Follow the brown signs

Sackings, earthquakes and collapsed towers

The intimate and atmospheric St Mary’s occupies what may be the oldest church site in Sandwich where a 7th-century convent was founded of which nothing has survived.

There remain substantial parts of a large Norman church, despite the town having been sacked by the French in the 13th- and 15th-centuries, an earthquake in the 16th and the collapse of the tower in the 17th!

The north arcade was then replaced with slender columns of chestnut and the immense barn-like breadth of the nave and south aisle was roofed in one span.

The tower over the south porch has a wooden belfry built in 1718 and there are monuments from several periods and interesting fittings to discover.

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