READING STREET

 A tiny hamlet that lies on the road between Tenterden and Appledore, it comprises a great garden centre , small chapel and not a lot else.

It's the chapel we are going to concentrate on - or we would, but it is kept locked most of the time. It does however, have a fascinating story to tell. 

Reading Street is the village on the spit of land to the north of Ebony .
Ebony was the old name for the bank of land now called Chapel Bank between Reading Street and the Isle of Oxney . During Saxon times it was an island with the Rother and sea surrounding it, known as Ebon Ie (Ebon's Island) and had a church and a priory on it. The road to the Isle of Oxney would have come down the hill from Tenterden , a ferry would have gone over to Ebony then another would have gone from the island to the Isle of Oxney . The church was hit by lightning during Elizabeth I's reign and destroyed. Subsequently a chapel was built hence the current name, although this has now gone.

Reading Street and Ebony used to provide workers for the flourishing port and a centre for ship-building at Smallhythe! Timber from the Wealden Forests was collected in Tenterden , then sent to Smallhythe for the building of ships. The River Rother used to flow past Reading Street to the sea and was of sufficient width and depth to accommodate the main warships of the period. The shipyards became famous from the 14th to the middle 16th century. One of Henry VIII's warships 'The Grand Masters' was built in Smallhythe , and in 1537 Henry VIII visited the construction site to view the building of this great vessel. It would have been a magnificent sight being towed down the river past Reading Street and Ebony to the sea at Rye .

Over the centuries the river’s course was altered and the island became part of the mainland and the port moved to the coast. After lightning and fire, the remains of the church were moved here stone by stone in 1858. Ebony also holds an annual pilgrimage to Chapel Bank, the site upon which the church once stood. The churchyard is still accessible, but only on foot.

Now it is called St. Mary’s church, but is still recognised as Ebony Church, and an annual open-air service is still held at the old site.

Held on the first Sunday of September each year, the Pilgrimage to Chapel Bank commences with a service of Evensong in Ebony Church at 3pm. After the shortened service there is a walk of almost a mile to the site of the old church at the top of Chapel Bank, which is still consecrated ground. The service is completed at this very picturesque place, looking out across the surrounding countryside.

The Small memorial on the outside wall of the chapel

"How come my home is so far from the sea now?"