St Martin's churchyard, Cheriton, Kent

St Martin's Churchyard, Cheriton, Kent

Visited March 2018

Cheriton in Kent is a small village on the outskirts of Folkestone. The churchyard of St Martin's is mostly Victorian, although there's been a church on the site since Saxon times. The church was closed when we visited, but it's apparently still possible to see some some Saxon architecture inside, and the base of the 13th century tower may be Saxon in origin.

The surprisingly large, 6 acre, churchyard (substantially enlarged in the 19th century) is best known as being the burial place of Samuel Plimsoll, creator of the Plimsoll Line on ships. This saved numerous sailors over the years, by preventing ships being overloaded with cargo. The church has an annual 'Plimsoll Day' to commemorate him.

There are also a number of war graves in the churchyard, and a wide assortment of family graves. The churchyard is at the top of quite a steep hill, and can be entered via a lych gate dating to 1897.