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Latitude: 51.1668 / 51°10'0"N
Longitude: 0.2373 / 0°14'14"E
OS Eastings: 556520
OS Northings: 143213
OS Grid: TQ565432
Mapcode National: GBR MPC.SYQ
Mapcode Global: VHHQ6.2X9Y
Plus Code: 9F32568P+PW
Entry Name: Darnley Chest Tomb About 3 Metres North of the Vestry of the Church of St Lawrence
Listing Date: 24 August 1990
Grade: II
Source: Historic England
Source ID: 1248828
English Heritage Legacy ID: 430578
ID on this website: 101248828
Location: St Lawrence's Church, Bidborough, Tunbridge Wells, Kent, TN3
County: Kent
District: Tunbridge Wells
Civil Parish: Bidborough
Built-Up Area: Southborough
Traditional County: Kent
Lieutenancy Area (Ceremonial County): Kent
Church of England Parish: St Peter with Christ Church and St Matthew Southborough and St Lawrence Bidborough
Church of England Diocese: Rochester
Tagged with: Chest tomb
TQ 56 43 BIDBOROUGH HIGH STREET (east side)
11/8 Darnley chest tomb
about 3m north of the
vestry of the Church of
St Lawrence
GV II
Chest tomb. Circa 1803, by Sir Richard Westmacott (Pevsner, 2nd edn., 1976),
restored in 1956 (Skinner). Portland stone.
An elegant sarcophagus raised on stone blocks, the chest with shallow diagonal
reeding and a moulded lid. Scrolls decorate each end of the lid with, in the
centre of each scroll, a finely carved life-size putto head with wings carved
back over the chest and meeting tip to tip. Rectangular inscription panels on
the long sides of the sarcophagus, roundels at each end. The main inscription
commemorates Mary, Countess of Darnley, died 1803. The Dowager Countess of
Darnley lived at Great Bounds (demolished) in Bidborough parish from 1790
until her death. She paid for a west gallery in the church "for the use of
the children of the Sunday School", which survived until the addition of the
south aisle in 1876.
A very high quality churchyard monument.
Newman, John. West Kent and the Weald. Buildings of England series (1976
edn.).
Skinner, F.A., Bidborough, a Parish History (1986 edn.).
Listing NGR: TQ5652043213
External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.
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