England & Wales Hardwicke Marriage Index
Marriages 1754 - 1837
West Peckham St Dunstan

The Parish

The parish of West Peckham lies in western central Kent roughly 6 miles northeast of the town of Tombridge. West Peckham sits just under a mile west of the A26 road which links Tonbridge with Maidstone. West Peckham is an estate village dominated by the grounds of Duke's Place, this late 15th century house is built upon land granted to the Knights Hospitaller who held West Peckham from 1337 turning it into their principal estate in England, the house ist upon the site of the Knights' preceptory. In addition to the house the estate has formal landscaped gardens and topiary. West Peckham sits in the heart of Kent's fruit growing area with many orchards surrounding the parish, West Peckham is also noted for hops with many oast houses, used for drying the hops, dotting the landscape, arable and woodland management largely completed the main elements of the parish economy. West Peckham is drained southeastwards by a small stream which heads to join the Medway, here water turns back northward passing through Maidstone before reaching the outer Thames Estuary through the naval port of Chatham. West Peckham is sited at around 70 metres above the sea but is dominated by ground rising northwards into the extensive Hurst & Mereworth Woods where a spot height of 168 metres marks the highest ground around. Covering just under 1,600 acres West Peckham parish was typically sized for this area, that acreage would have supported a population of close to 550 parishioners. Domesday West Peckham was a holding of Bishop Odo of Bayeux with assets of 6 ploughs backed by meadows & woodland it was a typical rural manor of the south.

The Church

St Dunstan's church stands at the western end of Church Road which becomes a footpath beyond the church followed by two local trails, The Greensand & Weald Ways. St Dunstan dates back to the Saxo-Norman period of the 11th century, the basal portion of the stubby western tower being the main remaining fabric from that pre-Conquest era. It is likely that the basic core of the church, albeit much modified over the centuries, was founded as a simple single chambered church in local ragstone with tufa quoins clearly from the same vintage. In the 13th century the chancel was remodelled and now shows the lancet styled windows typical of the Early English Gothic period. The following early 14th century era of the Decorated saw the addition of a northern aisle & chapel and the completion of the tower with its pyramidal spire. The church's stand-out feature is the northern chancel chapel's Oxon Hoath Pew, an elaborate 17th century set of pews for the Miller family & servants protected by elaborately carved screens. For once Pevsner fails to document a Victorian restoration so if one occurred it was light and sensitive. Church Road is more broad to the east of the site where on-street parking is readily available, the churchyard has only minor inconveniences, a clump of trees to the west of the tower, to concern the photographer.