Six Churches on Romney Marsh, Kent
Visited August 2020
Romney Marsh in Kent is a strange place, flat and, even in the middle of a very dry summer, wet. I guess the clue's in the name! There's a trail of 14 Medieval marsh churches which one can follow so on the hottest day of the year so far we set of in a car to go to 6 of them - the other 8 will have to wait. One, St Thomas Becket, Fairfield, had no graveyard (hardly surprising, as it's on a small mound in the marsh, and was only accessible via boat in winter until the 1960s!). Thanks to Covid-19, only one was open to the public, so what you get is views only of the churchyards. But what fine places they are!
All Saints, Burmarsh
This is the lowest church in the marsh, build 13ft below sea level. You have to cross a small bridge to get to it.
St Peter and St Paul, Newchurch
This church has a leaning tower, or at least the bottom two sections lean and are buttressed - it looks odd because the top section doesn't lean!
St Mary the Virgin, St Mary in the Marsh
This church is the burial place of author E. Nesbitt - the wooden marker in the churchyard is a replica, the original is inside. Near a priest's door there's a simple scratch sundial in the stone, which I love.
St Clement, Old Romney
This church is where the artist & filmmaker Derek Jarman is buried. It's near to his famous cottage at Dungeness, which is well worth a visit.
St Augustine, Brookland
This church is odd - the bell tower is not on top of the church as they usually are, but a shingled structure beside the main door! There are some lovely old graves in the churchyard too.
St Thomas Becket, Fairfield
This church has no surrounding churchyard, but I couldn't not show an image of it - it's the very picture of what a marsh church should be!
No comments:
Post a Comment