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The Churches of Kent, England
This web site is intended to list, and provide a photographic image of, churches found in the English county of Kent. The majority will be Anglican churches in current use, but a few other denominational churches will be included. Also, for reasons of historic interest, there will also be a number of former, or ruined, churches. For the sake of completeness, I have included those churches in the Anglican Diocese of Rochester which are located in London boroughs, even though they are not really Kent churches (although historically, many of them were).
Each church will have its own page, at the head of which will be a single photograph. Following the illustration, there will, in time, be a brief description of the church in terms of its main building material constituents, and the components of the building layout. Descriptions will be limited to those aspects which are the fabric of the building, and possibly in some cases, reference to the stained glass or major fixed items inside the building such as screens or galleries. No reference will be made to artefacts or contents.
The photographs on the main page for each church may in some cases be supplemented by further pictures, either set below the main picture, or on additional pages. However, in most cases, only a single illustration will be included. These will be chosen as good representative images of the church in question, and are intended to illustrate the visual characteristics of the building in a way that would be recognisable to anyone who knows the building. In the initial stages of compiling this database, photographs will be selected from whatever is to hand. However, over time, it is hoped that those which are less than good pictures will eventually be replaced. All photographs on this site are subject to the law of copyright. However, any individual Parochial Church Council who wishes to use an illustration for their own purposes or to raise funds for their own church may do so provided that a suitable acknowledgement is made to this web site. Should anyone wish to obtain a higher resolution image for such purposes, or use an image for any other commercial purpose, please contact the web site by email.
This site is an on-going project, and with over six hundred churches to add, will take a considerable time to reach anything approaching completion. However, the bulk of the work will hopefully be carried out over the next five years, during which time most Anglican churches will have been visited at least once.
The site is intended purely as a directory of churches, and it is not the intention to offer any subjective comments or Pevsneresque views. However, it is hoped that the illustrations will provide a useful directory of Kentish churches. A page of links to other websites will be included at a later date, as will a Bibliography page. For the time being, it remains a work in progress.
Graham Salt
2011
Notes on Photographs
Nearly all photographs have been taken by the compiler of this site, but where this is not the case, due acknowledgement is given. Many churches are difficult to photograph. They are buildings which may be clear in the mind's eye, but because of their size, particularly height, demand that the camera position is located some way back. Within the confines of a churchyard, and accepting that this will bring trees and other obstructions, particularly overhead cables, to view into the frame, difficulties will arise. The use of a wide angle lens may help, but apparent distortion of the image is likely to result. With many churches, photographs taken at ground level require the camera to be angled upwards, with a resultant convergence of vertical lines.
To enable images to look right, in terms of perspective, exposure, contrast and sharpness, to name a few, I readily admit that some pictures have been enhanced by the use of software. This is not to produce a false image, but rather to enable the picture to be corrected to what is expected, so that when it is looked at, it gives the appearance of correctness.
Photographs are all published in a JPEG file format, and have been prepared for publication by reducing the file size substantially, but still maintaining adequate detail for web publishing. This effectively reduces the image size to approximately 10-20% of its original size, allowing for speedier downloading and greater storage capability within any given web site. Anyone requiring access to the detail of the original large size picture should email the web site.