St Michael's

N and S aisles added in the C12

The S chapel and nave clerestory were built in the early C13, and the chancel and N aisle rebuilt c.1340

The demolished W tower was probably C13 in origin, remodelled in the late C15 or early C16

MATERIALS: Flint and Roman brick with stone dressings

In the N chancel wall is a heavily restored C13 lancet, visible above the low NE vestry

The chancel S wall has a C14 and a C15 window, the C14 window with a contemporary external tomb recess below it

The chapel E wall has two tall round-headed C13 windows with a circular, possibly C17, window between them

Above the windows, the chapel E gable is tile-hung

There is another similar, but shorter C13 lancet in the chapel S wall, flanked by two C15 windows

The C19 S porch is distinguished by a cross gable and has an outer opening in a C13 style

The inner opening is C13 and has two continuous chamfered orders

it is set within the blocking on one of the C12 S arcade arches

The Roman brick quoining of the former NE corner of the nave is visible in the E wall of the N aisle above the NE vestry

The nave clerestory is C13 and has six windows on each side, originally all lancets, but three on the N were replaced with two-light openings with square heads in the C15

The E window of the N aisle is probably C12, and has a round head

There are four N windows, three of the C15, the other mid C14 with delicate and unusual flowing tracery

The chancel arch is of two chamfered orders dying into the wall with no responds, probably late C14

A C11 door with Roman brick jambs in the chancel N wall, formerly blocked, was reopened in 1938 to provide access to the NE vestry

Also in the N wall of the chancel near the altar is an early C17 arched recess, probably created from a former window, for the tomb of Sir Francis Bacon, d.1626

The E respond is very long and has a small C15 door to the N aisle

Only the easternmost bay is fully intact and now opens to the C13 S chapel

The second was underbuilt in the C13 and has a smaller, C13 arch, rebated for a door, to the S chapel

The third bay was also underbuilt in the C13, when an opening, now a doorway opening to the S porch was inserted, and the fourth is blocked except for a C19 door to the vestry

Above the arcades on either side are the remains of blocked pre-Conquest windows with round heads and jambs in Roman brick, and above those, the clerestory

There is a C15 rood stair at junction between the S chapel and the chancel

In the S chapel the C13 windows have attached shafts on the jambs

PRINCIPAL FIXTURES: Two C15 piscinas, one in the chancel the other in the S chapel

C15 octagonal font with quatrefoils on the bowl

Part of a late C15 timber tympanum, with part of a Doom painting showing the newly awakened dead rising from their coffins

Late C15 or early C16 linenfold panelling is worked into the fronts of the C19 nave benches

C15 S door with original wrought iron strapwork hinges

Am imposing, heavily carved late Elizabethan or early Jacobean hexagonal pulpit, complete with its tester, bookboard and hourglass

Royal arms of 1660

Some C19 and C20 glass

Late C15 nave roof, low-pitched with moulded wall plates, short curved braces and beams on carved stone corbels

The S chapel roof is of uncertain, possibly C17, date and is very plain with posts on wooden corbels, plain crown posts and queen struts

Monuments: Several very good brasses, including John Pecock and his wife, c.1330

a C14 floriated cross with a figure of a civilian, the inscription lost

Of greatest note is the widely known monument to Sir Francis Bacon, Lord Chancellor, d.1626, an excellent, life-sized seated figure in a relaxed pose (of Dean Boys, Canterbury Cathedral) said in the inscription to represent him sitting in life, within a wall recess

A number of C17 and C18 ledger slabs in the floor, and outside, a very fine C14 ogee cusped tomb recess on outside of chancel S wall, with a coffin lid, probably not related, set within it

The extensive use of Roman brick and the simple character of the early work at St Michael¿s point to an early origin for the building, although the walls are unusually thick for an Anglo-Saxon church, and it is possible that the present building is a rebuilding of the late C11

It was greatly extended in the late C12 with the addition of N and S aisles, and in early C13 when a clerestory and SE Lady chapel were built

The former W tower was probably also C13 in origin, and had an embattled parapet and a polygonal SE stair turret taller than the tower

It was unbuttressed, but had substantial projections up to the level of the nave roof to N and S. The W window was probably early C16 and had a depressed head and three cusped lights

The late C15 or early C16 bell openings were of paired, cinque-foiled lights in a square surround

Although usually dated to the C15, during its demolition in 1896, remains of an older tower are said to have been discovered within it, and it may have been C13 in origin

Structural concerns about the stability of the S aisle led to the S arcade being partially underbuilt in the C13

Work in the C14 included enlarging the chancel arch, presumably originally only a small, narrow arch

In the C15, a number of anchorites (hermits) were associated with the church

There was significant work to the church in the C15, including the installation of a new rood screen, from which the rood stair survives, with an associated doom, that also survives in part

Other work included new windows, a new nave roof, and the installation of new furnishings including the font

The church was refurnished in the late C16 or early C17, and the pulpit and altar table are of this period

The SE chapel E wall may have been rebuilt in the early C17

A W gallery, removed during the restorations by Scott in 1866, apparently dated to the late C17