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Our churches

Boughton Malherbe

Harrietsham

Lenham

Ulcombe

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Services and Events in the Benefice.

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Lenham Church

Lenham, like all the churches in the Benefice, part of the North Downs Deanery of the Diocese of Canterbury.  The church is named for St Mary.

There has been a Church here since Saxon and Norman times but the early building was destroyed by fire in 1297. It was apparently a malicious act and in 1298 Archbishop Winchelsea came to Lenham in person and excommunicated the perpetrators of the crime 'in absentia'.

As a consequence of this act of vandalism, the Church was rebuilt in the 14th Century. The only parts of the Norman building to survive are a piece of the wall in the corner of The Chapel of St. Edmund on the North east corner of the building and a column between this Chapel and the West end of the Chancel.

The altar is a stone slab standing on four small pillars. This is a rarity for a Kentish Church where most stone altars were replaced by wooden communion tables in the 16th Century. This stone altar was actually buried into the floor of the Chancel and not rediscovered until the early 20th Century.

In the tower is a ring of eight bells and includes a bell made in 1619 by the famous Kentish bell founder, Joseph Hatch. The largest bell, the tenor, weighs in at 21 cwt.

A guide to the church can be download by clicking here.

Above the village of Lenham lies a chalk cross cut into the hill, commemorating casualties of the two world wars.. A commemorative bench and plaque are located at the site. The original commemorative stone at the site has now been moved to the village churchyard with a WWII memorial.

Roll of Honour: The village tribute is in the form of a large block of granite at the side of the parish church in Lenham. There are also 2 plaques inside the church itself containing the same names that appear on the tribute outside.

Other churches in the area include the United Reform Church whose website is www.lenhamurc.org.uk.

Lenham House Group

A new group is staring in Lenham, meeting on Monday's 1.30pm - 3pm in the Community room at Grovelands in Lenham.  For more information please contact Helen Venn on 01622 858 195.