The Church of St. Stephen, Lympne

 

The Tower   

(Continued)

In the tower's east wall a central Norman window still appears, on the exterior, above the apex of the chancel roofs ridge.

 

From the nave, we can now see the north-western Norman buttress of the tower which in the twelfth century was an exterior buttress hidden by the nave's north wall; just as the similar buttress on the south is still hidden by the nave's south wall. The pews under the tower were removed and the floor tiled in 1951.

 

The Nave

The nave was originally added to the west tower of the existing Norman Church, possibly towards the end of the twelfth century. A great deal of work was then done to the Church, as has been already said. The Norman door, it is conjectured, was removed from its original position and put in the west wall of the nave. This was taken down when that west wall was entirely rebuilt in 1878-1880.

 

The corbel stones on the south wall of the nave, not now used, indicate that the roof of the original nave, west of the tower, was much lower. This can be seen from the photograph hanging on the pillar near the alms box. The roof was then below the three< blocked windows of the tower, about the height of the apex of the pointed Early English arch of the tower.

 

Plain glass leaded lights were replaced instead of the old cathedral glass after the war.

 

 

North Aisle

In the north aisle's north wall are four lancet windows east of the porch. The stained glass window, overlooking the font of Elizabeth of Hungary, is in memory of a former vicar. Reverend H. B. Biron. The two lancet windows in the east wall were given in memory of the Reverend H. G. Green, also vicar ofLympne. The diamond-, shaped glass in the windows is very old, thirteenth or fourteenth century, and once belonged to Salisbury Cathedral: glass of a similar period was added to make the windows by Mr. Caldwell of Canterbury.

 

The font, the square bowl of which was found beneath floor, and after being repaired was reinstated, is of Purbeck or Bethersden marble. Each face of the bowl is simply divided by lines. It has a new base exactly similar to that which it had originally.

 

The decorated trefoil-arched tomb in the north wall is not of a common type. It is of early date, possibly of the reign of Edward I or Edward II A.D. 1270-1330.

 

There are at least two marble slab tombs on the floor of the north aisle. One is to Henry Bagnall, vicar 1748, and another to Isaac Batchelour, 1681. This latter one, lying against the south wall, is almost worn smooth by the feet of generations of Lympne children attending School in the north aisle. An interesting epitaph was written of him, but too long to record here.  

 

The oak pews were given by the family and friends in memory of the late Mrs. H.B. Green, wife of a former vicar. These were designed and made locally by the Hythe Cabinet Works. The blue carpet and kneelers were provided by the parishioners in 1957.

 

In 1959 the tie beams in the north aisle, which had almost come away from the walls where they had rotted, were bolted with long iron bars and anchored to the nave and north aisle wails, as can be seen. The north wall had also moved outwards owing to pressure from the roof, and this was also repaired, as can be seen from outside the Church.