Lydden Church

'J LYDDEN CHURCH FROM THE NORTH-EAST. Drawn by H. Petrie, F.S.A., in 1807. a e * * ^ Photo. R. C. D. Boger. LYDDEN CHURCH FROM THE SOUTH. qdtawlffjjis (fynntwnn. LYDDEN CHURCH. BY AYMER VALLANCE. THE building, which is dedicated to St. Mary, and consists of chancel, nave, west tower and south porch, is of flint with ashlar quoins. The roofs throughout are tiled. It is obvious that the flint surface, being, as it is, rough and irregular, in contrast to the evenness of knapped work, was designed to be plastered over. From Henry Petrie's water-colour drawing, giving a view of the church from the north, as it was in 1807, it will be seen that at that date the exterior had not yet been stripped of its plaster coat. Only a smaU amount of thin plastering, mixed with grit, survives in patches here and there. Considering, however, that the building was subjected to " restoration " in 1868-9 and again in 1899, (according to the statement in KeUy's Directory) it is reaUy surprising how much of antiquity it stiU retains. The existing building (notably the closed north door and the tower) dates from the close of the eleventh century, with windows inserted in the first half of the thirteenth century, and sUghtly later south porch added. None of the windows is splayed externaUy. The thirteenth century windows have narrow rear arches, or, as one writer terms them, " hoodings," on the inner surface of the arched opening in the waU. The most ancient window seen in the interior of the church is one of early Norman work, a single light, with wide splays and pecuUarly oblique north jamb, which is pierced in the east waU of the nave to south of the chancel opening. There is no tracery in any of the windows. The western tower is square on plan, and is capped by a low pyramidal roof with sUghtly overhanging eaves. 5 2 LYDDEN CHURCH. ^ y< ^ W .M. MS fl | V ^ ^ a a ] \m VIA i\T V \ £ • X' MM —— 1 ^ t ^ ? /4i iiii (/ jtk" •• LYDDEN CHURCH FROM THK SOUTH-EAST. Photo. R. C. D. Boger. LYDDEN CHURCH. 3 I t consists of two stages, the division between them being defined by a rude string-course, not moulded, but formed by the insertion of long horizontal stones. On the west face of the tower below the string-course are the remains of two rude arched openings, one above the other, and so close together that they cannot have been built contemporaneously, for either would have precluded the other from being made complete. Both are waUed up, and in the lower arch's filUng is embedded a Greek cross of stone, with a concave-sided lozenge sunk in the middle of the intersection. This ornament would most hkely have been a gable-cross. The lowest stage possibly had a western door, which is now waHed up both externaUy and internaUy, if ever it did exist; but embedded in the waU may be seen two or three worked stones, which look as though they might have formed part of the jambs of a doorway. The uppermost stage of the tower is Ut on the north and south by a long rectangular loop'; and on the west face, just beneath the eaves, is a pair of semi-circular headed windows, side by side, and now blocked. The north and south faces of the lower stage of the tower have each a rectangular window with a deep lintel, having a trefoiled head sunk in it—a most effective device. These two windows, which have conspicuously large and heavy jambstones, may be insertions of the late thirteenth or perhaps early fourteenth century. As originaUy erected the tower was of early type, i.e., it had no buttresses ; but it is evident, however, that a subsidence or other accident must have occurred at some past date to disturb the south-west part of the building. For, beside the clasping buttress, of uncertain age, possibly of the late fourteenth century, at the south-west angle of the tower, the remains of rough rubble work projecting southward from the western extremity of the south waU of the nave, show where a buttress has at one time been built on for the strengthening of this portion of the edifice. The south porch, which is entered through a plain two-centred archway, without capitals or any device to 4 LYDDEN CHURCH. mark the springing, and has an equaUy plain two-centred window on either side of it, appears to be of the latter half of the thirteenth century. The south doorway of the nave may be dated about 1200. It is flanked by a pair of shafts, cylindrical on plan, which are capped by a severely simple impost moulding of early character, and have a heavy rollmoulding, of the same profile as the shafts themselves, continuing from the impost round the upper part of the arch to its somewhat obtuse-pointed apex. The south door, of feather-edge oak boarding, fitted with massive iron straphinges, is unquestionably antique (perhaps as old as the latter part of the fourteenth century) but its ogee outhne, which culminates in a high point at the top, not fitting but overlapping the opening, shows that this door cannot have been intended in the first instance for its present situation. Exactly opposite to the existing south door is a narrower recess, like a niche, in the north waU of the nave. • > ? l * f f ^ ^ 4| NAVE. NORTH NWALL. LYDDEN CHURCH. Easternmost recess in north wall of the nave. Drawn by Miss Margaret Boger. LYDDEN CHURCH. 5 This is aU that remains of the north door, which is now waUed up externaUy. The paired entrance and exit in an aisleless nave constitute a feature characteristic of Saxon as also of early Norman work, but such, however, that rarely, if ever, occurs in buildings erected subsequently to the twelfth century. The nave is about 45 feet in length. The towerarch at its west end "is low and pointed." In the interior of the tower there is no stair, the only means of access to the upper chamber being by ladder. There is one bell. In the east end of the south waU of the nave is hoUowed out the segment of an arch, which has a flat soffit 14 inches wide, and abuts on to the east waU of the nave at its south-east angle. This recess is a puzzle, not easily accounted for, unless it may have been utihsed to accommodate within the hoUow of the wall the steps which led, up to the rood-loft, and to minimise their otherwise inevitable encroachment upon the area of the nave. The present chancel-arch is modern, built, writes Mr. Thomas H. Oyler, F.S.A., in 1866 ; and is said to take the place of one which was lower and is described as having been quite plain, " without moulding or bevel." The chancel, if% ! (r!. /,'7**% wts- jf*- eJuw