The River Rother here forms the boundary between Kent and Sussex. Once navigable from the sea to here, it was a very busy port. That shows in the fact that at one time, this little village had 16 pubs! Today, only the White Hart still serves the small community
Newenden was once one of only two villages in Kent with the right to hold a market. There was a pre-Roman hillfort near the current village, but the earliest reference to Newenden is in AD 791 when King Offa of Mercia granted the manor to the monks of Christchurch Priory in Canterbury. Much later, in 1242, the first Carmelite priory in England was established just east of the current village at Lossenham. No trace of that monastery now remains. The village is the first, or last village in Kent - depending which direction you're travelling from. Close to the humpbacked bridge over the river, the pretty little church stands on a rise next to the road
The church used to be much larger, but the chancel became ruinous and collapsed in the 18th century and the west tower was pulled down shortly after. The villagers had to wait until 1931 for a new chancel. The current tower and spire were built in 1859
The south porch is largely 14th century. Above it is a small chamber where you might expect a priest's room or even an early schoolroom to be located. However, in this case, the chamber had a more serious purpose; it was used as a prison cell. This could only be entered through a door in the south wall of the nave.
The Saxon font
The font is backed up to a large nave column, and the side against the column is uncarved, which suggests that it was created for some other location and simply placed against the column to hide the unfinished side. Among the interesting carvings around the exterior of the bowl are a lion and a wyvern, or winged dragon with a barbed tail. There are also plants and a humanesque figure, as well as simple geometric patterns.
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