St Mary and St Eanswythe's Church is a

Grade II* listed In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, H ...

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 in

Folkestone Folkestone ( ) is a coastal town on the English Channel, in Kent, south-east England. The town lies on the southern edge of the North Downs at a valley between two cliffs. It was an important harbour, shipping port, and fashionable coastal res ...

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 ...

, situated not far from cliffs overlooking the English Channel. Parts of the building date from the 13th century, but it was largely rebuilt in the 19th century. It is unusual in having a central tower.

St Eanswythe

St Eanswythe was an Anglo-Saxon princess, a granddaughter of king

Æthelberht of Kent Æthelberht (; also Æthelbert, Aethelberht, Aethelbert or Ethelbert; ; 550 – 24 February 616) was Kings of Kent, King of Kingdom of Kent, Kent from about 589 until his death. The eighth-century monk Bede, in his ''Ecclesiastical Hist ...

(who was converted to Christianity by

Augustine of Canterbury Augustine of Canterbury (early 6th century in England, 6th century – most likely 26 May 604) was a Christian monk who became the first archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597. He is considered the "Apostle to the English". Augustine ...

), and daughter of king

Eadbald of Kent Eadbald () was King of Kent from 616 until his death in 640. He was the son of King Æthelberht and his wife Bertha, a daughter of the Merovingian king Charibert. Æthelberht made Kent the dominant force in England during his reign and becam ...

, who reigned from 616 to 640.St Mary & St Eanswythe Church - Folkestone
Kent Past. Retrieved 9 December 2017. She was born about 630, and it is believed that she was the abbess of a nunnery here. The nunnery was later destroyed, perhaps by falling into the sea, or sacked by Vikings in 867. In 1138, after intermediate rebuilding, a new monastery was built, Folkestone Priory, with a church dedicated to St Mary and St Eanswythe, the foundation of the present building; the relics of St Eanswythe were brought into the church on 12 September 1138. The building was destroyed in a fire in 1216, and restored in 1220, and extended in 1236."St Eanswythe"
Friends of St Mary and St Eanswythe. Retrieved 10 December 2017. Via

Wayback Machine The Wayback Machine is a digital archive of the World Wide Web founded by Internet Archive, an American nonprofit organization based in San Francisco, California. Launched for public access in 2001, the service allows users to go "back in ...

19th century and later

In parts of the present building, the earlier church (before the 19th century) is still visible: the arcade of the

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

is of the 13th century; the

lady chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

(north of the chancel) and St Eanswythe's chapel (south of the chancel), and the arches of the tower, are of the 15th century. During the incumbency of Canon Matthew Woodward, vicar from 1851 to 1898, the church was largely rebuilt.History
St Mary and St Eanswythe. Retrieved 4 April 2020. 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 ...

and north aisle were rebuilt by R. C. Hussey in the 1850s. The west window and porch were created by Stallwood in 1872. The south chancel aisle and

transept A transept (with two semitransepts) is a transverse part of any building, which lies across the main body of the building. In cruciform ("cross-shaped") cruciform plan, churches, in particular within the Romanesque architecture, Romanesque a ...

were rebuilt in 1869, the south aisle in 1974. The three altar windows, and the windows in the

Lady Chapel A Lady chapel or lady chapel is a traditional British English, British term for a chapel dedicated to Mary, mother of Jesus, particularly those inside a cathedral or other large church (building), church. The chapels are also known as a Mary chape ...

, were created by C. E. Kempe."Windows"
Friends of St Mary and St Eanswythe. Retrieved 10 December 2017. Via Wayback Machine.

Discovery of reliquary

During renovation of the church in 1885, a

reliquary A reliquary (also referred to as a ''shrine'', ''Chasse (casket), chasse'', or ''phylactery'') is a container for relics. A portable reliquary, or the room in which one is stored, may also be called a ''feretory''. Relics may be the purported ...

was discovered in a niche in the walls near the altar. From the ornamentation it was judged to be of the 12th century. It contained the bones of a young woman who died in the 7th century; from the position of the reliquary, it was concluded that they were the remains of St Eanswythe. They were re-interred in the same place, the niche covered by a brass door and grille. Scientific re-examination early in 2020 confirmed that they almost certainly did belong to Eanswythe. The remains were finally replaced in the niche, in a specially designed reliquary, in November 2024.

Organ

It is known there was an organ in the church in 1528. It was rebuilt several times in the 19th century; further history from earlier centuries is little known. The present organ was built in the south transept by William Hill & Sons of London in 1894 and then rebuilt and enlarged in 1930 by Hill, Norman & Beard, so that it had 39 stops.

Closed churchyard

In December 2023, permission was granted by

King Charles III Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

for William Brown, a local boy killed in a hit-and-run incident, to be buried in the churchyard. The 'burial ground variation order', as advised by the Privy Council, permits burials at churchyards previously closed to new interments.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Folkestone, St Mary and St Eanswythe's Church Grade II* listed churches in Kent Church of England church buildings in Kent Diocese of Canterbury St Mary and St Eanswythe's Church