all about All Saints and St Christopher's Churches
St Christopher's church sits by the A251 Faversham Road at the apex of the village green. It was once a hall house and still retains many period features. It became the village school, but after the second world war was used for worship when All Saints was declared unsafe. Nowadays it is the focus for Sunday worship from October to May.
All Saints is the parish church of Boughton Aluph and Eastwell, a village on the northern outskirts of Ashford in Kent. The parish has three churches in all: All Saints in Church Lane just off the A28 Ashford to Canterbury road, St Christopher's by the Village Green at Boughton Lees (A251) and the ruined St Mary's by the lake in Eastwell Park. We are part of the United Wye Benefice, a grouping of eight churches including Wye, Hinxhill and Brook "down the hill" and the "upon the hills" group of Hastingleigh, Elmsted, Waltham and Petham in the Kentish Downs. All Saints is used for regular worship from May to early October save for the last two weekends in June, and St Christopher's at other times. Services take place at 9.30am each Sunday: Holy Communion on the first, second and fourth Sundays, and Morning Prayer on the third. On fifth Sundays there is a shared benefice service at one of the eight churches. Details are posted weekly on the home page.
The church sits on the Winchester to Canterbury Pilgrims' Way and has been visited by groups of pilgrims from medieval times to the present day. It boasts some fine architecture and a possibly unique pilgrims' porch with tudor fireplace, and not surprisingly is listed Grade 1 (more detail here). However, it was almost destroyed by a stray fire bomb in the last war and the forced sale of the bells and pews to finance urgent restoration work has resulted in a large flexible space that is used - in more normal times - for many different functions, the most important of which being the annual Stour Music Festival, the Five Church Walk and, until recently, the Wye Charity Ball in support of local charities. More and more it is also being used as a magical spot for wedding receptions (eg meal and disco) after the wedding ceremony. See pics in the Gallery on the Bookings page here.
All Saints is open to the public on practically all weekends from May to September. At other times you may be able to request a key from Mrs Rita Hawes on 01233 627117. For some views of the interior see below, and for a "guided tour" click here.
CHURCHWARDENS' AUGUST MAGAZINE NOTES
Did you see her?
The Dutch lady on her motorised wheelchair.
She arrived, having booked at St Christopher’s, our Sanctuary Church.
As there were three booked in for that night, I went to make sure all was OK. Two had arrived and luckily one of them was available to help me open the second door, and guide her ‘wheelchair’ up the steep step into the building.
She was carrying a lot of baggage!
Where had she come from? She was Dutch and spoke perfect English. She had arrived in London, ‘driven ‘down to Winchester and now was on her way to Canterbury. She had camped when necessary but was very happy to be staying at St Christopher’s - no trouble with food; she was self-sufficient!
I was concerned about her being on the A28 but she had no intention of using it. She produced her phone and showed me how she avoided such roads. She simply put in “ways suitable for cyclists” and up came Olantigh Road!
I was glad to have taken a photograph of her sitting astride in the Hardy Room with her lovely smile.
The British Pilgrimage Trust’s website is where our foreign visitors find us. They have come, or will be coming, from Australia, Canada, America and Europe.
Little did we know that Boughton Aluph would be known so far away: the village green and the pub and they are staying in our winter church!
But back to normal church life:
We worship throughout August at All Saints but the pattern of services is the same, except that on Sunday 30th, a fifth Sunday, we shall be welcoming worshippers from other churches in the Benefice to join us for Communion. The choir from Wye will be singing and we shall all appreciate the acoustics of All Saints and enjoy meeting fresh faces. Coffee or tea will be available afterwards and we suspect some may bring picnics to enjoy sitting in our spacious churchyard! So why not come and join us?
Catherine Wear-Davis (07740 702377) and Rita Hawes (01233 627117)
Churchwardens
The Hardy Room at St Christopher's
Saint Christopher's church
Some views inside All Saints
and here's the All Saints' Church stamp for those of you with a Pilgrim's Passport
And finally a view of St Christopher's when it was still a school (date?). The teachers and children are outside and you can just see the headmistress' cottage chimney behind. The porch was later extended to provide a vestry and a new porch added to the other door.
The photo below, taken by a Mr De'Arth of Ashford shows the children and teachers, but where are they? Is the wall behind a section of the Eastwell Park wall? Or are they in what are now allotments behind St Christopher's?
