Ss Peter And Paul, Leybourne Church

Image Source: John Salmon

 

Too generously restored in the nineteenth century to have the feeling of great age; yet Leybourne church has some remarkable objects of interest. The west tower, of a completely different texture to the main building, was constructed by Blomfield in 1874. The base of the medieval tower survives within. The nave is Norman in date and has two good windows of this date in the south wall. The westernmost has some fine vineleaf paintings on its deep inner splays. The star attraction of the church is the heart shrine of Sir Roger de Leybourne (d. 1271). This is a small traceried recess of two lights in the base of which stand two caskets, one of which contains Sir Roger's heart. He died on the final crusade to the Holy Land when it was the practice to send just the heart home for burial. The only other heart shrine in Kent is at Brabourne. Fifteen years after de Leybourne's death King Edward I and Queen Eleanor visited his tomb, and they may have given the two iron crowns that hang on the wall nearby. They were discovered bricked up in the wall by the Victorian restorers.

 

 

Church Data

 

1851 Census Details

 

Seating Capacity: 170

Morning Attendance: 45

Afternoon Attendance: 74

Evening Attendance: No service

 

Architecture Details

 

Original Build Date/Architect: Medieval

Restoration: 1873 Arthur Blomfield

Second Restoration:

 

Notes

 

 

Website

 

http://

 

Contact Details

 

Queries Relating to this Church

 

To contact this church, please try: A Church Near You

 

This Kent Churches website is provided to you for free, running at a loss in order to remain advert-free. If you are enjoying using the site and would like to make a small contribution towards our expenses, it would be most gratefully received. You can donate via Paypal.