Darnley Chest Tomb About 3 Metres North of the Vestry of the Church of St Lawrence is a Grade II listed building in the Tunbridge Wells local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 August 1990. Chest tomb.
Darnley Chest Tomb About 3 Metres North of the Vestry of the Church of St Lawrence
- WRENN ID
- frozen-plinth-soot
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Tunbridge Wells
- Constituency
- Tunbridge Wells MP: Mike Martin (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 August 1990
- Type
- Chest tomb
- OS grid reference
- TQ 565 432
- Coordinates
- 51.16675, 0.23733
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
The Darnley chest tomb, located about 3 meters north of the vestry of the Church of St Lawrence, is a chest tomb dating from around 1803, designed by Sir Richard Westmacott. It was restored in 1956. Made of Portland stone, the tomb features an elegant sarcophagus raised on stone blocks. The chest has shallow diagonal reeding and a moulded lid, with scrolls decorating each end. Each scroll contains a finely carved life-size putto head with wings that meet tip to tip over the chest. There are rectangular inscription panels on the long sides of the sarcophagus and roundels at each end. The main inscription commemorates Mary, Countess of Darnley, who died in 1803. The Dowager Countess lived at Great Bounds in Bidborough parish from 1790 until her death and funded a west gallery in the church for the use of Sunday School children, which remained until the south aisle was added in 1876. This tomb is considered a very high-quality churchyard monument.
Local climate
Darnley Chest Tomb About 3 Metres North of the Vestry of the Church of St Lawrence receives an average of 760 mm of rain a year. This makes it drier than 68% of listed buildings in the UK. Its exposure to wind-driven rain is lower than that of 57% of listed buildings.
It experiences an average of 32 freeze-thaw cycles a year, fewer than 57% of listed buildings. Of these, 15 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
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- 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
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Similar buildings
The closest matches to this building from all 493,000 UK listed buildings, by architecture, period and materials.
- 1 Three Monuments in the Churchyard Circa 10-13 Metres West of West Tower to the Church of St Mary
- 2 Two Chest Tombs Approximately 7 Metres South of Chancel of Church of St Mary
- 3 Carnell chest tomb approximately 3.5 metres north of the organ loft of the Church of St Mary
- 4 Group of 9 Chest Tombs Approximately 20-30 Metres South West of South Transept of Church of St Mary
- 5 Dowdewell Monument, About 3m South East of Mary Butt Monument in Churchyard of Church of St Nicholas
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Nearby listed buildings
- Parish Church of St Lawrence
- Prendergast and De Roll Chest Tombs Immediately West of the Porch of the Church of St Lawrence
- Bakers Cottage
- 6, High Street
- 9, High Street
- Nos 1, 2 and 3 Rock Cottages Including Garden Wall to the West
- School House and the Old School
- North West Lychgate to the Church of St Lawrence
- Sycamore Cottages
- The Chalet