Listed Building record TQ 54 SE 40 - DARNLEY CHEST TOMB ABOUT 3 METRES NORTH OF THE VESTRY OF THE CHURCH OF ST LAWRENCE

Summary

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1783 to 1956

Location

Grid reference TQ 5651 4321 (point)
Map sheet TQ54SE
District TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT
Civil Parish BIDBOROUGH, TUNBRIDGE WELLS, KENT

Map

Type and Period (1)

Full Description

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TQ 56 43 BIDBOROUGH HIGH STREET (east side)
11/8 Darnley chest tomb about 3m north of the vestry of the Church of St Lawrence
GV II
Chest tomb. Circa 1803, by Sir Richard Westmacott (Pevsner, 2nd edn., 1976), restored in 1956 (Skinner). Portland stone.
An elegant sarcophagus raised on stone blocks, the chest with shallow diagonal reeding and a moulded lid. Scrolls decorate each end of the lid with, in the centre of each scroll, a finely carved life-size putto head with wings carved back over the chest and meeting tip to tip. Rectangular inscription panels on the long sides of the sarcophagus, roundels at each end. The main inscription commemorates Mary, Countess of Darnley, died 1803. The Dowager Countess of Darnley lived at Great Bounds (demolished) in Bidborough parish from 1790 until her death. She paid for a west gallery in the church "for the use of the children of the Sunday School", which survived until the addition of the south aisle in 1876.
A very high quality churchyard monument.
Newman, John. West Kent and the Weald. Buildings of England series (1976 edn.).
Skinner, F.A., Bidborough, a Parish History (1986 edn.).
Listing NGR: TQ5652043213


English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources/Archives (1)

  • --- Map: English Heritage. List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest.

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Record last edited

Feb 19 2008 12:26PM