St Michael and All Angels Church is a parish church in Marden,

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 circa 1200 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 around 1200 and was altered or extended in the 13th, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries and was restored in 1868 and 1909. The church is constructed variously of coursed and random

sandstone Sandstone is a clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate grains. Sandstones comprise about 20–25% of all sedimentary rocks. Most sandstone is composed of quartz or feldspar (both silicates) ...

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 ...

and puddingstone and has plain tiled and lead roofs. 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 ...

is adjoined by

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, parl ...

s on the north and south sides, the one to the south continuing across the south face of the west tower. The

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. Ove ...

has

chapel A chapel is a Christian place of prayer and worship that is usually relatively small. The term has several meanings. Firstly, smaller spaces inside a church that have their own altar are often called chapels; the Lady chapel is a common ty ...

s on the north and south side. The tower was built in the 13th or early 14th century and comprises three stone-built stages with a fourth stage, containing the belfry added later in white painted

weatherboarding Clapboard (), also called bevel siding, lap siding, and weatherboard, with regional variation in the definition of these terms, is wooden siding of a building in the form of horizontal boards, often overlapping. ''Clapboard'' in modern Americ ...

with a

pyramid A pyramid (from el, πυραμίς ') is a structure whose outer surfaces are triangular and converge to a single step at the top, making the shape roughly a pyramid in the geometric sense. The base of a pyramid can be trilateral, quadrilat ...

al roof. Louvred openings occupy the centre of each side of the belfry. Small rectangular or pointed

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural element are typical of Gothic church edifices of the earliest period. Lancet wi ...

s pierce the stonework on each external face of the lower stages, except the south face which abuts the south aisle. A square stair turret with window slits adjoins the north-west corner of the tower. Both aisles are early 14th century. The south aisle has a rag-stone plinth, but the north aisle is plinthless. The south aisle has two buttresses with three large three-lighted 14th-century style arched windows; two to the west of the porch and one to the east. The western

bay A bay is a recessed, coastal body of water that directly connects to a larger main body of water, such as an ocean, a lake, or another bay. A large bay is usually called a Gulf (geography), gulf, sea, sound (geography), sound, or bight (geogra ...

, attached to the south side of the tower was reconstructed in the 19th or early 20th century. The north aisle has a diagonal buttress on the north-west corner and two on the north side positioned between the three three-lighted windows. Two are original 14th-century and the third is 19th-century in the same style with traceried decoration. The west end of the north aisle contains a 19th-century two-lighted window. The west end of the south aisle is blank apart from a small blocked lancet window. The early 14th century south porch occupies the secondmost eastern bay of the south aisle. Diagonal buttresses project from the outer corners. The inner and outer doorways are pointed arches and an octagonal stair turret to the parvis chamber is positioned in the angle at the north-west corner between the porch and the south aisle. The chancel was built about 1200 and restored in 1868. It has no plinths or buttresses. The eastern end of the north and south walls each contain a single pointed arch window. The 19th century east window is three-lighted. The south chapel is 14th century as was partly rebuilt after a fire in 1554. The two-light window in the south wall and the three-light window in the east wall are both 19th century. The north chapel is 15th century with two two-light windows on the north side and a three-light window in the east end. All date from the 15th century with cinquefoil heads and tracery. Internally, the nave is separated from the aisles with 14th-century arcades of three bays of pointed arches: octagonal columns in the south arcade and alternating circular and octagonal columns in the north arcade. The chancel arch is circa 1200 and the tower arch is 13th or early 14th century. The chapels are divided from the chancel with two bay arcades of pointed arches, each contemporary with the age of the adjacent chapel. The roofs of the chancel, nave and the chapels are of crown post construction with the ridge of the roofs of the chancel and chapels being lower than the nave. The aisle roofs are

lean-to A lean-to is a type of simple structure originally added to an existing building with the rafters "leaning" against another wall. Free-standing lean-to structures are generally used as shelters. One traditional type of lean-to is known by its Finn ...

s. The

font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a typeface. Each font is a matched set of type, with a piece (a "sort") for each glyph. A typeface consists of a range of such fonts that shared an overall design. In mod ...

is octagonal and carved with initials and date "EM 1662". The octagonal wooden font cover with a central

finial A finial (from '' la, finis'', end) or hip-knob is an element marking the top or end of some object, often formed to be a decorative feature. In architecture, it is a small decorative device, employed to emphasize the Apex (geometry), apex of a d ...

has hinged panels on four sides. Doorways to the parvis stairs and

rood loft The rood screen (also choir screen, chancel screen, or jubé) is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, o ...

stairs are in the south wall of the south aisle and the south wall of the north aisle respectively. The three chancel windows contain stained glass by Patrick Reyntiens installed in 1962. The church contains memorials to Edward Cole (''d''. 1757) and George Maplesden (''d''. 1688). The church is set in a large churchyard dotted with headstones. Close to the south aisle are Grade II listed

stocks Stocks are feet restraining devices that were used as a form of corporal punishment and public humiliation. The use of stocks is seen as early as Ancient Greece, where they are described as being in use in Solon's law code. The law describing ...

capable of holding two people.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Marden, Saint Michael and All Angels 13th-century church buildings in England Borough of Maidstone Grade I listed churches in Kent Church of England church buildings in Kent Diocese of Canterbury

Building

See also

References