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Churches of the British Isles

Gallery: Churches of Kent

by Arthur Percival & Peter Kessler, 27 June 2010. Updated 1 January 2020

Swale Part 9: Churches of Oare, Teynham (Outer) & Buckland

St Peter's Church, Oare, Kent

St Peter's Church Oare lies on the eastern side of Church Road, not far north of The Street. The area is on a sharp ridge which overlooks Oare Creek as the water heads southwards to Faversham. The parish was a chapelry of Stalisfield (see links), an up-country and rather remote parish. Its Norman flint church was built in the twelfth century, and was added to in the thirteenth century. The chancel was extended eastwards in the late fourteenth or early fifteenth century.

St Peter's Church, Oare, Kent

Some time afterwards the old east window was taken out and replaced by a larger one in the Perpendicular style. In the 1860s, the Victorian architect Joseph Clarke added a number of unusual features including some fine stained glass produced by the artist F C Eden. The bell cote, which still existed in 1803, was probably replaced by the present semi-tower at the same time. Further restoration work on the Grade I listed building started in April 2003.

Teynham Bible Christian Chapel, Teynham, Kent

Teynham Bible Christian Chapel stands on the northern side of Teynham Street in the hamlet of the same name, around ninety metres west of the Marsh Lane junction and north-east of the village of Teynham. It is shown as such on the OS 25-inch map of 1892-1914 but was already being shown under its current guise of Chapel House on the OS 1:1,250/1:2,500 map of 1944-1967. Today it is a private residence that has clearly undergone a considerable degree of change.

St Mary's Church, Teynham, Kent

St Mary's Church, Teynham, is at the eastern end of a short lane off Conyer Road, to the north of the railway station and the village itself. Built in the Anglo-Saxon period - and by the ninth century - as one of Kent's 'minster' churches, the present church was constructed in phases between the thirteenth and fifteenth centuries, on raised ground on what formerly was the western bank of the River Lynn. It also contains Roman ceramic fragments used to built the original church.

St Mary's Church, Teynham, Kent

The cruciform building consists of west tower, flanking vestries, nave, aisles, chancel and transepts. The tower was built in the fourteenth century, added onto the thirteenth century church which had very large transepts. The Victorian east window was destroyed in the Second World War. Immediately to the south lie the buried remains of the gatehouse and ancillary buildings of the thirteenth century Archbishop's Palace complex, which lay adjacent to Teynham Street.

St Nicholas, Buckland-by-Faversham, Kent

The Church of St Nicholas, Buckland-by-Faversham, lay at the southern end of the farm buildings on the lane which leads from Lower Road, immediately east of Deerton Street, and north of the railway. The church was early Norman, with a nave and chancel, and west tower and spire. By 1578 the chancel had 'fallen down'. A 1706 storm blew down part of the building and by 1782 the tower had fallen. The photo shows the church around 1900. A rubble wall survives in 2010.

Three photos on this page by Arthur Percival, one by Herbert Crosoer, and one kindly contributed by Keith Guyler/British Methodist Buildings via the 'History Files: Churches of the British Isles' Flickr group.

 

 

     
Images and text copyright © all contributors mentioned on this page. An original feature for the History Files.