St Mary's Church, Sittingbourne , Kent

St Mary's Church, Sittingbourne Church

Image Source: Rob Baker

St. Mary's is an early Edwardian red bricked church built between 1901-02 to a design by Diocesan Architect R. Philip Day. It was intended to be a second chapel-of-ease to Holy Trinity Milton Regis alongside St. Paul's, which was built in 1863 and later demolished in 1955.Throughout its history St. Mary's has maintained an Anglo-Catholic tradition. It was consecrated on 25th January 1902, and in 1925 it became a separate parish in its own right before being joined to Sittingbourne's historic parish church of St. Michael's in 2000. Architect R. Philip Day was severely constrained by space when commissioned to build St. Mary's, which is hemmed in alongside Victorian terraced houses with streets running in front of and behind the church.The chancel has three high lancet windows above a wooden panelled reredos; and the short clerestoried nave has been extended with the additon of a north aisle and small north transept. There is (was) also a small north chapel, dedicated to the Virgin Mary, which contains the only piece of stained-glass in the church, featuring Mary as both the Blessed Virgin (in the right panel) and the everlasting symbol of Charity (in the left). The arcades in the south wall are blocked. This might have been a deliberate attempt by the architect to replicate the evolution of a medieval church, or perhaps there was a plan to extend St. Mary's at some stage with the addition of a south aisle and transept to mirror the north.It would have been a tight squeeze against the garden of the neighbouring house, but there is a small southern vestry adjoining the chancel, which any southern aisle would have been connected to. In 1937 St. Mary's was extended westwards with the addition of a new hall to the rear of the church, built in red brick to correspond to the original design. In 2001 it was extended again when a new entrance lobby was built to the south west, containing a modern kitchen and toilet facilities. Lying less than a quarter of a mile from both St. Michael's and the Victorian church of Holy Trinity Sittingbourne (built in 1867), perhaps it was a case of too many churches in a small geographical area when also taking into account several other churches in the High Street less than five minutes' walk away. There are Roman Catholic, Baptist, Methodist and two independent churches all within a short walking distance. St. Mary's ceased to hold regular services in 2010 although is still in the possession of the Church of England. In 2016 it was briefly the home of Holy Trinity Sittingbourne while their building was being renovated; and it later became the home of a Christian youth club, but this arrangement seems to have ended and the current future of the building remains uncertain. Text by Rob Baker

1851 Census Details

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Architecture Details

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Closed

Website

http://www.saintsinsittingbourne.org.uk

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