St Peter's and St Paul's Church, East Sutton

St Peter's and St Paul's church
North side of the church
Location within Kent
Coordinates: 51°12′57″N 0°36′57″E / 51.215906°N 0.615919°E / 51.215906; 0.615919
Location	East Sutton, Kent
Country	England
Denomination	Anglican
Website	church website
Architecture
Status	Parish church
Functional status	Active
Heritage designation	Grade I
Designated	26 April 1968
Completed	Mid 13th century, 14th, 15th and 16th centuries
Administration
Deanery	The Weald
Archdeaconry	Maidstone
Diocese	Canterbury
Province	Canterbury

St Peter's and St Paul's Church is a parish church in Church Lane, East Sutton, Kent dedicated to saints Peter and Paul. It was begun in the mid-13th century or earlier and additions were made in the 14th, 15th and 16th centuries. Restoration work was carried out on the church in the late 19th and late 20th centuries. The church is a Grade I listed building.

Construction of the church had begun by the mid 13th century and continued in phases over the next three centuries. Restorations were carried out in 1897–98 and 1984–95.

The church is constructed of roughly coursed stone and has a plain tiled roofs. The 13th-century west tower comprises three stages with buttresses on the north-east, north-west and south-west corners and a taller attached stair turret on the south-east corner. String courses separate each stage and a battlemented parapet forms the top of the walls on each side. The west side contains a three-lighted traceried window in the first stage positioned above the small west door. The second stage contains small rectangular windows on the three outward-facing façades and the third stage contains two-lighted belfry windows on each side.

The 14th century nave is flanked on each side by aisles added in the early 15th century. The external walls of both aisles are buttressed and have a moulded stone plinth and a string course topped by a battlemented parapet. The aisles are divided from the nave with arcades of four pointed arches with octagonal columns and moulded capitals and bases. The capitals differ on the two arcades. Each aisle contains two three-lighted arched windows. The aisles have shallow lean-to roofs, but evidence internally suggests that these were steeper before the 15th century. In the centre of the south aisle, the lower 15th-century porch contains single windows in the east and west sides and a battlemented parapet. The arched doorway contains quatrefoil decoration in the spandrels.