KINGSTON HUNDRED 



St. James, and was pulled down in 1730 after a 

 partial fall of the walling when the sexton was killed. 

 There is nothing left to show its exact position, nor 

 are any of its details remaining except perhaps the 

 few stones which were discovered during the igth- 

 century restoration and which stand on the window- 

 ledge east of the north chapel ; these include a piece 

 of a 12th-century scalloped capital, a piece of stiff 

 foliage of the same period, a 13th-century moulded 

 base to a shaft, some grotesque corbel heads, probably 

 of the izth century, and a small corbel head with a 

 wimple ; a fragment of stonework with some Saxon 

 interlacing pattern carved upon it probably formed 

 no part of the fabric. In a view shown by Manning 

 and Bray 6301 from 'a draught taken in 1726" it 

 appears that the lower parts of the walls were of 

 1 2th-century date, with a wide round-headed west 

 doorway above which was a string running round 

 the building and over two 1 3th-century lancet 

 windows at the west end and five at the side ; the 

 doorway and two end lancets were filled in when a 

 large window was inserted in the 141!! century; 

 this window had three lights under a net-traceried 

 head. In the 1 5th century a large window was 

 inserted in the east wall, an earlier bull's-eye gable- 

 light being preserved but filled in. A south porch 

 with an embattled parapet was added later in the 

 century. Whether this chapel was connected with the 

 earlier parish church is uncertain ; it is shown quite 

 independent of the church in Manning and Bray's 

 view, but obviously because they had no information 

 on the point. The dimensions given by them are 

 60 ft. by 25 ft. outside, and 55 ft. by 20 ft. inside. 



The earliest visible portion of the present structure 

 is the lower half of the central tower, which dates 

 from the i^th century. There is little detail to give 

 its exact date, but it was rebuilt (or the older tower 

 encased) probably early in the century. At the 

 north-east corner it has a vice which has an early 

 piscina in its north-west face ; this piscina, which 

 served a transept chapel, is probably contemporary 

 with the rebuilding or casing of the tower. 



About 1400, aisles were added to the nave, their 

 widths being governed by the depths of the pre-exist- 

 ing transepts, into which arches were made to open 

 from the aisles. That into the south transept is of 

 the same date as the arcades. The arch on the east 

 side of the transept opening into the south chapel 

 is some twenty years later, and it is probable that 

 the chapel of St. James was then added, but less in 

 length than the present south chapel. At the modern 

 restoration it was discovered that this archway had 

 another in line with and to the south of it, of which 

 the springing stones still remain. Whether the 

 original span of this second arch was as now restored 

 is uncertain, but there is little doubt that it was 

 inserted to open into the chapel of St. Mary. Pre- 

 sumably the transept was lengthened when the two 

 arches were inserted ; and if the present end wall 

 marks the limit of the lengthening, the modern 

 inserted archway would appear to be of the correct 

 span, just enough to make a comfortable opening into 

 the earlier chapel, that is, assuming that the west 

 wall of St. Mary's Chapel was in a line with the two 



KINGSTON- 

 UPON-THAMES 



arches, and the north wall of the same chapel formed 

 the south wall of St. James's Chapel. 



In February 1444-5 William of Worcester records 

 that the church suffered from a fire (probably caused 

 by a stroke of lightning) when a good part of the 

 town was also destroyed. 431 The effects of this fire 

 are not now evident, and it is uncertain whether it 

 extended beyond the tower. 



In 1459 licence was granted to William Skerne of 

 Downhall to found a chantry in honour of the 

 Blessed Virgin and the most Holy Body of Christ at 

 the altar of St. James in Kingston. 631 From this it 

 would appear that the altar of St. James was already 

 in existence, and it is probable that the chapel was 

 then lengthened to its present size with its east wall 

 in line with that of the chancel, and that the arcade 

 of three bays between the chancel and the chapel was 

 then inserted. The archway in the south wall of 

 this chapel at the west end also appears to be con- 

 temporary with the arcade, and was probably inserted 

 then to enlarge the opening into the chapel of 

 St. Mary. On 14 May 1477 Edward IV granted 

 letters patent to Robert Bardsey for the foundation of a 

 fraternity of the Holy Trinity in Kingston-on-Thames. 

 The fraternity was to consist of two wardens and of 

 clerks or laymen, both men and women. An annuity 

 of 6 I3/. ifd. was left by Bardsey to maintain a 

 priest to sing mass in Trinity Chapel, this rent being 

 collected from the tenants of Bardsey and his successors 

 by the two wardens. After the Dissolution this rent 

 was paid to the king. 533 Robert Bardsey was one 

 of the feoffees of the property given for the endow- 

 ment of the Skerne chantry ; it was therefore natural 

 for him to copy as exactly as possible the detail of the 

 south chancel arcade in the archway between the 

 Trinity Chapel and the chancel. He retained the 

 west jamb of the arch opening into the earlier chapel, 

 of which his was an enlargement, but evidently 

 widened the arch eastwards. There is some doubt as 

 to the respective situations of the two chapels of the 

 HolyTrinityand St. James, but we have adopted the late 

 Major Heales' SM suggestion that the former was on the 

 north side and the latter on the south on the evidence 

 of two wills. Clement Mylan in his will of 1496 

 directed his body to be buried in ' the trinitie 

 chauncell on the north side of the church by the 

 wall ' ; there are several sepulchral recesses in the 

 north wall of the Trinity Chapel. William Skerne, 

 the founder of the chantry in St. James's Chapel, by 

 his will of 1463 directs his burial to be juxta ossa 

 Roberti Skern his uncle. Manning and Bray** 5 

 describe the brass of the latter as being at the east 

 end of the south chapel. The vestry was probably 

 added subsequently to the enlargement of the north 

 chapel near the end of the I5th century. A porch 

 was removed in 1530 according to the church- 

 wardens' accounts. The tower seems to have fallen 

 into a bad state by the beginning of the 1 6th century 

 and needed considerable repair ; it was again much 

 out of repair in 1699 when a levy of 6J. in the l 

 was made to put it into order, but this did little 

 good, as in 1708 its timbers were so rotten and it was 

 in such great decay and danger that is was necessary 

 to take it down, when the present brick superstructure 



Mto Op. cit. i, 370. 



WI See Major Heales' article on the 

 church in the Surr. Arch. Coll. viii. 



' M Surr. Arch. Call, viii, 57. 

 638 See Cat. Pat. 1471-85, p. 43 ; Cal. 

 S.P. Dem. 1595-7, pp. 336, 337 ; Chant. 



507 



Cert. Surr. 48, no. 9 ; cf. Pat. 34 Eliz. 

 pt. viii, m. 31. 



Surr. Arch. Coll viii, 48. 



"* Hi,t. if Surr. i, 374. 



