Lynsted comes from the Old English ‘lind’ meaning a ‘lime-tree’ and ‘stede’ as a
‘place, site’; therefore, a ‘place where lime-trees grow’.
Lynsted parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to Saint Peter and
Saint Paul, and dates to 1180, although substantially rebuilt in the 13th and 14th
centuries. The stand-alone tower remained independent until the church’s lengthening
in the 15th century. In 1597, Robert Mot cast and hung a bell in the tower, adding
a further two – one a tenor - a few years later. John Wilnar added two additional
bells to complete five in 1639. The tower had a clock installed on 28 April 1720.
In 1739, Edward Hasted described the Lynsted church as a ‘handsome building, and
consists of three isles and three chancels. The steeple, which is a spired shaft,
covered with shingles, stands at the north west corner of it: in it is a ring of
five bells’. The Victorians carried out restoration in the 19th century. In August
1940, the church suffered damage from a 50kg bomb that fell through the roof into
the north aisle. In 2007, the clock bell from St George’s, Perry Hill augmented the
bells, at Lynsted, to six.
