Churches of the British Isles

The Chapel of St John the Baptist, Milton, Thanington Without lies off Milton Manor Road, with an overgrown footpath entrance over a stile approximately 200 metres north-east of the Cockering Road junction. The small church was built in the twelfth century, within the ecclesiastical jurisdiction of the diocese and deanery of Canterbury. It was originally dedicated to St Nicholas but was later rededicated to St John the Baptist, and it served Milton Manor Farm estate.

The chapel consists of a small aisle and chancel, and it served the nearby manor during the Middle Ages. It has a small stone pinnacle at the west end with a single bell. It was restored in 1829 by the local patron, who installed a new font. The manor house was demolished in 1959. Today, although it is redundant, the chapel is well-preserved and is used for occasional services in the summer. It can be visited, despite the best efforts of the land's current occupants to dissuade.

St Nicholas Thanington Without is on the northern side of the Thanington Road, opposite Strangers Lane. Thanington Without is named for its location outside the walls of Canterbury, close to Wincheap. Half hidden behind full-grown yew trees, the church's chancel was erected by the Normans. The rest was added in the thirteenth century, in flint with stone dressings and a tiled roof. It contains a chancel, nave, south transept and a tower in the place of a north transept.

The church was restored in 1846 by William Butterfield, which is when the pulpit and most of the new, fairly plain stonework was added. The square tower was rebuilt in 1856, while the early fourteenth century piscina survives. The churchyard contains some eighteenth century headstones with skull or cherub motifs, table tombs and the very distinctive oval bodystones that are very common in some of East Kent's older churchyards.

Kingdom Hall of Jehovah's Witnesses in Wincheap is at the north-west corner of Sullivan Close. Like the houses around it the hall is new, although its style is highly similar to many other such halls around the country - red brick with a central strip, and an entrance that is sometimes completely hidden. Also in Wincheap, although the location has been lost, was St James' Hospital (or St Jacob's Hospital) for leprous women. It was handed over to the crown in 1551.

All photos on this page by P L Kessler.