All Saints Church, Lydd, Romney Marsh, Kent.

All Saints Church also known as Lydd Church or The Cathedral On The Marsh is a grade I listed active church. It is the longest parish church (199 ft) in Kent with one of the tallest towers (132 ft). The tower boasts double west doors completed by Thomas Wolsey (later Cardinal Wolsey in the time of Henry VIII) when he was rector of Lydd (there is doubt that Wolsey ever attended Lydd as he he held a number of churches , employing a curate but keeping the tithes for himself).  

The church was badly damaged in a WWII bombing when a stray bomb destroyed the chancel in 1940. The church was then restored and Grade I listed in November 1950. 

The oldest section has been dated to the late 5th Century making it Romano-British. In the fifteenth century a number of fraternities or guilds of lay parishioners were connected with the church, each of which held series in a different part of the church. They included St. James, St. Peter, St. Mary, St. Katherine, St. John The Baptist and St. George. In the following century St. Barbara, St. Anthony, St. Mildred and St. Nicholas were added. The church registered for christenings and marriages in 1542 and burials in 1539.

In Victorian time the church was cluttered with box pews and a high pulpit and the organ was in the present Lady Chapel. When 1887 when soldiers paraded to the church from the nearby army camp, the present pews were installed and allowed 1,200 people to be seated. There are eight bells in the tower and they are rung from a room half way up. The largest bell is known as the Tenor and weighs over 790 kg. 

Lydd’s earliest remains date back to 2,000 BC. The Romans used the area for salt extraction to help preserve fish and meat. In the Middle Ages Lydd was joined to the Cinque Ports and provided ships to defend the nation. It’s most prosperous time was in the 13th century when there was trade with the continent and the church reflects that prosperity. 

The tomb of Walter Menil remains by the North Chapel. He is thought to have been a knight and a benefactor to the church despite there being no record of him. He is thought to have been Sir Walter Menil of Jacques Court who died in 1333.

A Visitation took place in 1511 by Archbishop Warham where a complaint was made lthat during divine service some persons talked and jangled in the churchyard , while others haunted alehouses” - some things never change.