All Saints Church, Hollingbourne facts for kids
Quick facts for kids All Saints church, Hollingbourne |
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| Location | Hollingbourne, Kent |
| Country | England |
| Denomination | Anglican |
| History | |
| Status | Parish church |
| Architecture | |
| Functional status | Active |
| Heritage designation | Grade I |
| Designated | 26 April 1968 |
| Completed | 14th, 15th, 17th, 19th and 20th centuries |
| Administration | |
| Deanery | North Downs |
| Archdeaconry | Maidstone |
| Diocese | Canterbury |
| Province | Canterbury |
All Saints Church is an old and important church in Hollingbourne, Kent, a county in England. It's a special kind of church called a parish church. Building started way back in the 1300s! It's so important that it's a Grade I listed building, which means it's protected because of its history. Inside, you'll find many memorials to the famous Culpeper family who lived nearby.
Contents
How Was All Saints Church Built?
This church began being built in the 1300s. Over the years, it was changed and made bigger. This happened in the 1400s, 1638, 1869, and 1903. The church is made from flint and cut stone, called ashlar. Its roofs are covered with flat tiles.
A famous architect named George Gilbert Scott, Jr. helped restore the church in 1876. Because of its age and special design, it is a Grade I listed building. This means it's one of the most important historic buildings in England.
What Does the Church Look Like?
The main part of the church is called the nave. It has long hallways, or aisles, on both its north and south sides. The area near the altar, called the chancel, has a small chapel on its north side. There is also a vestry, which is like a changing room for clergy, on its south side.
The tower at the west end of the church has three main sections. It has a decorative stone band, called a string course, with gargoyles that look like carved creatures. Above this, there's a wall with square shapes, called a battlemented parapet.
The tower has small, single windows with fancy clover-like tops on the first level. These are above the main entrance. The second level also has these windows on each side. The belfry, where the bells are kept, has similar windows, but they have two sections.
Different Parts of the Church
The north aisle was built in the late 1300s. It has three windows, each with three sections and decorative stone patterns, called tracery. The window furthest east has a three-leaf shape at the top, called a trefoil. The porch attached to this aisle is made of flint. It has a stone top, inner and outer doors, and trefoil-shaped windows on its sides. Both the north aisle and the porch have strong supports called buttresses.
The north chapel has a stone base, called a plinth, and a battlemented wall at the top. Its east window has three sections with a curved top. The chancel, built in the late 1300s, might have been rebuilt after an earthquake in 1382. Its east end has a three-section window with five-leaf shapes and tracery. The north and south walls of the chancel each have two-section windows.
The south aisle was built earlier, in the early 1300s. It also has a stone plinth. Buttresses are on its south-west corner and south wall. The west wall has a three-section window. The south wall has three windows with two sections, arches, and tracery, placed between the buttresses. The vestry was added in 1903. It continues the south aisle's stone base. It has a door on the east side and a two-section window on the south side.
What's Inside the Church?
Inside the church, the nave is separated from the aisles by arcades from the 1300s. These are rows of three pointed arches supported by eight-sided columns. The ones on the north side were built later.
You can reach the chapel by steps from the north aisle. It sits above a vault, which is a curved ceiling, that goes partly under the east end of the north aisle. The nave has a special roof called a crown post roof. It has carved posts and angled main beams. The chancel roof is simpler, with basic rafters. The aisle roofs are lean-tos, meaning they slope down from the main building.
The font, used for baptisms, is eight-sided. It sits on an eight-sided stand and base. The pulpit, where sermons are given, is from the 1600s and has six sides. The wooden benches, called pews, were put in by George Gilbert Scott, Jr.
The vestry holds a special item called the Culpeper needlework. This is a beautiful embroidery from the 1600s, made on velvet. It's connected to the Culpeper family. People used to think it was an altar cloth, but now they believe it was a funeral pall, which is a cloth used to cover a coffin.
Important People Remembered Here
All Saints Church has many monuments and memorials. These are for members of the Culpeper family, who were very important. They owned Leeds Castle and Hollingbourne Manor nearby.
Some of the Culpepers remembered here include Francis and Johanna Culpeper (who died in 1591 and 1597), Philippa Culpeper (died 1630), and Elizabeth Culpeper (died 1638). Also remembered are the first, third, and fourth Barons Colepeper: John Colpeper (died 1660), John Colepeper (died 1719), and Cheny Colepeper (died 1725).
Other people with memorials include Martin Barnham (died 1610), Dame Grace Gethin (died 1697), Samuel Plummer (died 1705), and two members of the Duppa family, Baldwin Duppa (died 1737) and Baldwin Duppa (died 1764). The memorials for the third and fourth barons and the Duppa family were made by a famous artist named John Michael Rysbrack.
Outside the church, in the churchyard, there are also many old stone tombs. These are from the 1600s, 1700s, and 1800s, and are also listed as Grade II historic structures.
See also
- Grade I listed buildings in Maidstone
