Churches Committee
The Restoration Church and the Parish
By Sheila Sweetinburgh
On the morning of Saturday 15 October last year, about fifty people gathered at the parish church of King Charles the Martyr in Tunbridge Wells to participate in the KAS Churches Committee's study day. This joint venture with the churchwardens, especially Marilyn Dove, had attracted a sizeable number of people from the town, but there were also people from Sussex and from Thanet in the audience.
The first talk was given by Dr Philip Whitbourn, who provided a short history of the early development of the town from its rural beginnings at the start of James I’s reign to its role as the favoured destination by members of the royal court during the reigns of the later Stuart monarchs. Dr Whitbourn has written extensively on the history of the town and the church and he provided a fascinating description about the initial finding of the springs by Dudley, 3rd Lord North in about 1606 when he was returning to London.
As he noted, the first royal visitor to the springs was Henrietta Maria in 1629, who seemed to benefit from ‘taking the waters’ after a miscarriage, Tunbridge Wells was thereafter viewed as beneficial for those experiencing gynaecological problems. However, accommodation was severely limited, some camped in elaborate tents on the common, while others stayed in neighbouring Tonbridge. The restoration of the monarch in 1660 brought a new impetus, the chalybeate spring enclosure constructed in 1664, walks were added and later paved, a ladies’ coffee house appeared, as well as a gentleman’s pipe office that later became the Sussex Arms. What was still lacking was a place of worship, and, as the subscription lists indicate, this was rectified by...
...the generosity of the ‘great and the good’ from London and the court. Yet, the situation was somewhat difficult because the location selected is on the county boundary between Sussex and Kent (still marked in front of the church hall), and was where three parishes met: Frant, Speldhurst and Tonbridge. Thus the original chapel, and later parish church, as Dr Whitbourn told his audience, is a fascinating reminder of the complexities of the Anglican parochial structure under the Stuarts and their Hanoverian successors.
Following a very welcome coffee and biscuits in the church hall, Rebecca Warren, a doctoral student at the University of Kent, gave a fascinating lecture on the development of the Anglican Church from the vestiarian controversy in Elizabeth’s reign to the exclusion crisis of 1679. I am afraid I cannot do justice to the complexity of the 17th century situation that she summarised succinctly. However, looking at the period before the creation of the Tunbridge Wells chapel she noted that after Oliver Cromwell's death chaos reigned. Restoring the Anglican Church was a high priority for Charles, but just what sort of Church was controversial as the Episcopalian ‘old guard’ sought to exclude the ‘godly’, who again found themselves labelled dissenters or non-conformists. Yet such men and women had tasted freedom regarding religious expression and, in the face of a repressive Anglicanism, a bitter pamphlet war ensued. Nonetheless, the Episcopalians’ ascendancy would become enshrined in acts of parliament, bringing back some aspects of pre-Civil War worship and ritual.
Against this background of an Anglican Church still to a degree in a state of flux, Dr Matthew Reynolds, a sixth-form teacher and active researcher and historian, explored the nature of late 17th-century perceptions of Charles as king and martyr. This was extremely interesting because it demonstrated the polarizing effect of Charles, as well as the highlighting ideas about the meanings of regicide — illegal, unnatural and a sin; the divine or sacred hereditary state of kingship; and that no one is safe if a king can be put on trial — Charles as martyr of the people. These concepts were in many ways best purported through what was claimed to be an autobiographical account by Charles that was published 10 days after he was beheaded in 1649. The Eikon Basilike takes the form of a diary and sought to justify the king’s actions. This popular text ran to 36 editions in its first year alone, gaining popularity again after 1660. As a piece of royalist propaganda it was successful and at Charles II’s urging the Anglican Church agreed that prayers should be said for his father, his name being added to the revised Book of Common Prayer (1662). Indeed Charles I became the only saint canonised by the Church of England, the anniversary of his martyrdom marked by acts of fasting and repentance. Yet, of course, not all welcomed such developments and satirists would later lampoon such reverential behaviour. Thus Charles’ status remained controversial, especially in the last decades of the 17th century.
After such a full and fascinating morning, the audience was treated to an excellent ploughman’s lunch in the church provided by the ‘King Charles cooks’. Marilyn Dove, churchwarden and the church’s representative on the organising committee, had taken responsibility for catering during the day. She was greatly complemented by many among the appreciative audience, especially after the tea and cakes provided at the break during the afternoon.
The two sessions either side of the tea interval comprised...
...workshops in the church — looking at the architectural features of the building under the guidance of Dr Richard Morrice, a member of the policy team at Historic England and a previous historic buildings inspector for Kent; and in the church hall — looking at original documents belonging to the church and now held at the Kent Library and History Centre at Maidstone. These documents were in the charge of two archivists Elizabeth Finn and Jackie Davidson who showed first half the group, and then the other half after tea just how useful such records can be regarding uncovering the tangled history of the chapel. Indeed, as Elizabeth and Jackie explained, there remain questions about its status during its early history and these queries could form a very interesting project for the future.
Finally, everyone gathered in the church to draw together the ideas that had been explored by the various speakers, and to thank members of the church and the churches committee for all their hard work in organising a very successful study day. A special thank you should be recorded for Imogen Corrigan who provided all the IT equipment and who coped with all the problems of working in a new setting — always challenging.
These study days have proved to be successful over the last decade and it was pleasing to be able to provide the church with a donation of £500 as a mark of an enjoyable and worthwhile joint venture.