Keston Parish Church (dedication unknown)

LOCATION: On westward facing hillside at c. 440 feet above OD Keston Court is just west of the main Westerham road (A233) to the NW of the Church. Just to the west of this is the site of a large Roman villa and cemetery with Mausolea.

DESCRIPTION: The earliest evidence for the date of this church is from the coursed whole flints used in the central sections of the nave walls (? late 11th cent.). The "sub-walls" under the chancel/found in 1950) may have come from the late 11th cent. church - giving it a simple rectangular plan (see Jackson's Plan No. 2).

The chancel appears (from 1950 excavation evidence) to have been rebuilt in the 12th cent. on roughly its present plan (a ? clasping buttress base to the SE corner was found. Reused Reigate stone in the 13th cent. chancel walls presumably came from this earlier (12th cent.) chancel.

In the later 13th Century, the chancel was totally rebuilt (? on the same plan) with an external battered plinth all the way round. New pairs of windows in the north and south walls were created. They have simple wide trefoiled heads (made with single stone) and internal rere-arches. The internal quoins are still original. At the same time, a new piscina, also with a trefoiled head, was made in the S.E. corner. External putlog holes of this phase can be seen in the N + S chancel walls, though there has been heavy later refacing, particularly of the plinth (in new flint). The Reigate stone jambs of the N.E. corner of the nave as well as the first section of the wall of the nave running westwards is probably of the same date, as is the chancel arch and piers (with stopped chamfers on the N. pier arisses - S. Pier ? refaced + plastered over). At the same time also a tower was built on the S.E. side of the nave with a battered plinth on the exterior similar to that around the chancel. The archway from the nave into the lower tower space can still be seen (blocked in the 18th cent. when the tower was demolished). This means that not only the chancel, but the whole of the eastern third of the nave was rebuilt in the late 13th century.

No later Medieval work seems to have survived, though there is some evidence that the archway into the south tower was blocked and a new smaller doorway (see traces of jambs externally) created in its eastern half in the later Middle Ages.

In the earlier 18th cent. the Pepys vault was built in the base of the S. tower, perhaps after it had been demolished. It is entered from the east down a flight of brick steps (now covered).

In 1878, the w. wall of the church was demolished, and the nave was extended westwards by about 15 feet (the extension has angle buttresses). A West gallery was put into this extension (with 1908 Organ on South), and a small new south vestry was added. The nave windows were all renewed totally in Bath stone. A new north doorway and north porch (1883) were also added. All the roofs are 19th century in date. The architect was H. Blackwell. As a result of wartime bomb-damage the east wall of the chancel was totally rebuilt in 1950.

Before and during this work excavations were carried out by E.D.C. Jackson and N. Piercy Fox in June 1950. They found the south tower foundations and recorded four burial trenches in the natural chalk immediately under the east wall, as well as an early 'sub wall' below the eastern walls of the church. A single 'palaeolith', but nothing Roman was found. Useful plans and sections were drawn and published.

More recently (? Late 1980s) all the external window-jambs of the chancel windows were renewed in very large blocks of ? Lepine.

From the summer of 1991 until the spring of 1992, an extremely large L-shaped extension was built in the churchyard south and south-east of the church. The old south doorway was reopened on 22 January 1992.

The area immediately south of the nave had the ground-level reduced at the same time and the brick barrel vault was cut off the top of the Peyps vault (and more of the tower foundations were removed). Some underpinning (into the natural chalk) then had to take place.

BUILDING MATERIALS (Incl. old plaster, paintings, glass, tiles etc):
The earliest visible material is the use of large coursed whole flints in the nave walls. Smaller flints were used in the 13th cent. walling, with chalk-block inside. Reigate stone (and some Kent Rag) is used for 13th cent. (+later) quoins, jambs, etc., some reused Reigate from 12th cent? church.

Some red brick used in 18th cent. for making good (in Tower wall stubs), as well as for brick vaults. Bath stone used to restore all nave windows (totally) in 19th cent.

6 small chiming bells in c. 1880s frame installed 1887 + one bell of 1621 (Thomas Bartlett made me') from old church. Royal Arms on W. Gallery. N.W. window glass in nave of 1909 by Morris & Co.

EXCEPTIONAL MONUMENTS IN CHURCH:
Grecian tablet on N. wall of chancel - George Kirkpatrick of 1838.

CHURCHYARD AND ENVIRONS:
Size & Shape: Large - to south and east with big extensions.

Condition: Very large new church hall in the southern churchyard (built 1991), causing the removal of many gravestones, and the disruption of burials/archaeological levels. These works were apparently monitored by Kent Archaeological Rescue Unit

Boundary walls: Brickwall to west.

Building in churchyard or on boundary: New Church Hall built 1991-2

HISTORICAL RECORD (where known):
Earliest ref. to church: ? Early 13th cent.

Late med. status: Rectory

Patron: Archbishop of Canterbury (a peculiar in the exempt Deanery of Shoreham)

Other documentary sources: For grave inscriptions, see Thorpe Reg. Roff (1769), 1007-8.

ARCHAEOLOGICAL RECORD:
Reused materials: Some Roman bricks in church walls.

Find within 0.5km: Roman Buildings 1/3 mile N.W. (Villa + Mausolea). Also Holwood Park Hillfort to N.

Previous archaeological work (published): see E.D.C. Jackson + N. Piercy Fox' Excavations at Keston Church, 1950', Arch. Cant 64 (1951) 110-111 + plans/sections.

SURVIVAL OF ARCHAEOLOGICAL DEPOSITS:
Inside present church: ? Poor - burial vaults.

Outside present church: ? Poor - mostly now removed on S. side of nave.

RECENT DISTURBANCES/ALTERATIONS:
To structure: East wall of chancel rebuilt 1950, after wartime bomb-damage. South door of nave reopened 22.1.92. Chancel windows (in N.+ S. walls) given new stone jambs - late 1980s.

To floors: None inside.

To graveyard: Vast new church hall constructed in churchyard, 1991-2.

Quinquennial inspection (date\architect): December (Anne Stocker 1987 (Brian Anderson (P.M.T.)

ARCHAEOLOGICAL AND HISTORICAL ASSESSMENT:
The church and churchyard: Some remains of early Norman fabric in the central portion of the nave. Total rebuilding in the later 13th century of the eastern arm. Over restored in the late 19th century.

REFERENCES: Arch. Cant. 64 (1951), 110-111 (+plan) - see over for details. For inventory of parish goods in 1552, see Arch. Cant. 9 (1874), 275.

Plans & drawings: H Petrie (early 19th cent) view from SE showing Georgian E Window.

DATES VISITED: 21.1.92.                                             REPORT BY: Tim Tatton-Brown