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St.Peters Church, Fordcombe
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A BRIEF HISTORY
'A nobleman's very decent chapel. Lord Hardinge paid for the most of it'. Thus does Pevsnet's Guide rather dismissively describe the church dedicated to St.Peter. It was indeed a chapel for 21 years (Hardinge having laid the foundation stone in 1848 on his return from four years as Governer-General of India) but when in 1870 Fordecombe became a separate parish with its own vicar, a church.
It is very much a Hardinge famly church, the 1st Viscount, of Lahore, ( less the hand amputated at Ligny, before the battle of Waterloo) and 22 of his family being buried in the churchyard. The two most prominent tombs are the one in which he lies, almost opposite the porch, and that of a great grandson, Alexander, 2nd Baron Hardinge,of Penshurst (this Barony started in 1910). The latter tombe stands alone between the Lych Gate and the porch and bears the intriguing claim: 'Here lies the body of a man whose constancy saved this realm'. This is explained by the plaque in the church on the south wall which notes that he was Private Secretary to three monarchs: King George V, King Edward VIII, and King George VI, and was therefore at the epicentreof the 1936 Abdication crisis. A further adornment relating to the Hardinge family, hanging on the west wall above the choir robing area, is apair of Hatchments: that on the left of Henry, 1st Viscount Hardinge (1785-1856) and on the right of his daughter-in-law, Lavinia, the 2nd Viscountess (1835-1864), the 3rd Earl of Lucan's daughter.
Other notable persons buried in Fordcombe include Richard Turner, owner of Fordcombe Paper Mill, closed in 1913 (producer of paper for Bank of England notes and also postage stamps), who gave the land for building and churchyard, and Bryant Baker, who became eminent in America, sculpting statues of numerous Americans including Abraham Lincoln and three other presidents.
The building, of local fine sandstone ashlar, is largely unaltered today, though the wing in the north-east corner housing the vestry and organ bay was added in 1883. The organ, 'a very fine example of a village church organ' according to its manufacturer, J.W.Walker & Sons in 1991, was installed at the west end of the church in 1849. Inside, though, the chancel has had the floor raised; the four outer panels of the remarkable mosaic reredos were added to the earlier centrepiece; the prescent east windows, showing Christ surrounded by saints, replaced the originals, and a new altar was installed. All this was in 1906, the architect being G.H.Fellowes Prynne; the donors, the family of George Hanbury Field who died in 1901, created these additions as his memorial. The rood screen, in memory of Charles, 2nd Viscount Hardinge (who died in 1894), was probably earlier, provided by Emily, one of his eight children. They were left motherless when Lavinia, the second Viscountess, died in 1864 aged only 29:her memorial is the Lych Gate. Itis not clear whether the striking and unusual mandorla window high in the east wall, featuring the dove representing the Holy Spirit, is from 1849 or the refenestration of 1906.
Pevsner regretted that the architect for the original building was not known: a writer in the 1990s claims that the builder was H.I.Stevens of Derby. It is known that the architect in 1883 was E.J.Traver. The glazing of the eighth main window is puzzling: the original designs, depicting scenes from St.Peter's life, are not in their intended positions (the two in the recess facing the entrance commemorate Richard Turner and the first incumbent, the Reverend Philip Dodd). Some remain but others have been supplanted by private memorials, two for sons lost in the world wars. The pews, originally required to be ' capable of affording accomodation to 220 persons, in which 200 are to be forever free and unappropriated', no longer afford that number as those at the back of the church have been removed or rearrangedto allow free space, particularly around the font, for varied activities, with stacking chairs available when required. Precisely where the organ was positioned at the west end of the building for 34 years, before removal to its present location near the vestry, is anybody's guess.
The 150th anniversary of the building (covering 14 incumbents, 1750 baptisms, 1350 burials and over 400 marriages) was celebrated with the much needed renewal of the roof, thanks to the Heritage Lottery Fund, Friends of Kent Churches, Historic Churches Preservation and other Trusts and many, many generous individuals. Some of the Westmoreland slates were reusable, but the majority are new. St.Peter's, Fordcombe is therefore ready for the next 150 yearsof use, as intended at its inception in 1847 in 'a humble petition to John Bird, by Devine Providence Lord Archbishop of Canterbury... to make better provision of the spiritual wants of such of the inhabitants as reside at a distance from the existing (Penshurst) church', many of the 'distant 500' of Penshurst's 1500 inhabitants (i.e. Fordcombe)then, as now, 'otherwise precluded from attending DivineWorship'. Of demographic and social interest is the fact that the Electoral Roll of Penshurst (i.e. both villages, but excluding the under-18s) at the turn of the Millennium was 1174. This suggests that the number of souls has probably changed very little in a century and a half, when children are included: only the 2001 Census will produce an accurate total.
JCCS November 2001
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