Bell's Cathedrals: The Church of St. Martin, Canterbury: An Illustrated Account of its History and FabricRoutledge, C. F. (Charles Francis)
History
Bell's Cathedrals: The Church of St. Martin, Canterbury: An Illustrated Account of its History and Fabric
Routledge, C. F. (Charles Francis)
St. Martin's Church (Canterbury, England)
On the wall pierced through by the new vestry arch some remains were
discovered of an old fresco, which represents the Crucifixion of our Lord,
with St. John and the Blessed Virgin standing before the Cross. From
the character of the painting (which was copied at the time), we are
inclined to assign it to the fourteenth century.
At the same part of the church, while an opening was made ten years
ago for the organ pipes, we came across some solid oak beams running
horizontally. They are extremely hard, though worm-eaten on the surface:
and resting as they were on the top of the wall (which consisted of eight
feet of Roman brick and six feet of apparently rough Saxon work), at the
height of fourteen feet from the ground, they may have formed portions
of a Saxon roof.
[Illustration: CHRISMATORY (OPEN) SHOWING THE THREE OIL-POTS.]
The floor of the chancel is in part occupied by sepulchral slabs; one
to Sir John Finch (whose monument is described below), which has the
following inscription:--"Here is committed to the Earth, that it may
return to Earth, whatever was mortal of John Finch, Baron Fordwich, of
the ancient and noble family of Eastwell, whom it pleased, in preference
to any epitaph, to have this inscribed on his sepulchral stone, 'Here
lies the most humble servant of the best of Kings.'"
Another is that of Sir Henry Palmer of Howletts, father of thirteen
children, obiit December 10th, 1659. A third of Maria, wife of Edward
Keddell, of the Society of New Inn, London, obiit 1659, ætat: twenty.
The descendants of this Keddell are now flourishing in America. The
latter stone was removed when the new tile pavement was laid down, and
placed in the immediately adjacent wall. It is described in a record of
the last century as having been at that time in the _Nave_.
There are also two brasses, side by side, in a state of perfect
preservation. The one to the south is in memory of Michael Fraunces,
with a Latin inscription: "Here rest beneath this marble the bodies of
Michael Fraunces, gentleman, and of Jane his wife, daughter of William
Quilter, Esquire. The wife died on the 4th, the husband on the 10th,
of January 1587. Their souls are in the enjoyment of heaven." The brass
on the north side contains an effigy, and the following words written
underneath: "Here lyeth Thomas Stoughton, late of Ashe, in the countie
of Kent, gentleman, who _depted_ this life the xii^{th} of June 1591."
Between and around these brasses is a tesselated pavement, not unlike
a Roman pattern. A great part of it is modern, but some portion was
pronounced by Mr Minton's chief workman to be very old, and it is not
impossible that a few of the tiles may date from a pre-Norman period.
[Illustration: Fig. 1. Fig. 2.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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