EASTRY

 

(easterly district. Once a region of Kent in Jutish times, the name now only exists in the village)

When I was a teenager, we used to meet up with friends at a little cafe in Eastry. Well, that is now a house, so I've never had a reason to go back there.

I wanted to see something specific in the church, but I couldn't find it. However, the church is very pleasant and proves that the village was once a prosperous place. Indeed, it was once a Saxon royal capital.

Here the Saxon kings had a Royal Hall on the site north of the Church, now occupied by Eastry Court, which was reputedly the scene of the murder in 665 of the two young princes, Etheldred and Ethelbert.  Two Saxon burial sites in the village date from this period.
On the south side of the Church lies the former Tithe Barn (rebuilt 1832), now Aumbry Cottages, and the Parsonage Farm now known as the Aumbry (rebuilt 1825) from its having belonged to the Almonry of the Prior and Convent at Canterbury from the 12th Century.
The village was the birthplace of Henry of Eastry, Prior of Christ Church, Canterbury 1285-1331 in whose honour the Cathedral tower bears the name Bell Harry.

In Lower Street on the west side is Fairfield a 15th century aisled hall house, and in Mill Lane, the former Union Workhouse (1835) which became Eastry Hospital and which is now closed.
Beneath the garden of Beckets on the west side of Woodnesborough Lane are the Caves (now closed), a long series of galleries excavated in the last century by the Foord family in the course of extracting chalk for lime burning.
The Old Vicarage in Church Street was in use as the Vicarage until 1980 and stands on a site appropriated to that purpose in 1367.

In the 19th century the village possessed four windmills, only one of which now remains, as a private residence.
In 979 AD King Ethelred made over the Palace and Manor in Eastry to Archbishop Dunstan and the Priory of Christ Church Canterbury.  The Normans built a new church in the late 11th - early 12th century, and in the early 13th century the church  was  lavishly rebuilt in the early English style of architecture by the monks of Christ Church Abbey, Canterbury.
The Norman church almost certainly replaced a Saxon building, since Eastry boasted a Royal Palace for the Kings of Kent as early as 660 AD.  The origins of Christian worship on this site are lost in antiquity.

Amidst all the legends, history and rumours, I need to return when I have more time to explore the rest of Eastry. 

Meanwhile, today was just a quick visit to the church of St. Mary the Virgin. 

Opposite the church entrance, is a small park, and I found these tiny cyclamens growing amidst all the fallen leaves:

On the west wall is a good early 19th century Royal Arms with hatchments on either side. It was the gift of Thomas Moulder of Statenborough House, Eastry in 1821.

The east nave wall has a pair of quatrefoils pierced through into the chancel. However this feature pales into insignificance when one sees what stands between them - a square panel containing 35 round paintings in medallions. There are four designs including the Lily for Our Lady; a dove; Lion; Griffin. They would have formed a backdrop to the Rood which would have been supported on a beam the corbels of which survive below the paintings.

This commemorates John Harvey who died in 1794. It shows his ship the Brunswick fighting with all guns blazing with the French ship the Vengeur. John Bacon the Elder carved  this detailed piece of work.

The gentleman below was taken from a brass rubbing and reproduced in all it's glory in glittery colour