St Mary the Virgin is a parish church in Nettlestead,

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 ...

, begun in the 13th century.

Building

Construction of the church began in the 13th century – the square tower at the west end being the only part surviving from this period. The tower is built of roughly-coursed local

ragstone 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 Londo ...

and is topped with a pyramidal shingle-covered roof. It features

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 in the three outward-facing sides and a medieval doorway installed in 1858 that came from a demolished church at

Teston Teston The Place Names of Kent,Judith Glover,1976,Batsford. or BBC Pronouncing Dictionary of British Names — is a is a village and civil parish in the Maidstone (borough), Maidstone District of Kent, England. It is located on the A26 r ...

. 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 ...

was built about 1438. The north and south elevations are similar; each divided by tall

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 into three bays containing large stone-framed windows with curved tops divided into three vertical divisions. The western bay of the south side also contains a porch dated to about 1496. The north side is extended against the tower to enclose a stair turret built in the 19th century. a moulded plinth runs along the base of both façades. The

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 ...

was built about 1460. It is narrower and set inward from each side of the nave and has lower

eaves The eaves are the edges of the roof which overhang the face of a wall and, normally, project beyond the side of a building. The eaves form an overhang to throw water clear of the walls and may be highly decorated as part of an architectural sty ...

. The plinth continues and the eastern corners are diagonally buttressed. A single small pointed window with two lights is located at the west end of the north and south sides of the chancel and a pointed three light window in the east end. Internally, the roof of the chancel has a boarded ceiling with rafters decorated with bosses. The roof of the nave is plastered. A 15th-century tracery screen from Teston church is located at the base of the tower. The church contains wall monuments to Elizabeth Scott (died 1598) and Katharine Scott (died 1616), both featuring kneeling female figures. The

stained glass Stained glass refers to coloured glass as a material or art and architectural works created from it. Although it is traditionally made in flat panels and used as windows, the creations of modern stained glass artists also include three-dimensio ...

in the church windows includes panels in the central window on the north side of the nave which were paid for by John or Reginald Pympe of the neighbouring

Nettlestead Place Nettlestead Place is a country house in Nettlestead, Kent, England. The house and its gatehouse are each separately Grade I listed buildings. Buildings The construction of Nettlestead Place began c. 1250–60 with additions added c. 1438 and ...

in 1438. The north chancel window possibly dates from the 1460s and angels holding heraldic shields in the top lights of many of the windows are also 15th century. Other windows are

Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literatur ...

Edwardian In the United Kingdom, the Edwardian era was a period in the early 20th century that spanned the reign of King Edward VII from 1901 to 1910. It is commonly extended to the start of the First World War in 1914, during the early reign of King Ge ...

in 15th century style. The church

lychgate A lychgate (from Old English ''līc'', corpse) or resurrection gate is a covered gateway found at the entrance to a traditional English or English-style churchyard. Examples also exist outside the British Isles in places such as Newfoundland, the ...

contains a memorial to casualties of both World Wars and the churchyard contains three chest tomb memorials which are Grade II listed.

Use

The church is used by both

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

and

Roman Catholic The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics worldwide as of 2025. It is among the world's oldest and largest international institut ...

congregations, with the Catholic Mass held before the Anglican service on Sundays.

References

External links

Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, Nettlestead: St Mary
Images of the stained glass windows {{DEFAULTSORT:Nettlestead, Saint Mary Borough of Maidstone 13th-century church buildings in England Grade I listed churches in Kent Church of England church buildings in Kent Diocese of Rochester Roman Catholic churches in Kent

Building

Use

See also

References

External links