All Saints is a parish church in

West Farleigh West Farleigh is a village and civil parish four miles (6km) southwest of Maidstone in the county of Kent. The parish has a population of approximately 450, and is bounded by the civil parishes of East Farleigh, Hunton, Yalding, and over the Ri ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. It was begun in the 11th century and is a Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

Building

The church was begun in the late 11th century or the 12th century with further work carried out in the 15th century. The church was restored in 1875 and is constructed of roughly coursed or uncoursed

rag-stone Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones that are quarried in thin pieces, such as Horsham Stone, sandstone, Yorkshire stone, and the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. Near London ...

with

pebbledash Roughcast or pebbledash is a coarse plaster surface used on outside walls that consists of lime and sometimes cement mixed with sand, small gravel and often pebbles or shells. The materials are mixed into a slurry and are then thrown at the wo ...

ed render to the

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

and

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

. The roofs are plain tiled. It is a Grade I listed building. The nave and chancel are the oldest parts of the church. The north side of the nave has two 15th-century two-lighted windows and a small window below the eaves. The south side has a wide lancet window at the east end and a larger 19th century two-lighted traceried in the middle of the façade. Attached to the south side of the nave is a glazed timber porch with a pitched roof added in the 19th century. The inner doorway to the nave is 15th century. The chancel has two-lighted traceried windows to the north and south and three small round-headed windows in the east wall. Attached to the south side is a 19th-century organ chamber. The 15th century west tower is in two stages on a stone

plinth A pedestal (from French ''piédestal'', Italian ''piedistallo'' 'foot of a stall') or plinth is a support at the bottom of a statue, vase, column, or certain altars. Smaller pedestals, especially if round in shape, may be called socles. In ...

with a

battlement A battlement in defensive architecture, such as that of city walls or castles, comprises a parapet (i.e., a defensive low wall between chest-height and head-height), in which gaps or indentations, which are often rectangular, occur at interv ...

parapet A parapet is a barrier that is an extension of the wall at the edge of a roof, terrace, balcony, walkway or other structure. The word comes ultimately from the Italian ''parapetto'' (''parare'' 'to cover/defend' and ''petto'' 'chest/breast'). ...

above a moulded string. The three outward facing sides contain a single

trefoil A trefoil () is a graphic form composed of the outline of three overlapping rings, used in architecture and Christian symbolism, among other areas. The term is also applied to other symbols with a threefold shape. A similar shape with four ring ...

-headed belfry opening. A taller stair turret, with battlements and

gargoyle In architecture, and specifically Gothic architecture, a gargoyle () is a carved or formed grotesque with a spout designed to convey water from a roof and away from the side of a building, thereby preventing it from running down masonry walls ...

s, is attached to the north-east corner. Internally, the arches between nave and chancel and between nave and tower are round-headed and rest on

tufa Tufa is a variety of limestone formed when carbonate minerals precipitate out of water in unheated rivers or lakes. Geothermally heated hot springs sometimes produce similar (but less porous) carbonate deposits, which are known as travertin ...

columns. The nave and chancel roofs are of common rafters with three moulded and braced tie beams to the nave and plain and unbraced tie beam to the chancel.

Piscina A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, or else in the vestry or sacristy, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. For Roman Ca ...

are located in the south-east corner of the nave and the below the south window of the chancel. The 17th-century font is octagonal and made of Bethersden marble. An 18th century pew contains a

frieze In architecture, the frieze is the wide central section part of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic or Doric order, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Paterae are also usually used to decorate friezes. Even when neither columns nor ...

of pierced panels. The church contains memorials to Edward Lawrence (''d''. 1605), Augustine Skynner (''d''. 1672), Jane Brewer (''d''. 1676), Jane Brewer (''d''. 1716), Edward Goulstone (''d''. 1720), Elizabeth Kirby (''d''. 1748) and John Davis (''d''. 1776). The churchyard contains a number of Grade II listed monuments.

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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:West Farleigh, All Saints 11th-century church buildings in England Borough of Maidstone Grade I listed churches in Kent Church of England church buildings in Kent Diocese of Rochester

Building

See also

References