Churches of the British Isles

St Augustine's Mission Room stood at the eastern corner of the field shown here, nearest Richborough Road and on the east side of the northbound lane to Bride Farm. To the east (the right here) is another farm which today contains a complex of stables. The iron mission room was connected with the local parish church. It was erected in July 1888 for the inhabitants of rural Richborough and district, seating about fifty. It was marked on post-1940 maps but is now lost.

Cooper Street Primitive Methodist Chapel was at the north-west end of Cooper Street Farm Road, which leads off the west side of Cooper Street, south of the mission room (above). This small chapel opened in 1870. A class book for it survives from 1914-1917. Kent archives has records up to 1934 which suggests a potential closure date. Post-1930 it is marked as a 'building' (not a chapel). This 1986 photograph shows it in use as a barn, and it may now be residential.

Richborough Castle Chapel once stood within the grounds of Richborough Roman Fort (an amphitheatre lies a short way to the south), a little way to the west of the A256 at Great Stonar in the Richborough area of Kent. Today only the base of the font survives from the chapel itself (see next photo). It is described as an early Christian font which is located near the north wall of this fortified early medieval town area, dating perhaps as early as the second century AD.

Such an early date would make it one of the very earliest official Christian sites of worship in the British Isles, part of the early British Church movement (see links). Richborough forms one of the most important Roman sites in Britain. It was in use for the entire duration of the Roman occupation from AD 43 to the 'official' termination date of Roman administration in 410 (see 'related links' for The End of Roman Britain). After that a hybrid Roman-British administration was in charge.

Much of the site was levelled for a new town in AD 85, centred around a huge monumental arch. The town covered around twenty hectares, well outside the walls which were put up around 250-275. It declined rapidly in the AD 400s but remained in use. The church was small, rectangular, aligned east-west, with a small, square chancel, narrow nave, and western porticus. Dated to the 600s it was substantially rebuilt in the early Norman period but demolished in the 1600s.

Three photos on this page by P L Kessler, one kindly contributed by British Methodist Buildings via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, and two copyright © Rob Farrow and John Myers via Geograph, reused under a cc licence.