Group of 5 C18 Headstones Approximately 11 Metres South of the Tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin is a Grade II listed building in the Tunbridge Wells local planning authority area, England. First listed on 24 August 1990. Headstones.
Group of 5 C18 Headstones Approximately 11 Metres South of the Tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin
- WRENN ID
- sunken-facade-onyx
- Grade
- II
- Local Planning Authority
- Tunbridge Wells
- Constituency
- Tunbridge Wells MP: Mike Martin (LD)
- Country
- England
- Date first listed
- 24 August 1990
- Type
- Headstones
- OS grid reference
- TQ 553 414
- Coordinates
- 51.15081, 0.21964
- Source
- Historic England listing
Description
This is a group of five 18th-century headstones located approximately 11 meters south of the tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin. The headstones date from 1711 to 1782 and are made of upright sandstone slabs, ranging in height from 400 millimeters to 1.3 meters. Each headstone features curvilinear shaped heads, with some being double-headed.
Two of the headstones commemorate members of the Wagon family. The smallest headstone has a moulded frame, and its head is inscribed with an hourglass among scrolls. The inscription, written in somewhat calligraphic Roman serif upper and lower case lettering, records the death of 16-year-old Samuel Wagon in 1711. Another double-headed headstone is carved with profiled busts of Roman emperors in front of crossed trumpets. It has a sunken panel below, framed and inscribed in Roman serif upper and lower case lettering, commemorating another Samuel Wagon who died in 1738.
Nearby, there is a similar double-headed headstone in memory of George Morley, who died in 1740. Another single-headed stone features a sunken front panel with the head carved with crossed arrows, commemorating William Martin, who died in 1737. The latest headstone in the group has a head carved with a winged cherub and crossed trumpet and torch. The first word of its inscription is in ornate Gothic lettering, while the rest is in Roman serif upper and lower case lettering, recording the death of John Jenner in 1782 and including an obituary poem.
Local climate
Group of 5 C18 Headstones Approximately 11 Metres South of the Tower of the Church of St Mary the Virgin 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
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.
- 1 Scattered Group of 4 C18 Headstones Between 6-18 Metres East of the Chancel of the Church of St Mary the Virgin
- 2 Scott, Harrison, Carwick and 3 Other Headstones Against West Wall of Church of St Mary
- 3 10 Limestone Headstones Between 6 and 15m West of Church of St Mary
- 4 Headstones in Churchyard of Church of All Saints, South of Tower West of South Porch
- 5 Group of 6 Headstones About 5-10 Metres West of Church of St Peter and St Paul
this building 1 similar nearby listed buildings
Nearby listed buildings
- Lychgate to Churchyard of the Church of St Mary the Virgin
- Old Place
- The Rectory Including Front Boundary Wall
- Revettment Wall on North East and South East Sides of the Churchyard
- Church of St Mary the Virgin
- Coombin Headstone Adjacent North Wall of the Aisle of the Church of St Mary the Virgin
- The George and Dragon
- Pair of Coyte Headstones Adjacent East Wall of the Chancel of the Church of St Mary the Virgin
- The Cottage
- Walls, Gate Piers and Gates at the Entrance to the Manor