle or chapel; seeing evidence of demolished aisles isn't that uncommon, but here the two-bay arcade was glazed instead (a low wall forms the cill) leaving two abnormally huge clear-glazed windows flooding the nave with light. The base of the ancient churchyard cross remains nearby. I imagined it would be locked without keyholder information and that would be that, but to my surprise the door yielded, but even more surprisingly I then found myself facing a wall that seemed to be composed mostly of glass! The entire north wall of the nave is filled by a sequence of four square-headed six-light windows (identical to the single example on the south side, suggesting something similar would have been planned there had it not been for the now missing chapel). There is so little space between each window that it appears from some angles that they are one continuous window, separated only by regimented thick and thin mullions, a truly remarkable effect. It is reminicscent of many late medieval clerestories, but to be used at ground level on such a large scale in so small a church must surely be unique. The interior is subsequently flooded with light, even in the late afternoon of the dull day I visited on. The 'glass cage' effect of the north side is further accentuated by the afforementioned former arcade openings on the south, giving this late medieval church as much the atmosphere of a Georgian interior than the Gothic. There is no stained glass except for the original painted and stained quarries found in two of the lights on the north side, repeating a motif with a canopied boat , doubtless the rebus of a late medieval donor (I have seen these same quarries elsewhere). The plain panelling in the chancel is 17th century, which could well be the date of this part of the building judging by some of the external features (along with the strangely round chancel arch). Otherwise the furnishings appear to be mostly early 20th century, simple but attractive with decorative carving and a linenfold-style pulpit. At the east end of the nave are substantial sections of medieval tiled floor, some areas intact with two-toned dark and encaustic elements, and much use of heraldry, the surviving pieces showing this to have been of surprisingly high quality for such a small and rural building.There are also fragments of incised slabs and empty brass indents incorporated into the paving nearby. The best pieces are to be found under carpeting in the chancel, either side of the altar, two small but good quality late Tudor brasses to Sir John Grevill (d.1546) and Sir Edward Grevill (d.1559), very similar in style showing a bearded figure in armour standing above an inscription tablet. This small, neat and highly unusual church is a real little known gem. My enthusiasm alas wasn't shared by a couple who came in after me and didn't linger long, saying 'Not much to see in there'! I think they rather missed the point, this church doesn't reveal it's secrets unless one is prepared to seek them out, but will reward anyone who cares to look. Having arrived with few expectations I really loved this church, it has real charm, remarkably unusual features and a real sense of stillness and peace. For more detail on this church see it's entry on my new Warwickshire Churches site below:- warwickshirechurches.weebly.com/weston-on-avon---all-sain...
On the south wall of the chancel is the brass figures of John Eyre 1561 & wife Margaret Blennerhassett Spelman 1558 "Here do lye John Eyer, late Receyvor Generale to Elizabethe the Quenes Majestie in the Counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, Cantabridge, and Huntynton, and one of the Maisters of her hyghe Court of Chancerye, and Margaret his Wyfe, one of the daughters of Sir Thomas Bleverhaiset of Frens Knight, late Wyfe of John Spelman Esquire, Sone and Heyre apparent of Syr John Spelman Knyght, which John Eyre dy'd the xxth Daye of May, the Yere of our Lord MV LXI. and in the thirde Yere of the Raing of Elizabeth by the Grace of God Quene of England, France, and Ireland, Defender of the Faithe, and the said Margaret dy'd the xvth Day of December in the Yere of our Lord MDLVIII". John's scroll reads "with the Lord there is Mercy and on Margaret's "and with hym is plenteous redemption" Above are 3 shields : Over John - 1st Quarterly in 1st and 4th arg. on a chevron in a bordure ingrailed sab. bezant three quaterfoils arg. (Eyre), in the 2d and 3d Townsend. Middle quarterly Eyre and Spelman, escutcheon, Over Margaret - quarterly Eyre and Townsend; impaling 1st, Blennerhasset, and his quarterings in the second place Lowdham. In the fourth Orton. In the fifth Skelton, and in the 6th and last quarter, Bleverhasset. Margaret 1558 was the daughter of Sir Thomas Blennerhassett of Frenze 1531 flic.kr/p/rp8dxz & Margaret d1561 flic.kr/p/qsrvxx daughter of John Braham of Wetheringsett and Joan Reyden 1519 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/30oPQ She m1 John Spelman 1545 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/76C330 only son of Judge Sir John Spelman and Elizabeth Frowyke www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/9Rj86X co-heiress daughter of Henry Frowyke of Gunnersby / Gunnersbury, Middlesex & 2nd wife Margaret daughter of Ralph Leigh by Elizabeth Langley Children - 2 sons & 2 daughters 1. Thomas dsp 2. John Spelman of Narburgh 1581 www.flickr.com/gp/52219527@N00/H69W16 m1 Judith 1570 daughter of Sir Clement Higham of Barrow Suffolk flic.kr/p/ag3hJy by 2nd wife Anne Waldegrave Bures m2 Catherine, daughter of William Saunders of Ewell in Surrey She m2 John Eyre dsp 1561
Brass to George Brigge & wife Anne d.1597.
Tomb chest of John Coppledike and wife Anne Ettam, St Mary, Harrington, Lincolnshire. On the south side of the chancel is a tomb chest of black marble with interesting brasses and 12 coats of arms, surmounted by a canopy of Purbeck marble. Here lies John Coppledike (d. 1585) and his wife Anne Ettam (d. 1582)
Description and images of the architecture and furnishings of Hunsdon church
Prince of South Wales
Monument to Robert Salmon d.1641, Master of Trinity House and Sheriff of London.
Church of Simon and St Jude, Monument to Sir John Pettus †1614 and Bridget Curtis and Sir Augustine Pettus †1613, alabaster. Commissioned by Thomas Pettus, Sir John’s second son, the executor of his will. Unknown, probably Norwich mason, also responsible for the Suckling monuments in St Andrew’s, restored 2007/8. St Simon and St Jude was declared redundant in the 1890s, and abandoned in the 1930s. Now owned by the Norwich Churches Trust it has been saved from its state of collapse in the 1930s, but the inside has been butchered by the addition of the nave mezzanine. This makes it impossible to appreciate the monument to Sir John and his family, on filling the north wall flanking the chancel arch. Mercifully the late George Plunkett took a full set of photographs of the interior in the 1930s, including the monument (www.norfolkchurches.co.uk/norwichsimonjude/plunkett/plunk...). The monument rises from an impressive coloured alabaster base, to the Pettus coat of arms flanked by two obelisks. Sir John in his mayoral robes (he was Mayor in 1608) appears to kneel at a prayer desk opposite his wife, Bridget Curtis, although there is no sign of their legs. Blomefield writing in the 18th century mistook the armorials and identified the kneeling figure as Sir Augustine, who, unlike his father, was never Mayor of Norwich. Most of the literature has followed Blomefield, who was corrected by the Norfolk Heraldry Society (information from Tony Sims). Sir John and Lady Bridget are flanked by pilasters; his decorated with lances, hers with pomegranates and other fruit. Their children, two sons and two daughters kneel underneath, while Sir Augustine, who had died under a year before his father, is repeated lying stiffly in his full armour looking out from the monument, his head propped on his right arm, holding what could be a gauntlet or drinking horn, showing the fingers of a small hand. Sir John had moved beyond both the family’s relative humble origins as tailors and local politics when in 1604 he had become the first Norwich Member since 1558 to be elected to two consecutive parliaments. He was active as an MP, while continuing his charitable work in Norwich. At the death of his father he had inherited considerable wealth, as well as the family house on Elm Hill, once extending to the churchyard, now nos. 41-43, and the estate at Rackheath, since at death his moveable goods, which included a substantial armoury of nine guns, were valued at £952 19s. 6d and the house on Elm Hill contained 27 rooms, together with stables for eight horses. Blomefield, An Essay towards a Topographical History of the County of Norfolk: volume 4: The History of the City and County of Norwich, part II, ‘chapter 42: East Wimer ward', (1806), pp. 329-367; Chris Kyle, ‘Sir John Pettus’ in The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1604-1629, , ed. Andrew Thrush and John P. Ferris, 2010.
Richard Stone and wife, 1607
George Monox, d1638, and wife, with two daughters below
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St. Finn Barr's Church, Fowey - brass of Alice Rashleigh. A brass depiction of Alice, the wife of John Rashleigh who died in 1591.
Hiding under the carpet possibly under the altar - , Sir Edward Warner 1511 - dsp 1565 of Polstead hall and Plumstead. flic.kr/p/X4EpzL He was a younger son of Henry Warner of Besthorpe by Mary daughter of John Blennerhassett of Frenze flic.kr/p/r7DYJw & Jane flic.kr/p/r5T4gR daughter of Sir Thomas Tyndall / Tindall of Hockwold who m2 William Drury who m2 Dorothy daughter of William Brampton He m1 Elizabeth d.1560 daughter of Thomas Brooke, 8th Lord Cobham:: Widow of Sir Thomas Wyatt 1542 of Allington castle Children - 3 sons who all died as infants. He m2 Audrey dsp daughter & heiress of William Hare of Beeston:, Widow of Thomas Hobart of Plumstead Aa professional soldier and household official, he was a member of Henry Vlll's household by 1537, sewer by 1545, esquire of the body by 1552; Constable of Clitheroe castle 1542; Lieutenant of the Tower Oct. 1552-July 1553, with Sir Thomas Cawarden to 1563; Commander to investigate office of master of Ordnance 1553, Musters in Middlesex 1559; Master of St. Katharine’s hospital and steward, East Smithfield 1560, JP for Middlesex 1561 Collector for loan, Middlesex 1562; Steward for William 1st Lord Paget, In a minor augmentations grant of Nottinghamshire property, he became an active dealer in monastic property, selling or exchanging nearly as much as he bought. In one of these transactions, the purchase of the Carmelite friary at Burnham, in 1541 his name is associated for the first time with that of his future brother-in-law George, 9th Lord Cobham. Warner fought in the Netherlands in 1543, and his service in the Scottish campaign of the following year brought him a knighthood: in this campaign one of his commanders was his future parliamentary patron, the 2nd Earl of Rutland. In May 1546 he was brought before the Privy Council for ‘indiscreet talking of Scripture matters’ but was dismissed on promising to amend: it was a foretaste of his later radicalism to extreme Protestantism . After the accession of Edward VI, he advanced rapidly. He received a £50 annuity for his services to the late King and a wardship carrying an annuity of £22, while in a series of transactions with other purchasers he acquired a share in monastic and chantry lands worth £3,000- £4,000. He was also granted a licence to eat flesh in Lent for life, perhaps a token of his developing Protestantism. In 1549 he was a marshal against Kett’s rebellion and in 1552 his military prowess was rewarded with the lieutenancy of the Tower, surprising by the Duke of Northumberland, as he had become an intimate of the ex-Protector Somerset’s loyal colleague Lord Paget, visiting him at his house many times, including a month before Somerset's arrest. He had became MP for Grantham in Henry VIII’s last Parliament, which he may have owed to his brother Robert’s service with Catherine Parr, who held the manor but his immediate patron was the 2nd Earl of Rutland, In the crisis of July 1553 Warner held the Tower for Northumberland, and Mary’s triumph brought his immediate dismissal. He was, however, re-elected for Grantham to Mary’s first Parliament, where he was one of those who ‘stood for the true religion’, ie, for Protestantism. The outbreak of Wyatt’s rebellion inevitably cast Warner under suspicion. On 23 Jan. 1554 he was denounced to Gardiner by the Spanish ambassador and 2 days later he was arrested with the Marquess of Northampton, a relation by marriage who was staying at his house by Carter Lane. Within six months he had sunk from lieutenant of the Tower to prisoner there, but he was not put on trial, his wife continued to receive the revenues of his lands, and in January 1555 he and several other prisoners were ceremonially released, with ‘a great shooting of guns’. At first bound in a recognizance of £300, he received his pardon on 2 July. He was to survive the Marian period with no worse damage than the loss of a few of his monastic lands, and before the end of the reign he was even employed under Sir Thomas Tresham in a survey of the Isle of Wight On Elizabeth’s accession he was restored to the lieutenancy of the Tower, and became MP for Grimsby. After his leniency in dealing with prisoners, among them Lady Catherine Grey who he permitted secret visits with her husband Edward Seymour Lord Hertford which resulted in her pregnancy, he was dismissed and imprisoned for a short while. He spent his last years in pleasant retirement in Norfolk. In the summer of 1565 he travelled to continental spas for his health, but on 7th November died. His will of 22 October asked for a funeral "with as little pomp as may be" and mentioned a collection of law books and chronicles. Sir Edward wears plate armour with a mail skirt and tassets strapped over the thighs. There are broad toed sabatons on his feet, which rest on a hound crouching on a grassy mound. Symmetrical haute pieces rise from the pauldrons to protect the neck. Rivets or straps are shown at the articulated sections of armour. He stands between shields of Warner & Cobham “His wyves also by armes yowe see apere”. while above are the arms of Warner with the motto “Go straight & feare not” "Syr Edward Warner, knight, now restethe here Who lyved to full fifty yearres and fawer His wyves also by armes yowe see apere. what .....st then Wyche ,,,,ed to ........ them mower hys virtues ran wolde not be certen pas ..................................... synke Or blot his fame with rude or cytic ink ........... golden gilt in brass In .....hereafter let this be said for all Upon God and man herewyth and ever shall Died 7th day of November AD 1565 " - Church of St. Gervase and St. Protasius, Little Plumstead Norfolk
Elizabeth Covert 1558 kneels opposite her now lost husband William Goring 1553 son of John Goring 1520 www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/11031224885/ and Constance Dyke Elizabeth was the daughter of John Covert 1503 www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/11034212793/ and Elizabeth daughter of Sir John Pelham by Joan de Courcy Children 1.George 1601 m Mary daughter of William Everard of Albourne by Joan Ernley 2.Robert m Mary daughter of Thomas Olney. 3.Anne m1 Sir George Delalynde m2 Francis son of Sir Anthony Browne and 1st wife Alice Gage www.flickr.com/photos/52219527@N00/707267559/ 4. .Sir Henry 1521-1594 m Dorothy daughter of William Everard of Albourne by Joan Ernley Elizabeth wears a tabard with on the right shoulder the quartered arms of Covert, Pelham and de Courcy; on the left shoulder are the quartered arms of Goring, Dyke, Camoys, Hawtrey, and Radmylde; Picture - David Kemp CCL
St Martin sits on the edge of modern Folkestone, perched on the side of a hill and overlooked by the downs. Looking north and east it would appear rural, Yet on the south side the modern town tumbles down the valley towards Sandgate, and although hidden by landscape, east lies the M20, the main railway line to London and the Channel Tunnel terminal. Evident all over the churchyard is the modern habit of people kicking gravestones so they are so damaged they fall over or are broken. Is modern life so dull that this is an acceptable hobby? Maybe this explains why the church is locked and unwelcoming, if its modern neighbours treat it this way? This was my second visit here, and I was hoping it would be open, but not too hopeful. In the end, not only it was open, but there was an arts fair on too, which can be a mixed blessing, as blankets and other works can cover up the fixtures and fittings, which did happen. But as I was early, I got round to snap most, and notice the obviously ancient base of the tower at the north end of the church, possibly Saxon, and a delight. On the war memorial was a blade of a crashed Spitfire propeller, that one of the wardens had not noticed before. I noticed. --------------------------------------------- A little-known and rarely visited church of Saxon origin. A double splayed window gives it away, and it is thought that the base of the thirteenth-century tower may have been a Saxon porch. The outstanding feature of Cheriton is the decorative arcading in the chancel. It consists of six deeply set arches to north and south. The shafts are of local Bethersden marble and are very finely carved. The lancet windows above are not placed centrally over the arcading - an unusual variation. A further oddity is the fact that the arcading does not include sedilia, which were almost a prerequisite of thirteenth-century rebuildings. Yet there is a sedilia in the south aisle, which dates from a hundred years later. Near the sedilia is a rustic standing monument of a woman. www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Cheriton A church has stood on the hillside at the top of the Horn Street valley for over a thousand years. The date the church was built is not known, however the original building (consisting of the nave and tower) was built during Saxon times prior to 900AD. Inside of the church one can see the original Saxon doorway into the tower and a Saxon window above; and on the outside of the tower one can see the remnants of an earlier doorway above the present tower door. The Chancel was the next addition to the church, probably around 1225AD, for which deep foundations were dug into hill, and originally there was a doorway (now blocked in) in the north wall of the Chancel. Inside the Chancel are 6 arches on each side of an Early English style with thin shafts of Bethersden marble. During the 14th Century the South Aisle was added, and a small chapel, the Enbrook Chapel, added to the north side. Also it is probable that the diagonal buttresses on the west outside wall of the tower were added at this time when extensive additional work was carried out on the tower. The next major period of building came during the Victorian age. By now a porch had been a feature of the church and originally stood next to the Enbrook Chapel, however between 1873 & 1878 the church was enlarged further, with the Saxon north wall and porch being demolished and a North Aisle added. The new (and current) porch was then erected as a memorial to one of the first two Lord Justices of Appeal in Chancery of England, Sir James Lewis Knight-Bruce. Also a Vestry was added on the south side. During the Victorian restoration, extensive work was also done inside the church including the somewhat out of place looking arcading on the east wall of the Chancel and a hot water central heating system (that kept the church warm until 1985!) fuelled from a boiler room beneath the vestry. Oil lamps were replaced by electricity in 1928, and the church narrowly escaped being destroyed during the Second World War when a German bomb exploded in the churchyard luckily only damaging some of the Chancel and South Aisle windows. By the end of the 20th century, the church was in need of another restoration, with the roof and heating being replaced and major structural repairs carried out to preserve this beautiful building well into the next millennium. And bringing the story up to date, a toilet was added, adjoining the porch in 2008. It is also worth mentioning that the churchyard also contains the grave of Samuel Plimsoll, a Liberal M.P. for Derby, who is world renowned for creating the “Plimsoll Line” on ships which has undoubtedly saved the lives of many thousands of seamen, and earned him the nickname “The Sailor’s Friend.” www.cheritonchurches.org.uk/st-martin/history/ CHERITON is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Canterbury, and deanry of Dover. ¶The church, which is dedicated to St. Martin, is built of sand-stone, and consists of two isles and two chancels, having a tower steeple at the west end, in which are four bells. This church has always been esteemed as appendant to the manor of Cheriton, the succeeding owners of which have been from time to time owners and patrons of it, and it is now as such in the patronage of James Drake Brockman, esq. of Beechborough. It is a rectory, and is valued in the king's books at 16l. 12s. 6d. and the yearly tenths at 1l. 13s. 3d. In 1588 it was valued at one hundred pounds, communicants one hundred and seventy. In 1640 at eighty pounds, communicants one hundred and seventeen. It was, in the year 1771, united to the vicarage of the adjoining parish of Newington, both churches having the same patron. www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol8/pp188-197
I had tried to find St Lawrence before, one winters day going up and down country lanes looking for a church, and only finding an entrance to Otterden Place. Because Otterden Place is where the church is. John Vigar (below) raves about St Lawrence, and as I plan to visit and photograph every church in the county, I had to see this one. And then, a friend of mine, Mark, sent me details and a contact number so I could arrange a visit. But it was at the start of the orchid season, and so that comes first. But once that was over, and the Heritage Weened was done and dusted, time again for churches. I sent a post card, really, to the keyholder, as I had no e mail for him or address, and dates were agreed; one was cancelled by David as they lost the key, and then I found out the re-arranged date clashed with Open House. So, the day before, after work, we agreed to meet. I just had to find it. Otterden Court is one of those imposing lesser country houses, mucs have been grand in its day, but now after a slow decay, still looks OK from a distance, but close up the paint is crumbling. David met me outside the church. I say that, but I arrived first, and went to knock on the door of the house, and got no answer. I tried the entrance under the arch, and again got no answer. David then arrived, and after parking the car he met me outside the church, and began to tell me the history of the building A mostly unimproved church is a rare thing, so seeing this one dating from 1754 was glorious. It contains three memorials from the original parish church, and don't look out of place. Also, St Lawrence has a fine modern glass window showing a wonderful ship in a mass of hexagons. It is a peaceful place, sitting beside the now empty house, and is open to visitors who have made appointments. ------------------------------------------- How does one describe a unique building? This church, now owned by a charity, is the most rewarding 18th century structure in Kent many times over. Built by an 18th century benefactor on medieval foundations it is still furnished with its original Chinese Chippendale benches and Box Pews. Monuments from the former church were saved and include medieval brasses and figurative sculpture probably by Epiphanius Evesham (see Lynsted). All this deserves detailed study. Later work includes a short Victorian chancel and 20th century stained glass, the most important of which is surely the NW window by Wilhelmina Geddes, depicting the Prodigal Son. Its colours and form predate Chagall by two generations. The more recent SW window of 60 years later is a poor match in comparison. Location, within the park of the big house, is truly satisfying and if you can only make arrangements to see the inside of one Kent church you should make it this one. www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Otterden ------------------------------------------- OTTERDEN LIES the next parish northward from Lenham, being written in the survey of Domesday, Otringedene, in antient deeds, Otteringden, and in later ones Ottringden, alias Otterden. That part of this parish lying north-westward of the valley, which is between the church and Hallplace, which includes Otterden-place, that church, and the scite of the dilapidated church of Monketon, is in the division of West Kent; and the remaining or south-east part of it, including Hall-place, the scite of the dilapidated church of Boardfield, and the whole hamlet of it, is in that of East Kent. THE PARISH of Otterden lies a little more than a mile from the summit of the chalk hills, and being greatly exposed to the north-east, is very bleak and cold. The hills in it are very frequent and steep; the land is in general very poor and barren, consisting of a loose red earth, mixed with such quantities of flints, that in the bottom of the valleys they entirely cover the surface of the ground, notwithstanding which, the most corn grows where they are thus numerous. The parish, especially in the north-east part, is greatly interspersed with coppice wood, which mostly consists of beech, intermixed at places with hazel and birch, and some few ash and willow stubbs. The roads are very narrow, and from the frequency and steepness of the hills, and the quantities of loose flints in them, are very unpleasant and unsafe to travellers. Nearly in the middle of the parish is Otterdenplace, situated on an eminence, having a most extensive prospect towards the north-east, over the neighbouring country, and the channel beyond it. It is a very large pile of building, the more antient part of it being seemingly of king Henry the VIIIth.'s reign, though some of it has been lately taken down purposely to lessen the size of it; at not more than one hundred yards distance from it is the new church of Otterden, which, from its form, and having no steeple, looks more like some apartment belonging to the mansion than what it really is; about half a mile westward is the parsonage, a modern brick building. It has a small village of a very few houses, called Otterden-street, the cottages in general standing single and dispersed over different parts of it, and are very meanly built; in short, poverty and health may be truly said to be the characteristic of these parts, as well as of those others, throughout this county, which lie on the northern side of this range of hills, near the summit of them, but extending in breadth only a few miles, in some more, in others less; to which district the whole of the above description may be said to be well adapted, almost in every particular. THIS PLACE was part of the possessions given by William the Conqueror to his half-brother Odo, bishop of Baieux, under the general title of whose lands it is thus entered in the survey of Domesday: ¶The same Adam, son of Hubert, holds of the bishop (of Baieux) Otringedene. It was taxed at half a suling. The arable land is two carucates. In demesne there is one, and two villeins, with four borderers, having half a carucate. There are two servants, and one acre of meadow. Wood for the pannage of five hogs. In the time of king Edward the Confessor, and afterwards, it was worth ten shillings, now thirty shillings. To this manor belong two plats of ground in Canterbury, of twelve pence. Alward held this manor of king Edward. About four years after the above survey, on the bishop's disgrace, all his estates were seized on by his brother, and this among them became confiscated to the crown, OTTERDEN is within the ECCLESIASTICAL JURISDICTION of the diocese of Rochester, and deanry of Ospringe. The antient church was dedicated to St. Laurence, and consisted of two small isles and a chancel, without a steeple, and stood about fifty yards eastward from the corner of Otterden-place; this building being greatly decayed and ruinous, lady Elizabeth Hastings, sister of George, earl of Huntingdon, at the instance of the Rev. Granville Wheler, patron of it, who had married her half-sister lady Catherine, among other acts of charity, devised by her will four hundred pounds towards the rebuilding of it. She died in 1739, and this sum, with the interest of it, before any thing was undertaken for that purpose, amounted to near five hundred pounds, when Mr. Wheler undertook the building of an entire new church here, which was begun in 1753, and completed in about a twelvemonth's time, at the expence of five hundred pounds more out of his own purse, which he liberally gave towards it. The new church, which is a neat elegant building of brick, ornamented with stone rustic quoins, window-cases, &c. is built, great part of it, on the foundations of the old church, which stood about twenty feet more towards the east, the grave-stones over the two rectors being then within the altar-rails. There was no steeple to the former church, nor is there any to the new one, which, with the modern elegance of the building, takes away all appearance of its being a church, on the outside view of it. ¶The monuments of the Lewins and Curteis's are preserved in a small recess on the north side of the church, and have been well repaired and beautified, as has been the monument of Mr. Simon Bunce, and his wife, against the south wall of it. There are many of this family buried in this church, the last of whom were, Mr. Thomas Bunce, from Maidstone, in 1706, and Mrs. Anne Bunce, from Throwley, in 1737; but the grave-stones of this family are now covered by the pews of this new church, which are, nevertheless, fastened only with screws, in order to their being removed when occasion requires. There are several of the Paines, of Hall-place, likewise buried in this church. Underneath the church is a vault for the use of the Wheler family. The rector was bound to repair the chancel of the old church. The patronage of the church of Otterden was ever esteemed as an appendage to the manor, and continued so till Granville Wheler, esq. of Otterden-place, in 1778, conveyed it to Edward Brydges, esq. of Wotton-court, whose eldest son, the Rev. Edward Timewell Brydges, rector of this parish, is the present possessor of it. It is a rectory, valued in the king's books at 6l. 14s. 2d. and is of the yearly certified value of 62l. 17s. 10d. the yearly tenths being 13s. 5d. (fn. 8) In 1640 it was valued at eighty pounds. Communicants sixty-two. The rector of Otterden is entitled to the great and small tithes of this parish, including those of the hamlets of Boardfield and Monketon, now within the bounds of it, the dilapidated churches of which, with their appurtenances, are now annexed as chapels to this rectory. The scite of those churches, and about three acres of glebe land to each, are now held by the rector, as part of the appurtenances of this rectory. www.british-history.ac.uk/survey-kent/vol5/pp533-549
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Edward Sherland 1609 "Here lyeth the body of Edward Sherland of Grays Inn Esquire descended from the ancient family of the Sherlands in the Isle of Sheppy in Kent who lived his whole life a single man and died in this parish 13th May 1609.
