History of St Matthew's
St Matthew’s has stood on the old Saxon shoreline above Romney Marsh for around 800 years, and Christians have worshipped here for more than a thousand. It is a Grade I listed building, and the Victorian restorers left it largely alone, so it still feels much as it did in Georgian times: light, plain and uncluttered, with its box pews, painted boards and Royal Arms in place.
The name Warehorne is usually explained as “the bend by the weirs” or “the enclosed place by the corner”, probably the corner of land beside a creek of the river Limen, the old name for the Rother.
📖 For the full story, pick up our illustrated church guide by John Doyle MBE, with a numbered tour of the church, drawings and tales from the parish records. It is on sale in the church for £3.
A thousand years in brief
820 – Warehorne is first recorded, as Werehornas, in a charter of King Egbert.
1010 – Archbishop Alphege gives part of the manor to Canterbury, “for the clothing of the monks”.
1086 – The Domesday Book records a church at Warehorne. Nothing of it survives.
1200s – The nave of the present church is built of Kentish ragstone.
1268 – Henry III grants a market and a three-day cattle fair, held each year on St Matthew’s Day, 21 September.
1300s – The aisles and chancel are added, and the windows filled with coloured glass.
c. 1450 – The tower arch and a stone tower are built at the west end.
1530s–1550s – The Reformation. St Matthew’s has two organs in 1550, but altars, images and the rood are swept away.
1708 – Queen Anne’s Royal Arms are painted.
1738 – Box pews are fitted on the north side.
1770 – Lightning destroys the stone tower. The present brick tower is finished in 1777.
1784 – The brick north porch, with its Flemish gable, is built.
1817–21 – Richard Harris Barham, later famous as the author of The Ingoldsby Legends, lives in the village and serves the parish.
1820 – The stair turret and wind vane are added to the tower.
1830 – A National School is built in the corner of the churchyard. It lasts until 1875.
1839–42 – New box pews on the south side, and the centre re-pewed.
1841 – The last St Matthew’s Day fair is held, after nearly 600 years.
1905 – The Georgian three-decker pulpit is replaced.
1913 and 1936 – The bells are recast and the ring completed to six. Read the story of the bells.
Second World War – A German bomb shatters the east window.
2026 – The 1840s organ is restored, and a London theatre poster from 1842 is found inside its pipes. Read the story of the organ.
What to look for when you visit
The church is usually open daily from 9am to 5pm. Here are a few things to find; the guide takes you round them all, in order.
The north porch
Look up as you go in: the keystone is dated 1784. The curved Flemish gable is thought to be one of the most westerly in Kent.
The carved head
Where the arch meets the west wall, a medieval carved head looks down. By tradition she is a woman in a wimple, but is she? The guide tells her story, and where to find her likely twin.
The Royal Arms
Queen Anne’s Royal Arms, painted in 1708, hang under the tower. They still show the French fleur-de-lys, which stayed in the royal arms until 1802.
The font
In 1557 the churchwardens were ordered to fit the font with a lock and key before All Saints’ Day, to keep the holy water safe from witches.
The box pews
The pews on the north side date from 1738 and those on the south from 1839. In Georgian times, where you sat depended on who you were.
St Catherine’s chapel
The south aisle once held the altar of St Catherine, patron saint of woolgrowers. Like the Woolpack Inn across the road, it is a reminder of Romney Marsh’s wool trade. Look in the floor here for a tombstone with a surprising story.
The chancel
There is no chancel arch, and the roofs rest on medieval crown posts. Look for the stone seats under a cornice carved with acorns and oak leaves.
The two knights
In the north aisle, two 14th-century knights face each other with drawn swords. They are the only glass to survive the iconoclasts intact, probably because they were out of reach.
The mass dial
Outside, to the right of the south door, a stone carved with fanned lines is a medieval mass dial, which told the village when Mass would be said.
The churchyard
Several monuments are listed in their own right, there are war graves to find, and an ancient hollow ash greets walkers on the Old Way pilgrimage route.
The church at the heart of village life
For centuries St Matthew’s was the only public building in Warehorne, serving at times as meeting hall, storehouse, refuge and lookout. From 1268 until 1841 a cattle fair filled the green every St Matthew’s Day, and the parish records are full of glimpses of village life, from the school in the churchyard to the families the parish helped to start new lives abroad. You’ll find their stories in the guide.
Find out more
Read the church’s Historic England listing, or Edward Hasted’s 1799 account of the parish of Warehorne. And for the full story, pick up the church guide on your visit.
More about St Matthew’s
- The Bells of St Matthew's – nearly 500 years of bells, and how to join our ringers
- The Organ of St Matthew's – our 1840s Bates organ and its 2026 restoration
- Visiting St Matthew's – opening times, directions, photos and our drone film
🗓 Service times & events – everyone is welcome to join us.
