Church Of St Mary Magdalene

Church of St Mary Magdalene, Cowden

This is a small parish church with a 13th-century nave and a chancel dating from the late 13th or early 14th century. The south porch, bell turret, spire and roofs were added in the 15th century. A north aisle was built in 1838 to designs by H Whichord, and was rebuilt with a northeast vestry added in 1884 to designs by W O Milne. The church has undergone some 20th-century repairs.

The church is constructed from coursed stone rubble with some square stone; remains of external render survive in places. The roofs are tiled except for the west bay of the nave, bell turret and spire, which are shingled.

The plan consists of a nave with a shorter north aisle, a south porch, a timber bell turret on a frame within the west bay of the nave, a chancel and a northeast vestry.

Externally, the church is notable for its very tall, shingled bell turret and broach spire rising over the west end, which is notably crooked. The east window is a three-light window of 19th-century date with Decorated-style tracery. The chancel north wall contains a two-light 14th-century window with a square head. In the chancel south wall are three windows: one 14th-century with a cusped head and traces of former tracery, and two 15th-century windows reset in their present positions in the 19th century. The nave south wall has 14th-century two-light windows on either side of the porch, and a 13th-century trefoiled lancet towards the west end. A similar lancet appears on the north side to the west of the aisle. The south porch is of late 15th or early 16th-century date, with a coped gable, a two-light window above the outer doorway and two-light windows in the side walls. The nave west window is Perpendicular with three lights and vertical tracery; the west door is also 15th century. A quatrefoil of around 1300 is positioned off-centre in the nave west gable. The bell turret straddles the nave gable at the west end, its shingle covering carried onto the roof at the west end of the nave; the remainder of the nave roof to the east is tiled. It has small square louvered openings and a tall broach spire, also shingled. The 19th-century north aisle has a trefoiled lancet in its west wall, and in its north wall two square-headed windows (one of 1838 reset, the other of 1884 to match) and another window with a triangular head and cusped lights, also reset. There is a chimney in the aisle east gable, and the northeast vestry of 1884 has a small projecting porch and a Decorated-style east window.

Interior

The interior is plastered and painted. The view from the chancel looking west towards the bell turret frame is particularly impressive. There is no chancel arch; instead, the division between nave and chancel is marked by a narrowing of the chancel and by the reduction in both height and width of the chancel roof compared to that of the nave. The east window has a roll-moulded rerearch with internal shafts and a hood mould, probably of late 13th or early 14th-century date. The two-bay chancel roof is probably 15th century and has a tie beam and a moulded wall plate with lively rustic carvings including two green men. It is ceiled in a canted shape. The 15th-century nave roof has tall crown posts with moulded capitals and bases and moulded wall plates. It is also ceiled in a canted shape with braces. A four-bay north arcade of 1884 in late 13th-century style has round piers with moulded capitals and roll-moulded arches; this arcade replaces iron columns of 1838. A 19th-century arch from the aisle to the northeast vestry and organ chamber has chamfers dying into the wall. The bell turret is supported on a massive frame at the west end of the nave, dendrochronologically dated to the mid-15th century. It has large posts with arched braces to massive tie beams and two further sets of diagonal braces to additional upper tie beams. Evidence of repairs exists, including those of 1954 and 2001.

Principal Fixtures

A 15th-century piscina with a nodding ogee arch occupies the chancel, with two additional piscinas further west in the north and south walls of the chancel for altars formerly set against the now-lost rood screen. The font is 15th-century in style, polygonal with quatrefoils with fleurons on the bowl, though much recut in the 19th century. A very fine timber pulpit dated 1628 is of wine-glass form, with a slender stem and a polygonal drum. The drum has panelling with heavily rusticated classicising arches. It retains its back plate (inscribed with the date) and a hexagonal sounding board with a large finial. The hourglass was stolen in 1972, but its stand remains. The communion rails have turned balusters, some possibly of 17th-century origin. The chancel reredos of 1936 has blind traceried panelling. 19th-century creed and commandment boards are present, along with an 18th-century benefaction board and Royal Arms.

The east window contains seven small grisaille panels of around 1620, based on engravings by Lucas van Leyden. Some good 20th-century glass also survives, including the south window of 1947 by W Warren Wilson.

In the chancel is a cast-iron slab to John Bottinge (died 1622), reflecting Cowden's importance in the Wealden ironworking industry.

History

The earliest fabric is the 13th-century nave. The chancel was added or rebuilt in the 14th century. Both nave and chancel roofs were probably renewed in the 15th century, perhaps at the same time that the bell turret was added and the chancel arch removed. The south porch is also 15th-century in origin. The church was at least partly refurnished in the 1620s. The ceilings were installed and other repairs carried out in 1742 using a large sum of money found in the possession of Joan Wickenden, who had received poor relief from the parish for 40 years. The north aisle was added in 1838 to designs by John Whichcord (1790–1860), an architect who worked extensively in Kent on churches and many other types of buildings. The church also had a west gallery at that date. Whichcord's aisle had cast-iron columns, which were removed and replaced with the present arcade in 1884 during a restoration by W O Milne (1847–1927). The spire was damaged during the Second World War and subsequently repaired, and further repairs to the church were carried out in the 20th and early 21st centuries.

Some 18th-century slabs survive in the churchyard.