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St Mary the Virgin, Westwell

St Mary the Virgin, Westwell

The parish church of St Mary, Westwell, is a pilgrim’s church which nestles under the Downs, with duckpond and ancient houses for company.

The core of the church is Early Gothic with alternating round and octagonal piers to its arcade. The tower arch has shafts with vigorous stiff-leaf capitals and corbels with human heads. An ancient wooden ladder leads to the belfry.

But the eye is immediately drawn to the extraordinary stone chancel screen, of two graceful piers supporting three soaring trefoiled arches. This is Gothic art at its most diverting and beautiful. The chancel itself has a stone vault and more arcades north and south. Seen from near the altar, Westwell’s forest of arches is faintly oriental. Not surprisingly, this aerial structure has long been unstable. The south aisle piers tilt alarmingly and require braces and buttresses to hold them up.

The east window is a tall triple lancet of 13th century origin. The glass of the central lancet is a masterpiece of conservation. The top area apparently survived iconoclasm, while the bottom was reconstructed to match the original, from medieval fragments and modern imitation. The result is colourful and admirably deceptive. The sedilia are worthy of their setting, with arm rests and a king’s head, probably of that ‘Decorated’ monarch, Henry the Third. The old choir stalls have crude poppyheads

The Village

Introduction

Westwell is a delightful unspoilt rural village in the Kent Downs Area of Outstanding Natural Beauty at the foot of the Westwell Downs, the highest part of which is called the Beacon after the chain of beacons erected to signal the approach of the Spanish Armada. Westwell was first mentioned in AD 858 in a Saxon document and was included in the Domesday Book. A weekly market was held here under a licence granted by Edward I, there was a park during Edward II’s time and later a vineyard tended by monks (recalled by one of the cottages in the village named ‘Vineyards’).

The centre of the village is a Conservation Area with many mature trees and listed buildings, including Court Lodge (the oldest part of which is said to be connected to an ancient monastery or the church), Swinford Cottage, Periton Court and The Mill House (with its water wheel still in working order). Among many other buildings of interest in the parish are Ripple Court (where it is alleged that Jack Cade was captured and used to house the local dungeons) and The Haven - pronounced ‘harven’ - a Tudor residence where Elizabeth I is believed to have spent one night.

The inn sign ‘The Wheel’ has one spoke which was painted green by the New Zealand Army during the Second World War, the remainder being white.

Westwell is close to major routes to Canterbury and London. The Pilgrims’ Way runs close to the village on the Downs and was travelled by pilgrims on their way to Canterbury and now the M20 and Channel Tunnel Rail Link pass through the parish.

Facilities

• Anglican (Parish) Church
• public house
• recreation ground with children’s play area
• riding school
• village hall
• www.ashford.gov.uk
• www.kentarchaeology.org.uk (for monumental inscriptions in the churchyard)
• www.westwellpc.kentparishes.gov.uk

Organisations

• Church groups
• dance socials
• gardening club
• keep fit
• Westwell Players
• WI

Population

According to the 2001 census, the number of people in Westwell was as follows: