St Dunstan's Church, Cranbrook

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St Dunstan's Church
Cathedral of the Weald
St Dunstan's Church, Cranbrook - geograph.org.uk - 1803849.jpg
The church in 2010, looking south
St Dunstan's Church, Cranbrook
St Dunstan's Church
51°05′50″N0°32′10″E / 51.0972°N 0.5362°E / 51.0972; 0.5362
LocationStone Street
Cranbrook, Kent
CountryEngland
Denomination Church of England
Previous denomination Roman Catholic Church
Website Official website
Architecture
Completedlate 13th century
Administration
Province Province of Canterbury
Diocese Diocese of Canterbury
Archdeaconry Archdeaconry of Maidstone
Deanery Weald Deanery
Benefice Cranbrook Benefice
Clergy
Priest in charge Rev'd Richard King [1]

St Dunstan's Church, also known as the Cathedral of the Weald, in Cranbrook, Kent, England, dates to the late 13th century. It is now Grade I listed. [2]

Contents

Its 74 feet-high tower, completed in 1425, has a wooden figure of Father Time and his scythe on the south face. It also contains the prototype for the Big Ben clock[ clarification needed ] in London. [3] Work started in the late 13th century, the chancel arch and porch are a century later, the nave and tower were added after 1500, and William Slater and Ewan Christian restored the building in 1863. It is administered by the Weald Deanery, part of the Archdeaconry of Maidstone, which is in turn one of three archdeaconries in the Diocese of Canterbury.

Cranbrook native Comfort Starr, one of the founding members of Harvard College, was baptised at the church on 6 July 1589. A memorial plaque to Starr was installed in the church after his death in 1659. [4]

See also

References

  1. "Contact". St Dunstan's, Cranbrook. Retrieved 23 November 2024.
  2. Historic England. "Church of St Dunstan (1099931)". National Heritage List for England .
  3. Cranbrook A Wealden Town, C.C.R. Pile (1955)
  4. Ancestry of Lawrence Williams, Cornelia Bartow Williams (1915), p. 275