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| St Michaels and All Angels, 2022... |
It provides a snapshot of Cuxton and
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| Watercolour of the south side of St. Michaels c.1850, prior to the 1867 extension of the nave and the 1936 addition of the vestry. |
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| North side of St. Michaels, c.1801. The lowering of the porch and the cutting to it was made in the 1867 renovation. There used to be steps down into the aisle. |
I thought the article (or at least, most of it) is worth recounting here. I have provided explanatory or additional notes where I think they may be of use.
“Wanderings To Cantian(1) Churches”
BY A SCUIT, (Anglice,) A VAGABOND – (“Picts and Scots”.)
CUXTON:
“Wandering through the
woods of the Priory of Lesnes (2) the
other day, after vainly attempting to discover the long lost effigy alluded to
by Dr. Stukeley (3) many a year ago,
we resolved to visit Cuxton, where was situated one of the few manors erst the
property of the poor abbot and chapter of Lesnes.”
Incontinently we hied to the British Museum to look into Hasted’s History of
the County of Kent, after Cuxton, to ascertain the name of the manor (4). Without any difficulty we found Hasted,
and
Cookstone, Coclestane, Cucolanstan, Cuclestena, beside half a dozen more
aliases in its orthography, very interesting, doubtless, to the curious in such
matters. Some wild hankerers after wildering etymologies will seek in some
ornithological specimen the root of “Cuckoo-stone” whilst others will
appropriate the Domesday name of “Cuckhold-stone” to some miserable victim of
conjugal infidelity; so far as we however are personally concerned we prefer
asserting that the etymology of Cuxton and its innumerable aliases is of
adulterated Celtic origin with a Saxonic filial...
(5)
…Having ascertained the above, and looked
into Dugdals (6) and other big books
we shut them up and putting on our hat very majestically, stalked out of the
reading room, leaving the attendants to put the heavy volumes back into their
proper places, for, they are paid to do it.
A penny omnibus soon took us to Holborn Bridge, and then a cab conveyed us to
the North Kent Line, where we obtained a ticket for Strood. As everybody knows
the dirty-den, by courtesy styled a station at Strood, we will say no more
about it, than, that if possible, it is now dirtier than ever. Thence to Cuxton
is a very pretty walk. (7)
At the entrance to the village there is a
post office (8), a nice old house; a
little farther off is a public house (9),
close, of course, to the church; at the east end of the burying ground where
our rude forefathers of the hamlet sleep, is a modern school-room (10). The key was in the possession of the
post-master who, marvellous to say for any one connected with the Post Office
establishment, is a very civil and obliging individual! From the clergyman too,
we were offered every accommodation in our hurried glance at the sacred fane (11); the situation of which on the edge of a
lofty hill, is very pleasant, sloping down to the meandering Medway.
Cuxton church consists of a nave, chancel, south mortuary chapel, at the
south-western angle of which is the staircase to the rood loft (12), a two-storied
embattled tower, and north porch. The east window is a three-light, with early
English window, blocked up. The mortuary chapel was very probably built with
the materials previously comprised in some Roman structure, for both tufa and
squared stones from the Andernach quarries (13) are worked up. The east window of this chapel is a square-headed Tudor
two-light. This chapel is now used as a baptistery, and it contains a Norman
font (14). On the west side the stone
steps to the rood loft are evident.
There are several monumental slabs to the Marshams, who formerly resided in
this parish (15). Lord Romney still
possesses property here. On the south side is a piscina (16) under the arch. Severing the chancel from
this chapel is a tomb, with round the edge “Hic iacet Ihohannes Botyler, rector
hvivs ecclesie qvi obiit vitimo die junil, anno D.M. 1568” (17) in hatched and oblated capitals. Upon the
tomb is a brass (18), with the
following inscription:
[PRAY]
FOR THE SOULE OF JOHN BUTTYLL, PARSON [OF THIS]
CHURCHE AND CHAPLAYNE TO THE HIGH AND NOBYLL
[PRI]NCE EDWARDE WHICH Mr JOHN DECEASED THE [
]
OF [ ] ANNO DOMINI MV [UPON] WHOSE SOULE
JESU PARDON
The effigy above it has been torn away, but in its place is a fine and particularly curious palimpsest brass, or rather, (which we believe to be an unique instance) a portion of two brasses (19) joined together, upon one is ..atic Steere, twice repeated. These two different mortuary materials, were adapted by the heirs of the wealthy, all of whose inscriptions are now left, we give herewith.
PRAY
FOR THE SOULE OF JOHN [TURNER] WOLPACKER OF
SOME[TIME OF] [ST.] KATHERINE OF
AUGUST ANNO DOMINI MDXLV ON WHOSE SOULE JESU HAVE MERCY
There is also a corbel
now carrying a marble slab to “Thomas Swindon, Rector”. The chancel contains
some inscriptions on slabs which we trust the clergyman will one day translate
for us (20). An aumbry (21) on north side, square aumbry on south wall.
Some encaustic tiles (22) decorate
the floor under the rails. On the south side of the chancel,
adjoining the rood screen (23) is a large pew, upon which is some nicely carved linen pauncing (24). A bench also has two poppy heads.
The windows on the south side of the nave are two light square headed, and a
blocked up doorway to which is a stoup. The old roof still remains. At the west
end there is a gallery. The porch stands on the north side. The statue which
erst filled up the niche has long since gone; some strangely painted tins,
probably of heraldic meaning, now do the decorating business in its stead; upon
one is a swan, and on the other is a cock’s head. To each door is a stoup (25).
Notes:
(1) “Cantian”: an archaic
expression meaning “of Kent”
(2) The “priory of Lesnes”, otherwise
called Lesnes Abbey, a Grade II-listed ruined abbey in Abbey Wood, with a long and fascinating history of its own.
(3) The Rev. William Stukeley, a
renowned antiquarian, who undertook a study of the ruins of Lesnes Abbey in
April 1753. His original paper can be found here.
(4) The manor of “Beresse”, or
Upper Bush as we call it today.
(5) In the interests of focussing
on the Cuxton church aspects of the article, I have omitted the account of the ancient
ecclesiastical wranglings related to the ownership of the ancient manor of
Beresse that ensued at this point, and which can be found in Hasted’s history
(link to the online version here).
(6) Sir William Dugdale, another
noted antiquarian. A list of his extensive works can be found here.
(7) The North Kent railway line through Cuxton
was not built until 1853 with Cuxton station being opened in 1856, hence the
“very pretty walk”.
(8) The Old Post Office Row,
details here.
(9) The White Hart, of course. They may well have been talking about the original building, which burned down around the time of
our correspondent’s jaunt and was rebuilt in 1860. We don’t have any images of
the original pub as far as I know, but perhaps it may have looked like the
Walnut Tree at Halling…
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| The Walnut Tree off-licence in 1930, but pretty much unchanged for 300 years at the time... |
(10) This was the original Cuxton school, which was built just to the south-east of the church in 1849 at the instigation of the “clergyman” noted here, the Reverend Robert William Shaw.
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| Robert William Shaw's school, next to the church (c. 1920). It was demolished in 1964.. |
(11) “Fane”: an archaic expression meaning “shrine” or “church”.
(12) The small stone staircase in the corner of the chancel is still there, although it is now blocked off as the gallery it leads to now opens on to thin air. It seems that at the time of this account, the rood screen was still present. There is some debate over what function the lofts may have served. See (23).
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| A column of tufa quoin stones (to the right of the end window) mark the corner of the original Norman chancel. |
(14) The Norman font was replaced by the current Victorian one as part of Rev. Robert Shaw’s church “restoration” of 1865.
(15) In his 1976 book, “Cuxton – a Kentish Village”, author Derek Church refers to the black marble ledger stones of the Marshams, noting their fine inscriptions (they are also mentioned in the Registrum Roffense). They are not visible in the chancel now as they have been carpeted over! Certainly some other ledger stones have been covered by the thoughtless location of the (Victorian – again!) church organ (as has the Harley memorial), but the organ was not installed until 1881, long after the visit of our two correspondents.
(16) “Piscina”: a small basin, trough or sink set in the wall of a church used for the use and subsequent disposal of Holy Water or other consecrated liquids, and which drains (via a sacrarium) directly to ground, thus ensuring it is respectfully returned to earth rather than mixed with common drainage.
(17) Translates from the Latin as:
+ Here lies John Buttyll, Rector of this Church, who died on the last day of June 1568 A.D. +
John Buttyll was at one time chaplain to John Fisher, Archbishop of Rochester (who was shamefully treated and subsequently executed by Henry VIII), and then subsequently to Edward VI. Buttyll is Cuxton’s longest-serving Rector to date, holding that office from 1522 until his death in 1568.
John Thorpe’s Registrum Roffense of 1769 tells us that the inscription on his altar tomb was around the “verge of the upper stone”. The tomb was moved from its position between the chancel and the Lady Chapel during the Rev. Shaw's Victorian “restoration” of St. Michaels during 1865-1868, and placed outside under the south-eastern chancel window.
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| The altar tomb of John Buttyll, Rector of Cuxton, 1522-1568.. |
It was not given any protection from the elements and has now become so badly weather-worn that no trace of any inscriptions are visible.
The newspaper article is interesting for what it omits, as well as what it describes. For example, no mention is made of the Lady Harley memorial (latterly moved from the chancel to the Lady Chapel) nor of the tomb of Caleb Parfect (which was in the nave and was also removed as part of the Victorian “restoration”).
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| The tomb of Caleb Parfect, Rector of Cuxton 1719-1770... |
This tomb was subsequently placed in its current position outside in the southern graveyard opposite the south door of the nave (and has suffered the same subsequent weathering as that of the tomb of John Buttyll).
These two striking monuments would have certainly have been seen by our two intrepid Victorian correspondents, but why they were not considered worthy of mention in their subsequent account is a puzzle.
(18) This brass and the one described later were both on display on the wall of the south aisle until 1995, when they were (wisely) taken down and sent to Rochester Guildhall Museum for safe-keeping (along with a framed description of the two palimpsests written by the Rev. Charles Rae in 1955). They are not on public display but the helpful folk at the museum found them, got them out of storage for me and let me photograph them a few months back…
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| Brass palimpsest from the tomb of John Buttyll (actual size ex frame = 40 x 9 cm)... |
The date of Buttyll’s death was not filled in, suggesting that the brass was prepared beforehand. Both these palimpsests were damaged even at the time of the visit described above, but the full text of each is given in the 2011 Kent Archaeological Society review of the memorials at St. Michaels (and which I used to fill in the blanks in the original account above):
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| The Rev, Rae's description of the two brasses that used to accompany them... |
(19) The John Turner palimpsest...
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| Actual size of the brass itself (without frame) is 28 x 12.5 cm... |
(20) The marble plaque in memory to Thomas Swindon was put up by a grieving father who had lost three young sons. It is now hidden by the organ. The Latin inscription is quoted in full in John Thorpe’s Registrum Roffense of 1769 and translated, reads:
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| Wall monument to the memory of Tobias Swindon... |
This poignant memorial says much about the infant mortality rate at the time.
(21) “Aumbry”: an ecclesiastical word for “cupboard”…
(22) Encaustic tiles are a type of coloured tile where the pattern forms an integral part of the “baked in” fabric of the tile and so cannot be worn off. Such patterned tiles cannot be seen under the chancel rails now.
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| The altar, set for harvest festival in 1958. Note what were perhaps the "encaustic" tiles on the floor, which is now boarded and carpeted over... |
(23) A rood screen is typically a carved wooden screen that separates the chancel from the nave. At St. Michaels, the rood screen was moved and put across the tower arch. The associated loft was lost.
(24) Me neither…
(25) A stoup is a vessel for Holy Water, usually placed by the entrance to a church, often in a small alcove next to a door. It used to be the custom to cleanse your fingers in Holy Water before “crossing yourself”. There is still such an alcove by the north door, now used as a home for the first aid box...
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