Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Grade II listed building. Main construction periods 1066 to 1573. Fifteenth century church (remains of).

Monument Types

• CHURCH (Medieval to Post Medieval - 1400 AD to 1573 AD)

Full description

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Description from record TR 02 SW 1 :
[TR 03092322] Church [NR] (Remains of) [NAT] (1)

The remains of the Church at Midley are situated midway between Lydd and Old Romney. Only the west wall and fragments of the north and south walls remain. These are not earlier than the C15th indicating a reconstruction at that date, as the church is mentioned in Domesday. In 1573 the church was decayed. [For Midley DMV see TR 02 SW 2]. (2)

The remains, situated on a slight rise, comprise the west wall, 7.0m - 8.0m in height and a part of the lowest courses of the south wall. See GPs AO/63/298/4. (3)

Ruins of Midley Parish Church, Midley, Old Romney. Grade II. Medieval, probably C15th. (4)

All that remains is the west wall, standing pathetically in the fields with nothing near but the huge pylons striding from Dungeness. Largely of early pale yellow bricks, which is most unusual. Traces of a door and a window, both with four-centred heads. (5)

Aerial photographs of the fields surrounding the ruined churches of the Marsh, such as Midley, show an absence of buildings and streets. (6)

Other info (7).

Photographs (8 and 9)

From the National Heritage List for England:

The remains of the church at Midley are situated on a slight rise between Lydd and Old Romney. Only the west gable and fragments of the north and south walls remain upstanding, rising to a maximum height of 8 metres. The walls are made of unusual buff-coloured bricks. Although deteriorated, the window openings and doorway survive in sufficient detail to suggest a date in the later 15th century for the building of this part of the church. The complete ground-plan of this structure is assumed to have survived unaltered since the decay of the church since before 1573. Midley church (formerly "Midelea"), however, is mentioned in Domesday and at least one phase of church is presumed to underlie the present ruined building, signified by the distinct mound some 20m by 15m on which the upstanding remains are situated. The underlying church is likely to date from the 12th/13th century, and is contemporary with a neighbouring deserted medieval village (now destroyed). Around the ruins, especially on the west side, fragments of human bone visible on the surface indicate the location of a graveyard belonging to the church. The upstanding walls are listed grade II (Vol. 437, 9/99).

The remains of the later 15th century church at Midley survive only partially but to an impressive height of 8 metres at the west end. The upstanding walls and ground-plan of this church are of great architectural and historical importance because the church demonstrates a very rare and early use of brick for building in the region. The site is lent additional importance by the high archaeological potential of the land around the surviving remains, both for the earlier church buildings considered to survive as foundations below the present structure (Domesday Book refers to a church at Midelea) and for its adjoining graveyard in which bone is well preserved. From these archaeological contexts can be expected evidence of the disastrous floods in ca. 1287 (eg. changes in the death rate, evidence of depopulation, flood damage to the church itself). These were the same floods in which Old Winchelsea perished and which precipitated dramatic changes in the development of the region for which little evidence survives, relevant contexts having been either submerged by the sea or altered in more recent times.(10)

The following text is from the original listed building designation:
TR 031 232 OLD ROMNEY B2076 (west side) Midley
9/99 Ruins of Midley Church
9.6.59 II
Ruins of Parish church. Medieval, probably C15. Thin coursed buff bricks interspersed with single courses of uneven slabs of stone and flint. Largely stone above level of doorway. Gable (probably west end), with stumps of walls either side of doorway to west, and remains of north and south return walls to east. Window opening with stone dressings, splayed jambs to east and remains of possibly 4-centred arched hollow- chamfered head. Doorway immediately beneath with stone dressings to east, unsplayed jambs and remains of plain-chamfered, possibly 4-centred arched head with upended brick voussoirs. Stone corbel carved with rounded head in gable above centre of window. Midley was formerly a separate parish which was incorporated into Old Romney in 1934. The church had fallen into decay by 1573. The bricks are early and unusual. (M.H.L.G. Romney Marsh Rural District, Provisional List of Buildings of Architectural or Historic Interest, 1956).
Listing NGR: TR0209123556 (11)

<1> OS 6" 1961 (OS Card Reference). SKE48369.

<2> Arch Cant 37 1925 194-5 (plan illust) (FC Elliston Erwood) (OS Card Reference). SKE35051.

<3> F1 ASP 15-MAR-1963 (OS Card Reference). SKE42126.

<4> DOE (HHR) Dist of Shepway Kent 23 April 1985 51 (OS Card Reference). SKE40348.

<5> Bldgs of Eng W Kent and the Weald 1980 442 (J Newman) (OS Card Reference). SKE38002.

<6> Md Eng an aerial survey 1958 189-90 (MW Beresford JKS St Joseph) (OS Card Reference). SKE46662.

<7> Field report for monument TR 02 SW 1 - March, 1963 (Bibliographic reference). SKE5065.

<8> REMAINS OF MIDLEY CHURCH AT ROMNEY FROM SOUTH EAST (Photograph). SKE2586.

<9> REMAINS OF MIDLEY CHURCH AT OLD ROMNEY FROM WEST (Photograph). SKE2587.

<10> English Heritage, Register of Scheduled Monuments (Scheduling record). SKE16191.

<11> English Heritage, List of Buildings of Special Architectural or Historic Interest (Map). SKE16160.

Sources and further reading