The massive south-west door is original, early fourteenth century. The east end was originally pierced with lancets, but about 1510 these were replaced with the present five-light window. In the years 1848 to 1856 there was extensive restoration by the architect Hussey. The saddle-back top to the tower dates from this period.
Although St.John the Baptist is not mentioned in the Doomsday survey, it is thought a church stood on the site in Saxon times when the village was called Dunstall ("a hilly place"). According to Arthur Mee the double piscina, a drainage bowl for rinsing out a chalice after Communion, which is set in the wall of the chancel, is believed to be the oldest possession in the village, being of Norman origin. The chancel itself is dated around 1250.
The lives of many of the characters that have trodden the church's ancient stone slabs have been woven into the historical fabric that is Olde England's tapestry. The first rector, Lambert de Monetto, an Italian by birth, is described as so slack in his ways as to have failed to attend his own ordination in Croydon, much to the displeasure of Archbishop John Peckham who temporarily withheld the priest's stipend. Another rector, Simon de Mepham who became Archbishop of Canterbury, was sued by the monks of St. Augustine's Canterbury, who had the backing of Rome, for the sum of £1,210. When he refused to pay he was excommunicated only to be re-instated upon his death.
One of the monuments in the Lady chapel is of Sir James Crowmer whose ancestor Sir William Crowmer was beheaded in 1450 on the orders of the Kent rebel, Jack Cade along with his father-in-law Lord Say and Seal. Another is to Sir Edward Hales whose son, while on a charge of High Treason for "being reconciled to the Church of Rome", helped James 1st to escape to France.
In early times the church would have been very colourful, the walls having paintings of Biblical scenes and religious figures. These would all have been destroyed during the Reformation and further vandalised by the Puritans who ejected the Rev'd Robert Dixon in 1647. He was re-instated during the Restoration of the Monarchy.
To find the final cache location you will need to solve the following.
N51AD.(F/C)G(C+A)
E0 (C*C)G.J(L+E+A)(H-M)
How many lights are there above the gate at the entrance from the car park = A
How many full spikes are there on the left gate into the porch area = B
How many windows are there in the porch = C
At the monument waypoint. The Rev HARRISON's daughter has how many letters in her christian name = D
What year did she die = EFGH
At the monument waypoint. What year was Francis Law ESQ Born = JKLM
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