Church of St Mary

There is said to have been a church on this site in the 7th century, but the earliest surviving fabric in the present church comprises the 12th-century west responds of the former north and south aisles. Much of the east end was rebuilt around 1200, and the arcades and aisles were rebuilt in the 14th century, with further work in the 15th century. The central tower collapsed in 1668 and destroyed the entire inside of the church. It was rebuilt in 1671 with a timber north arcade and the nave and south aisle roofed in one. The church was restored in 1869–74 to designs by Joseph Clarke. There were further repairs in the mid-20th century, when the church was also stripped of its furnishings.

Materials

The building displays a mix of materials reflecting the damage suffered by the structure. The medieval work is small, squared masonry; the 17th-century repairs are mostly in flint with stone dressings, and there is some 19th-century repair in masonry. The belfry porch is built of flint, timber and weatherboarding. There is a timber arcade internally, and the roofs are tiled.

Plan

The church has a very wide nave with wide chancel, north aisle, and south porch with small belfry over it. This represents the remains of a large aisled church with north and south aisles, central tower (probably with transepts), and chancel with south aisle. Following the collapse, it was rebuilt and roofed with the nave, former south nave aisle, chancel and chancel south aisle all in a single span. The north-east corner of the north aisle is angled to accommodate the street.

Exterior

The exterior is unusual, reflecting repairs and alterations following the collapse of the tower in the 17th century. There are only two vessels, nave and north aisle, both roofed continuously from east to west. The nave and chancel are exceptionally wide as they incorporate the former south aisle. Evidence for this can be seen in the twin windows at the east and west ends. Those on the east have renewed Y-tracery and are separated by a central buttress marking the position of the former wall between the chancel and south chancel chapel. The west windows are late Decorated in style and were inserted in the 19th century to replace late 17th-century wooden Y-tracery windows. There is a blocked arch, probably a door, below the former nave window, and a 12th-century recess with a fragment of carving between the windows, perhaps from a buttress on the line of the former south aisle wall.

The north aisle west window was restored in the early 14th century, and the windows on either side of the north porch have ogee heads and Decorated tracery. Both were restored in the 19th century, but the tracery copies that exist in the more western window. The chancel north and south windows have cusped Y-tracery, that on the south largely unrenewed, and the rest of the windows are paired lancets, replaced in the 19th century but apparently copying a 17th-century arrangement. There is a blocked door and a possible blocked window in the south chancel wall, and another on the north. There is a large recess with a brick head in the north aisle east wall.

The 19th-century north porch, replacing an older porch, has a steeply pitched roof and a continuously moulded outer opening. The south tower porch has a plain flint lower part with a simple, chamfered outer opening and two small, trefoiled lights. The second stage is 18th-century brick, and the belfry is weatherboarded and has a small, pyramidal cap.

Interior

The interior is partially plastered and painted, partially stripped masonry, and is entirely open except for the enormous timber arcade to the north aisle, built after most of the building was destroyed by the collapse of the central tower in 1668. The arcade is very plain and has polygonal posts with diagonal braces to the wall plate of the nave roof. They stand on the 14th-century bases of the former north arcade.

The west responds of the destroyed 12th-century north and south arcades survive and are enough to show that the 12th-century church was very grand. They have plain orders with a soffit roll on half-round responds with recessed shafts and scallop capitals, one with beaded interlace. There are also some fragments of 12th- or 13th-century responds at the east end: those at the east end of the north arcade are probably related to the former crossing arch, those in the north-east corner of the nave probably part of a former arch between the south aisle and south chancel chapel. There is a partial blocked window arch in the south-east wall of the nave.

The vastness of the space is emphasised by the roofs, notably the barn-like nave roof which spans the nave and the remains of the south aisle. Of late 17th-century date (see plaque dated 1671), it has king posts with diagonal braces and was formerly ceiled. The north aisle roof has a boarded ceiling with an internal dormer over the aisle east window.

Principal Fixtures

The font is octagonal, with quatrefoils on the bowl. Dated 1662 on the stem, but probably 15th century, re-erected after the Restoration. There are Royal Arms of Charles II, dated 1660. The polygonal 18th-century pulpit was formerly part of a three-decker, and stands on a 19th-century base. The large altarpiece, with a broken pediment on fluted pilasters, was installed in 1756. It formerly held the large Creed and Commandment tables now hanging on the north wall. The altar rails are also from 1756, and the altar was made in 1956. A few 18th-century benches with trellis-panelled shaped ends and arm rests were brought from the chapel of Gopsall Hall in Leicestershire in 1956. The north aisle altar came from St Mildred's, Canterbury.

There are several medieval niches, including an early 13th-century banner stave locker in the north wall of the chancel, with an adjacent aumbry, and another recess in the east wall to the north of the altar. The remains of a 15th-century altarpiece are exposed within the east wall of the former south aisle or transept. There are a few medieval tiles in the floor.

There is good 19th- and early 20th-century glass, including several 19th-century windows by Ward and Hughes. The north aisle lancets are by William Morris and Co. of 1933.

There are many good monuments, notably a fine wall monument by Westmacott to Admiral Peter Rainer, died 1808, depicting a weeping Minerva surrounded by naval relics. A late 14th-century cusped ogee tomb recess is set in the north wall. Abraham Rutton, died 1606, has a worn wall tablet with kneeling figures in a strapwork frame in the chancel. There are a number of ledger slabs and brass indents in the floor. There are also several late 17th- and early 18th-century chest tombs inside the church.

History

There was a church on the site of St Mary's in the mid-7th century, when a convent was founded by Domneva, the cousin of King Egbert of Kent, in 664–73. Destroyed by the Danes, it was rebuilt by Queen Emma, wife of King Canute. The church was largely or entirely rebuilt after the Conquest, and had north and south aisles and a central tower, possibly with transepts. The chancel was rebuilt around 1200, and by the early 14th century, the church had a south chancel aisle, as indicated by the wide chancel with two windows and a central buttress. The aisles were probably also widened in this period. The unusual plan at the east end of the south aisle, which is wider than the chancel south aisle and has a partial blocked east window, suggests the presence of a former south transept.

The church was burned by the French in the late 14th century and repaired by Sir William Leverwick of Ash and his wife. There was some further refurnishing in the 15th century. In 1578–9, the church was damaged by an earthquake that "did shake and cleave four arches" in the church. This damage may have been partially responsible for the collapse on 25 April 1668 of the central tower, which destroyed both nave arcades but left much of the outside intact. When it was rebuilt, the south aisle and nave were roofed together, thus providing a better space for preaching. It was in use by 1675. The belfry was added over the porch in 1714, and galleries and new furnishings were also added in the mid-18th century. The church was restored in the 19th century, when the windows were largely renewed or replaced.

The three parishes in Sandwich were amalgamated in 1948 and St Mary's went out of use. There were proposals to demolish it in 1956, but it was restored and vested in the Churches Conservation Trust in 1985.