The church's website ( visit link
) tells us:
"Introduction
Until the twentieth century the whole upland area that
rises from the Thames Valley to the escarpment of the North Downs was sparsely
inhabited. Although traces of Roman occupation have been found on the site of
New Ash Green, the heavy soil, clay-with-flints, and the south-westerly winds
that sweep unchecked over the high ground, made the area difficult for farming
and unattractive to settlers.
Hardly anything one could call a village ever formed,
although the present distribution of churches seems to have been established in
the eleventh and twelfth centuries. Thus Domesday Book (1086) records the names
of almost all the present hilltop parishes, but mentions churches only at
Fawkham, Meopham, Nursted and Luddesdown. The Norman churches still surviving at
Ridley, Hartley and West Kingsdown must therefore have been built within the
ensuing century; and it is quite likely that Ash too had a Norman church.
Nothing as early as that remains at Ash, for the chancel and the tower date from
the thirteenth century, and the nave was rebuilt in its present spacious form
with aisles in the later Middle Ages. Why Ash church was enlarged in this way
while all its immediate neighbours were left unaltered is not known; but the
parish, about three thousand acres, is three times as large as most of those
adjacent to it, and as early as 1286 Ash church was valued at twice as much as
Fawkham, Ridley or Hartley (even if at only half the value of Meopham). The fact
that the church belonged 'from very early times' to the priory of St John of
Jerusalem meant that it had to pay 10 marcs per annum to the prior and brethren
of the order and they may have felt obliged in return to improve the building
.But that is speculation, and there is plenty that is factual about the church
building and about the people who have worshipped in it over the
centuries.
The Building
As seen from the south, Ash church appears typically
Kentish, with it russet-tiled nave and slightly lower chancel, and the sturdy
battlemented west tower and polygonal stairturret. The walls, as in all the
upland churches, are built of the flints which the plough everywhere turns up,
split and laid split-face outwards to form a smooth surface. Originally they
were rendered over with a thick white lime-mortar, traces of which can still be
seen in a few sheltered areas of walling (e.g. under the eaves of the north
aisle). The dressed stone used for windows and doorways is mostly grey ragstone
from quarries a few miles to the south-east which also supplied the stone for
all London's major medieval buildings. But the honey-coloured sand stone used on
the south aisle and porch probably comes from the Tonbridge area, a little
further afield and rarely used in the uplands. The red brick on the tower, the
turret and some of the buttresses is patching, probably of the late eighteenth
century. This too was originally hidden by render, but now that it is visible it
adds a touch of warm colour to the building. Internally the walls retain their
thick coat of rendering, limewashed over. Whether medieval wallpaintings survive
under the limewash is not known .The roof timbers are of oak in its natural
colour and in the nave and north aisle are medieval.
The tower
The double arch from the nave into the tower clearly dates
from the thirteenth century, and in the exterior of the north wall of the tower
are two contemporary lancet windows. However the present form of the tower, with
its angle buttresses, stairturret and top battlements, dates from the same
period as the nave, for the west doorway of the tower is identical with the
north doorway of the nave.
The function of church towers may originally have been
defensive but by the later middle ages their primary purpose was to house bells.
In the tower at Ash there are six bells, dating from the eighteenth century
(three of 1717, one 1727 (tenor), one 1795 (treble) and one recast in 1856). The
vibrations set up by the bells have twice occasioned substantial repairs. The
Georgian brick patching and the iron tie-bars which hold the tower together
suggest that at one point there was danger of a major collapse. In 1976 the
continuance of bell-ringing at Ash was ensured by the discreet introduction of a
concrete ring-beam."
The church's
website (visit
link) gives an overview of the
church's bells:
"We have a ring of 6 bells vary in age from 1717 to 1856,
though there are records of bells in this tower back to 1552. The bells are hung
in their original oak frame. The weight of the bells varies from just over 3
hundredweight for the number 2 to just over 8 hundredweight for the tenor. The
treble, normally the lightest bell, is heavier than the 2 at just over 4
hundredweight. This is because the 2 had to be recast in 1856 after it fell out
of the tower. That is why our tower is part brick and part
flint."
The Loves Guide
website (visit
link) gives details of the
bells and a history of them:
|
Bell |
Weight
After
return 2010 |
Weight
Received
2010 |
Weight
Supplied |
Diameter |
Pitch |
Cast |
Founder |
|
1 |
4-0-11 |
4-2-11 |
|
27 in |
E sharp |
1795 |
Thomas Mears I |
|
2 |
3-2-3 |
3-2-13 |
3-2-15 |
27 in |
D sharp |
1856 |
Charles & George
Mears |
|
3 |
4-1-16 |
4-2-20 |
|
28 7/8 in |
C sharp |
1717 |
John Waylett |
|
4 |
5-1-19 |
5-3-9 |
|
31 3/8 in |
B sharp |
1717 |
John Waylett |
|
5 |
6-0-7 |
6-2-9 |
|
33 3/8 in |
A sharp |
1717 |
John Waylett |
|
6 |
8-3-11 |
9-2-16 |
|
37 5/8 in |
G sharp |
1727 |
Richard
Phelps |
| Year |
Event |
| 1552 |
Record of 3 bells in the tower. |
| 1717 |
Present 3rd, 4th and 5th cast. |
| 1727 |
Present tenor cast. |
| 1795 |
Present treble cast. |
| 1856 |
Present 2nd recast. |
| 1903 |
Bells rehung and quarter turned; frame strengthened
by Mears & Stainbank. |
| 1971 |
Bells rehung. |
| 1994 |
Bearings on 4th replaced by the KCACR in the same
housings which had collapsed - the collapsed bearings were installed after
the local rehang and were not strong enough for the task. This work was a
temporary measure. |
| 2010 |
Bells retuned and rehung by
Whitechapel. |