St. Mildred's Church is an

Anglican Anglicanism, also known as Episcopalianism in some countries, is a Western Christianity, Western Christian tradition which developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the ...

church located in

Tenterden Tenterden is a town and civil parish in the Borough of Ashford in Kent, England. The 2021 census published the population of the parish to be 8,186. Geography Tenterden is connected to Kent's county town of Maidstone by the A262 road an ...

in the borough of Ashford in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. The church dates from about the 12th century and is Grade I heritage listed. The main tower of the church is 39.6 metres (130 feet) high and was constructed in 1461. It is dedicated to a prominent Anglo-Saxon saint, Saint Mildred—a 7th-century princess who served as the abbess of the nunnery at Minister-in-Thanet.

History

Construction of the church first began in the 12th Century and was expanded multiple times across the next few centuries. Most notably in 1461, when a steeple was added due to an influx of money from when Tenterden was at its height of the wool trade. In 2016, the Tenterden, Rother and Oxney Benefice was formed that aimed to bring together the three parishes of the Tenterden Benefice (Tenterden, St Michael's and Smallhythe) and the six parishes of the Rother and Oxney Benefice (Appledore, Stone, Ebony, Wittersham, Newenden and Rolvenden).

Interior

The church features stained glasswork behind the altar and stained glass on the windows on the sides of the church. The

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 ...

features arches with marble pillars running along the sides of the wooden pews. In more recent years the church was refurbished to now include glass doors at the front entrance, chairs instead of wooden pews and the repainting of the interior.

Exterior

The main tower of the church is built from Bethersden Marble, a limestone that contains thousands of brightly coloured shells. A graveyard is also present on the left-hand side of the church.

References

{{coord, 51.06874, 0.68715, format=dms, type:landmark_region:GB, display=title 12th-century church buildings in England Grade I listed churches in Kent Church of England church buildings in Kent Tenterden