Edenbridge, St Peter & St Paul's Church

St Peter & St Paul's Church, Edenbridge

The earliest record of a church at Edenbridge comes from the first half of the 12th century, but it seems likely that a Saxon church stood on this site. The church was rebuilt in the 15th century and restored in the Victorian period. The oldest part of the building is the west end of the nave. A blocked window in the north nave wall dates to the late 11th century.

The church is built of sandstone and the layout consists of a nave, south aisle, south porch, chancel, south chapel, north vestry, and a 13th-century west tower with a broach spire. The crown-post roofs are 15th century, while the south chapel dates to the 13th century but was rebuilt in 1499.

For much of the medieval period, the church served as a chapel under Westerham.

The Norman font

Historical Highlights

The square-bowled font is from the 13th century and features blind arcading details. The cover may date from the late 14th century. In the south chapel is a 14th-century pillar piscina, while the wooden pulpit is Jacobean, though mounted on a modern base.

The royal coat of arms comes from the reign of King George I and bears the date 1721.

The east window, by Burne-Jones

There are pieces of medieval glass in the north chancel window, but the real treasure is the east window, designed by Edward Burne-Jones for Morris & Co. and installed in 1908 in memory of John Storr. The window was designed for the church in Crookham Hill but was installed at Edenbridge instead. The window itself is thought to have been designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott.

Over the south chapel altar is a panel from the tomb of Richard Martyn (d. 1499), now serving as a reredos. On the wall is a brass in memory of John Selyard (d. 1558). Another notable memorial is a large marble monument to William Selyard (d. 1595) and his family, while a 17th-century brass to members of the Jemet family is set upon the wall.

William Selyard memorial, 1595

A 17th-century Epitaph

Set into the floor is a poignant ledger slab to a daughter of the Jemet family who died young in 1683. The florid epitaph reads as follows (I've updated the awkward spelling to make it more readable):

This fair young virgin for a nuptial bed
More fit, is lodged (sad fate) among the dead
Stormed by rough winds, so falls in all her pride
The full-blown rose designed to adorned a bride
The blasted rose its beauty shan't regain
And shall neglected by the bride remain
This virgin in immortal beauty dressed
Shall meet her bridegroom as a welcome guest.

The ancient wooden chest

The chancel arch dates to the 14th century. In the chancel is a 16th-century wooden chest. The chest holds a smaller, even older, wooden chest that was carved from a single tree trunk.

The 18th-century church clock has only an hour hand as the addition of a minute hand would have made the clockwork mechanism overly complex. The minute hand was considered unnecessary to let parishioners know when services were about to begin. The clock is thought to have been brought here from a church in Southwark, London.

The 14th-century font cover

In the Church Street end of the burial ground is a memorial to the architect Mackay Hugh Baillie Scott (1864-1945) and his wife.

Visiting

There is parking along Church Street, outside the churchyard wall. The church was open when we visited and, as far as we can determine, is regularly open to visitors.