page_title: St John the Baptist, Penshurst
section_title: Sidney Chapel
hierarchical_section_title: St John the Baptist, Penshurst / Features / Sidney Chapel
caption_attribution_description: English: Tomb of Sir William Sydney, near to Penshurst, Kent, Great Britain. Tudor tomb in the Sidney Chapel of St.John the Baptist&#39;s church to Sir William Sydney who died in 1553
context_page_description: St John the Baptist Church at Penshurst, Kent is a Grade I listed Anglican parish church in the Diocese of Rochester in England. Those buried or commemorated here include Knights, Earls, Viscounts, a Viceroy of India, a Governor-General of Australia, a Private Secretary to two Kings, two Field Marshals and two winners of the Victoria Cross. Through its courtiers, soldiers, statesmen, politicians or priests whose lives appear on memorials or through its changing architecture, brasses, carvings, effigies and windows, the church helps tell a country’s story through the eyes of single village.
context_section_description: The Sidney Chapel in the South-East of the church is the Sidney family's private chapel and they remain responsible for its upkeep. The Sidney family has lived in Penshurst Place for over 450 years. Family members enter the church through a gate directly from the garden of Penshurst Place and sit in this chapel during church services to this day.
  The Sidney Chapel is the third chapel on the site. It rises above the line of the South aisle, and has a 19th-century East window. On the South side, it has a three light 19th century window (one light blocked) with a square head and its own projecting South porch with a curved, embattled parapet. The South door with a square surrounded with foliage carving in the spandrels and a coat of arms above it, flanked by inverted torches. Internally the porch is rib-vaulted. There is a narrow, 13th century arch which reaches from the South aisle in the church into the chapel, and next to it is a 13th-century lancet that now opens internally from the chapel to the aisle, indicating that the aisle was once narrower than the chapel.
  Before it was rebuilt in 1820, the chapel appears to have been late 13th century. The extensive rebuilding was carried out to designs by John Biagio Rebecca (c.1777–1847), a decorative painter and architect, who also built Castle Goring and worked at Penshurst Place c.1818. As part of the reworking, the Sidney Chapel received an elegant pointed tunnel vault, panelled and painted, and with carved bosses on the ribs. The tunnel-vaulted ceiling with its many heraldic shields was restored in 1966.
  The most important memorials (see image) found in the Sidney Chapel include:
  Lying against the south wall, the top half of a recumbent figure in chain mail, in Purbeck marble, of Stephen de Pencester (d. 1299). The legs have been broken off, but from the sword drawing posture of the figure it is reasonable to assume that they were originally crossed.
  At the eastern end of the southern wall, monument with a tomb-chest and a panelled back-plate, known as an altar-tomb, commemorating Sir William Sidney (1482?–1554) to whom King Edward VI gave Penshurst Place in 1552. It is of characteristic late Perpendicular design with little Renaissance detailing and the back plate is framed by twisted shafts that carry a deep, panelled cresting.
  A brass to Margaret Sidney, who died in 1558 in the reign of 'King Philip and Queen Mary'. She was the daughter of Sir Henry Sidney and sister of the famous Sir Philip Sidney.
  A cross to Thomas Bullayen, brother of Anne Boleyn, the second wife of King Henry VIII and mother of Queen Elizabeth I.
  A wall monument to Robert Sidney, 4th Earl of Leicester (1649–1702) and the nine of his 15 children who died before reaching adulthood. This is by William Stanton and William Woodman. On a pedestal, two children who reached the age of six are shown as dancing angels with large wings, holding out their hands to balance an urn. Infant heads in the clouds above are titled with the names of the Earl's children. The monument was commissioned and its words set by his wife, Lady Elizabeth Egerton, who outlived her husband by what she describes on the memorial as "seven tedious years".
  At the north-east end of the chapel (nearest to the altar) a marble tomb chest to Philip Sidney, 5th Earl of Leicester (1676–1705) and various of his descendants. It has a grey obelisk behind a magnificent coat of arms and the words on the top of the tomb chest describe his ancestry across several generations.
  A memorial brass to Thomas Yden, who died in 1514, and to his wife Agnes.
  A memorial to Sophia, Lady De L'Isle (1795–1837), signed by W Theed. It is a life-sized figure of a lady in Grecian draperies on a pedestal. She holds a Bible and raises her eyes aloft.
  Inlaid in the floor is a simple Cumberland slate to Field Marshal John Vereker, 6th Viscount Gort VC, GCB, CBE, DSO & Two Bars, MVO, MC (1886–1946).
  On the south wall is the simple memorial to William Sidney, 1st Viscount De L'Isle VC, KG, GCMG, GCVO, KStJ, PC (1909–1991), 15th Governor-General of Australia, and his wife 
caption: Tomb of Sir William Sidney (1482?–1554)
exif: {}