Church of St Mary is a Grade I listed building in the Tunbridge Wells local planning authority area, England. First listed on 20 October 1954. A Medieval Church.
Church of St Mary
- WRENN ID
- slow-spandrel-shade
- Grade
- I
- Local Planning Authority
- Tunbridge Wells
- Constituency
- Tunbridge Wells MP: Mike Martin (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 20 October 1954
- Type
- Church
- Period
- Medieval
- Address
- Church of St Mary, Church Lane, Lamberhurst
- OS grid reference
- TQ 682 365
- Coordinates
- 51.10384, 0.40124
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Church of St Mary is a parish church largely dating to the 12th century, with extensions from the 13th, 14th, and 15th centuries. It was restored around 1870 under the direction of Ewan Christian, with involvement from Edward Hussey. The church is constructed of rubble sandstone with plain tiled roofs. It comprises a chancel, nave, south aisle, a south-western tower, and a south porch. The sections are separately roofed.
The nave has offset corner buttresses and 2-light quatrefoil windows from the 14th century, except for the 5-light Perpendicular west window. The two-stage tower has offset corner buttresses, battlements, a recessed shingled spire, and a south-western stair turret. The south porch has angle buttresses and a restored square-headed door surround with quatrefoil spandrel enrichment and a roll-moulded doorway, featuring anchor ties seemingly lettered A I I. A crown post roof is inside the porch. The chancel and chapel have windows similar to the nave, with a lancet window in the north wall, a reticulated chapel east window, and a Perpendicular style chancel east window.
Internally, the nave has a four-bay 14th-century arcade with double chamfered arches resting on octagonal piers, along with a similar tower arch and chancel and chapel arches. Crown post roofs are present. A later 14th-century three-bay chancel arcade exists, with the eastern arch set lower, and remnants of a lower 13th-century arch and associated evidence gathered during the 1870s restoration indicating that the chancel previously extended further east and downslope. Encaustic tiles from the 14th century are found in the south chapel. A piscina and sedilia are incorporated into the chancel arcade. A three-tier pulpit, dated 1630, features a tester and unusually rich arcaded enrichment, with the lower tiers comprising 19th-century panelling from both old and reproduction materials. The Royal Arms of Queen Anne are positioned above the south door and were originally part of an 18th-century reredos, enriched with urns and putti in clouds. Numerous wall monuments are present, notably a black and white aedicule to Richard Thomas, who died in 1657, and a series of marble plaques dedicated to the Hussey family in the south (Scotney) chapel, including those commemorating Edward Hussey, who died in 1894, and Christopher Hussey, who died in 1970.
Local climate
Church of St Mary receives an average of 750 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 72% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is greater than that of 56% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 29 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 68% of listed buildings. Of these, 13 follow at least 1 mm of rain in the preceding 48 hours. Average temperatures at this location have risen by 0.3°C per decade since 1991.
Averages for 1991–2020; temperature trend 1991–2025. Figures describe the wider area (a grid cell of roughly 10 km), not the individual site. Contains modified Copernicus Climate Change Service information 2026.
More on this building
Sign in or create a free account to unlock:
- No EPC on record for this property
- No sale records on file
- No related consent applications matched
- Detailed attributes — period, style, materials, features
- Flood risk assessment
- Radon risk assessment
- Weather exposure and heating demand — rain and frost month by month and year by year, wind direction, solar and humidity
Matched applications, energy data and sale records are assembled automatically and may contain errors. Flag incorrect data.
Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings