Churches of the British Isles

St Nicholas Old Chapel, Great Stonar, stood on an isthmus at the the south end of Stonar Lake (its tip is visible here). The small town of Stonar began to expand in the 1000s, immediately north of Sandwich, but it was destroyed by French raiders in 1385, never to be rebuilt. St Nicholas was in ruins in 1549. Its remains were found and recorded by Henry Wood in 1821. The site was excavated in 1948 when skulls showed that the graveyard was still being used in the 1500s.

St Peter's Church lies on the street of the same name, with King Street on the far side. Domesday book makes no mention of it but a Saxon building probably existed here, to be replaced by a Norman building in stone. The earliest stones in St Peter's (at the west end of the nave) probably date from shortly after the Norman conquest. This church was probably destroyed in the fighting of 1217 when Sandwich was attacked and severely damaged by the French.

The church was rebuilt, and it is this thirteenth century work which forms the core of the present church, traditionally held to have been the work of the Carmelite 'White Friars' (see links). It had a wider nave, a tower, and a chancel and two aisles on either side, narrower and lower than the present north aisle. The interior windows above the arches at the west end of the nave originally looked out over the roof. In the fourteenth century the north aisle was rebuilt.

In 1564 there was a severe plague, and St Peter's was given to the 'Strangers', Dutch Protestant émigrés, for their use to discourage the spread of infection. In 1661 the tower collapsed due to lack of maintenance. No one was hurt but the south aisle was buried, so the Flemish community rebuilt the tower. In 1779 a ring of eight bells was cast and a clock installed in the tower. The church was declared redundant in 1948, and in 2009-2010 it underwent restoration work.

Sandwich Baptist Meeting House in the town cannot be located. Kentish roots of nonconformity are to be found in the Lollards of the 1300s century. Sandwich was a known Baptist station, with baptisms taking place in the sea. A chapel existed here by 1689, and a petition was signed by one of its ministers in 1700. The meeting house was closed in the early 1800s and, when reopened for a few weeks in 1803, it was damaged by 'evil-disposed persons' and was abandoned.

All photos on this page by P L Kessler & M Kessler in 2010 & 2025.