2010

TR2269 : Ruin of St Mary's at Reculver

taken 15 years ago, near to Reculver, Kent, Great Britain

Ruin of St Mary's at Reculver
Ruin of St Mary's at Reculver
St Mary's was a very substantial church dramatically positioned on the coast dominating the tiny village of Reculver. Presumably due to its extraordinary size in relation to its population it had fallen to rack and ruin by the C18th. However its twin towers were an important landmark for shipping, so Trinity House (the lighthouse authority) purchased the ruin and rebuilt the upper levels of the towers to act as a navigational aid. The remnant building is quite an evocative and atmospheric place.
Reculver - Ancient Monuments

The entire site around the ruined Anglo-Saxon church is a Scheduled Ancient Monument and incorporates the remains of a Saxon Shore Fort and a later Anglo-Saxon monastery built on the site of an earlier temporary Roman military camp along with an Iron Age farmstead. The most noticeable remains are of the mediæval church of St Mary which was founded as long ago as the C7th though most of the existing fabric is centuries younger. The church was almost lost due to coastal erosion and subsequent partial demolition in 1809 but its remnants were rescued and stabilised the following year.
A plaque on the inside western wall states:

These Towers
The remains of the once venerable Church
of Reculvers
Were purchased for the parish
by the
Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond
in the year 1810
and Groins laid down at their expence
to protect the Cliff on which the Church had stood.
When the ancient spires were afterwards blown down,
the present Substitutes were erected,
to render the Towers still sufficiently conspicuous
to be useful to Navigation.
Captn Joseph Cotton, Deputy Master
in the year 1819

Notes:
1 The place is referred to as Reculvers with a final S - this seems to be an error as I can find no record of the village's name ever having been spelt this way.
2 Expence - obsolete spelling of Expense
3 The spires alluded to were wooden steeples formerly atop the towers and the "substitutes" which were installed no longer exist either.
4 The entire inscription is in capital letters - I have capitalised only the words chiselled in larger type.

See EH SAM listing here: LinkExternal link

The entire site is administered by English Heritage and is free to access: LinkExternal link

There is an informative article on Reculver and its monuments on Wikipedia: LinkExternal link


Creative Commons Licence [Some Rights Reserved]   © Copyright Rob Farrow and licensed for reuse under this Creative Commons Licence.
Category: Church (ruined)
This photo is linked from: Automatic Clusters: · Reculver Ruins [70] · Twin Towers [18] Other Photos: · Neptune's Tower ·
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
+
+
1:50,000 Modern Day Landranger(TM) Map © Crown Copyright
TIP: Click the map for more Large scale mapping
Grid Square
TR2269, 297 images   (more nearby 🔍)
Photographer
Rob Farrow   (more nearby)
Date Taken
Monday, 31 May, 2010   (more nearby)
Submitted
Thursday, 3 June, 2010
Subject Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TR 2275 6936 [10m precision]
WGS84: 51:22.7739N 1:11.9713E
Camera Location
OSGB36: geotagged! TR 2279 6933
View Direction
Northwest (about 315 degrees)
Clickable map
+
NW N NE
W Go E
SW S SE
Image classification(about): Geograph
This page has been viewed about 410 times
You are not logged in | login | register