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Sunstar

St Thomas Becket Church, Fairfield, Romney Marsh, Kent

Apart from Dungeness this church was the other location on my bucket list for this part of England and had been for the last 3 years since I first saw a shot of it. The design and apparent remoteness of it with the water channels all around grabbed me and I've wanted to shoot it for a long time but even in Winter it's a struggle for me to get across for a sunrise.

The small church of St Thomas Becket at Fairfield stands on the edge of both Walland Marsh and the county of Kent. Possibly the most isolated church in the county, access requires sensible footwear and the crossing of a field. The hamlet which gives the church its name is a small dispersed, agricultural community.

In this remotest area of the marsh, the population has always been small and scattered. The land here was drained later than in other areas and due to the Black Death its population never developed in the manner which had been anticipated. The monks of Christ Church Canterbury had been licensed to drain this part of the marsh and thus the church was dedicated to the recently martyred Archbishop of Canterbury Saint Thomas Becket. This church is often listed as "St Thomas a Becket", however the "a" is a Victorian addition.

It has been suggested that the church survives from a "lost" village, of which there are several others on the marsh, but no evidence of a significantly larger settlement has ever been found. In 1293, it is recorded that the church at Fairfield was made of materials that were easily expendable should the building cease to be required for worship. This would suggest it was built on a suitably small scale to serve the limited number of people who lived and worked on the land here.

The road that leads to Fairfield runs along an embankment known as the Great Wall or Great Cordon, an early man made barrier to prevent inundation from the sea. Inspection of the land levels on either side indicate a higher land level to the west, caused by the deposition of sand and shingle at the time when this place was a far marsh outpost. It may assume that the inhabitants of Fairfield were expected to maintain the wall until such time that the land on the far side of the wall was drained, in the 15th century. izi.travel/en/b52d-st-thomas-becket-church-fairfield-feat...

It is sometimes called St Thomas a'Becket Church but the a' was a Victorian addition I gather. I'd shot this earlier at sunset but it works both times of the day so I returned and this was one of the shots I got. pretty much a blue sky morning apart from a bank of cloud on the horizon so I decided to get close, whip out the wonderful RF15-35mm f/2.8 lens and go for a focus stacked image with a sunstar. OK, sunstars are a bit 'cheesy' but I like them and when you don't have much in the sky to work with I think they are very useful.

This may be my last post before Christmas - not sure. I'll assume it is and take the opportunity to wish you all a very Merry Christmas with your family and friends and hope you recharge your creative batteries.

© All rights reserved Steve Pellatt. Please do not use this image on websites, blogs or any other media without my explicit written permission.

Taken in: UK / England / Shepway District / Snargate (show map)

Taken on: November 28, 2023

Tags:

England

Romney Marsh

St Thomas Becket Church

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Sets appears in: • Architectural & Street Photography • Kent

Groups appears in: • Sunsets & Sunrises around the world (We Rock Again!) • History is All Around Us more » • Architecture in Europe • UK Photography Club • Old And Beautiful (buildings ,barns, shacks, and abandoned homes • Architecture Directory • BEST SUNSET AND SUN RISE GROUP • Images Of England • Architectural Beauty ! • ~ Passage to Beauty ~ • Architecture Unlimited • BEAUTY PHOTOS AROUND THE WORLD • **Special Landscapes** « less

Camera: Canon EOS R5, f/16.0, 1/100 sec, 16mm, ISO 200 (more info) (hide info)

Camera:	Canon EOS R5
Lens:	RF15-35mm F2.8 L IS USM
Aperture:	f/16.0
Exposure Time:	0.01 sec (1/100)
Focal Length:	16mm
ISO:	200
Exposure Bias:	0 EV
Exposure Program:	Manual
Metering Mode:	Multi-segment
White Balance:	Manual
Color Space:	Adobe RGB
Show full info

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