Aylesford Priory

An old religious site near Maidstone in Kent, a centre for prayer and contemplation since the Middle Ages, its also known as “The Frairs”. I visited Aylesford Priory in September 2012 with my friends Austin and Guiseppe. I am not a religious person but i am very interested in religious history and religious imagery and there is plenty of interest to see at Aylesford Priory. It’s well worth a visit, though unfortunately many of the original buildings were badly damaged by fire in the 1930’s.

Extensive rebuilding work was undertaken in the 1960’s to bring us the site as it is today. According to an employee at the priory a large posse of itinerant irish workers from a nearby building site were cajoled into helping with the restoration of the priory. They were  persuaded to work for free by the religious hierarchy who pointed out they were doing gods work and since the workmen were good irish catholics they couldn’t possibly be paid for their labours! I’m sure the boys were supplied with plenty of cups of tea though and got free use of the confessions box!

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More info can be found at the friars website .

East Farleigh Church in Kent

East Farleigh Church, other wise known as “The Ancient Parish Church of East Farleigh” is found at the top of farleigh hill opposite the Bull pub. It is about 3 miles outside of Maidstone in Kent. The churchyard sports lovely views of old farleigh bridge and the medway river winding through the valley below. The church has a steeple and appears to have been modernised in places, though is likely to have originally been built in the middle ages by the normans. A churchyard surrounds the church on all sides and is of a fairly large size. More info can be found at the east farleigh website .

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Autumn in Kent

Autumn pictures from around Kent. The photos were taken in various locations including the villages of lenham, harrietsham, hollingbourne and leeds.

Butterflies in Kent

Selection of photos showing pics of Butterflies in and around Kent.

St Mary of Charity Church, Faversham, Kent

Faversham is situated in the north of Kent, near Canterbury, and Faversham Church is unsurprisingly situated in the aforementioned town. Its a really lovely church, I didn’t get a chance to look inside because it was closed but from the outside it is very striking and sports a beautiful spire as shown in the photos. It doesn’t appear to be very old – maybe 1700’s – but the brickwork uses an unconventional material – maybe flint stone, i’m not sure – but it looks damn fine.  Its probably stone from a local quarry but I could not find any confirmation of this. You may notice a mysterious bespectacled man in some of the pictures. This is my friend Austin and you may ignore him if you wish. 🙂 Begone Austin!

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More info about this church

Loose Churchyard

Loose Churchyard is located around the church in the centre of Loose Village near Maidstone in Kent. The site itself is very old and has been used as a religious centre since at least the early middle ages around the time of Norman the Conqueror. A reference to the old yew tree in the graveyard can be found in the Domesday Book, written in 1086, which likely makes the tree at least 1000 years old. That’s pretty old even for a tree. And its still alive too of course – standing boldly and defiantly in the graveyard, its ancient limbs supported and crutches, its trunk protected by iron railings, surrounded by reminders of mortality maybe a tenth of its age. The churchyard has many old and interesting graves. As is often the case – due to age, erosion and poor quality stone – many of the oldest graves are unreadable. There is one grave that stands out as really mysterious and unique. Built very close to the church and as a post or pedestal about five feet high, there is a four-sided, round, stone head at its top with a face carved carefully into each side. The side facing the church is blank and cannot be easily viewed due to the grave’s proximity to the church. The three other faces show the face of a young man to the left, a middle aged man in the middle and finally a skull to the right. These faces appear to represent the individual’s life from early years through to middle age and finally death. Unfortunately the grave is not in the best conditions so its true meaning is now lost in the mists of time and space…

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Kent Dragonflies

A gallery of images featuring dragonflies around Kent in England. They were taken at various locations including Faversham, Langley, Downswood and Hothfield Heath.