Churches of the British Isles

Herne Bay Evangelical Free Church is also known as 'The Sunnyhill Church' and is located at 64 Sunnyhill Road, near Grand Drive. Services are held by an 'elder' rather than a priest, in a building which was probably constructed in the 1980s and is attached to an earlier building, itself probably built in the fifties. The church was formerly linked to Herne Bay Court, an evangelical Christian holiday and conference centre which existed on Canterbury Road until closure early in 2008.

The Beacon Church lies opposite Bognor Drive on Sea Street, which leads out of Herne Bay on its west side, in the Whitstable direction. It was 'planted' in 1995 by the New Life Christian Community Church (Whitstable) to serve the people of Herne Bay and is highly distinctive, thanks to its steep front-gable which is attached to a far more simple low-roofed brick building at the back. A dressing of knapped flint, typical of Canterbury's older churches, finishes off the frontage.

Our Lady of the Sacred Heart Catholic Church is at 3 Sea Street, at the western end of the High Street, although the main body of the church building looks out over the far more narrow Clarence Road. The church was built between 1889-1890 as an example of the more refined Victorian work, and is regarded as a local landmark. It was gifted to the Passonist Priests, who were founded by St Paul of the Cross (1694-1775) and who continue to run it to this day.

The building's form is relatively simple, allowing the random coursed ragstone walling, which is very typical of central Herne Bay's churches, to feature as a major aspect of the building's character. It is certainly a building which has been designed to be seen from all sides in order to appreciate it fully. Inside there is a Gothic Revival three-tier altar which is still seen by a congregation of four hundred, half the 1890s figure but still respectable for the twenty-first century.

Herne Bay Christian Spiritualist Church is signposted, but it sits fully hidden behind 20-24 Avenue Road in Herne Bay, on the northern side of the road, and only accessible via a passage on the western side of No 24. The church committee agreed to view a room for rent on the seafront on 9 December 1948. Enquiries were made regarding the present building, which opened for services on 1 December 1949. Miss Moyes visited from headquarters to open the hall.

The Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses is located on the relatively quiet and leafy Station Road, just a few hundred metres south of the west end of the High Street, which is notable for its surviving but long-disused black gas lamp standards manufactured by 'Beck and Co. Ltd London'. A new building, this one follows a fairly standard pattern for a Kingdom Hall, with the same colour scheme being used in the brickwork, apparently wherever this proves possible.

The Church of St John the Evangelist occupied the inside of Brunswick Square, between Station Road and Hanover Street. Early plans were laid by 1850 for this church, but a false start saw the project stalled and the partially-built brick walls being dismantled and sold. The second attempt in 1898 was far more successful. The building was added to in 1903, but without a tower. Redundancy followed in 1972, and the church was demolished in 1974 in favour of today's apartments.

The Salvation Army community church is on Richmond Street, close to the town's former bus garage site. It was opened in 1907, five years before the death of William Booth, an ex-Methodist minister who was encouraged to found his own 'Christian Mission' in 1865. By 1912, his Salvation Army was at work in a total of fifty-eight countries. Herne Bay's small Salvation Army band still go out to play around the town, most notably when the Christmas lights are switched on.

Mortimer Street Chapel is at 53 Mortimer Street, on the north side, two doors east of the Beach Street foot passage to Central Parade. It may not be a chapel at all, not being marked as such on 1890s OS maps. Perhaps it served briefly for one of the nonconformist groups, but mostly it was known as being a hall. Herne Bay Historical Records Society used it in the 1930s, until 1939. Post-war it was owned by Charlie Crawley until 2015, later being christened 'Charlie's Chapel'.

Five photos on this page by P L Kessler, and five kindly contributed by M Kessler.