St Mary Magdalene Church, Gillingham

Image: © Marathon Taken: 29 May 2016

It is believed that as early as the 7th century a village was established on this site. There would have been a church of wooden construction but the present church is all that marks the site. In the 12th century a palace for the Archbishops of Canterbury was built here covering over 20 acres but this was suppressed at the Reformation in 1537 and only the church remained. The church is Perpendicular from the outside but there are arches in the interior dating from about 1200. The church was restored in the 1860s. The churchyard is now combined with Grange Road Cemetery. The churchyard of St. Mary Magdalene closed on 1st April 1859. Two acres of the new Grange Road Cemetery were consecrated on 25th June 1859. It began to fill up rapidly and another seven acres were purchased and the new section was consecrated on 23rd November 1867. At the turn of the 20th century, the cemetery was almost full and a new cemetery was needed which was established at Woodlands Road. Grange Road Cemetery was not closed until 1971. Most of the gravestones of Grange Road Cemetery were controversially cleared in 1973 so that it is now more like a park with a few monuments scattered about. See http://www.kentarchaeology.org.uk/Research/Libr/MIs/GILGR/01.htm for more information.

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