Church Of St Oswald

The Church of St. Oswald is a parish church with origins in the 12th century or earlier, incorporating alterations from the 13th century and a 19th-century restoration. It is constructed of flint and stone with stone dressings, covered by a plain tile roof. The church consists of a nave and a narrower chancel.

The nave has no visible plinth. Three buttresses are present on the west end. A bellcote sits on the gable apex, featuring a hollow-chamfered four-centred-arched opening to the west. Two large round-headed windows are located on the west side. The south elevation has three windows: a small, doubly-splayed window under the eaves towards the west, with a rounded head formed from a single stone; a two-light window with pointed lights and no overall architrave; and a small window under the eaves towards the east, with a rounded head formed from a single splayed stone, but with singly-splayed jambs. A low, round-headed doorway is situated towards the west end of the south elevation, employing small, evenly-sized stone voussoirs and chamfered abaci. The west jamb features an engaged, chevroned, semi-octagonal column with a moulded base and rectangular capital with large corner volutes. The east jamb has slender, plain engaged shafts to both the inner and outer sides, one with a moulded base and both with semi-scalloped capitals.

The chancel also has no plinth. The south side presents two windows: a large one with slightly splayed or chamfered jambs and a rounded head formed from a single stone, and a plain-chamfered pointed lancet set high in the wall. A broad, pointed, plain-chamfered east lancet is present, alongside a smaller similar window towards the centre of the north elevation.

The north side of the nave has one two-light medieval window towards the east end, with plain-chamfered pointed lights and no overall architrave. A small, doubly-splayed window with a rounded head formed from a single stone is set high towards the west. An unchamfered rectangular stone doorway, with a rounded relieving arch of small, evenly-sized stone voussoirs forming a semi-circular tympanum with flint infilling, is positioned towards the west end.

Inside the church, the chancel arch is round-headed, constructed with small, evenly-sized stone voussoirs and chamfered abaci. Angle shafts with scalloped capitals and moulded bases are located in rebates to either side of the west face of the archway. The nave has a 19th-century roof, while the chancel roof is boarded in seven cants. Features include a stiff-leaf bowl of a pillar piscina (the shaft is missing) towards the east end of the south wall of the chancel, a small projecting stone with chamfered corners and base displaying the scratch date 1570 towards the south end of the east wall, and a rectangular aumbry with bevelled edges towards the east end of the north wall. A font with a shaped bowl on a cylindrical plinth is also present. The church is noted as being one of the smallest churches in Kent.