All Saints Church

All Saints Church stands in Lydd, a town in Kent on Romney Marsh. It is the longest parish church in the county, stretching 199 feet, and has one of the tallest towers at 132 feet. The church mixes Early English, Decorated and Perpendicular styles, built mainly of ragstone rubble with a tiled roof. Its west tower, crenellated and dated 1435–1450, holds a fine peal of eight bells recast in 1926. Inside, the nave roof shows moulded tie-beams, ornamental brackets and octagonal king posts. The church’s origins go back to a small Romano-British basilica of the fifth century. In the fifteenth century it supported seven fraternities, each with its own altar and light, later joined by four more. After wartime damage in 1940, the chancel was rebuilt in early English style. The registers began in 1539 for burials and 1542 for christenings and marriages. Notable rectors include Thomas Wolsey, though he probably never visited. Visitors find a spacious nave with oak pews seating a thousand. Under the carpet lie seventeen monumental brasses, including one to the Godfrey family dated 1430. The chancel holds a bust of the Godfrey family and an effigy of Sir Walter de Meryl. A roundel by John Flaxman honours Anne Russell and her son. Outside, the churchyard contains a 1551 tomb and many sailors’ graves, including six from the wreck of the Northfleet in 1873. The tower overlooks an old holm oak where herons nest.