St Peter’s Church, Hever

St Peter’s Church at Hever in Kent is indelibly associated with Anne Boleyn, whose family lived at the local castle. The church is interesting and ancient in its own right, though is likely outshone by its larger neighbour with its spectacular gardens.

Henry’s rejection of Rome seems to have revolved around his lust for Anne and the Church’s vast wealth, rather than a sincere acceptance of evangelical, Biblical theology. Yet Anne was the catalyst or spark which lit the Henrician keg, the explosion of which blew the Pope’s face. St Peter’s bears the marks of Reformation itself, as shown in the picture, below.

To the upper left is an old doorway into the rood loft, from which images of saints would have been kept. The reformed Church of England eventually saw no need for such screens, and Edward VI’s government ordered them removed. On the upper right we see the heavy, painted script of a Biblical text which would have covered up the colourful, late medieval pictures which parish churches were wont to display. The text appears to be a section of Ezekiel 18:13:

Hath given forth upon usury, and hath taken increase: shall he then live? he shall not live: he hath done all these abominations; he shall surely die; his blood shall be upon him. Ezekiel 18:13

Anne’s money-grubbing husband might have done well to heed the prophet’s warning. And we, too.

A  D