Church Of St Mary Magdalene

This is the nave of a former Benedictine priory church, now an Anglican church. The building dates mostly to the 12th century but was substantially repaired and fitted out by Thomas Willement, an antiquarian and stained glass artist, in 1845.

The church is constructed of stone rubble and flint with evidence of external render, beneath a red tiled roof with patterned tiles to the tower. The plan comprises a nave, north aisle, and south-west tower (the north-west tower is now missing), with a north-west porch by Willement and a north-east vestry.

The north aisle has an almost flat roof with five lancet windows. The nave clerestory features larger round-headed windows. At the west end, a tiled lean-to projection covers the remnant of the fallen north-west tower. The Willement porch is timber-framed and tile-hung, with decorative pierced bargeboards and re-used 15th-century timber moulded jambs with blind quatrefoils above urn stops. The east wall displays a Willement triple lancet, a trefoil in the gable, and buttresses.

The west end retains a richly-decorated 12th-century west doorway with some restoration; the carved decoration appears untouched. Three round-headed windows above are possibly 18th-century restorations (they appear in a watercolour by H Petrie of 1807, predating the Willement restoration), as are two round-headed windows in the gable. The four-stage south-west tower has a 19th-century upper stage and pyramidal roof, with plain design marked by freestone bands denoting the stages and round-headed windows. The north-west tower's demolition date is unclear, though a reference from 1692 describes the church as having a single tower. A house now abuts the south side of the tower and church.

Internally, the north aisle has an arcade of plain round-headed arches on square section piers with moulded abaci; the arches into the tower bases are larger. Pointed chamfered arches to the north and south on the east wall are now blind, once providing access to the former eastern arm through a stone rood screen. A 12th-century doorway on the south side formerly led into the north cloister walk. The roof is canted and plastered, with two notably crooked tie beams. At the west end on the south side, three moulded corbels support a wall plate. Medieval timbers are thought to survive above the plaster. One south side window (now internal due to later house development) has two bays of 12th-century style arcading across the embrasure, likely a Willement introduction.

A Willement timber drum pulpit stands on an octagonal stem and incorporates 17th-century panels depicting the Resurrection and the four evangelists. A fine Caen stone font dated 1847 by John Thomas features a semi-circular bowl carved with figures on a short stem with waterleaf decoration at the base. Plain chairs furnish the nave. The Willement stained glass is considered perhaps his finest work, with the triple lancet containing figure scenes from the life of Christ in medallions and the aisle windows including the symbols of the evangelists. A 1847 organ by Joseph Walker is also present. Traces of Willement wallpaintings survive beneath later paint layers. Engravings in the vestry show the church with Willement's decoration and a screen, which has since been removed.

The Church of St Mary Magdalene sits on Davington Hill above Faversham town. Unusually, it originally served as the church of St Magdalene's Priory, founded as a Benedictine nunnery in 1153. The priory had 26 nuns at its foundation but was never formally dissolved during Henry VIII's Dissolution, as there were no nuns remaining by 1536. In 1546 the Crown sold the priory to Sir Thomas Cheyne, treasurer of Henry VIII's household. The nave was not dismantled as it continued in use for parish worship, though the choir was demolished in 1580. In 1845, Thomas Willement, an important figure in the Gothic Revival, purchased the priory remains and undertook extensive church restoration. He developed Davington Priory house from the west range of the priory cloister, now separately listed as Grade II*. The church remained a private chapel until 1932, when it was acquired by the Church of England. It holds the unusual distinction of being Church of England property rather than a parochial church.

Originally built as the church for Benedictine Davington Priory, this is a fine, if austere, example of late-Norman ecclesiastical architecture. Much of its 12th-century fabric survives, and it retains part of its cloister in the form of Davington Priory house. The Victorian restoration by Thomas Willement—an authority on heraldry, stained glass artist, and associate of Pugin and Salvin—is of considerable interest to Gothic Revival history, particularly as Willement documented his work in his "Historical Sketch of the Parish of Davington, in the County of Kent and of the Priory there" (1862).