Ickham is a beautiful Kentish Village which lies between Canterbury and Sandwich. The photos of the Church and Village Green were taken on two occasions, I only had a few minutes to spare on my first visit, so I made a point of going back and exploring this beautiful little church at my leisure.
The Church is situated behind the Village Green, one side of which is bordered by the thatched buildings shown in the photo above. This is another example of the beautiful country churches that we are lucky enough to have in this part of the country.
The wire gate in front of the main door is to stop birds from getting into the church.
The wonderful ancient door leading into the Church.
There has been a Church on this site since 781, with many changes to the building over the Centuries, as is usual with any building of this age.
The bell tower
The sundial dated 1741, which was re-mounted in its present position in 1977.
The Church from the Churchyard.
The beautiful interior of the Church looking towards the Early English Chancel. The Chancel does not line up with the main body of the Church, this is known as a weeping Chancel.
Looking up into the Bell Tower.
This wonderful old Chest was used to store the vestments of the priest, and dates from the 14th Century.
The beautiful Font.
There are some beautiful examples of stained glass throughout the Church, stained glass windows are not always easy to photograph, below are just some of the windows in the Church.
I was also fascinated by the beautiful carved ends of the pews, although they are probably fairly recent additions to the church, maybe Victorian, they are well worth a mention, each one is different and adds to the beauty of this lovely little Church.
The Church backs on to open countryside, and is surrounded by a pretty churchyard, with mature shrubs and trees. The horse chestnut trees were in bloom when I was there, I have never realized how beautiful these blooms are.
The lovely view across the open fields behind the church.
An interesting gravestone in the Churchyard.
Beautiful horse chestnut flowers .
