KENT RESOURCES: Saint. Mary's, Lenham, Kent, England

The picture above shows a large and quite well preserved mural on the South wall of the Nave which depicts St. Michael weighing souls and dates from the 14th Century. To quote from the Church guide, "In one scale is a small figure with evil spirits vainly trying to pull him down, whilst the balance is turned by the Virgin's Rosary in the other scale". Of course, at the time that the painting was completed the Churches in England would still have been Catholic. Paintings and colouring were extensively used in Cathedrals and Churches in medieval times and I often wonder how these interiors would look today if the practice had been maintained. I suppose that many of the smaller villages would struggle with any such on-going maintenance even as they continue to struggle today with trying to repair and maintain the actual physical structure of the existing buildings on a day to day basis, especially with dwindling congregations in many cases. It is now common-place that one Vicar has the responsibilty of three or four rural parishes and in many of these locations Sunday Services are now held on alternating Sundays.

Recorded at a time when many young men will have "disappeared" from the normal parish registers, memorials to those that gave their lives in the two World Wars can sometimes help to find a missing ancestor:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF THE
MEN FROM THIS PARISH
WHO FELL IN THE WAR, 1914 - 1918

CHARLES WILLIAM BALDOCK JOHN PERCY BARTON CHARLES BRYANT GEORGE BUGDEN WILLIAM BURCHETT CHARLES CHAMBERS GEORGE CHAMBERS BERTIE CHAPMAN JESSE CLARK GEORGE EDWARD COPPINS GEORGE COPPINS THOMAS COPPINS CHARLES CORNWALL WILLIAM COVENEY PERCY GURR WILLIAM HILL GEORGE HODGKIN LEWIS HODGKIN ALBERT HOGBEN	ERNEST ALFRED KING JOHN MILLGATE PERCY MURTON JOHN ROBERTS FREDERICK RUSSELL WILLIAM HENRY RUSSELL ALFRED SMITH FRED SMITH LESTER SMITH ALBERT SPOONER GEORGE STEDMAN ROBERT TANTON HARRY TAYLOR STANLEY TERRY ALBERT TOWN EDWARD VANT ARTHUR VINER GEORGE WEEKS FRANK WICKENS
FRED COX

Following the WWI Memorials, there are often short and less ornate Memorials to men who fell in the Second World War. Unusually, in this case, it not only gives the names of men from this Village but also includes the names of some local ladies:

SACRED TO THE MEMORY OF
THOSE FROM THIS PARISH
WHO FELL IN THE WAR 1939 - 1945

FREDERICK E. ASHMAN GERALD CHANTLER FRED CLARK EDWARD. P. FAGEL ERNEST FOORD MARJORIE E. GALE	KATHLEEN GIBSON HAROLD G.S. IFIELD HERBERT INGRAM JOHN H. LODER ARTHUR SIGRIST HAROLD J. TERRY
FRANCIS J. WOOLLEY

	LENHAM - St. Mary's Church

© P.E. Blanche 2001 Mural - South wall of the Nave