• Skip to main content
  • Skip to secondary menu
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Skip to footer
Geographical

Geographical

Official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG)

  • Home
  • Briefing
  • Science & Environment
  • Climate
    • Climatewatch
  • Wildlife
  • Culture
  • Geopolitics
    • Geopolitical hotspots
  • Study Geography
    • University directory
    • Masters courses
    • Course guides
      • Climate change
      • Environmental science
      • Human geography
      • Physical geography
    • University pages
      • University of Aberdeen
      • Aberystwyth University
      • Cardiff University
      • University of Chester
      • Edge Hill University
      • The University of Edinburgh
      • Oxford Brookes University
      • Queen Mary University of London
    • Geography careers
      • Charity/non-profit
      • Education & research
      • Environment
      • Finance & consulting
      • Government and Local Government
    • Applications and advice
  • Quizzes
  • Magazine
    • Issue previews
    • Subscribe
    • Manage My Subscription
    • Special Editions
    • Podcasts
    • Geographical Archive
    • Book reviews
    • Crosswords
    • Advertise with us
  • Subscribe

The holy waters of Romney Marsh

28 July 2022
3 minutes

Aerial view of isolated Aerial drone. St Thomas à Becket Church in Fairfield, Romney Marsh
St Thomas à Becket Church. Image: Roberto La Rosa/Shutterstock

Rory Walsh visits an unusual Kent church on the Romney Marsh


Discovering Britain

View • Rural • South East England • Web Guide

Charles Dickens’ classic Victorian novel Great Expectations begins in a churchyard on the Kent marshes. To the narrator, young orphan Pip, it’s a ‘bleak place’ surrounded by ‘dark flat wilderness.’ The hundred square miles of Romney Marsh can still feel remote. Vast skies loom above huge windswept fields, with only the bleats of distant sheep for company. West of the village of Brookland, a narrow winding road passes an especially lonely sight. 

Isolated in the middle of a field stands St Thomas à Becket Church. There’s no vicarage or graveyard, not even a fence to stop sheep nuzzling the church walls. Legends attribute this place of worship to a successful prayer. Archbishop of Canterbury Thomas Becket was apparently crossing the marsh when he fell into a bog and began to drown. After praying for help, a farmer pulled him to safety. To show his gratitude, Becket ordered a church be built at the spot.

The church’s location reveals a mystery rather than a miracle, however. St Thomas à Becket is one of 14 medieval churches dotted across Romney Marsh. It was built from around 1200 in the village of Fairfield. Fairfield no longer exists; only the church remains. Villages vanish for various reasons. Thousands have gone throughout Britain, including at least 11 on Romney Marsh. Fairfield’s fate reflects the development of this unique landscape. 

Between Rye and Dymchurch the Kent coast resembles the flap of a stingray’s wing. This sweeping shape originates from a large gravel spit, formed by longshore drift around 10,000 years ago. The spit provided a barrier for tidal saltwater lagoons. Over millennia, these lagoons silted up to form saltmarsh. Fairfield village, including the church, stood on land reclaimed from the sea.

Misty view of St Thomas à Becket Church
A misty view of St Thomas à Becket Church. Image: Darren Hugh Lynch/Shutterstock

Reclaimed land is vulnerable to flooding. St Thomas à Becket Church is surrounded by ‘sewers’, ditches cut to drain the land for farming. In winter months these often left the church accessible only by boat. The low-lying marshes were also exposed to storms. A severe one in 1287 destroyed the original port of Winchelsea. And like many remote rural areas, Romney Marsh was devastated by the Plague. 

Furthermore, marshland attracted undesirable residents. The large open fields lined with brackish water made ideal breeding grounds for mosquitoes. Malaria was so prevalent locally that it was called ‘marsh fever’. Malaria, plague, storms or floods could wipe out or wash away a medieval village, leaving their churches to watch over flocks of sheep, or just mosquitoes.


Discovering Britian logo

Go to the Discovering Britain website to find more hikes, short walks, or viewing points. Every landscape has a story to tell!

Filed Under: Culture Tagged With: Discovering Britain

Protected by Copyscape

Primary Sidebar

Subscribe to Geographical Magazine

Geographical subscriptions

GEOGRAPHICAL WEEKLY LOGOFREE - Sign up to get global stories, told well, straight to your inbox every Friday

Popular Now

August 2025 Geographical crossword

August 2025 Geographical crossword

Monks celebrate a Buddhist festival at a monastery in the Bumthang Valley, the spiritual heartland of Bhutan

Out now: August 2025’s Geographical Magazine

Isobel and Poppy holding graduation certificates

University of Cumbria students win award for conservation film

Four seasons

Has summer disappeared? And what seasons are replacing it?

Climate change manifestation poster on an industrial fossil fuel burning

Geo explainer: What is Earth Overshoot Day?

Footer

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Reddit
  • TikTok
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Geographical print magazine cover

Published in the UK since 1935, Geographical is the official magazine of the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG).

Informative, authoritative and educational, this site’s content covers a wide range of subject areas, including geography, culture, wildlife and exploration, illustrated with superb photography.

Click Here for SUBSCRIPTION details

Want to access Geographical on your tablet or smartphone? Press the Apple, Android or PC/Mac image below to download the app for your device

Footer Apple Footer Android Footer Mac-PC

More from Geographical

  • Subscriptions
  • Get our Newsletter
  • About Us
  • Contact Us
  • Advertise with us
  • Privacy policy
  • Terms & Conditions

Copyright © 2025 · Site by Syon Media