THE DOVER EXPRESS AND EAST KENT NEWS—FRIDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1901

XXII.—BARFRESTON

Both, the village and parish of Barfreston are small, the population is small, and so is the Church; but the beauty of Barfresbon Church has secured it a nitch in the temple of fame, and for many centuries it has had she reputation of being one of the gems of Kentish Church architecture.

Barfreston, Past and Present.

Barfreston is a place that has seen few changes, social or physical. Some parts of East Kent are rugged, the face of nature showing evidence that disruptions or upheavals have occurred, but at Barfreston the land is marked by gentle undulations, the vales clothed with verdure, and the uplands crested with venerable woods. Situated about eight miles from Dover, this village lies to the north of the railway, about 1½ miles from Shepherdswell station, and about the same distance from Eythorne, the Rectory, the Court, some of the cottages, and the modern Schools, being in the bottom of the valley, while the Church, and the other portion of the dwellings, including the Yew Tree Inn, the General Shop, kept by Mr. Seath, and an ancient Manor House, are on the pleasant slope towards Fredville. Turning for a moment to ancient times, Barfreston of the Saxon days was a place of very small importance. In the time of Edward the Confessor, the lands were held by Eddid, and were valued at forty shillings, and at the time of the Conquest this parish was entered as a part of the vast estates of the Bishop of Baieux, and made up of two yoke lands, one of which was rated to the filing’s tax to which a poor woman who possessed them paid the sum of three-pence farthing. On the disgrace of the Bishop, proprietor in the year 1081, these lands, consisting of the two manors of Barfreston and Hartanger, were assigned to Hugh de Pert, and to Fitz-Adam, respectively, in payment for their services in the defence of Dover Castle, and after many changes during the course of centuries, one portion of the lands were bequeathed to the governors of Bethleham Hospital, and the other passed to the Plumtre's of Fredville, and these two are still the principal landowners, while the benefice, formerly appendant to the Manor of Barfreston, is now in the gift of St. John’s College, Oxford. The population of this village has never been much more than a hundred. In the year 1801, the inhabitants were returned as 59. Thirty years later they numbered 114, and in 1841 there were 25 houses, and 125 inhabitants. In 1891, the population was 104, and the number is still about the same. The smallness of this village arises from the absence of industries that would afford employment to the labouring classes, while remoteness from main roads and railways prevents its becoming a residential place, for which, by its salubrity, it is admirably adapted. Instances of longevity, says a Kentish historian, are frequent. For instance, in the year 1700 the minister of the parish died at the age of 96; the minister who preached his funeral sermon was 82, the reader of the service was 87, the parish clerk the same age, the sexton was 80, his wife about 80, while several who attended the service from the neighbouring parish of Coldred, were over 100 years old. In the year 1722, when the population did not number fifty, there were nine persons amongst them whose united ages amounted to 636. Long life still seems to be the lot of the people in this happy village. To mention only one modern instance, the Rev. E. T. Austen, the Rector, took the cure of souls here in the year 1854, is still the village Pastor, revered by a people amongst whom he has spent nearly half a century. The principal residence is Barfreston Court, occupied by Mrs. Spanton. There is an elementary school in the village, and also a room used as a place of worship by the Baptists. At present there is no postal convenience except a wall letter box, but letters arrive from Dover through Eythorne at 7.45 a-m., and 6.30 p.m., daily. The nearest Money Order and Telegraph Office is at Shepherdswell. As before intimated, the chief feature of Barfreston is its Church, and to that we will now devote special attention.

History of Barfreston Church.

This beautiful, unique and ancient Church, is, by some, styled Anglo-Saxon, but Mr. John Britton, F.S.A., the learned author of the Architectural Antiquities of Great Brita in, who has embellished one of his volumes with very fine engravings of this Church as a whole, and also several of the principal parts of it, has promulgated the opinion that it is entirely of Norman origin, the founding of it being attributed either to Hugh de Port, or Fitz-Adams, or both, they having been in possession of the Barfreston and Hartanger Manors in this parish some twenty years after the Conquest. Cogent reasons are advanced for this opinion, but rather than go into those, it will be more of interest to the general reader to give a description of the building. It stands on a plateau levelled out of rising ground that slopes towards the north-west. Looked at from the roadway below, a good view is obtained of the eastern elevation, and passing up the road abreast of it a full view is obtained of the south side, those two external parts displaying the wonderful prodigality of ornamentation, which the ancient builders have lavished on this little village shrine.

Exterior of the Church.

The east end, externally, is peculiarly ornate. With an equal amount of skill and labour spent in another way, probably something more graceful might have been produced but it would have been hardly possible to lead a small gable end with a greater profusion of the sculptors’ art. The east end elevation presents three distinct and dissimilar parts. At the top there is a bold block-cornice with a sculptured frieze of foliated work. In the centre of the pediment is a circular window, divided into eight glazed portions, and round the whole is a sculptured band of heads, interspersed with animals and flowers. On each side of the circular window the blank face of the wall is relieved with various pieces of sculpture emblematical in character, and sunk in little nitches. The second, or middle portion of the eastern exterior, shows four small arched recesses between which, on the same level are three narrow windows, with semi-circular tops. The lower portion beneath these windows and recesses are two large recessess, presumably intended as approaches to vaults underneath the chancel, the family vaults, it has been surmised, of the de Port’s and the Fitz-Adams, the original owners of the Manors. The gable is further embellished with string and frieze elaborately ornamented. Turning to the south side, the most striking feature is the grand doorway, over which is a tier of windows and blank niches, a string course parallel with the spring of the arches above the cornice supporting the eaves rests on numerous carved heads, some fine representations of dignified faces while others are grotesque. There is a very handsome headed door in the south wall of the chancel, with windows and blank niches and other ornamentations, corresponding with those of the nave, only on a lower level. The north side of the Church is treated in a similar manner, and there is a north door (built up) to the nave opposite the south door, but not so ornamental. On the south exterior wall of the chancel is a piece of mutilated sculpture, the composition of which it is not easy to satisfactorily determine but it is suggested that it was a representation of the Crucifixion defaced. That which constitutes the greatest interest at Barfreston Church is the south portal. In every point of view it is elaborate and sumptuous, and would form an index to the ideas of the ancient builders if it were possible to arrive at a full explanation of the sculptured figures. Round this doorway much controversy is raged, some professing to find it in evidence that Barfreston was one of the lesser parish churches, built during the time of Archbishop Theodore (A.D. 668) while others contend, and we think with more reason, that this door was the handiwork of Norman masons in the period when Archbishop Lanfranc or Anselsm ruled the Church at Canterbury. But this controversy as to the date has not been able to destroy the unanimity of admiration for the beautiful work that occupies the semi-circular space above the transome. The central figure is Christ, represented as being enthroned within a cloud, the right hand is elevated, and the left is placed on an open book. Thus seated in majesty, and supported by angels the figure is surrounded by foliage. Above, in the outward circuit of the architrane, is a figure, by some supposed to be an Archbishop, while others regard it as the usual representation in the Ancient of Days, the first person in the Trinity. To support this theory search has been made for something in the work emblematical of the third person in the Trinity, and the supposition is that that part of the work has been removed. In addition to the foregoing principal figuration the outer and inner circuits above the architecture are divided by circular foliage borders, into twenty six compartments, in which are figures in various actions pertaining to war, the chase, or domestic life. Some of these figures are very grotesque, and might have supplied the original ideas for the illustrations of Alice in Wonderland. In one case a hare is presenting a cup of wine to a pheasant, and in another two dogs are engaged in a flagon of liquor; and there are in the interstices above the transome, some portraits, supposed to represent the patrons and builders of the Church. On the capital, on the right hand side of this south door, is a military figure on horseback, with lance and buckler.

The Interior.

On entering the Church, the first thing that strikes one is its extreme smallness, but that idea is soon eclipsed by a feeling of admiration for the exquisite beauty of this architectural gem. Naturally, attention is first directed to the small chancel, which is approached by a very beautiful arch richly moulded, through which are seen three pretty round beaded narrow windows over the altar, with the circular one above. The mural ornamentation in the chancel, is partially of classic design, and is relieved upon to prove the work to be more ancient than of the Norman period, but the fact that there are many eccentricities, the details of the ornamentation is not proof of greater antiquity not usually found in Norman Churches. There are two small square closets in the walls on the north and south sides of the altar described as aumbry or hatches. Turning next to the chancel arch and the two recesses on either side of it, the arch itself is supported by a pillar on each side, and these are ornamented with an angular fret, or wreathing, and with capitals derived from the Corinthian order. These capitals have a double tier of leaves distinctly and gracefully formed; the mouldings of the abacus being handsomely profiled, and above is borne a running cornice. This closeness in approach to a classic order is the most perfect of the many references to the antique discovered in the early Norman work in this country, but is not considered to demonstrate a higher antiquity than that already assigned to this building. The recesses at the top of the nave on each side of the chancel arch are the subject of speculation. Some suppose them to have been intended for sub-altars, but the more probable explanation is that these recesses screened on either side formed the special seats of the lords of the two Manors of the parish, there having been originally partial openings through which a view of the chancel and altar could be obtained, although now the openings are built up. As to the nave, the windows are all of the same style as those of the chancel. The church has twelve original windows, which are uniform, and there is an irregular western window, which is larger than any of the others, and has a mullion in the centre, and must have been inserted at a later date.

Modern Restorations.

The Church at Barfreston was thoroughly restored in the year 1840 by public subscriptions amounting to £800, but that was directed more especially for the restoration of the ancient sculpture, the erection of a stone altar, and it left work for the future. A few years ago the roof was found to be in a ruinous condition, in fact, open to the sky, but a thorough restoration has been effected, and this unique church emerging from the hand of the restorer last autumn is now in every respect perfect except that the stone pulpit so long desired is still wanting. At present the prayers are read and the sermon preached from a low desk within the chancel, and subscriptions are now being raised for the stone pulpit, which will probably take the form of a lectern, and will stand just outside the chancel arch. It will be observed that the church has no tower, spire, or bell cote. There is a bell rope hanging against the west wall inside the church, and this, passing through an opening in the wall, is conducted by a tube to a bell cot fixed in an old yew at the west of the church. This is probably the most curious thing about this unique church—the bell being hung on a tree in the Churchyard. It would be appropriate and desirable to have a stone bell cot on the open of the roof at the west end; it would add to the appearance of the church, which in spite of its adornments has an unfinished appearance at the west end. This church is in the summer months much visited by tourists and lovers of the antique, and if each visitor would drop a coin in the box provided for that purpose in the church the proposed stone pulpit and the bell cote might be added to this interesting edifice.