St. Peter & St. Paul Church, Dymchurch

The church of St. Peter & St Paul was built around 1150 on the site of what is believed to be a Saxon place of worship. During underpinning a few Roman finds were made. Inside when looking towards the chancel you will see the fine Norman arch, the zigzag decoration was intended to indicate light. In its early life the outline of the arch would have been painted in gold to indicate that the chancel was the most holy part of the church, together this would mean that the chancel was filled with light and the spirit of God. 

 

You can see the Norman arches are also at the entrance and behind the curtain on the west wall.

In 1821 the church was enlarged, this was due to the increase in the local population, we had the arrival of the Revenue Officers, they were here to crackdown on the smuggling that was rife here. Also there were the soldiers who were stationed in the Martello Towers, then there was the works being done to the seawall, so because of this the north facing wall was totally removed, you can see the outline of the original wall to the left of the chancel. (The Heritage Group have records of the complete breakdown of the costs and the local traders who completed this).

The font, in 1256 The Archbishop of Canterbury sent out a decree saying that all fonts should be fitted with lockable lids, this was so that the holy water could not be stolen by witches.

Our Norman font was deposed of in 1821 where it became a pig-trough, its pedestal into a stepping stone and the marble mortar became a garden roller. For many decades it disappeared but was found by chance in a dyke in the early 20th century, the Elliott Family had it restored to it’s former glory.

The Church before it was enlarged