St John The Baptist's Church, Mersham, Kent

St John The Baptist's Church, Mersham Church

Image Source: John Salmon

A pretty, many-gabled church with a fine short shingled spire. The church is a fourteenth-century rebuild of a Norman original that had been enlarged in the late 1200s. O slightly later date, and to be found on a tie-beam in the chancel is a carved head of Joan, Countess of Kent, who was married to the Black Prince, son of Edward III at Windsor in 1361. There is a fair amount of medieval glass, in the chancel and nave west windows whilst the screens which separate the south chapel from the chancel and south aisle are wonderful examples of seventeenth-century craftsmanship. The base comprises solid panels, the upper levels are of very closely set barley-twist balusters, and the top is of tall iron spikes. The south chapel contains many memorials to the local Knatchbull family whose ancestral home, Mersham-le-Hatch stands to the north of the village. Above the screen is a corbel of possibly thirteenth-century date which depicts a bishop, and which could be part of an earlier door or window. There is a fine Royal Arms of 1751 and a good holy water stoup by the south door with superb carving of Tudor roses.

1851 Census Details

Seating Capacity: 348

Morning Attendance: 128

Afternoon Attendance: 288

Evening Attendance: No service

Architecture Details

Original Build Date/Architect: Medieval

Restoration:

Second Restoration:

Notes

Website

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