St Mary, Frittenden
St Mary, Frittenden
St Mary’s is a Grade II* parish church on The Street, Frittenden, Kent, in the Diocese of Canterbury, rebuilt in the mid nineteenth century around a fifteenth-century tower.
- Location
- Frittenden, Kent
- Country
- England
- County
- Kent
- City / town
- Frittenden
- Address
- The Street, Frittenden, Kent, TN17 2DG
- Postcode
- TN17 2DG
- Built
- 1846–48, incorporating C15 tower base; extended 1861 and 1881
- Architect
- R C Hussey
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Canterbury
- Parish
- Frittenden
- Grade
- II*
- Style
- Gothic Revival (Decorated and Geometric)
- Materials
- Wealden sandstone with Caen stone dressings; plain tiled roof
- Grid reference
- TQ 813 409
- Opening hours
- The church is generally open during daylight hours.
- Access
- Accessible toilets in church. Level access to the main areas. Ramp or level access available on request
Overview
Historic England records a church of 1846–48 by R. C. Hussey, incorporating the base of a fifteenth-century tower, extended and restored in 1861 and 1881. The fabric is Wealden sandstone with Caen stone dressings and a plain tiled roof. The plan is chancel with south chapel, nave with aisles, north and south porches, northern vestry and western tower. The lower two stages of the three-stage tower are at least fifteenth century, with offset corner buttresses and a recessed stone spire with lucarnes.
The rest is a nineteenth-century rebuilding of the medieval church, with Decorated fenestration to the nave, Geometric tracery to the chancel, and a north aisle added in 1861. The listing notes a tall, narrow fifteenth-century tower arch, a three-bay south arcade with horseshoe-shaped arches, and a good survival of original nineteenth-century fittings. The parish adds that the rector Edward Moore paid for the rebuild, that the west tower and tall spire were completed in 1881, and that the east window is by Bucknall and Comper (1891). The parish site also records brown Wealden sandstone and Bethersden marble with Caen dressings.