The mysterious church in the marshes.

Those of you that have ridden my Hythe away day will recognise this landmark.
Soon after lunch we pass this beautiful little church alone in the marshes.

I was down in Kent last Tuesday with Ev on the annual pilgrimage to the Biddenden Vineyards. "For tis the season to be jolly" and so hence our usual Cider pick up.

The church has always been a bit of a puzzle to me as to why it's there, so we stopped along the way and took a walk across the field to investigate.

Here's the history from the web:

St Thomas's, Fairfield.

Rumoured to be have been founded by either an unnamed medieval traveler or the Archbishop of Canterbury who fell into a deep dike. Sinking in the water, he prayed to Thomas a Becket to save him as he came up for the first time, promised the saint he would build him a church as he surfaced for the second and was rescued by a farmer on the third. In return for his life, the church was built. Fairfield, or its old English name of Fayrefelde, was once a village with documentary evidence in the form of maps from 1595 showing its presence. Now all that remains is the isolated church. The current church was a reconstruction (using original timbers) in 1912. Services are no longer held there but the church is maintained by the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust. Uniquely, the churchyard has no boundary, no tombstones, no trees and no memorials.

As with most churches today, alas it was locked and we were unable to view the inside.

The pictures are taken through the windows. On looking through one windows into a tiny room, the Vicar's robes and stoles are hanging up on a hook waiting for the next service.

A place truely stopped in time!

Paul Isambard White