Churches of the British Isles

The Church of the Holy Cross, Goodnestone, is on raised ground on the western side of The Street, immediately north of Goodnestone Park Gardens. The church dates to the twelfth century, with additions and alterations in the nineteenth. The building was extended in the thirteenth century, while the tower was rebuilt in the fifteenth century. The nave, south porch, and chancel were designed by Rickman and Hussey between 1839-1841 but in the thirteenth century style.

The flint building was also restored in flint, but this was more heavily knapped and coursed, with a plain tiled roof added. The building consists of a nave and chancel, with a north aisle and chapel, west tower, and north and south porches. The three-stage west tower with plinth contains triple offset buttresses and battlements, with a south-eastern octagonal stair turret. A sundial is mounted on the stair turret and a clock face is mounted on the eastern tower face.

The oldest part of the surviving building is the fourteenth century north aisle and the fifteenth century tower. The former was enlarged in 1839 by a rebuilt nave and chancel. The architects were the aforementioned Rickman and Hussey, pioneers of the nineteenth century Gothic Revival. The nineteenth century north porch with its four-centred arched doorway probably is not part of the 1839 work. The church abuts Sir Brook Bridges' Goodnestone Park of the early 1700s.

The location is unknown when it comes to finding Goodnestone Old Chapel. The shot used here is of the northern end of this hamlet. Mentioned by Arthur Hussey in his Chapels of Kent, it may be the first reference to a St Clements Knowlton (see links) which originally was a chapel for Knowlton Court, of fourteenth or fifteenth century origin as a chapel-of-ease to Wingham. The chapel which Hussey described was part of Overland Manor, given to Wingham in 1282.

St Peter's Church, Aylesham, is at the south-west corner of the junction between Dorman Avenue N and Milner Crescent. The church and its combined hall is a spacious 1927 barn-styled building. It was erected to serve this equally new, planned mining town of 1920 which served the local Kent collieries. The church part is surprisingly large, with a prominent timber roof and long chancel. The font was brought in from Kingston when they re-erected their medieval font.

Four photos on this page by P L Kessler, one kindly contributed by Ben Found via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group, and one copyright © Nick Smith via Geograph, reused under a cc licence.