Follow the brown signs

A remote church on the edge of the Thames marshes

St Mary’s sits remote from Higham village in orchards on the edge of marshes running to the Thames.

It is an unusual church with great charm and eccentricity. Its striped walls of ragstone and knapped flint and a near-symmetrical arrangement of two naves and two chancels are surmounted by a shingled spirelet.

Originally Norman, it was remodelled and enlarged in the 14th-century, perhaps when a priory of Benedictine nuns was established nearby.

There is some memorable woodwork including a 15th-century chancel screen in its original position, a 14-th century pulpit and a particularly fine south door, treated like a four-light window with much delicate carving and some original ironwork.

Restoration in 1863 provided most of the furnishings and the glass in the chancel windows.

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