Weight: 616 lbs Diameter: 31.19" Bell 1 of 4
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1873
Dove Bell ID: 2601 Tower ID: 11702 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Flimwell: St Augustine of Canterbury
Diocese of Chichester
Church, 610481
http://www.ticehurstandflimwell.churchOverview
Grid reference: TQ 724 308
Visiting and facilities
Building is open for worship
Building
Ground Plan Description and Dimensions
Ground plan:
Chancel with north vestry, nave without aisles, north porch and west tower with spire.
Dimensions:
Nave roughly 15m (50ft) x 6m (20 ft).
Footprint of Church buildings: 362 m²
Description of Archaeology and History
The building has a complicated history. It was built in 1839, designed by Decimus Burton, commissioned by a group of men including Richard Palliser, the squire of Seacox Heath, who had a squire’s pew with (empty) vault beneath in the north-west corner of the nave. The spire was added to the tower in 1873 by Slater & Carpenter, the chancel and vestry completed by Carpenter & Inglelow in 1877. The present east window seems to belong to this phase, but the side windows were single lancets as in the nave.
The chancel and vestry were rebuilt with new side windows, mural and mosaic decorations in the chancel (over an earlier Victorian scheme shown in pre-1916 photographs in the CCC collection) and a rood screen, added by 2nd Viscount Goschen (Viceroy of India 1929-31, the son of the 1st Viscount George Goschen of Seacox Heath, the famous politician, economist and administrator) after 1916 as a memorial to his son who had been killed in the Great War. The lead rainwater goods date to this renovation. The artist responsible for the rood screen, decoration and the monuments relating to it may have been George Fellowes Prynne.
The fine vicarage nearby is also of c 1839 and probably designed by Decimus Burton (this was sold in 1965). Both buildings are clearly designed as complimentary features in the landscape. Burton was a prolific architect and garden designer, and a prominent public figure in the middle half of the 19th century. He initially trained in the building practice run by his father, and then worked with John Nash and others. He worked at Regents Park, Hyde Park, London Zoo and Kew, and was commissioned to design the major new developments at Fleetwood, St Leonards-on-Sea and Tunbridge Wells. He also designed several churches including Goring-by-Sea St Mary and Tunbridge Wells Holy Trinity in Sussex, the latter his magnum opus in this genre but now converted into a theatre.
The Sussex Weald had been exploited for its wood and iron ores since at least the Iron Age. This was developed into an industry under the Romans, and later reached another peak in the 16th and 17th centuries serving the armaments industry, with a local centre at nearby Wadhurst. The church is surrounded by what is left of the woods which fuelled this industry. The Historic Environment Record should therefore be consulted before any development of the site is proposed.
Flimwell has had its share of ill fate. In 1264 Henry III’s army is said to have camped there during the second Barons’ rebellion and following a murder supposedly beheaded 300 local people. More recently in 1944 a stray doodlebug (V1 missile) destroyed the village school, which was never replaced. This blast also killed at least two people and blew out the stained glass windows on the south side of the church.
Exterior Description
This is an impressive and surprisingly large church by this famous architect, away from any sizeable centre of population. It is designed in the Early English style, with the (for this period) typical “schoolroom” aisleless nave kept very simple with paired plain lancets to each bay between slender buttresses with one set-off, which then continue up as pilasters to join a plain corbel table. The gabled porch is located in the middle bay of the nave, and has a moulded pointed doorway. The roof carries through over the chancel.
The west tower is clearly Burton’s design, of three stages, angle buttresses with weatherings to each stage, the stages recessed within these and upwards, with deeply recessed round windows to the lower stage, paired lancets to the middle stage and 2-light louvred openings with plate tracery to the belfry. There is a west doorway, pointed with continuously moulded surround and hoodmould with mask stops. The broached shingled spire is as tall as the tower and gives the church considerable vertical emphasis, balancing its length.
The 2-bay chancel is treated differently, with 2-light cusped pointed lights within square frames to the side walls (the western in the south wall is longer), and a 3-light plate tracery east window. The north vestry is cleverly articulated against the chancel, taking up the west bay, the chancel roof is carried down as a cat slide, partly hidden behind a parapet and copings to the sloping sides. A tall chimney rises from the east angle of vestry and chancel. There is a round window with quatrefoils within above a pointed doorway in the west wall, with a 2-light within a square frame adjacent in 14th-century style, ie perhaps intended to suggest an archaeological development. Similar single light in the north wall. There are two plain buttresses to the corners of the north wall. An extra, indented block to the east of this with boiler house underneath has two similar 2-lights in the east wall.
Building Fabric and Features
Chancel
20th century rebuilt 1916
Vestry
20th century rebuilt 1916
Nave
19th century without aisles
Porch
19th century north
Tower (component)
19th century west
Spire
19th century
Building Materials
Sandstone
19th century ashlar
Timber
19th century roof structure
Slate
19th century roofs
Shingle
19th century spire
Interior
Interior Description
The exterior is quite impressive if austere, and one receives a surprise on entering and looking east to the chancel. Before doing this, let us note that the nave walls are whitewashed, reflecting the light from the mostly clear glazed windows of the nave. The nave is fully pewed with light-stained pine benches with panelled backs and moulded ends, an attractive set. The complexity of the fine dark-stained hammer-beam roof with crown posts, arch-braces and turned pendant finials attracts one’s attention, as does the west gallery, which is quite unusual, a balcony rail with thin turned balusters within a tall pointed continuously moulded tower arch, above a blank wall pierced by a simple pointed entrance. Nice light-stained panelling around the wooden font in the south-west nave. York stone flags and quarry tiles form the floor. So far, everything is still austere.
Now turning east, the atmosphere changes, the eye caught by the richly carved and gilded 7-bay oak rood screen with near life-size painted rood in the place of a chancel arch. Beyond this the mural paintings, stencilled surfaces and texts, mosaics and encaustic tiles of the richly decorated chancel can be glimpsed, a full decorative scheme which covers the floor, wall surfaces and panelled ceiling, the dominant colours being red, green and gold, creating a sumptuous effect. Unfortunately there is some damage caused by water infiltration, particularly to the stencilled patterns on the side walls at the east end. An aumbry and piscina are integral to the design.
The organ in its chamber opens off the north wall within a wooden tracery arch. This, the stained glass of the east window and the fine suspended brass lamp are also part of this scheme. The three lancets of the east window have been blocked, with a curtain across behind the altar.
This richly decorated chancel is rather at odds with the noble austerity of the rest of the building. It is, as noted above, a memorial to George Joachim Goschen, who died in 1916. Indeed, with the prominent memorials to this man and to others of the parish who fell in World War I (the list headed by the above) on the north wall, the church has something of the character of a family memorial chapel. Stained glass windows at the east end of the nave in memory of the Goschens emphasises this impression.
Fixtures and fittings
Altar
19th century Oak chest with filigree Gothic detailing, gilded and decorated. Fellowes-Prynne’s original design for an Early English altar included riddel posts with angels.
Reredos
19th century Painted panels depicting four scenes from the life of the Virgin Mary beginning with the Annunciation, above a geometric pattern mosaic dado. Texts and painted angels above flanking the east window.
Pulpit
19th century The pulpit is of dark-stained oak, hexagonal and plain with blind panels to which various sections of Baroque carvings of the 17th and 18th centuries, mostly caryatids and cherubs, have been attached in a rather haphazard fashion. It has been moved around, it stood on the other side of the chancel arch for a while until the 1916 restoration.
Lectern
19th century Plain oak lectern, light-stained.
Font (component)
19th century Oak font, light-stained, octagonal with open base in 15th-century style. Crocketed, or rather knobbly handles to the oak lid. A neo-Classical baluster font is shown in pre-1916 photographs in the CCC collection.
Stained Glass (window)
19th / 20th century • East window with Christ in Glory in the central roundel surrounded by angels in the four around it, c 1870. • North nave wall, eastern window dedicated in memory of George Joachim 1st Viscount Goschen, born 1831, died 1907. Depicts the risen Lord summoning St Peter at the shore of the Sea of Galilee, John 21:4-19. Is Peter’s face that of the deceased? • The other windows have pale coloured glass lozenges or clear glass.
Plaque (component)
19th / 20th century • Long veined grey marble plaque with mosaic cross in the head in memory of George Joachim Goeschen killed in 1916. • Similar in dark frame to 2nd Viscount Goschen and his wife Evelyn (died 1952 and 1947), his parents. • Brass plaque under south-west nave window in memory of Lucy wife of George Goschen died 1898. • Metal plaque in memory of Archibald Newton Johnson, priest 1914-32. • North chancel wall square grey stone plaque in memory of Herbert Wells died 1947.
Inscribed Object
20th century • Long veined white marble tablet in memory of Charles Eagleton, priest, given 1918. • Two painted plaster figures, one Virgin & child with dedication in memory of Major Edward Matthews 11th Batt Essex Regt OBE, died 1928, the other St Augustine in memory of Forest Halser died 1954.
Organ (component)
19th century 2-manual pipe organ by J W Walker, 1879.
Rail
19th century Wooden hand rail, plain.
Panel
20th century Wooden panel with names of those fallen in action in World War II, plus two women killed by the V1 missile which destroyed the village school.
Bells
Bell 2 of 4
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1874
Dove Bell ID: 21136 Tower ID: 11702 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Bell 3 of 4
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1874
Dove Bell ID: 21137 Tower ID: 11702 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Nominal: 1152 Hz Bell 4 of 4
Founded by John Warner & Sons 1874
Dove Bell ID: 21138 Tower ID: 11702 - View Tower Listed: No Canons: Removed Turnings: unturned Cracked: No
Portable Furnishings and Artworks
Registers date from 1839.
Churchyard
Grid reference: TQ 724 308
Burial and War Grave Information
It is unknown whether the building is consecrated.
It is unknown whether the churchyard has been used for burial.
It is unknown whether the churchyard is used for burial.
The churchyard has war graves.
National Heritage record for England designations
There are no records of National Heritage assets within the curtilage of this site.
Environment
Ancient, Veteran & Notable Trees
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
There are no records of Ancient, Veteran or Notable Trees within the curtilage of this site.
Renewables
| Renewable | Installed |
|---|---|
| Solar PV Panels | No |
| Solar Thermal Panels | No |
| Biomass | No |
| Wind Turbine | No |
| Air Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ground Source Heat Pump | No |
| Ev Charging | No |
Species summary
There are no records of species within the curtilage of this site.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
'Seek advice' Species
More information on species and action to be taken upon discovery.
Caring for God's Acre is a conservation charity working to support groups and individuals to investigate, care for, and enjoy the wildlife and heritage treasures found within churchyards and other burial grounds. Look on their website for information and advice and please contact their staff directly. They can help you manage this churchyard for people and wildlife.
To learn more about all the species recorded against this church, go to the Burial Ground Portal within the NBN Atlas. You can check the spread of records through the years, discovering what has been recorded and when, plus what discoveries might remain to be uncovered.
Further information
Sources
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