For the Love of the British Isles: WINGHAM

Although Wingham suffers from having the A257 Canterbury to Sandwich road running right through it, Wingham is still a very attractive village, where the High Street is lined with buildings from all eras, from early Tudor to Georgian.

The old fire station

The Dog Inn. Most of the Dog Inn dates from the early 13th century and until early 1500, together with its neighbouring houses, it is believed to have been part of Archbishop Peckham's foundation for a Rector and six Canons, the Canonical College of 1286. The local court was held at the "Dog" from 1705 for nearly 200 years. One volume of the court proceedings is still retained within the inn.

It may have been an inn since 1549. It takes its name from the dog on the coat-of-arms of the Oxenden family, great benefactors to Wingham, and especially St Mary's Church.

In one of the bedrooms there is a portrait of the lady of the house, which was painted in the 17th century by an itinerant artist.

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The Dog Inn

The Old Ship residence now, formerly the Ship Inn. This is one of Wingham's few surviving thatched buildings and is a continuous jetty house of about 1600. It was granted a Grade II listing on 13 October 1953.

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Ship Inn

The Old Canonry.

Canon Row and the Old Canonry belong to the 13^th. Century. Shortly after 1280AD Archbishop Peckham of Canterbury established a college of priests at Wingham, with a provost and six canons. From 1286 the priests lived in the attractive timber-framed house opposite St Mary's church. The college accounts for the size of the church, which seems enormous considering the present size of Wingham itself.

St. Mary’s church.

The porch is curious in that there are two stories externally, but internally only one.

By the early 16th century, the nave was in poor condition. A local brewer named George Ffogarde of Canterbury was granted a license to raise money for its repair. Having a considerable sum of money for church repair, the unscrupulous brewer absconded with the funds, embezzling £224, a huge sum for the time. The missing funds may explain why the nave was rebuilt using cheaper timber posts to support the arcades, rather than more costly stone.

The octagonal timber posts are of chestnut wood, topped by a crown-post timber roof. Sometime before the mid-19th century the timbers were encased in plaster to resemble Doric columns, but thankfully the plaster has been stripped off and we can appreciate the timber!

The real treasure in the chancel is a series of ten 14th century misericords. Six of the misericord carvings are simply decorative, with floral or foliage designs. Two show animals; one appears to be a horse, another a donkey. The final two carvings are the most interesting; one shows a woman in a wimple, the other a Green Man peering out from a screen of foliage.

Behind the altar is a lovely 15th-century reredos, brought here from Troyes in France. The reredos is in two sections, the upper section depicting the Passion of Christ, the lower showing the Last Supper and the Adoration of the Kings.

Near the font are a number of surviving medieval floor tiles.

The interior is full of monuments to the Oxenden and Palmer families. The finest of these are to be found in the north transept chapel. On the east wall of the chapel is a memorial to Sir Nicholas Palmer (d. 1624). The memorial shows effigies of Palmer and his wife under Corinthian columns and an open pediment.

Other monuments include one to Sir Thomas Palmer of 1624 showing him in Jacobean armour. On the north wall is the monument to a later Thomas Palmer (d. 1656) with a bust of the deceased, now somewhat the worse for wear. A tablet to Streynsham Master (d. 1718) is on the south chapel wall, and has a fairly typical pair of skulls at the base of the tablet, wreathed in olive branches.

This floor one is to Thomas, son of Thomas Palmer

The most extravagant and eye-catching memorial in the church, however, is to be found in the north transept chapel, which is guarded by ornate wrought-iron screens.

In the centre of the chapel is an ebullient obelisk, dated 1682, commemorating the Oxenden family. This free-standing obelisk, possibly designed by Arnold Quellin, is of white stone, with exquisite fruit and flowers cascading down each side, with large black ox heads at each angle of the base.

The base is embellished with four putti (cherubic 'infants'), one of whom is holding a helmet.

Also in the south transept is a wall tablet to Charles Tripp (d. 1624).

The entire chapel has a frieze representing the coats-of-arms of the Oxenden family.

And the walls are covered with other monuments to the family.

Other monuments worth mentioning include a 14th-century tomb recess in the south aisle wall and a number of 15th-century indents in the chancel floor which once contained memorial brasses to canons.

The church is set within a large walled enclosure, dating to the 16th and 17th centuries. Unusually, the churchyard wall has been listed Grade-II by the Department of the Environment for its historical interest.

The rest of the church......................

South Aisle, looking towards the Oxenden chapel.

Tablet to Mr. Stephen Elgar, late of Wingham Court................

................. and this is Wingham Court.

This one intrigued me, so I went on a hunt for him, and this is what I found.......

He was born in Wingham, which is why he is remembered in the church. Hero of the Peruvian Revolution; diplomat. Known in Latin America as 'Guillermo Miller'. As a soldier, after fighting in the Napoleonic Wars he took a decisive part in several South American revolutionary wars, and then had a diplomatic career in Peru and Hawaii, finally returning to Peru, where he died.For a time he was persona non grata with the Peruvian government, because of his criticism of their treatment of the Indians. His remains were finally reinterred in the Panteon de los Proceres, the final resting place for the heroes of the War of Independence, in the 1920s.