St Peter's and St Paul's Church is a parish church in

Yalding Yalding is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Maidstone in Kent, England. The village is situated south west of Maidstone at a point where the Rivers Teise and Beult join the River Medway. At the 2001 census, the parish, which inclu ...

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 ...

, dedicated to saints

Peter Peter may refer to: People * List of people named Peter, a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Peter (given name) ** Saint Peter (died 60s), apostle of Jesus, leader of the early Christian Church * Peter (surname), a su ...

and

Paul Paul may refer to: People * Paul (given name), a given name, including a list of people * Paul (surname), a list of people * Paul the Apostle, an apostle who wrote many of the books of the New Testament * Ray Hildebrand, half of the singing duo ...

. It was begun in the 13th century and is a Grade I

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 ...

Building

The church was begun in the 13th century with further work carried out in the early 14th century and the 15th century. The church was restored in the 19th and 20th centuries. It is arranged on a

cruciform A cruciform is a physical manifestation resembling a common cross or Christian cross. These include architectural shapes, biology, art, and design. Cruciform architectural plan Christian churches are commonly described as having a cruciform ...

plan, built mostly of uncoursed

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

sandstone Sandstone is a Clastic rock#Sedimentary clastic rocks, clastic sedimentary rock composed mainly of grain size, sand-sized (0.0625 to 2 mm) silicate mineral, silicate grains, Cementation (geology), cemented together by another mineral. Sand ...

, with render to 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 ...

and part 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 ...

. The nave, chancel and tower are the oldest parts of the church, built in the 13th century. The north and south

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

s and the north and south aisles are early 14th century. The north and south porches are later 14th century. The roofs are variously plain tiled, slated or leaded. It is a Grade I listed building. The tower has a variety of small

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 at various levels on its three outward-facing sides; those in the

belfry The belfry /ˈbɛlfri/ is a structure enclosing bells for ringing as part of a building, usually as part of a bell tower or steeple. It can also refer to the entire tower or building, particularly in continental Europe for such a tower attached ...

being doubled. The plain parapet is of galleted stone. A taller stair turret with a moulded

cornice In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative Moulding (decorative), moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, ar ...

and a leaded

onion dome An onion dome is a dome whose shape resembles an onion. Such domes are often larger in diameter than the tholobate (drum) upon which they sit, and their height usually exceeds their width. They taper smoothly upwards to a point. It is a typical ...

is attached to the south-east corner of the tower and is topped by a

weathervane A wind vane, weather vane, or weathercock is an list of weather instruments, instrument used for showing the wind direction, direction of the wind. It is typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building. The word ' ...

dated 1734. The north façade of the north aisle may have 13th-century elements. The construction of the wall is different each side of the porch and may indicate that it having been refaced in the 15th century or later. The

chamfer A chamfer ( ) is a transitional edge between two faces of an object. Sometimes defined as a form of bevel, it is often created at a 45° angle between two adjoining right-angled faces. Chamfers are frequently used in machining, carpentry, fur ...

plinth A pedestal 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 civil engineering, it is also called ''basement''. The minimum height o ...

is lower on the west side and the east side has a

string String or strings may refer to: *String (structure), a long flexible structure made from threads twisted together, which is used to tie, bind, or hang other objects Arts, entertainment, and media Films * ''Strings'' (1991 film), a Canadian anim ...

course which does not feature on the west side. Each side of the porch is a 15th-century three-lighted cinquefoil-headed and traceried window. The west end of the aisle continues past the foot of the tower. The west end of the aisle's north wall and the

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

d west end contain a two-lighted

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

-headed window. The north porch contains a panelled double door to the outer doorway with a leaded fanlight above. The north transept is gabled with the

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 ...

lower than those on the north aisle and diagonal

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 on the external corners. The north wall contains a three-lighted window with cinquefoiled heads. The east wall contains two two-lighted windows and a blocked doorway to the

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, or ...

stairs. The south aisle is also thought to have been refaced. The plinth and string course are both chamfered. Each side of the porch has a 15th-century three-lighted pointed arch window. The west end contains a 14th-century two-lighted trefoil-headed. The south porch is plinthless with the gable

pebbledash Roughcast and pebbledash are durable coarse plaster surfaces used on outside walls. They 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 ...

ed. The outer doorway is contained in a pointed arch. The eaves windows and buttressing of the south transept are similar to those on the north transept. The chancel has diagonal buttresses on the north-east and south-east corners. The south wall contains a 15th-century two-lighted window with cinquefoil-heads and two pointed lancet windows, with a doorway under the westernmost one. The north wall has a string course and a single 15th-century two-lighted window with cinquefoil-heads at the west end that partly cuts through an earlier blocked lancet window. The pointed arch east window is traceried with three-lights. Internally, the aisles are divided from the nave with four-

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'', ''sea'', ''sound'', or ''bight''. A ''cove'' is a small, ci ...

arcades of hollow chamfered pointed arches on octagonal columns with moulded capitals and bases. The arches between the nave and the transepts and the nave and the chancel are similar to those of the arcades except with the columns being semi-octagonal and attached to the walls. The arches between the tower and the nave and the tower and the west end of the north aisle are plainly chamfered on semi-circular attached columns. Arches between the aisles and the transepts are like those of the arcades, but spring from the walls without supporting columns. The nave and transept roofs are canted and boarded with decorative bosses in the nave. The

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 structures open on one or more sides (colloquially referred to as lean-tos in spite of being unattac ...

roofs of the aisles contain chamfered

rafter A rafter is one of a series of sloped structural members such as Beam (structure), steel beams that extend from the ridge or hip to the wall plate, downslope perimeter or eave, and that are designed to support the roof Roof shingle, shingles, ...

purlin A purlin (or historically purline, purloyne, purling, perling) is a longitudinal, horizontal, structural member in a roof. In traditional timber framing there are three basic types of purlin: purlin plate, principal purlin, and common purlin. P ...

s and cornices. The roof of the chancel contains octagonal

crown post A crown post is a term in traditional timber framing for a post in roof framing which stands on a '' tie beam'' or '' collar beam'' and supports a ''collar plate''.Alcock, N. W.. Recording timber-framed buildings: an illustrated glossary. Londo ...

truss A truss is an assembly of ''members'' such as Beam (structure), beams, connected by ''nodes'', that creates a rigid structure. In engineering, a truss is a structure that "consists of two-force members only, where the members are organized so ...

es. The church contains memorials to Ambrose Warde (''d''. 1637), John Ousnam (''d''. 1703), Robert and Matha Kenward (''d''. 1720 and 1761), Richard Ward (''d''. 178(1)?), Jane Akers (''d''. 1804), Aretas Akers (''d''. 1816) and William Aretas Akers (''d''. 1862). A window in the south wall of the chancel is dedicated to Edmund Blunden. The churchyard contains a number of Grade II listed chest tombs from the 17th to 19th centuries.,

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Yalding, Saints Peter and Paul 13th-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