Copyright Kent Past 2010
Kent Past
The History of Kent
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History of Woodchurch
Woodchurch comes from the Old English ‘wudu’ meaning ‘a wood or wood – timber’ and ‘cirice’ as ‘church’; therefore, either a ‘wooden church’ or a ‘church in the wood’.
Woodchurch parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to All Saints. The Normans built it in the 13th century, with additions and extensions over the next 200 years. There is a record of three bells cast in 1608 and a fourth in 1623. Lester and Pack added a tenor and treble to total six in 1725. In 1798 Edward Hasted described the church as ‘large and handsome, consisting of three isles and three chancels, with a spire steeple, shingled, at the west end, in which hang six bells. The windows in the high chancel are small and elegant’. The Victorians remodelled the chancel in 1840, with Benjamin Ferrey carrying out a major restoration 18 years later.