St. Nicolas’s Church, Downswood, Otham

 St. Nicholas’s Church is a Grade I listed church from the 12th Century. Sitting under the Canterbury Diocese it is still active. The north and south walls of the nave and the lower chancel were constructed with uncoursed stone and tufa rubble walls. The chapels on the north side were later additions coming in 14th century.

The window below was installed as a celebration of 700 years of work and worship in the parish. It is dedicated to the memory of Jessica Margarita Wernham and her service to Maidstone Osteopathic Clinic given by her husband John. The window was installed in 1996. 

William Stevens at St. Nicholas Church, Otham, Downswood, Kent.

St. Nicholas Church in Otham is a typical Kent church with lots of charm.

One of the memorials inside the church is for a gentleman named William Stevens. His gravestone outside is illegible but has been there since 1807 when he passed away. Stevens was born in Southwark in 1732 and was an English hosier and lay writer on religious matters from a High Church perspective. He was the biographer and editor of the works of William Jones of Nayland.

Why Otham? Stevens mother was the sister of the Rev. Samuel Horne of Otham. He was educated at Maidstone with his cousin George Horne who became the bishop of Norwich. 

Stevens gave away his money periodically to various causes and learnt French, Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He used the pseudonym again, Hebrew for “nobody”. In 1800 a club that met three times a year was founded in his honour by his friends called “Nobody’s Works”. The club limited membership to 50 members from various walks of life with the only qualification being that they knew Stevens. The club still exists as The Club of Nobody’s Friends - a private dining club with the motto Pro Ecclesia et Rege (For the Church and the King). They meet at Lambeth Palace and a noteworthy incident was in 1962 when Launcelot Fleming, a former bishop of Norwich, was found to be ‘worse for wear’ and acquired a motorbike helmet and was found by friends singing “I’m a space bishop”.

Recommended reading - Who’s Buried Where In Kent by Alan Major - the book that made me aware of William Stevens. 

Online Find A Grave memorial here.  

John Dyke at Holy Cross Church Bearsted

I stumbled on this grave of John Dyke whilst visiting the grounds of the Holy Cross Church. I immediately had to Google “rick burning” which was a phrase used to describe the destruction of threshing machines and cattle maiming during the Swing Riots of 1830.

His Find A Grave entry mentions that years after his execution there was a death bed confession from another man. The execution was the last to take place at nearby (2.9 miles) Penenden Heath which historically was an execution site from Anglo-Saxon times to the 19th Century and a site where suspected witches being burned at the stake between the 12th and 17th centuries. 

Expanded account of events here. 

The Knife Angel at The Light House Church (St. Faiths) in Maidstone

The Knife Angel (also referred to as the National Monument Against Violence & Aggression) is a contemporary sculpture formed of 100,000 knives created by artist Alfie Bradley and the British Ironworks Centre, based in Oswestry, England. Completed in 2018, the structure of the angel stands at 27 ft (8.2 m) tall. In order to create the sculpture, 200 knife banks were produced by the Ironworks and amnesties held for individuals to anonymously donate their knives. Knives seized by police were also included, some of which arrived in evidence tubes still with bodily fluids on their surface.

The sculpture was created in order to highlight knife crime in the United Kingdom and educate young people on the harmful effect violent behaviour can have on their communities. 

The Knife Angel is currently in Maidstone until 4th October 2022. Link to the church here.