St Clement's Church, Knowlton
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St Clement's Church is a redundant
Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...
church in the village of Knowlton,
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 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 ...
, and is under the care of the
Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...
. The church stands in the grounds of Knowlton Court.


History

St Clement's dates from the 14th or the 15th century. It was originally the private chapel to Knowlton Court, and later a
parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...
. It was
restored ''Restored'' is the fourth studio album by American contemporary Christian musician Jeremy Camp. It was released on November 16, 2004, by BEC Recordings. Track listing Standard release Enhanced edition Deluxe gold edition Standard Aus ...
in 1855 by William White. Most of the windows date from this restoration. The church was
vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property are acquired by some Legal person, person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vest ...
in the Churches Conservation Trust on 1 December 1991. It is open daily for visitors. The church yard is owned and maintained by the Knowlton Estate


Architecture

The church is 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 has a tiled roof. Its plan is simple, consisting of a
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 a
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 ...
. At the west end is a bellcote. On the summits of 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 ...
s and the bellcote are cross
finial A finial () 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 dome, spire, tower, roo ...
s. At the corners of the church, and at the junctions of the nave and chancel, are
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. In the west wall is a clock face. Internally there is a plastered barrel roof. On the east wall of the church are a
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. Lutherans and Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a pisci ...
and two niches. The
pulpit A pulpit is a raised stand for preachers in a Christian church. The origin of the word is the Latin ''pulpitum'' (platform or staging). The traditional pulpit is raised well above the surrounding floor for audibility and visibility, accesse ...
is in 17th-century style, but probably dates from the 20th century. It is octagonal, and decorated with arcaded panels and a strapwork
frieze In classical architecture, the frieze is the wide central section of an entablature and may be plain in the Ionic order, Ionic or Corinthian order, Corinthian orders, or decorated with bas-reliefs. Patera (architecture), Paterae are also ...
. The
font In metal typesetting, a font is a particular size, weight and style of a ''typeface'', defined as the set of fonts that share an overall design. For instance, the typeface Bauer Bodoni (shown in the figure) includes fonts " Roman" (or "regul ...
, the
box pew A box pew is a type of church pew that is encased in panelling and was prevalent in England and other Protestant countries from the 16th to early 19th centuries. History in England Before the rise of Protestantism, seating was not customary in c ...
s, the corona lucis, the two reading desks, and other fittings date from the 19th century.


Monuments

Over the north door are the carved and painted
royal arms The royal coat of arms of the United Kingdom, also referred to as the royal arms, are the arms of dominion of the British monarch, currently Charles III. They are used by the Government of the United Kingdom and by other The Crown, Crown instit ...
of Charles II. There is a hatchment in the chancel. The stained glass dates from the 1850s and 1860s and is by
Lavers, Barraud and Westlake Lavers, Barraud and Westlake were an English firm that produced stained glass windows from 1855 until 1921. They were part of the 19th-century Gothic Revival movement that had a significant influence on English civic, ecclesiastical and domestic a ...
. The church also contains monuments to members of the families who lived in Knowlton Court, including the
Peyton Baronets There have been five baronetcies created for members of the old established family of Peyton of Peyton Hall in the parish of Boxford in Suffolk, all of whom were descended from Sir Robert Peyton (d. 1518) of Isleham in Cambridgeshire, grandson ...
. Later residents of the house were the Narborough family. There is a memorial to Admiral Sir John Narborough who died in 1688, and to his sons John and James who, together with their stepfather Admiral Sir Cloudesley Shovell, died in a shipwreck off the Scilly Islands in 1707. The latter memorial has been attributed to
Grinling Gibbons Grinling Gibbons (4 April 1648 – 3 August 1721) was an Anglo-Dutch sculptor and wood carver known for his work in England, including Windsor Castle, the Royal Hospital Chelsea and Hampton Court Palace, St Paul's Cathedral and other London church ...
.


External features

The churchyard wall, which dates partly from the early 18th century and partly from the early 20th century, is listed at Grade II. It consists of a red brick wall with simple
wrought iron Wrought iron is an iron alloy with a very low carbon content (less than 0.05%) in contrast to that of cast iron (2.1% to 4.5%), or 0.25 for low carbon "mild" steel. Wrought iron is manufactured by heating and melting high carbon cast iron in an ...
gates. On the gate piers are ball finials.


See also

* List of churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust in South East England


References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Knowlton, St Clement's Church Grade I listed churches in Kent Church of England church buildings in Kent English Gothic architecture in Kent Gothic Revival architecture in Kent Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust