St Mary's Church is a ruined former

Church of England parish church A parish church in the Church of England is the church which acts as the religious centre for the people within each Church of England parish (the smallest and most basic Church of England administrative unit; since the 19th century sometimes ...

, in the grounds of

Eastwell Park Eastwell Park is a large area of parkland and a country estate in the civil parish of Eastwell, Kent, Eastwell, adjoining Ashford, Kent, in England. It was owned by the Earl of Winchilsea and Nottingham, Earls of Winchilsea for more than three c ...

in the hamlet of Eastwell,

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, ...

as a designated Grade II

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and is a

Scheduled monument In the United Kingdom, a scheduled monument is a nationally important archaeological site or historic building, given protection against unauthorised change. The various pieces of legislation that legally protect heritage assets from damage, visu ...

. The ruins have been in the care of the

Friends of Friendless Churches Friends of Friendless Churches (FoFC) is a registered charity formed in 1957, active in England and Wales, which campaigns for and rescues redundant historic places of worship threatened by demolition, decay, or inappropriate conversion. As ...

charity Charity may refer to: Common meanings * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sha ...

since they took over the

freehold Freehold may refer to: In real estate *Freehold (law), the tenure of property in fee simple * Customary freehold, a form of feudal tenure of land in England *Parson's freehold, where a Church of England rector or vicar of holds title to benefice ...

on 20 March 1980.

History

In 1951 the roof of 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 ...

collapsed, destroying the arcade, and the remaining shell of the church was demolished in 1956, leaving only the footings, the tower, and the 19th-century mortuary chapel.

Architecture

All that now remains are the tower and the wall of the south

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

, dating from the 15th century, and a mortuary chapel from the 19th century. The ruins of the tower and aisle wall are constructed in

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Historically, flint was widely used to make stone tools and start ...

and plaster with stone

quoins Quoins ( or ) are masonry blocks at the corner of a wall. Some are structural, providing strength for a wall made with inferior stone or rubble, while others merely add aesthetic detail to a corner. According to one 19th-century encyclopedia, ...

. The tower is supported by three-stage

buttress A buttress is an architectural structure built against or projecting from a wall which serves to support or reinforce the wall. Buttresses are fairly common on more ancient (typically Gothic) buildings, as a means of providing support to act ...

es and it has a doorway with a

string course A belt course, also called a string course or sill course, is a continuous row or layer of stones or brick set in a wall. Set in line with window sills, it helps to make the horizontal line of the sills visually more prominent. Set between the ...

above. In the tower is a two-light

Perpendicular In geometry, two geometric objects are perpendicular if they intersect at right angles, i.e. at an angle of 90 degrees or π/2 radians. The condition of perpendicularity may be represented graphically using the '' perpendicular symbol'', � ...

window. The bell openings date from the 18th century and they also have two lights. The summit of the tower is

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

ed. On the lower stage of the tower is a mutilated consecration cross in

knapped Knapping is the shaping of flint, chert, obsidian, or other conchoidal fracturing stone through the process of lithic reduction to manufacture stone tools, strikers for flintlock firearms, or to produce flat-faced stones for building or facing w ...

flint. The blocked arch to the former

has octagonal

piers Piers may refer to: * Pier, a raised structure over a body of water * Pier (architecture), an architectural support * Piers (name), a given name and surname (including lists of people with the name) * Piers baronets, two titles, in the baronetages ...

. In the aisle wall are two two-light windows. The chapel is constructed in

chalk Chalk is a soft, white, porous, sedimentary carbonate rock. It is a form of limestone composed of the mineral calcite and originally formed deep under the sea by the compression of microscopic plankton that had settled to the sea floor. Ch ...

with a tiled roof. It has

lancet window A lancet window is a tall, narrow window with a sharp pointed arch at its top. This arch may or may not be a steep lancet arch (in which the compass centres for drawing the arch fall outside the opening). It acquired the "lancet" name from its rese ...

s and its interior is

vaulted In architecture, a vault (French ''voûte'', from Italian ''volta'') is a self-supporting arched form, usually of stone or brick, serving to cover a space with a ceiling or roof. As in building an arch, a temporary support is needed while ring ...

. In the former

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

of the church is a memorial to

Richard Plantagenet (Richard of Eastwell) Richard Plantagenet or Richard of Eastwell (? 1469 – 22 December 1550) was a reclusive bricklayer who was claimed to be a son of Richard III, the last Plantagenet King of England. Life According to Francis Peck's '' Desiderata Curiosa'' (a ...

, who is rumoured to have been the son of

Richard III Richard III (2 October 1452 – 22 August 1485) was King of England from 26 June 1483 until his death in 1485. He was the last king of the Plantagenet dynasty and its cadet branch the House of York. His defeat and death at the Battle of Boswor ...

Monuments

The internal fittings and monuments have all been removed and most of the latter are in the care of the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

. These include monuments to

Thomas Moyle Sir Thomas Moyle (1488 – 2 October 1560) was a commissioner for Henry VIII in the dissolution of the monasteries, and Speaker of the House of Commons in the Parliament of England from 1542 to 1544. Life He was the fourth son of John Moyl ...

(d. 1560) and his wife Katherine (d. after 1560); and

Sir Moyle Finch, 1st Baronet Sir Moyle Finch, 1st Baronet Justice of the Peace, JP ( – 18 December 1614) was an English politician, knight, sheriff, and MP. Early life Finch was the second, but eldest surviving son, of Thomas Finch (soldier), Sir Thomas Finch of Eastw ...

(d. 1614) and

Elizabeth Finch, 1st Countess of Winchilsea Elizabeth Finch, ''née'' Heneage, 1st Countess of Winchilsea (9 July 1556 – 23 March 1634) was an English peeress. Early life Elizabeth was born on 9 July 1556. She was the daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Heneage, who was Chancel ...

(d. 1634). Pews were taken to nearby

Wye College The College of St Gregory and St Martin at Wye, commonly known as Wye College, was an education and research institution in the village of Wye, Kent. In 1447, Cardinal (Catholic Church), Cardinal John Kempe founded his chantry there which also ...

and placed within the chapel there.

Churchyard

George Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea George James Finch-Hatton, 11th Earl of Winchilsea and 6th Earl of Nottingham (31 May 1815 – 9 June 1887), styled Viscount Maidstone between 1826 and 1857, was a British peer and Tory (political faction), Tory politician. Early life Winchilse ...

(1815–1887), his second wife Lady Elizabeth Georgiana (d. 1904, daughter of

Francis Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham Francis Nathaniel Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham, KP, GCH, PC (11 June 1797 – 17 July 1876), styled Lord Francis Conyngham between 1816 and 1824 and Earl of Mount Charles between 1824 and 1832, was an Anglo-Irish soldier, courtier, p ...

) as well as his only son George William Finch-Hatton, Viscount Maidstone (1852–1879) are buried in a simple grave in the overgrown part of the church cemetery.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Marys Church, Eastwell 19th-century Church of England church buildings Buildings and structures demolished in 1956 Eastwell, Saint Marys Church Churches preserved by the Friends of Friendless Churches Ruins in Kent English Gothic architecture in Kent Scheduled monuments in Kent