Building

Construction of the church began in the 13th century and continued in stages during the 14th and 15th centuries. It is built of local rag-stone

Rag-stone

Rag-stone is a name given by some architectural writers to work done with stones which are quarried in thin pieces, such as the Horsham sandstone, Yorkshire stone, the slate stones, but this is more properly flag or slab work. By rag-stone, near London, is meant an excellent material from the...

 and the roofs are covered with plain tiles. The nave

Nave

In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...

 is flanked by a single aisle

Aisle

An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of seats on both sides or with rows of seats on one side and a wall on the other...

 on the north side and entered from a porch on the south side. At the west end of the nave is a square three-storey tower with a crenellated parapet, a stair turret on its south-east corner and staggered buttresses on the other three corners. Three stone beasts sit on the corners of the parapet. These are replacements of originals eroded over time, which may have originally represented dogs or bears sejant (a pun on the name of the village).

The arcade between the nave and aisle has four bays and was constructed in the 14th century with the two at the east end rebuilt in the 15th century. A single arch at the west end of the arcade is possibly Anglo-Saxon

Anglo-Saxons

Anglo-Saxon is a term used by historians to designate the Germanic tribes who invaded and settled the south and east of Great Britain beginning in the early 5th century AD, and the period from their creation of the English nation to the Norman conquest. The Anglo-Saxon Era denotes the period of...

. The south wall of the nave contains a stair to the Rood loft. The chancel contains 13th century sedile and piscina

Piscina

A piscina is a shallow basin placed near the altar of a church, used for washing the communion vessels. The sacrarium is the drain itself. Anglicans usually refer to the basin, calling it a piscina. Roman Catholics usually refer to the drain, and by extension, the basin, as the sacrarium...

. Restoration

Victorian restoration

Victorian restoration is the term commonly used to refer to the widespread and extensive refurbishment and rebuilding of Church of England churches and cathedrals that took place in England and Wales during the 19th-century reign of Queen Victoria...

 of the church includes 19th century panelling and pews in the nave and aisle, followed by 20th century replacement of much of the roof.

The windows are generally small apart from those in the east end of the nave and aisle and above the doorway in the west wall of the tower. The south wall of the church features 13th century lancet window

Lancet window

A lancet window is a tall narrow window with a pointed arch at its top. It acquired the "lancet" name from its resemblance to a lance. Instances of this architectural motif are most often found in Gothic and ecclesiastical structures, where they are often placed singly or in pairs.The motif first...

s on the left of the porch and in the chancel

Chancel

In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...

. The windows on the north side are 14th century.

The church features monuments to Margarete and Steven Mason (died 1552 and 1560), Henrye Brockill of Aldington (died 1596), Susanna Cage (died 1634) and floor tablets to Eleonor, John and Guillemo Cage (late 17th century). Elizabeth Andras (died 1592), wife of Sir Thomas Fludd, and her son Robert Fludd

Robert Fludd

Robert Fludd, also known as Robertus de Fluctibus was a prominent English Paracelsian physician, astrologer, mathematician, cosmologist, Qabalist, Rosicrucian apologist...

, the physician and occultist (died 1637), are also commemorated with memorials in the church, the later with a bust on a plinth.

The church sits in a small churchyard

Churchyard

A churchyard is a patch of land adjoining or surrounding a church which is usually owned by the relevant church or local parish itself. In the Scots language or Northern English language this can also be known as a kirkyard or kirkyaird....

 to which is attached a larger graveyard to the east. John Dyke, the last man hanged on Penenden Heath

Penenden Heath

Penenden Heath is a suburb in the town of Maidstone in Kent, England.As the name suggests it is nucleated around a former heath .-History:...

, in 1830, is buried in the graveyard.

The church is a Grade I listed building, and the churchyard contains three table tombs and the village war memorial which are listed Grade II.

External links

• Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi, Bearsted: Holy Cross Image of the medieval stained glass window in north aisle.