St. Mary's Church, Goudhurst


The Church of St. Mary the Virgin is the 13th-century Anglican parish church for the village of Goudhurst in Kent. The church has been a Grade I listed building since 1967 and comes under the Diocese of Canterbury.
The church stands on a hill and its tower commands impressive views of the surrounding countryside.
For this reason it was a major surveying point in the Anglo-French Survey to measure the precise distance and relationship between the Paris Observatory and the Royal Greenwich Observatory, supervised by General William Roy.

History

The first mention we have of a church at Goudhurst is in 1119 when Robert de Crevecoeur gave his church at Goudhurst to Leeds Priory at Leeds in Kent. This St Mary’s church would have been a small building probably covering the site of the present South chapel and part of the South aisle. At this time the monks at Combwell Priory acted as chaplains. It was not until about 1300 that one of them signed himself Peter – the Vicar.

Design

A large 13th-century sandstone church with aisles to the naves and side chapels in the chancel, the church has been altered and restored many times over the centuries. The 115 feet tall spire and the tower were destroyed by lightning in 1637. In 1638 three London masons Edmund Kinsman, James Holman and John Young rebuilt the west tower in a truncated Classical/Gothic style. The clock face is early 20th-century.
Inside there is simple arched piscina and a hollow chamfered ambry in the largely 19th-century chancel which has a fine 19th-century altar rail with iron-twist uprights to the Sanctuary. Attached to the tower and the vestry is a spear-head railed enclosed area for footstones to the Bathurst family. The nave is of five-bay arcades while the rood screens to the North and South chapels incorporate 14th or 15th-century panelling with the upper section of the screen to the South chapel carved as a memorial to the First World War. The pulpit with its brass candlesticks and book rest stands on an octagonal stone base and steps with iron and brass rails. The body of the pulpit is 13th-century with figures of the apostles and evangelical symbols carved in relief. The brass lectern is 19th-century while the font in the nave has a 19th-century bowl with evangelical symbols and stands on a medieval base. Another medieval bowl is located in the north aisle decorated with arcading and crosses.
From 1865 to 1870 the church was restored by the architects William Slater and Richard Carpenter, the alterations being supervised by Ewan Christian. A further restoration by Carpenter alone in 1877 included the building of a vestry and a large part of the South aisle. The church contains a remarkable painted wood and gesso effigy to Sir Alexander Culpeper and his wife Constance.

Monuments

In the north chapel are monuments to Edmond Roberts, Richard Pack and Edward Lewis Miller, who died in a fall from a cliff on the Isle of Wight. He is also commemorated on a Grade II listed obelisk at Afton Down on the Isle of Wight. In the chancel are memorials to William and Rachel Campion consisting of a large hanging monument with allegorised female figures resting on a pediment with the entire monument flanked by obelisks on pedestals. William and Rachel are depicted kneeling facing each other with a prayer desk while figures of their five sons and four daughters are carved on the obelisk pedestals.
In the south chapel can be found memorial brasses to John Bedgebury ; Sir John Culpepper, and Walter and Agnes Culpepper. Here also is the alabaster standing wall monument to 'Young' Sir Alexander Culpepper, erected in 1608 by his son Sir Anthony Culpepper. The base represents Sir Alexander's 16 grandchildren – eleven boys and five girls. Visible at the top is the half figure of Sir Thomas Culpepper, depicted as an old armoured man holding a skull, while within the frame below Sir Alexander is depicted kneeling to the right with his son Sir Anthony behind, and Lady Mary opposite.
monument to 'Old' Sir Alexander Culpepper
In the south aisle located in its own bay window is the important monument to 'Old' Sir Alexander Culpepper, which is in the form of a lozenge-panelled chest with recumbent wooden effigies set with coloured gesso detail and is one of only eighty or so of its kind in the country. His head rests on his knight's helmet. In the reveal of one bay are relief panels depicting God in Majesty; the Virgin and Child, and St George and the Dragon with the date 1537 on the carved depiction in one bay of a prayer desk with a knight, a lady and children at prayer.
A black marble wall tablet with the head of a cherub is dedicated to Anthony Fowle of Twyssenden. The Bathurst monuments consist of plain white and black tablets while that to John Bathurst is known as the 'Bread Tomb' because the 'dole' of bread was laid out on it for distribution to the poor of the parish. The grey marble tablet is to Edward Bathurst. Also in the south chapel can be found a large plain white marble tablet with a half-bust turned to the left of a periwinkled William Campion. In the south west window are fragments of 15th-century glass.

The Battle of Goudhurst

In 1747 a full-scale battle took place in the church and churchyard between the Goudhurst Militia under 'General' William Sturt, a former army corporal, and the Hawkhurst Gang, a large and notorious 18th-century smuggling group led by Thomas Kingsmill, a native of the village. When he heard that the Militia had been formed Kingsmill became enraged by this act of defiance and threatened to burn the village and kill the residents unless the Militia was disbanded and Sturt handed over to the smugglers, setting an appointed time, 21 April 1747. These demands not being met, when the gang attacked on the appointed day they approached heavily armed with many stripped to the waist to display their scars and tattoos in an act of bravado and intimidation. However, the Militia were well enough trained to shoot dead Kingsmill's brother George in the first volley of a battle fought around St. Mary's church. Two more smugglers died during the battle. William Sturt spent his last years as Warden of Goudhurst Workhouse, while Kingsmill was hanged at Tyburn in 1749.
The body of Thomas Kingsmill was delivered to the High Sheriff of Kent in order that it could be hung up in chains at Goudhurst.