Arts & Culture
THE MARSH CHURCHES HAVE INSPIRED CREATIVES FOR HUNDREDS OF YEARS
The Romney Marsh historic churches have numerous connections to important figures in arts, crafts and culture. Some interesting examples are shown on this page, but the list is by no means exhaustive - these incredible buildings have inspired and influenced creatives for centuries.
Of course, we should also pay tribute here to the thousands of skilled craftspeople that have contributed to the buildings themselves, and the artefacts they contain, for nearly a millennium. Sadly we will never know most of their names, but people from all over the world continue to appreciate their work today.
The Trust helps to preserve their legacy for future generations.
John Piper
John Piper was an English painter, printmaker and designer of stained-glass windows and stage sets. His work often focused on the British landscape, especially churches. He painted all of the Romney Marsh churches, including some interior scenes. King Penguin Books commissioned Piper to stay on Romney Marsh and published the results of his visit - a beautiful description of the Marsh in water-colours, drawings and words.
A set of John Piper church postcards is available to purchase from the Trust.
John Doyle
The Trust’s President, John Doyle MBE PPRWS, is widely recognised as a master of watercolour. He has had many personal exhibitions in London and four in the Chapter House of Canterbury Cathedral. John became a member of the Royal Watercolour Society in 1977 and then President in 1997. John has painted all of the Romney Marsh churches. His painting of St. Dunstan’s at Snargate features on one of our 2024 Christmas Cards.
John reflects on 40 years of the Trust in this article.
Brenzett - E. Nesbit
Within the 14th century Lady Chapel is a huge alabaster monument to John Fagge and his son, who both died during the reign of King Charles I.
The monument was the inspiration for Edith Nesbit's ghost story Man-size in Marble written in 1893, over a decade before her most well-known book The Railway Children.
Nesbit visited the marsh throughout her life and attended the church at nearby St Mary-in-the-Marsh, where she is buried.
Brookland - Rudyard Kipling
The author Rudyard Kipling references Brookland in his poem “Brookland Road”.
0, stop your ringing and let me be--
Let be, 0 Brookland bells!
You'll ring Old Goodman out of the sea,
Before I wed one else!
Kipling was fascinated by the activities of smugglers and famously wrote the poem “A Smuggler’s Song”.
Burmarsh - Local & international artisans
The ornamental wooden reredos behind the altar was installed between 1897 and 1900 by the Rector, Reverend Edmund Ibbotson. It was reputedly carved by a craftsman at Oberammergau in Bavaria in Germany.
The Rector also painted the decoration on the rafters and inscriptions on the beams in the chancel with the aid of the churchwarden, Albert Checksfield.
Separating the chancel and the nave is a striking tracery screen erected in 1923 as a memorial to the two men of Burmarsh who lost their lives in the First World War.
Dymchurch - Paul Nash
The small church at Dymchurch is protected from inundation by the sea by a huge sea wall; inspiration for one of the most important English artists of the 20th century, Paul Nash.
In 1920, Nash spent his summer in Dymchurch. He was so taken with it that he returned regularly. He is best known for his work as an official war artist but he was also a surrealist and landscape painter.
Dymchurch - Russell Thorndike
Reverend Doctor Christopher Syn is the smuggler hero of a series of novels by Russell Thorndike. In the books Rev. Syn is the vicar of Dymchurch by day but by night he becomes "The Scarecrow", feared leader of the local smugglers.
Thornedike died in 1972, aged 87, and is buried in the churchyard of St. Peter and St Paul at Dymchurch.
Dymchurch - John Davidson
John Davidson’s evocative poem In Romney Marsh begins:
As I went down to Dymchurch Wall, I heard the South sing o'er the land. I saw the yellow sunlight fall on knolls where Norman churches stand…
Though born too late to be classified as a Romantic poet, in his religious imagery, love and vivid description of the natural world Davidson has been compared to William Wordsworth.
East Guldeford - The Guldefords & Shakespeare
Sir Richard Guldeford, who built St Mary's, was an important man. He was the great grandson of William de Guldeford, builder and owner of the Hemsted Park estate in Benenden.
The Guildfords are referred to in Shakespeare's play King Richard III Act IV, Scene IV where the Second Messenger speaks, "In Kent, my liege, the Guilfords are in arms; And every hour more competitors Flock to the rebels, and their power grows strong."
Sir Richard was Sheriff of Kent in 1493-1494 and a Privy Councillor to Henry VII. He had fought with Henry at the Battle of Bosworth during the Wars of the Roses.
Shakespeare’s company also performed at New Romney, as described in this BBC article.
Fairfield - Piper, Dickens, Byatt & more
The iconic church at Fairfield has inspired generations of artists, photographers and writers.
The artist John Piper took the white panelling and black details of the furnishings at Fairfield as inspiration when designing the prayer room of Nuffield College at Oxford.
The church has also featured in films based on Charles Dickens' book Great Expectations - one by the BBC starring David Suchet and Ray Winstone, and another by Number 9 Films starring Helena Bonham Carter and Ralph Fiennes.
AS Byatt's 2009 "The Children's Book", which is loosely based upon the life of children's writer E. Nesbit, has a beautiful description of the church. It was shortlisted for the 2009 Man Booker Prize.
Ivychurch - Reginald Blomfield
In the Victorian era many churches were subject to large-scale modifications and over-zealous restorations. Thankfully Ivychurch was bypassed and instead the noted Arts and Crafts designer and architect Reginald Blomfield, who lived in Rye, is said to have restored the church with kindness.
Blomfield, who was the grandson of the Bishop of London, claimed that St George's was one of the finest complete examples of 14th century craftsmanship and the best example of church architecture in the whole district. Blomfield later gained fame for designing the Menin Gate War Memorial at Ypres, Lady Margaret Hall in Oxford, the Carlton Club and Tunbridge Wells Central railway station. He was also responsible for remodelling London's Regent Street and designing the nearby garden at Godington Park in Ashford.
Lydd - John Flaxman
Close to the entrance of Lydd church is an impressive sculpture by English sculptor, illustrator, and designer John Flaxman, a leading artist of the Neoclassical style in England.
A revered artist in both his home country of Britain and continental Europe during the early 17th and late 18th centuries, no British sculptor before Henry Moore enjoyed a greater international reputation than Flaxman. He was the Royal Academy's first ever Professor of Sculptor. He is also well-known for his designs for the world-famous potter Josiah Wedgwood.
Lydd & Old Romney - Derek Jarman
The tall tower of All Saints Lydd is mentioned several times in books by Derek Jarman, who lived nearby at Prospect Cottage, Dungeness Road, Lydd. The cottage and shingle garden is a work of art in its own right.
Derek Jarman was a legendary English artist and filmmaker, best known for his avant-garde art films and also renowned as a set designer, gardener, author and activist. Alongside his feature films he worked with leading musicians of his day including The Smiths, Bryan Ferry, The Pet Shop Boys, Suede and more.
He is buried in the churchyard at St. Clement’s Old Romney.
Newchurch - Outstanding craftsmanship
The Jacobean wine glass pulpit is the oldest on the marsh and retains its sounding board.
The choir stalls have ends carved with images of winged bishops holding shields depicting the keys of St Peter and the sword of St Paul.
The 15th century font bears the emblems of St Peter and St Paul. They are accompanied by the white rose of York, the red rose of Lancaster and the Tudor rose. The font probably dates, therefore, from the period of peace under the first Tudor king.
The church also has impressive stained glass.
New Romney - H. G. Wells
H. G. Wells grew up in Bromley and regularly travelled across Kent. Some of the landscape descriptions in his most famous books could quite easily be descriptions of Romney Marsh.
Close to the church, Ashdown ironmongers in New Romney, now Rolfe’s, was used as inspiration for the opening chapter in his book Kipps, which is called “The Little Shop at New Romney”.
In 1898, shortly before the first draft was complete, Wells stayed for a month with his personal physician Henry Hick at his house in New Romney, prior to moving to Sandgate near Folkestone. While staying in New Romney, Wells was visited by his writer friends Edmund Gosse and Henry James.
Old Romney - Walt Disney
During World War II, the church at Old Romney was badly damaged and fell into disrepair. Film-maker Walt Disney Productions was an unlikely rescuer!
St. Clement's was chosen as the ideal site for the church scenes of the 1963 film series "Dr Syn: The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh". The film retold Russell Thorndike's original Dr Syn novel, based on the adventures of smugglers on the marsh in the 18th century.
The production was shot in Technicolour, which required bright colours for filming purposes, so the grey box pews were painted pink.
Various scenes from "The Loves of Joanna Godden" (1946) were also filmed here.
Snargate - Thomas Ingoldsby
Richard Harris Barham was rector of Snargate and he famously penned the "Ingoldsby Legends" under the pen name Thomas Ingoldsby.
It is here, in his tale The Leech of Folkestone that he writes "The World, according to the best geographers, is divided into Europe, Asia, Africa, America and Romney Marsh" thereby introducing the term: Fifth Continent.
He became rector at Snargate in 1817 but lived at Warehorne nearby. A few years later in 1821 he was elected a minor canon of St Paul's Cathedral and began writing more seriously.
Snargate - Harold Gilman
The large house behind the church was once the Rectory and it is where artist Harold Gilman grew up.
Sometimes called the English Van Gogh, Gilman was a British Impressionist and a member of the Camden Town Group.
His father was rector at Snargate. Harold was born in 1876 and lived at the Rectory until his thirties.
Snave - The Daffodil Church
The church is famous for its impressive springtime show of daffodils, which have been photographed and painted by people from all over the world. The photo here is by RMHCT Council Member Nick Hudd.
The church is now entirely maintained by the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust.
St. Mary-in-the-Marsh - E. Nesbit
E. Nesbit lived out her late years at St Mary’s Bay and is buried in the churchyard at St Mary in the Marsh.
The present grave marker is a replica by sculptor Mark Folds and sponsored by the Edith Nesbit Society.
Edith, born on 15th August 1858 in Kennington, South London, was a prolific writer. During her lifetime she wrote romantic novels, short stories, ghost stories, plays, reviews, wonderful poems and, of course, stories for children.
Today, her most remembered story is "The Railway Children".
St. Mary-in-the-Marsh - Noël Coward
Amongst the friends of E. Nesbit was young actor and writer Noel Coward. He stayed in the little cottage opposite the church next to the Star Inn.
Coward would sit in the churchyard with his back against a gravestone and write.
During his stay on the Marsh, Coward found a house in nearby Aldington, which he bought and lived in for many years.
Many other well-known writers have been associated with the area: Henry James, who lived in Rye; Daphne du Maurier lived in Hythe for a few years during the War; Joseph Conrad, Stephen Crane, Radclyffe Hall, Rumer Godden, Conrad Aiken and more.
Find out more about the marsh churches with our virtuals tours and audio guides, which delve into the history, features and folklore of each church.
You may also be interested in features to spot when visiting a historic church.
