The Church of Saint Mary the Virgin, commonly shortened to St Mary's, is a

church Church may refer to: Religion * Church (building), a place/building for Christian religious activities and praying * Church (congregation), a local congregation of a Christian denomination * Church service, a formalized period of Christian comm ...

in the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish of

Walmer Walmer is a town in the district of Dover, Kent, in England. Located on the coast, the parish of Walmer is south-east of Sandwich, Kent. The town's coastline and castle are popular amongst tourists. It has a population of 6,693 (2001), incre ...

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 England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

History

It was designed by

Arthur Blomfield Sir Arthur William Blomfield (6 March 182930 October 1899) was an English architect. He became president of the Architectural Association in 1861; a Fellow of the Royal Institute of British Architects in 1867 and vice-president of the RIBA in ...

in 1887 to take the pressure off the parish's two other churches, the small medieval Old St Mary's and St Saviour's (a Victorian

chapel of ease A chapel of ease (or chapel-of-ease) is a church architecture, church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently, generally due to trav ...

for fishermen on the seafront, opposite the lifeboat house). A spire was designed but never built.

Art and architecture

The entrance is a three-bay

baptistery In Church architecture, Christian architecture the baptistery or baptistry (Old French ''baptisterie''; Latin ''baptisterium''; Greek language, Greek , 'bathing-place, baptistery', from , baptízein, 'to baptize') is the separate centrally planned ...

, into a tall clerestoried

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 narrow aisles either side. The main west window portrays nautical episodes of Christ's life (e.g. the

miraculous draught of fishes The miraculous catch of fish, or more traditionally the miraculous draught of fish(es), is either of two events commonly (but not universally) considered to be miracles in the canonical gospels. The miracles are reported as taking place years apa ...

, preaching from the boat,

calming the storm Calming the storm is one of the miracles of Jesus in the Gospels, reported in Matthewbr>8:23–27 Markbr>4:35–41 and Lukebr>8:22–25(the Synoptic Gospels). This episode is distinct from Jesus' walk on water, which also involves a boat on ...

), the instruments of the

Passion Passion, the Passion or the Passions may refer to: Emotion * Passion (emotion), a very strong feeling about a person or thing * Passions (philosophy), emotional states as used in philosophical discussions * Stoic passions, various forms of emotio ...

) and Saints Peter and Paul, whilst both aisles have five sets of three lancets each, with those on the north showing saints and apostles and those on the south side showing Old Testament figures from

Moses In Abrahamic religions, Moses was the Hebrews, Hebrew prophet who led the Israelites out of slavery in the The Exodus, Exodus from ancient Egypt, Egypt. He is considered the most important Prophets in Judaism, prophet in Judaism and Samaritani ...

Hezekiah Hezekiah (; ), or Ezekias (born , sole ruler ), was the son of Ahaz and the thirteenth king of Kingdom of Judah, Judah according to the Hebrew Bible.Stephen L Harris, Harris, Stephen L., ''Understanding the Bible''. Palo Alto: Mayfield. 1985. "G ...

. Most windows are by Powell. The aisles end not in complete arches but in lean-to ones, connecting to the vestry (south) and the soldiers' chapel (north). The central nave, on the other hand, is divided from the chancel by a low

alabaster Alabaster is a mineral and a soft Rock (geology), rock used for carvings and as a source of plaster powder. Archaeologists, geologists, and the stone industry have different definitions for the word ''alabaster''. In archaeology, the term ''alab ...

screen, showing Blomfield's adherence to the

Cambridge Camden Society The Cambridge Camden Society, known from 1845 (when it moved to London) as the Ecclesiological Society,

reredos A reredos ( , , ) is a large altarpiece, a screen, or decoration placed behind the altar in a Church (building), church. It often includes religious images. The term ''reredos'' may also be used for similar structures, if elaborate, in secular a ...

Ascension Ascension or ascending may refer to: Religion * "Ascension", the belief in some religions that some individuals have ascended into Heaven without dying first. The Catholic concept of the Assumption of Mary leaves open the question of her deat ...

, framed by mosaic images of one angel of the left captioned ''Sperate'' (Hope for) and another on the right captioned ''Surgite'' (Arise). The sanctuary tiling is in brown ''

opus sectile ''Opus sectile'' is a form of '' pietra dura'' popularized in the ancient and medieval Roman world where materials were cut and inlaid into walls and floors to make a picture or pattern. Common materials were marble, mother of pearl, and gla ...

''.

References

External links

Walmer Parish Churches
{{DEFAULTSORT:Walmer, Saint Mary's Church Church of England church buildings in Kent Christian organizations established in 1887 19th-century Church of England church buildings Gothic Revival church buildings in England Gothic Revival architecture in Kent 1887 establishments in England Arthur Blomfield church buildings Diocese of Canterbury