A large Church in the middle of the Kent countryside which, after initial inspection, just doesn't seem to "add up". The tower is on the side of the Church, the Chancel, although impressive, does not match the style of the Nave and there is little coloured glass and what there is, is mainly very modern. The shame of it is that the apparent mix of styles and placement of the parts of the Church have been an unfortunate string of events over several hundred years. Don't get me wrong, it is a lovely Church with very large interior proportions and still well worth a visit. The details of the difficulties the Church has suffer are detailed below.

When entering the Church, the height and size of the interior is impressive and it takes a little while to realize that the East end of the Nave, being the entrance to the Chancel, has some very straight edges where one might expect to see a stone arch that would match those at either side of the Nave. (See the pictures to the left) The reason for this is clear when we investigate the history of the Church.

Although there is known to have been a Church on this site in Saxon times which was dedicated to St. Gregory, rebuilding in Norman times added the name of St. Martin, the patron Saint of Normandy. In the mid 15th Century it seems that the Church was totally reconstructed by John Kempe, who was Archbishop of Canterbury and was born at Wye. The reconstruction of the Church was accompanied by the construction of a college for priests which is still in use today but now used as an agricultural college. In 1572 the tower of the Church was struck by lightening and although it did receive attention, the whole tower was actually unstable. Eventually, in 1686, the tower collapsed, completely destroying the whole of the East end of the Church; the Chancel, monuments, and both aisles.

The Chancel was rebuilt in the early 18th Century. It shows a good example of "Stuart" church construction which is rather unusual in this part of the World where most of the church buildings are considerably older. The tower was rebuilt on the side of the Church at the same time, in the year 1706. The glass in the Church and in particular, the large West window, was destoyed by a bomb blast in WWII. The present West window was put in place in the early 1950's.

Additional information about the Sawbridge Hatchments
will be added later.