Churches of the British Isles

The parish is small, with no village and only six and-a-half houses (one house stands over a stream which forms the parish boundary, thereby sitting in two parishes). This small church has a nave, chancel, a very small north isle, and a square tower, embattled at the north-west corner and with a ring of three bells. The church remains in use today (2025). The chancel contains a monument and marble bust for Robert Jaques Esq, former alderman and sheriff of London.

The former Westmarsh Wesleyan Methodist Chapel sits just south of the Wass Drove bend in the road, visible from there on the western side of the narrow 'Westmarsh' lane. This small Wesleyan chapel was registered by 1867, following a period in which Methodist meetings seem to have been held in private houses in the area. The fact that it is in the 1867 registry suggests that the chapel was already open and operating by then, and eventually with a Sunday school too.

The House of Lords Journal Volume 63: 13 April 1831 notes the reading of a petition by members of the society and congregation of 'Westmarsh Chapel'. Kent archives contain papers from 1897-1970 which relate the later sale of the building. Most certainly an iron church, a 'tin tabernacle', these were not used until the mid-1800s, which suggests that it replaced an earlier chapel. It is now a residential property, and was being rebuilt during 2025 as can be seen here.

Holy Trinity Church, Ware, sits on the northern side of Ware Road, at the hamlet's western side, and with the war memorial set into an alcove in the front wall. This former Anglican church was built as a chapel-of-ease to St Nicholas at Ash near Sandwich (see 'related links'). It was to serve the isolated and remote hamlets of Ware and Westmarsh. It was dedicated as Holy Trinity Westmarsh, although technically it is in Ware. It gained its own parish in 1849.

Built in yellow brick in 1841 as a pre-Ecclesiological 'preaching box', it has a non-liturgal alignment, with its small chancel area facing north. It was designed by the architect, George Russell French, being enlarged in 1895 with a new entrance porch. Between 1958-1960 it was renovated again and was connected to the national grid. Then the congregation declined and the church was closed in 1968. Use as a store was ended when it was converted for residential use.

Five photos on this page by P L Kessler, and one copyright © David Anstiss via Geograph, reused under a cc licence.