There is hard evidence for there being a Church on this site since the 11th Century because it is mentioned in the Doomsday Book although the oldest part of the present Church, the Chancel, dates from the 13th Century. Ashford lies in the centre of a prosperous farming area and subsequently an important centre for the railways. As a consequence it has attracted wealthy benefactors and over the years, the Church has grown in relation to the importance to the Town. In 1977 it was adopted as the Garrison Church for the Intelligence Corps. It is difficult to provide a brief summary of this Church because there are so many parts and items of interest which are well documented in a series of small publications available at the Church. Most of these involved the work of a former Churchwarden of this Parish, the late W. (Bill) H. Burden.

It seems that there may have been a succession of churches on this site, each being rebuilt under different authorities but parts of the present structure originated in the 13th Century, replacing a former Norman church. Since that time, there seems to have been two periods of major reconstruction, firstly at about the time that Sir John Fogge was alive in the late 15th Century and then again in the mid to late Victorian period. Sir John Fogge was an individual who had mixed fortunes under different Kings and was part of movements to overthrow two of those Kings. When he served under henry VI, he had a close involvement in putting down an uprising lead by John Cade, also from Ashford. The tomb of Sir John still stands on the left-hand side of the alter although it has suffered over the years having lost some of its brass panels and its original canopy. The jousting helmet originally belonging to Sir John still hangs on the wall of the St. Nicholas Chapel which was originally called the Repton Chapel after the family home of the Fogge family and under the floor is the Fogge family vault.

In the South Transept another influential Ashford family is commemorated, the Smythes later to hold the title of Viscount Strangford although the 8th Viscount who died in 1869 was the last of the line. The first member of the family to come to Ashford was Thomas Smythe (the monument is pictured middle left). He paid Queen Elizabeth an annual rental of £30,000 to be the Customs Officer for many ports in the South East of England and as a result became known as "Customer Smythe". The monument which also depicts his wife lying beside him has details of his twelve children. At the feet of Thomas Smythe is an effigy of a small baby. Rather unusual and I do not know the significance unless is was a child that died very young and is therefore not included on the front of the tomb with the other children.

Whenever I have been to the Church there has always been a small army of volunteers who are only to happy to show visitors the finer point of this lovely Church and it is well worth a visit. Hopefully, I will add more about the Church in the near future.