All Saints Parish Church is a Kentish
cobble and ragstone construction on the corner of Station Road and
Canterbury Road, in the heart of Birchington-on-Sea, to the south of
the railway station. This junction has been an important meeting
point between the roads to Margate and Canterbury for centuries. The
church itself dates to around 1350, when it began as Birchenton
Chapel to the manor of Monkton and the nearby church of St Mary
Magdalene.
The church was only assigned a curate until the
later part of the nineteenth century, when the Victorian interest in
the seaside towns of Thanet forced up the population. The church
building has grown to possess a nave of 28.65 metres (94 feet) in
length, and the south wall is a late addition, although precisely
when is uncertain. Co-founder of the pre-Raphaelite movement, Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, died 1882, is buried in the churchyard, just to
the left of the church doorway.
Birchington Baptist Church is on
Crescent Road, close to Station Road in Birchington. In common with
many Baptist congregations in East Kent, it was the middle of the
nineteenth century when those in the town opened their first church
building. This was in the building now used by Mullany's Roofing in
Canterbury Road, which was erected in about 1852-1854 and which
remained in use for about forty years in total.
Following this, the members used the Institute at
the back of the Square for about twenty-five years, while they
raised funds to build a more permanent chapel. In the early 1920s,
concerted efforts were made to achieve this, directed from a tent on
land owned by a Mr Barrows. In 1925 the foundation stone was laid on
the chapel which is still in use today. This building has now served
for nearly ninety years, weathering all the Kent coast and North Sea
can throw at it.
Birchington Methodist Church lays well
back from Canterbury Road, hidden from all but the most direct view.
Methodists have had a presence in the village since as early as
1778, initially meeting in each other's homes. When it was felt that
there were enough members to support a purpose-built chapel, they
set about raising funds. The Methodist Chapel was eventually built
in 1830. At its opening on 16 September, two reverends from London
preached to the congregation.
In 1883, Reverend Thomas Perfect, one of the
church's ministers, owned Yew Tree House, just across the road from
the chapel. He also owned the little plot of land behind Evergreen
(now The Smugglers) and built a terrace of five houses on it, now
known as Perfect Cottages. The church building continued to maintain
its current appearance until shortly after 1960, when it was painted
entirely white. The church has since been restored to its original
appearance.
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