Former Church Of St Peter

FORMER CHURCH OF ST PETER

This stone rubble building with tiled roof began in the mid-13th century as the chapel of a hospital dedicated to SS Peter and Paul, called the Newark of Maidstone. It was founded by Boniface, Archbishop of Canterbury (1244-1270), for pilgrims crossing the nearby Medway on their way to Canterbury. The original charter is lost, but a confirmation charter exists from 1261. In 1395 the hospital was merged with the new foundation of All Saints, Maidstone, though it apparently retained some independence. At the Dissolution the hospital was sold to Lord Cobham, and the chapel subsequently saw various secular uses.

The church became redundant after the Reformation. In 1836 restoration work began for worship under local architect John Whichcord, Snr., who worked on both secular and ecclesiastical buildings around Maidstone. The building opened in 1837 and was consecrated in 1839, gaining its own parish in 1840. Whichcord carefully dismantled the original 13th-century west wall and re-erected it 40 feet to the west, effectively enlarging the building. Further restoration occurred in 1905 when the north vestry complex was built, and again in 1951. By the late 20th century, as the surrounding area became largely industrial, the church became redundant and was converted to secular use in the early 21st century.

The building comprises a nave and chancel in one, with transepts toward the west, a shallow west porch, and a north vestry with a lean-to addition between it and the north transept. The exterior is in a simple Early English style. Triple lancets with hood moulds appear at the east and west ends and in the transepts, with single lancets elsewhere. The east windows and the first two lancets on the north and south sides are 13th-century; the west windows (reset) are also 13th-century, while the remainder are 19th-century. A trefoiled niche containing a 1923 statue of St Peter appears on the south side. Below it is a 13th-century door with two rich orders—the outer on shafts, the inner continuous. A matching 19th-century door appears on the north side. The kneelers in the transepts have head corbels that may be medieval.

The gabled northeast porch and vestry complex has an east door with a triangular head and a further doorway in the east wall of the projection behind, which features a three-light 19th-century square-headed window in the north gable and a chimney stack with a tall stone shaft on the east wall. The gabled west porch has a moulded doorway on shafts—a 19th-century copy of the 13th-century south door. A small bellcot sits over the west gable.

Internally, the nave and chancel are roofed as one beyond the western transepts. The 13th-century chancel windows have shafted reveals with roll mouldings on attached shafts with moulded capitals. Whichcord's nave largely follows the design of the original 13th-century work, but his lancets are separated by detached shafts of Bethersden marble. A trefoiled arch was inserted in the north wall in 1905 for the organ.

The principal fixtures include mid-13th-century sedilia and piscina in the chancel, heavily restored, with richly moulded trefoiled arches on detached marble shafts with moulded capitals and bases, contemporary with the windows and chancel as a whole. A further 13th-century trefoiled piscina exists further west in the south wall. A tiled reredos depicts the Last Supper. Some 19th and 20th-century glass remains. All other fittings have been removed. Nineteenth-century boarded ceilings run throughout.