St Augustine's Church, Brookland

St Augustine’s Church stands in the village of Brookland, Kent, on an artificial mound in Walland Marsh. Built about 1250, it is a Grade I listed building and has a separate bell tower. The tower began as an open wooden frame in the 13th century, was clad in the 15th and later reclad in 1936 and 1990. Six bells hang in the tower, one from around 1450 and the others cast in 1685 and 1973. A small clock tower and a 14th-century wooden north porch stand beside the church. The church is dedicated to St Augustine, the first Archbishop of Canterbury. Inside, the nave and chancel form one continuous space without a chancel arch, and a south aisle runs the length of the building. Box pews date from about 1738, and plain windows let in clear light. On the south chapel’s east wall a fragment of a 13th-century painting shows the martyrdom of Thomas Becket, uncovered in 1964. The lead font, made around 1200, is decorated with the signs of the zodiac and monthly agricultural labours. Evidence suggests a church existed here in Saxon times. Brookland belonged to Edward of Coombe by 997, who gave the manor to St Augustine’s Abbey in Canterbury. The abbey built dependent churches dedicated to St Augustine between 997 and 1066, and this church likely dates from that period. The simple interior and the separate tower give the building a quiet, uncluttered character.