St. John the Baptist Church
Harrietsham, Kent

Culpeper connection with Church at Harrietsham

The Culpeper Manor of Greenway Court is located about halfway between the churches of Hollingbourne and Harrietsham. Several of the Hollingbourne Culpepers were baptized at the church at Harrietsham, and there were several marriages between Culpeper and Stede families, including:

St. John the Baptist Church, Harrietsham

Ancient Parish
Original Registers from 1538

Location:  N of the A20, on Marley Road, off Church Lane (14 miles NE of Goudhurst.)
National Grid Coordinates: TQ 875 530

Stede Chapel in St. John the Baptist Church

Two of the three windows which once lit this chapel have been closed by monuments, and the many monuments in this chapel are either of the Stede or Baldwin families.

Stede/Culpeper Silver Plate

The church possesses some valuable silver plate. One chalice and paten cover dates back to 1604 and is believed to have been presented by Sir William Stede, Knight and his wife Cicely Culpeper. A flagon of silver has a London Hall Mark 1629 and was presented in 1637 by Dr. William Stede, LL.D., who was the son of Sir William Stede, Knight, and Cicely Culpeper as well as the grandfather of Dutton Stede who married Alicia Culpeper.

West Farborn

Sir Warham St. Leger became the owner of West Farborn Manor in the middle of Queen Elizabeth's reign (circa 1580), and in 1592 he conveyed it to Mr. Benedict Barnham, alderman of London and sherriff of that city.  Upon the division of Barnham's estate following his death in 1592, it passed to his third daughter Dorothy and her husband, Sir John Constable. From his descendant, it passed to Sir Thomas Culpeper of Hollingbourne. It remained in the Culpeper family until Thomas, Second Lord Culpeper left it to his daughter and only heir, Catherine. She carried this and other possessions in the neighborhood in marriage to Thomas, Lord Fairfax.

The manor house probably no longer stands, but there is in the area today a Fairbourne Manor Farm.

Harrietsham

1831 Topographical Dictionary
HARRIETSHAM, a parish in the hundred of EYHORNE, lathe of AYLESFORD, county of KENT, 7½ miles (E. by S.) from Maidstone, containing 707 inhabitants. The church, dedicated to St. John the Baptist, is principally in the early style of English architecture.

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