Site Last Updated
9 February 2008

Kingsdown Church (1864 onwards, Pugin)

The only remaining Anglican church by Edward Welby Pugin (1834-75), a Roman Catholic. By all accounts he was particularly happy with the west window and roof.

The current church at Kingsdown was started in 1864, although it is stated in Harris's history of Kent a church was established in Kingsdown at the same site in 1252.  The first vicar or rector of Kingsdown on record is Peter de Luddenham in 1313.  This church was funded by Lord Kingsdown. In 1922 Kingsdown showed signs of collapse.

A small booklet from the Redundant Churches Fund tells us that the population in 1865 was only 96 so a benefactor was essential. The first and only Baron Kingsdown (Thomas Pemberton Leigh, 1793-1867) supported the building of a new church on the site of the tumbledown mediaeval church that stood where today’s nave stands. Lord Kingsdown led a successful career at the bar.  He was MP for Rye and later Ripon, but retired from public life in 1843 after inheriting a fortune from a distant relative of his mother’s.  He was appointed Chancellor of the Duchy of Cornwall and to the Privy Council’s judicial committee with positive results in both. The Rector at that time was Houstone James Hordern.

The booklet tells us, “the Chancel went close to the edge of a disused chalk quarry, now filled with spoil from the M2. This led to large cracks appearing in 1922 and the rebuilding of the west and south west walls.

The first recorded rector for this site was in 1313 but the full list is incomplete.

“Pugin's church consists of nave and chancel (with vestry) and a tower and spire over the porch at the south-west. It is built of Kentish ragstone with Bath stone dressings. The roofs are of patterned tiles. The circumstances of the building's construction give it an unusual unity, in the late Decorated style.

Above the doorway is a niche with a statue of St. Catherine. Inside, the carving is richer on the roof timbers, the corbels and the hood stops — the end of the mouldings around windows. Above the vestry door is a large sculpture of the Conversion of St. Paul. The furnishings, pulpit, font and ornate sanctuary are all to Pugin's designs, as are the windows made by Hardman of Birmingham. A small brass inscription plate (1555) survives from the previous church. There is also a 14th century bell. The other bell is by J. Warner of London, 1868, probably a recasting of an earlier bell. Under the floor are the ledger stones from various 17th and 18th century burials, all carefully recorded by Hordern, together with traces of the mediaeval building discovered during the 1990 repairs. A few mediaeval floor tiles, found during this work, have been displayed in the vestry.

The elegant estate churches of the 18th century are well known. This Victorian equivalent is, in the eyes of many, as fine a building. Much love went into the construction of Kingsdown church — and that is still apparent 130 years later.”

David Bage tells us: Until the hurricane of 1987 its congregation had kept this church in good repair. Kingsdown parish was amalgamated with Lynsted (ecclesiastically) in 1956 into the parish ......... more of this story here

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