St Mary's Church is a redundant Anglican church in the town of

Sandwich A sandwich is a food typically consisting of vegetables, sliced cheese or meat, placed on or between slices of bread, or more generally any dish wherein bread serves as a container or wrapper for another food type. The sandwich began as a po ...

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England. It is recorded in the

National Heritage List for England The National Heritage List for England (NHLE) is England's official database of protected heritage assets. It includes details of all English listed buildings, scheduled monuments, register of historic parks and gardens, protected shipwrecks, a ...

as a designated Grade I

listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building or listed structure is one that has been placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Historic Environment Scotland in Scotland, in Wales, and the Northern Irel ...

, and is under the care of the

Churches Conservation Trust The Churches Conservation Trust is a registered charity whose purpose is to protect historic churches at risk in England. The charity cares for over 350 churches of architectural, cultural and historic significance, which have been transferred in ...

. The church is in Strand Street towards the north end of the town.

Early history

St Mary's stands on the site of a

convent A convent is a community of monks, nuns, religious brothers or, sisters or priests. Alternatively, ''convent'' means the building used by the community. The word is particularly used in the Catholic Church, Lutheran churches, and the Anglic ...

established by Domneva in 664–73. This was destroyed by the Danes, and rebuilt by Emma, wife of

King Canute Cnut (; ang, Cnut cyning; non, Knútr inn ríki ; or , no, Knut den mektige, sv, Knut den Store. died 12 November 1035), also known as Cnut the Great and Canute, was King of England from 1016, King of Denmark from 1018, and King of Norw ...

. Following the

Norman conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Norman, Breton, Flemish, and French troops, all led by the Duke of Normandy, later styled William the Con ...

the church was rebuilt again. At this stage it consisted of a

nave The nave () is the central part of a church, stretching from the (normally western) main entrance or rear wall, to the transepts, or in a church without transepts, to the chancel. When a church contains side aisles, as in a basilica-type ...

with north and south

aisle An aisle is, in general, a space for walking with rows of non-walking spaces on both sides. Aisles with seating on both sides can be seen in airplanes, certain types of buildings, such as churches, cathedrals, synagogues, meeting halls, par ...

s, a

chancel In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar, including the choir and the sanctuary (sometimes called the presbytery), at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building. It may terminate in an apse. Ov ...

, a central tower and, possibly,

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform churches, a transept is an area set crosswise to the nave in a cruciform ("cross-shaped") building wi ...

s. The chancel was rebuilt in about 1200. The church was damaged by the French in 1217 and again in 1457, and by an earthquake in 1578. In 1667 the central tower collapsed, destroying the nave arcades. It was rebuilt again, with a wide roof covering the nave and the south aisle. In 1714 a belfry was built on the porch, and galleries were added in the middle of the 18th century. The church was restored in 1869–74 by Joseph Clarke.

Architecture

Exterior

The church is constructed in a variety of materials, mainly

flint Flint, occasionally flintstone, is a sedimentary cryptocrystalline form of the mineral quartz, categorized as the variety of chert that occurs in chalk or marly limestone. Flint was widely used historically to make stone tools and sta ...

and stone. The roofs are tiled. Its plan consists of a wide nave and chancel, with a north aisle, and north and south porches. The south porch is in the form of a tower, with a flint lower stage and a brick upper stage. On top of the porch is a small weatherboarded belfry with a pyramidal cap.

Interior

The north aisle is divided from the nave by a large timber arcade. This replaced the arcade destroyed by the collapse of the tower, and the polygonal timber posts stand on the 14th-century bases of the earlier arcade. The octagonal font is dated 1662, and its bowl is carved with quatrefoils. The 18th-century pulpit is polygonal, standing on a 19th-century base, and was formally part of a three-decker pulpit. The altarpiece is large and consists of a broken

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedim ...

fluted Fluting may refer to: *Fluting (architecture) * Fluting (firearms) * Fluting (geology) * Fluting (glacial) *Fluting (paper) Arts, entertainment, and media *Fluting on the Hump ''Fluting on the Hump'' is the first album by avant-garde band Kin ...

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s. It was installed in 1756, and formerly held panels containing the

Ten Commandments The Ten Commandments (Biblical Hebrew עשרת הדברים \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדְּבָרִים, ''aséret ha-dvarím'', lit. The Decalogue, The Ten Words, cf. Mishnaic Hebrew עשרת הדיברות \ עֲשֶׂרֶת הַדִּבְ ...

and the Creed that are now hanging on the north wall. Also on the wall of the church are the Royal Arms of Charles II dated 1660. In the aisle are 18th-century benches moved from

Gopsall Hall Gopsall (or Gopsall Park) is a former civil parish, now in the parish of Twycross, in the Hinckley and Bosworth district, in the county of Leicestershire, England. It is located between the villages of Appleby Magna, Shackerstone, Twycross and ...

in 1956. The altar in the aisle was formerly in St Mildred's Church,

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, and the main altar dates from 1956. From the medieval period are niches, an

aumbry An ambry (or ''almery'', ''aumbry''; from the medieval form ''almarium'', cf. Lat. ''armārium'', "a place for keeping tools"; cf. O. Fr. ''aumoire'' and mod. armoire) is a recessed cabinet in the wall of a Christian church for storing sacred vesse ...

, and floor tiles. In the north wall is a late-14th-century tomb recess. The memorials include a wall tablet dated 1606, and a wall monument dated 1808 by Westmacott. The stained glass dates from the 19th and 20th centuries. It includes 19th-century windows by

Ward and Hughes Ward and Hughes (formerly Ward and Nixon) was the name of an English company producing stained-glass windows. History Ward and Hughes was proceeded by the company Ward and Nixon, whose studio was at 67 Frith Street, Soho. They created large wind ...

, and windows in the north aisle dated 1933 by Morris & Co.

External features

The boundary walls of the churchyard have been designated as a Grade II listed building. The walls on the north, west and east sides are constructed in brick, flint and stone, and date from the

medieval In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire ...

period and the 17th century. The south wall is of stone and flint, and dates from the Victorian period.

Recent history and present day

In 1948 the

parish A parish is a territorial entity in many Christian denominations, constituting a division within a diocese. A parish is under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of a priest, often termed a parish priest, who might be assisted by one o ...

of St Mary's was combined with two other parishes, and the church became disused. It was planned to demolish the church in 1956, but it was restored and was

vested In law, vesting is the point in time when the rights and interests arising from legal ownership of a property is acquired by some person. Vesting creates an immediately secured right of present or future deployment. One has a vested right to an ...

in the Churches Conservation Trust in 1985. Sandwich St. Mary's Community Trust was registered as a

charity Charity may refer to: Giving * Charitable organization or charity, a non-profit organization whose primary objectives are philanthropy and social well-being of persons * Charity (practice), the practice of being benevolent, giving and sharing * C ...

in 1997, and it works in association with the Friends of St. Mary's to manage the building, to improve its facilities, and to arrange events. The building is used for weddings, concerts, exhibitions, and other events, and is known as St. Mary's Arts Centre. The church is still consecrated and services are occasionally held.

References

External links

Feature on Kent churches
{{DEFAULTSORT:Saint Marys Church, Sandwich Sandwich, Kent Sandwich, Saint Marys Church Sandwich, Saint Marys Church

English Gothic architecture in Kent Churches preserved by the Churches Conservation Trust