RUCKINGE

 

Love this sign. Surmounted, as most of them are in Kent, with 'Invicta', the white horse emblem of Kent, the sign depicts the parish church of St. Mary Magdalene, agriculture, and a depiction of a highwayman holding up a coach!

A small village, lying on the B2067 Ham Street to Hythe road. It's basically a 3 mile long, linear village, with little lying off the one road. Its main feature is its pretty 12th. century church

An ancient spelling of the village was 'Rockinges', which probably meant 'Rough Meadow'. The manor of Rockinge was granted by King Offa in 791 to Christ Church, Canterbury, and there was almost certainly a church here by then.

Although the main structure of the current building is 12th. century, there was a saxon church previously on the site, and there are two Norman doors.

St Mary Magdalene Ruckinge is a Grade I listed building and mentioned in the Domesday book of 1086. The western tower was rebuilt in the 13th century, its origin being Norman.

Much damage was incurred in 1987 in the Great Storm, now fully repaired. In 2011 the interior plasterwork was completely redecorated and restored.

Below - the view looking out from the front porch towards the new gates.

2025, the church had major surgery. The restoration and conversion resulted in the installation of a toilet and kitchen facilities. This in turn, obligated a mezzanine floor being inserted in the tower, to raise the bell-ringers up to the first floor, so that their former ground floor space could be utilised for the new facilities. 

The simple octagonal font is probably 16th. century.

Memorial tablets for the Fallen of the two World Wars were bequeathed to the church when the Methodist chapel in the village was closed in 2018

As in many churches of this area, most of the glass is clear. 

The remains of the aumbry, where the Sacrament could be held for Holy Communion.

The high altar is a fine Elizabethan refectory table.

Great model of the church.

Norman doorway, which has had a later archway inserted.

Looking out from the rear of the church across the Marsh.

Another Norman archway. The South door has scratch mass dials either side.

There are no monuments or memorials on the floor or the walls.  In the late 1890s, the majority of the building was declared unsafe, and closed for all services. The Archbishop fronted a fund-raising appeal and a total restoration was completed. This resulted in the current wood-block flooring and no pews in the nave. 

There have been rumours of a vault under the church, but nobody knows where for sure, and they are loathe to rip up that handsome flooring.

Ruckinge was also the home of Thomas Aveling, who was one of the pioneers of the Traction Engine in the mid 1800s.