WELCOME TO SAINT MARY

“We pray that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith and being rooted and grounded in love; all may be filled with all the fullness of God.” (Ephesians 3: verses 17-19). Our prayer is that St Mary Stelling will be a living beacon for the worship of Christ in our local community.

St Mary Stelling is a small but active and historically important rural church, situated in Church Lane, Stelling Minnis, Canterbury, Kent CT4 5PT. It is part of the Diocese of Canterbury within the Church of England. The correspondence address is The Rectory, Curtis Lane, Stelling Minnis, Canterbury, Kent CT4 6BT.

Missionary Support

As a Living Church, we support local and global mission agencies both financially and through prayer. Currently, our focus is on supporting four Charities:

The Friends of African International Christian Ministry (AICM), who support the work of AICM in Uganda. AICM work through local Ugandan community groups and local authorities to identify local needs and initiate essential community projects, thus achieving self-sufficiency through self-help. www.aicm.org.uk

Release International – serves the persecuted church around the world in five key ways:

The Scrine Foundation – primarily support and provide shelter for homeless people locally. www.scrine.org

St Mary Stelling – Separate activities are provided for children and young people except for the 3rd Sunday in the month when everyone joins together for the Family Service.

The Church in the Hall / Stelling Church

The new Tuesday youth group (we are still searching for a name... any ideas anyone?) for all in school years 7-9 is taking a break during August, but we will be starting up again in September... date to be announced.

In September, we will continue to explore
different questions about life and faith
by way of games, discussion and food.

Just turn up, or for more details e-mail Jane Parsons at janeparsons2007@tiscali.co.uk

History & Mystery

St Mary Stelling dates from the 13th Century, although a Church on this site is noted in the Domesday Book and the date of consecration of Stelling Church is reputed to be 1130. The Church started its life as an outlying chapel, firstly to the basilica at Lyminge, and after the Norman invasion, to nearby Hardres. In 1988 The Conservation Foundation, of which Professor David Bellamy is a member, aged one of the yew trees in the churchyard as 1,500 years old; the implication of this, together with the proximity of St Mary’s to the Roman road linking Canterbury to the Port of Lympne, is that this was an early Christian site dating from the Roman occupation.

St Mary Stelling is, on the face of it, a typical east Kent rural church, constructed in flint with stone quoins and comprising a nave, chancel, south aisle, south porch and tower. It seats some 120 people, and is located approximately half a mile from the village of Stelling Minnis, a rural community of about 1000 people.

The Church, however, is unique and of exceptional importance, because in 1790 it was re-ordered in a non-conformist style. This involved placing the pulpit midway along the north wall of the nave (opposite the south aisle), and rearranging the box pews. The pulpit itself is a three-decker pulpit with a sounding board, which is understood to be unique in an Anglican church in east Kent. At the same time, a gallery was installed above the south aisle facing the pulpit, and to provide a view of the pulpit the south arcade was removed and replaced by a single large arch.

Importantly, this re-ordering was not subsequently altered by 19th Century restorers, and we have today a unique non-conformist modification of a medieval church.

After the Civil War, non-conformism in this area, though sparsely populated, became rife; that this non-conformism should succeed in invading the established church of St Mary is quite remarkable. These changes reflected a strong non-conformist element in the local community which can also be illustrated in the fact that three Methodist Chapels were built within a mile of the Church during the next 100 years. The Church is an outstanding historical record for all to see of social and religious developments in this corner of Kent.

A further unusual feature of St Mary Stelling was revealed in 1999 when the nave ceiling was removed following damage. The roof construction was found to be based on King posts and not Crown posts as is the norm for churches of this age and style in this area. The Canterbury Archaeological Trust examined and recorded the structure before the ceiling was replaced, and although there is little to be seen to indicate its unusual character, our knowledge of this roof construction adds yet more interest to the building and its history. Archaeological inspections following the removal of the historic box pews undertaken as part of the current repair works have added to St Mary’s history and mystery. Indeed, the Kent Archaeological Society, which is the oldest and most respected local historical society, recently visited and referred in their Journal to St Mary’s Stelling as “Kent’s most extraordinary parish church”.

The Quinquennial inspection of November 2006 identified the need for essential major repairs to the historic box pew foundations, upgrading of the electrical installation, the provision of a lightning conductor, and other repairs to the fabric of the building – stonework, window cills, replacement of some gutters & down-pipes, gallery repairs, some re-plastering, and other general repairs. Thanks to the generosity of the congregation, the local community, and several grant bodies, over £85,000 was raised, and these essential major repairs were completed in July 2009, the medieval bells have been recommissioned, and internal redecoration has been carried out.

We pray that St Mary Stelling will be not just a building, but a living beacon for the worship of Christ in our local community. We seek to hand on to succeeding generations not only the building, but the living faith symbolised by it.

FAMILY SUMMER BARBECUE

at

CHERRY GARDEN FARM

on

SUNDAY, 8TH AUGUST

from 12.30pm

CROQUET, SHORT TENNIS, ROUNDERS

SALADS and PUDDINGS PROVIDED but please bring your own meat to cook, drinks, plates, glasses and cutlery.

FREE ENTRY

Donations for A.I.C.M. gratefully accepted

Page designed by St. Mary's Stelling and produced for them by Nick Smith - 16th October 2003

Web site url and hosting facilities provided by Simon Wood of Terabyte Computing Ltd( www.terabyte-computing.com)