Church Heritage Record 606122

5-bay nave and chancel with clerestory and north aisle. 4-stage south-west tower. North porch. North-east vestry.

[Approximate] Nave and chancel 20m (66ft) long x 5.5m (18ft) wide, aisle 2m (7ft) wide.

The church dates to the 12th Century. A priory was founded here by Fulke de Newnham in 1153 as a Benedictine nunnery. By the time of Henry VIII’s dissolution no nuns remained. An oak board on the north wall records the clergy since 1538. Sir Thomas Cheyne, the King’s treasurer (associated with other nearby sites in Kent e.g. Shurland Hall) bought the priory in 1546. The choir of the church was demolished in 1580 but the nave was retained as a parish church.

An explosion at one of Faversham’s several gunpowder mills in 1767 caused damage to the east wall of the church and the south part of the Priory. Both underwent significant repairs and refurbishment by Thomas Willement in 1845 when he bought the site. Willement was a highly-regarded stained glass artist, heraldic scholar, decorative painter as well as an associate of Pugin and Salvin. He restored both buildings adding his own contributions and he lived at the former priory until 1871. Willement’s interventions included the construction of a vault beneath the vestry (where he is buried), the addition of an extra storey to the south-west tower which was rebuilt in 1856 (there were originally twin west towers which influenced those at Reculver, the missing tower was probably removed after the gunpowder explosion), the introduction of wall paintings which are documented by prints in the vestry, the introduction of his own stained glass and changes to the south clerestory windows.

Having survived as a private chapel the church entered the parochial system in 1932 when it was bought by the Central Board of Finance. Willement’s wall paintings were painted over, the box pews were removed and some of his glass was lost.

An archaeological excavation was undertaken at the priory in 1977. The site is of exceptional archaeological interest and potential. The Kent Historic Environment Record should be consulted prior to any development. The church is located within a conservation area, there are no further designations relating to the ecology of the site.

St Mary Magdalene is set within trees on a hill ascending out of Faversham. The church is a focus of views leaving the town. Attached to the south is the privately owned Priory House, making the north the public elevation.

The church is constructed in flint with stone surrounds. A high-pitched nave roof is presided over by a four-stage south-west tower with round-headed windows in the upper three stages. It has a pyramid shaped roof of plain and scalloped roof tiles surmounted by a weather vane. Small lead figures project from each corner and a large lead spout in the form of a pig leans out between the south roof slope and the tower. In the north-west corner is the base of the former tower, its pitched roof rises half the height of the clerestory. Evidence of the first stage can be seen in the stone work on the west wall.

From the west the gabled priory is seen attached to the south. The church’s west elevation has three long round-headed windows with a further two smaller ones above. In the centre the original main entrance is rarely used. Stone carving around the door has eroded but delicate foliate capitals and dogtooth detail remain evident. Substantial iron door knockers (dog or lion heads?) punctuate the painted wood door.

On the north side a French drain runs around the footprint of the church. A flat-roofed aisle extends from the nave with four single, slightly pointed lancet windows. Directly above them in the clerestory wall are single round-headed windows. In the north-west corner a wooden porch projects with decorative barge-boards and diagonal roof tiles. Willement’s initials are carved in a shield to one side of the opening with the date, 1894, on the other.

At the east end the flat elevation has three tall pointed lancets and buttresses to either side. A stone cross finial tops the east gable. Hidden between the vestry extension to the north and domestic accommodation to the south carved heads can be seen in the place of stone kneelers. The vestry extension in the north-east corner has a chimney on the north side.

Primary access is through the porch. The floor level drops by two steps into the north aisle (level access can be arranged via the west door). The nave space is tall and light. A round-arched arcade on square piers divides it from the north aisle, with a clerestory above. The windows have deep splays. The clerestory is blocked on the south side where the church abuts the Priory House, except where Willement introduced a Norman style window with glazing in the penultimate bay at the east end. A locked door half way along the south wall accesses the house and would once have lead into the north walk of the cloisters. The two western-most bays on the south side are arcaded and suggest the earlier presence of a south aisle. The western most bay is the base of the south-west tower where there is a basic kitchen point with kettle and microwave. The organ is in the adjacent bay.

In the base of the removed tower, in the north-west corner, is the baptistery with the font. A space has been cleared at the west end of the nave for a children’s area. East of the north door is an empty tomb recess beneath a low pointed arch, now hidden by a wooden case. At the east end of the north aisle a second altar in front of the door to the vestry. A medieval piscina has been reset within the east wall as well as a statue within a niche. In the north wall a single light is beneath a sexfoil window.

Electric light in the nave is provided by suspended light fittings with three lamps to a branch, probably of the 19th Century. The ceiling is formed by a plastered barrel vault with two substantial timber tie-beam trusses spanning the nave. The walls are plastered and painted with exposed stone surrounds. Very faint traces of Willement's wall paintings are visible as discolouration through the paint on the arches to the north and some text can be discerned around the internal south door. His fabulous, vibrant stained glass fills many of the windows. Level floors are paved in a mixture of tiles (aisles), red brick (base of towers and areas that would have been pewed) and ledger stones. Unfixed wooden chairs, c.1930, provide seating.

The chancel is within the space of the nave. In the east wall are three lancets, the central one longer, with a trefoil light above. The floor is paved in modern tiles. Either side of the altar are blocked pointed-arched doorways which would have provided access into the nun’s choir.