The South Doorway © PE Blanche 2001 The Norman Doorway. © PE Blanche 2001

The opening words in Arthur Mee's "Kent" about Betteshanger Church are, 'it is like a little paradise, it's sacred shrine set in a scene of wondrous beauty..........the three steps from the churchyard to the gardens live in memory like a dream'. There is no doubt that it is an absolutely idyllic setting for a country church, well away from the main road at the edge of Northbourne Park. It is constructed mainly of the usual Kent flint but it is not quite what it might seem at first appearance. It is, in fact, a Victorian reconstruction based very much on the nearby Norman Church of St. Nicholas at Barfreston and originally commissioned by Lord Northbourne in 1853. From the outside, it copies the carving over the South door (top left) and at the East end, the three lancet windows and the unusual, for a parish church, wheel window (shown above). The tower, tacked onto the North side of the Church is where the illusion strays. I have seen an earlier picture of this Church where there is ivy covering the Northeast corner of the Church and part of the tower but this has now gone. Perhaps it was taken off during restoration work in 1987 when a 350 year-old yew fell across the Church causing considerable damage to the roof and Chancel. This was probably the yew planted by Sir John Boys, the first member of that family to reside at Northbourne Park, although the yew must have stood outside of a much different building. There is another yew in the churchyard that was planted by Mr. Gladstone at about the time this "new" Church was being constructed. The interior contains monuments to the Morice (or Morrice) family, including Admiral Morrice, Admiral of the White by the Belgian artist, Peter Scheermakers. On the North side of the Church is a Norman doorway and there is also some 16th Century glass which are just about all that remain of the previous building. Earlier this century, Betteshanger was in the centre of the Kent coal fields and the towering pit head winding gears stood to the East at the Betteshanger pit (actually closer to Northbourne) and to the South at Tilmanstone. The equipment has now been dismantled and with the addition of a Sandwich and Deal bypass to Dover, this area has returned to peace and tranquility. Primroses - Betteshanger churchyard