St John the Baptist, Smallhythe, Kent

Disappointing to find this locked, especially as by now the light had gone so flat and rain had begun to fall.

Unusual church for Kent, built of tudor brick, but sadly, no friendly greeting on the notice board with details of keyholders. Apparently is open during the summer months.

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Built of brick in 1516 after a large fire destroyed the whole village, Smallhythe church is a simple rectangular box, rather taller than it need be, its exterior height emphasised by the crow-stepped gables that rise in ten steps. The west wall has a little image niche under the gable. The interior is as plain as the exterior and has a wooden chancel screen and nicely tiled floor. Yet the church receives numerous visitors on the strength of its associations with Dame Ellen Terry, the actress, who lived at nearby Smallhythe Place which is open to the public. Without the fame of this former resident and the dedication of its congregation, this church might not have such an assured future.

www.kentchurches.info/church.asp?p=Smallhythe

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633/3/82 SMALLHYTHE ROAD
08-MAY-50 SMALLHYTHE
(East side)
CHURCH OF ST JOHN THE BAPTIST

(Formerly listed as:
SMALLHYTHE ROAD
SMALLHYTHE
St John the Baptist's Church)

GV II*
The church was completely rebuilt in 1516-17 following a fire that destroyed the town. The chancel was reroofed in the C18, and the whole church was restored in the C19, when the window tracery was renewed. The stone E window is 1884.

MATERIALS: C16 brick in English bond, with stone tracery and dressings on E window. Tiled roof with small timber bell cot.

PLAN: Unaisled nave and chancel without structural division. W porch and small timber bell cot over nave W end.

EXTERIOR: The nave and chancel are continuous externally, and there are crowstepped gables at the E and W ends. Diagonal buttresses with off-sets at the corners and a pair of off-set buttresses on either side. The C19 E window has stone tracery in a Perpendicular style, and is set within the blocked, four-centred opening for the C16 E window.

The nave and chancel N and S windows have restored Flamboyant brick tracery with mouchettes and super mullions. The N and S doors have stone dressings, four-centred heads with hood moulds.

The W porch, an unusual feature, is also brick. The gable is stepped at the outer ends like small buttresses. The outer opening is of three orders with a hood mould. The outer two orders have square heads with continuous jambs, the inner is segmental. The central section of the middle order has been renewed. The W window is of five cusped lights with a transom in a four-centred head. There is a small statue niche with a four-centred head and square hood mould above. There is a tiny weather boarded bellcot over the W end of the nave. The W door is four centred and has hollow chamfered mouldings and hood mould.

INTERIOR: The interior is plastered and painted, and has a timber panelled dado. The windows are renewed in stone on the inside. There is no structural division between nave and chancel, but the C16 screen remains in its original position. The W end of the nave is screened off with a late C19 or early C20 timber screen to form a vestry. The chancel roof was repaired or wholly rebuilt in 1747 and has four slender A-frames trussed with straight braces and two tiers of staggered purlins. It was formerly plastered and retains nails for former laths. The very plain nave roof is C16 and is of the tie beam and common rafter type. The W end of the roof was repaired in 1982 with steel brackets.

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: The C16 screen is an unusual form, with a deep moulded cornice rather than cresting and is divided into wide bays with evenly spaced, narrow lights with cusped heads and carved spandrels. It apparently never had doors, and is very plain on the chancel side. The dado panelling of feather edged boarding with a moulded cornice is probably also C16 in origin, much repaired on the S side, but largely original on the N. C19 or early C20 timber reredos of blind ogee panels with cared details and a brattished cornice; similar design to choir stalls. C19 communion rail with timber brackets. C19 drum pulpit with open traceried sides. Small, octagonal font carved with quatrefoils on an octagonal stem. Nave benches of c.1900 with shaped ends terminating in carved roundels. C19 or early C20 carved timber screen at W end for vestry. Red tiled nave floor, C19 encaustic tiles in the chancel, mosaic floor to sanctuary. Some C19 stained glass.

HISTORY: The name hythe or hithe meant haven or landing place in Old English and Smallhythe was a port and major centre of ship building in the C14-C16 before the Rother silted up in the early C17 and changed its course. It now flows some way to the south. Henry VIII visited Smallhythe in 1537 to view progress on the construction of one of his warships. The town was devastated by fire in 1514 and the church was completely rebuilt in 1516-17. Dame Ellen Terry, the famous late C19 and early C20 actress, lived in the adjacent Smallhythe Place and her funeral was held in the church in 1928.

SOURCES:
Buildings of England: West Kent and the Weald (1969), 509.

REASONS FOR DESIGNATION:
St John the Baptist, Smallhythe is designated at Grade II* for the following principal reasons:
*A rare (and excellent) example of a complete Tudor brick church with some contemporary fittings including the chancel screen, W door and nave roof.
*The exterior, with its crow-stepped gables and curvilinear window tracery, strongly recalls North European brick church architecture and as such is a rare occurrence in Kent.
*The chancel roof is C18.
*It has historical significance as a reminder of the former prosperity of Smallhythe in the late middle ages and Tudor period.

www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-179816-church-of-st-j...

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In Roman times the whole of what is now Romney Marsh was a shallow sea with the coastline running from Appledore through to Hythe.

Later in the Middle Ages, Smallhythe was located in Dunborne, which was one of the six Boroughs of the ancient Tenterden Hundred. It lay on the banks of the tidal river Rother, which was then navigable from Romney along the course of the Rhee Wall, through Appledore and Reading (now Reading Street) as far as Newenden. In the 13th Century a series of storms of extreme violence blocked the channel to Romney and the river was diverted from Appledore past Ebony and Stone to the sea at Rye. This was, in fact, the second time the course of the river had changed and in earlier times it had found its way to the sea at Lympne.

A port and shipbuilding industry had existed in Smallhythe from early times and a church or chapel for the inhabitants and seamen had also existed. The earliest written reference to the church is in 1401, which records the gift of three shillings and fourpence from the Chamberlain’s Accounts of Romney to the chapel of St. John the Baptist, as a thank offering, to mark the successful launch of the Entwhistle, a sea-going barge built in the haven at Smallhythe.

In 1449, Tenterden, together with its port at Smallhythe and shipbuilding community at Reading was incorporated as one of the Cinque Ports as a ‘limb of Rye’.

Following a petition from the inhabitants in 1505, and on account of the distance from Tenterden and difficulties attending the Parish Church, Archbishop Warham issued a Faculty permitting the holding of divine service in the chapel and for the inhabitants to have a priest of their own. This was followed in 1509 by a further order allowing the inhabitants to elect their own priests subject only to his approval. This privilege, which was unique in the whole kingdom, was to last for more then 400 years!

In 1514 most of the hamlet was burnt down and the chapel suffered either partial or total destruction, and the present church building dates from then.

Of the very few ancient buildings remaining, that next to the church is known as the “Priest’s House”; and that which is now the Ellen Terry museum, now owned by the National Trust, was the harbour master’s house. A former house for the priest, on the other side of the road, was destroyed in the fire of 1514.

By the end of the 16th century the river had so silted up that there remained only a “creek of salt water” frequented by lighters and small vessels. Now there remains only a drainage ditch known as the Reading Sewer which flows in the opposite direction.

More recently the Benefices of St. Mildred, Tenterden and St. John the Baptist, Smallhythe were permanently united to form the one Benefice in 1928 but with the two parishes continuing distinct in all respects.

The present church was built in 1516-17 during the reign of Henry VIII to replace the chapel which stood on the same site and was destroyed by fire in 1514. It is an example of a Tudor church and is unusual in its use of red brick for its construction. It is thought that bricks may have been imported from the Low Countries in exchange for timber from the Weald of Kent. The stepped gables of the West front indicate a Dutch influence, and the beautiful Tudor brickwork is well worth studying. The porch was added in 1866.

The oldest features in the church are the mediaeval oak screen and the wainscot panelling. The panelling is mentioned in the records of the local history society as the oldest oak panelling known to exist anywhere. The pews in the nave are made of pitch pine and replaced oak family boxes in 1900. The pulpit and lectern were gifts from St. Mildred’s Church, Tenterden. The West window contains the only original Tudor tracery, but all the glass is modern. The window over the altar, which shows Christ victorious with a Paschal lamb and a mediaeval ship, was installed by the War Damage Commission in 1952, after the original window had been destroyed by a V1 Rocket in 1944.

The roof is a perfect example of a rectangular Tudor roof with two interesting repairs in evidence. The roof over the chancel was repaired in 1747 by the addition of oak side purlins fixed at right angles to the rafters. The roof over the West end was repaired in 1982 by steel brackets and stainless steel straps on top of the beams. These are fixed to wall plates set in concrete spreader beams on top of the walls, almost invisible, and so preserving the antiquity of the building. The cost of this last repair, still in recent memory, was £24,000. It is worth recording that this huge sum of money was raised by the small parish and the repairs carried out in under two years. During this time the church was closed and services were held at St. Mildred’s in Tenterden. The eventful story of how this was achieved will live on in the annals of the church and might almost be described as a miracle!

Dame Ellen Terry worshipped in this church and her funeral service was held here on 24th July 1928, conducted by the Rector of Wittersham, who was vicar in charge at that time.

www.tenterdencofe.org/?page_ref=275

Taken on: January 28, 2017

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