Church Of St Mildred

The Church of St. Mildred is a parish church dating back to the early 13th century, with significant remodelling in the 14th century. It was restored in 1857 by William White. The church is constructed from flint and rubble stone, covered by a plain tiled roof. It comprises a chancel, a north chapel, a nave with aisles, a west tower, and a north porch.

The two-stage west tower features a 19th-century pyramidal cap, lancet windows, and a roll-moulded western doorway. Dormer windows, dating from the 14th century with three lights, are set into the nave roof on both the north and south sides. The aisles contain two-light windows with cusped ogee heads which were blocked during the 1857 restoration to accommodate the dormers. The south aisle and chancel have ogee-headed and cusped lancet windows. The chancel displays 19th-century lancets, while the north chapel, which has its own roof, features a 3-light Y-traceried east window and trefoil-headed lights with ogee-trefoil tracery. A 19th-century north porch has a saw-tooth moulded doorway.

Inside, the tower arch has a simple chamfer on the abaci. The north arcade consists of three bays with simple chamfered arches. The south arcade, of 14th-century origin, features double chamfered arches that die into tall, square piers with stop-chamfered edges. The roof has three crown posts. The early 13th-century chancel arch is slightly chamfered with moulded and undercut abaci. Shafted reveals frame the 19th-century lancets. The north chapel has a 13th-century arch to the north aisle, remodelled in the 14th century, and a double chamfered arch on round responds to the chancel. It retains a restored trussed rafter roof. A fireplace, a remnant from when the chapel served as a schoolroom, is located in the north-east corner. The chapel contains a shouldered piscine, while the chancel has a simple shelved piscina and the south aisle a trecusped ogee-headed piscina. Stained glass fragments from the 14th century, depicting oak and vine leaves, are found in the window heads of the chapel. Royal Arms dated 1709 are displayed above the tower arch. A memorial to Henry Waddal, who died in 1729, is a white marble wall plaque in the chancel, featuring a wreath and a base with a cartouche.

The south aisle houses a parochial library, consisting of a cupboard with a two-panel door, the raised and fielded panels painted with an inscription. The inscription identifies it as “Dr. Bray’s Parochial Library,” referring to Dr. Bray (1656-1730), founder of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge (S.P.C.K.) in 1710. The library was one of ten in Kent and is the only one still in the parish’s possession. It retains 41 of the original 67 books.