St George's Church

 

Tower, Bells and Clock 

 

St. George's is a generously proportioned late 13th century church with a 15th century tower and porch.  It is a Grade I listed building.  The Church dominates the village square at the centre of Wrotham, a village of just under 800 households and some 2,500 inhabitants, lying on the Pilgrims Way.  St. George’s is the only place of worship in the village.  It is the second church to be built on the site – the first dating back to the middle of the 10th century - and has always been dedicated to St George, which was relatively rare at the time of its consecration. 

 

The Tower

 

The 15th century tower appears to dominate the whole village, rising as it does almost directly from the road.  The tower has angled buttresses and a NE stair turret. It has a passage through the base of the tower, unique to Kent and relatively rare in England, with three bay rib vaulting.  The passage was probably made to allow the annual Corpus Christi procession around the Church without needing to go outside consecrated ground, as the tower forms part of the western boundary of the churchyard.  On the west side of the passage there is a large piece of sandstone with curious marks.  These were probably made by archers sharpening their arrows on the stone on their way to the butts for archery practice.  Alternatively they may be remnants of crosses which were often incised on external walls or perhaps wear from pilgrims marking what might have been a holy stone with the sign of the cross.

 

The Bells

 

The peal of eight bells is reputed to be one of the best in Kent.  The number at one time was six, but increased to eight in the mid 18th century. 

It is recorded that at a Vestry meeting in 1754, when repairs were being made to the tower, that "the six bells be taken down and carried to some foundry or other proper place and there melted down or cast into a complete peal of eight, with such additions of new metal as may be required.” These eight were again recast in time for the coronation of King George V in 1911.

 

 

 

The Clock & Carillon

The conservation report from the Cumbria Clock Company says that the clock "said to be manufactured circa 1614, could possibely be by one of the apprentices of the very important clockmaker, Leonard Tennant of London." It is still in excellent mechanical order.

 

It has a carillon (repeater) and is capable of playing one of five selectable tunes at selected hours.  The tunes were originally all hymns but in 1754 a popular song of the time "The Captain with his whiskers, took a sly glance at me." was substituted for one of the hymns.  In 1968 the clock winding mechanism was "improved" so that it could be wound by electric motors rather than hand winding which had to be carried out daily.  This was done without making any alteration to the clock mechanism.