ST. MARY-IN-THE-MARSH

 This tiny village lies in the heart of Romney Marsh, to the north of St. Mary's Bay. 

                                       

The Golden Jubilee commemoration stone, just by the entrance to the church. At this point, three lanes leading into the village form a natural village centre, flanked by the church and the pub opposite

The Star Inn still sports its beautiful old Whitbread inn sign. Sadly most of these have now gone, whether it is because the pub has closed, or has been renamed and 'modernised'. at one time, you could collect little thin metal plates with all the old Whitbread inn signs on them, and I had quite a few when I was young.

One of the most picturesque churches on the Marsh, St Mary the Virgin was built in the mid 12th century with a small chancel, nave and tower. As with so many Marsh churches, the aisles were added in the 13th century to accommodate an increasing number of guild and chantry altars.

The clock on the tower was erected in memoriam of those who died during WWI . There is a brass plaque to that effect in the church. 

OK, so let's look inside the church. I love this little church, so out-of-date and untouched, and like the rest of the village, letting the rest of this hectic world go by in peace and quiet. It still has coarse brick floors and its' old box pews, and medieval tiles on the floor of the chancel. The church is Grade I listed.

There is a brass in the nave floor in memory of Matilda Jamys who died in 1499, and a second brass in memory of her son, William Gregory who died three years later. They are well-worn with past footsteps, but someone has very thoughtfully provided a clearer picture on the west wall with all the important information.

There is only two small windows with stained glass, the rest are plain and on a lovely sunny day like today, the sunshine floods through the church. Does make it diffucult however, to photograph anything covered with glass!

I rather like this window, which depicts St. Michael. It's just the central panel of an otherwise plain, small window in the south aisle

There are a surprising number of memorial tablets for such a small place, all of people well-known in their area, but little known outside of it. 

The Royal Hatchment is for George III, and dated 1775. Unusually, the unicorn is black - which would normally denote that the person whose arms the hatchment bears is deceased. However, this is dated 1775, which is barely halfway through George III's reign.

St. Mary's has one of the marvellous Romney Marsh mosaics. We've come across several of these in our tour of the Marsh village churches. There are 14 in total. Each one different and relevant to the village which has it. This one has a lot of symbolism for the wool trade, and a pile of books to represent Edith Nesbit. There's a harvest mouse and a tree sparrow (both sadly declining), a WWII fighter plane (referencing the nearness of a wartime landing strip to the village, a little train for the RH&D Railway, and a Victoria Cross (awarded to John Coleman who was born in the village). A large star references the Star Inn opposite,and there is a 'looker's hut' on the right, behind the church (a looker is the local name for a shepherd, of which my father was one).

The gravestone with a Kiwi feather on it, represents the grave of James Chittenden. The bloodline of New Zealand's 'Romney' sheep can be traced to the Chittenden flock from the village.

You can download a PDF file with details of them all, and the story behind them here: 

The Marsh Mosaics

The brass plaque recalling the three villagers who gave their lives during World War I.

The Reverend Henry Parker, Attended Maidstone Grammar School. Graduated Corpus Christi College, Cambridge,1842. Ordained Westminster Abbey in 1842. Rector of St Mary's for 52 years. His last service 27 Sep 1901, less than a month before he died.

Here is the gentleman in question:

Anothe former rector - Rev. Edward William Woollatt

Absolutely love the craftwork in this lamp which hangs in the Sanctuary. The little brass plaque reads (I think) 'This lamp commemorates with thanksgiving, the generosity of Grace Richardson, who died in 1959.'

The church was repaired just in time to commemmorate the death of King Edward VII in 1910

The grave marker of Edith Nebit, author of  'The Railway Children'. She didn't want a fancy funeral or a headstone, so her husband, Thomas Terry Tucker,  carved out this simple wooden marker. There is a memorial plaque to her inside the church

John Sullivan, Master of the Merchant Navy fuel tanker S.S. Empire Gawain. Although he died in 1947, the fact that his grave bears a Commonwealth War Grave headstone would indicate that he died of illness or injury caused during wartime. The Empire Gawain was sold to Esso after the war, and renamed Esso Dakotah. It was finally scrapped in the 60s

You may think having an old Shepherd's hut in the churchyard a little strange. However, the village stands in the heart of the sheep country of Romney Marsh. The hut took me back to my childhood, as my father was a shepherd, or 'looker' as they are known on the Marsh, not far from here, and I slept in his hut on more than one occasion, on a pile of straw and sacks in the corner