St Clement’s Church, Old Romney | The Disney Church Of Romney Marsh

Hi all, Adie here from Hans and John's. As always, thank you so much for clicking on the video and if it's your first time here, a very warm welcome. I'm in deepest darkest Kent and I'm at a church called St Clemens of Old Romney which is in the Romney Marshes. Now what makes this very interesting, the church, is that it has a connection to Walt Disney because a Disney film was actually shot here. So let's go and have an explore and I'll tell you a little bit more about that. Back in the early 1960s, Walt Disney Productions came to Romney Marsh here in Kent to film Doctor Sin alias The Scarecrow and it's better known as The Scarecrow of Romney Marsh. Now that film was based on Russell Thorndyke stories about Dr Christopher Sin and he was the fictional vicar of Dim Church who also moonlights as a smuggler and Disney chose St Clemens Church as one of the locations for the church scenes. The interior was considered a little too dark and dull for Technicolour so the existing grey box pews were painted this rather striking pink and I have to say it's not something that you see every day in an old English church. Now the film company also repaired these steps up to the gallery and they contributed money towards further restoration work so the connection with Disney actually helped preserve the church and perhaps the strangest thing is that when the film was over these pink pews still remain and the congregation apparently decided that they liked the brighter interior and looking around here today it's become one of the things that make St Clemens so instantly recognisable. So let's have a look around and see what else is hiding in this rather unusual Romney Marsh church. The present church here began in the 12th century and originally it would have been a lot simpler with just a nave and a chancel before aisles and other parts were added during the medieval period. Here is the font and that's another particularly interesting feature. It's generally thought to be around 1300, the year 1300, so that makes it approximately early 14th century. The bowl is made from Purbeck marble and is supported by a central pillar and four smaller columns and if you look really closely at those little columns you can make out some little carved figures and heads. There was loads of ledger stones in the floor but unfortunately they're too worn to be able to read most of them and that door is the church up into the bell tower which understandably is kept locked and as I head up here the north side of the church there's a particularly interesting feature here at the top. It looks like the structural remains of an old rude screen and there's also evidence here of a former rude loft staircase including a little doorway and surviving medieval features within the wall and a rude screen would originally have separated the nave from the church and the more sacred eastern part of the church and it would have supported the rude and that traditionally was a representation of Christ on the cross and most rude screens as you may know were removed during the reformation. There's a very unusual stone coffin slab here. I did read a couple of things that people saying that's a knight's templar tomb but there's literally no evidence of that. In fact its origin is something of a mystery. Apparently there's a very similar slab at Canterbury Cathedral that's associated with Richard of Dover who was Archbishop of Canterbury in the 12th century and some people have even suggested that the slab might be as early as the 8th century although that dating is considered to be rather doubtful. I'm heading through this arch into the chancel. You can see these rather Victorian floor tiles which were no doubt added during a restoration during that time but the altar itself is really interesting because it has a stone top. Now that's known as a mensa and this is actually a medieval altar stone and it has on it consecration crosses and was only discovered during restoration work and apparently it had been used as a stone step outside the church before it was recognised for what it was and it was brought back into use here in the church. So something that had spent many years serving a completely different purpose turned out to be an important surviving piece of medieval church history. And beyond the altar at the back there I'm sure you noticed there were some painted panels and they're part of the Georgian furnishings of the church and they include the Lord's Prayer, Apostle's Creed and the Ten Commandments. There's this ledger stone for John Defray and he was a French Huguenot who actually came to England and he was a rector here from 1690 until his death in 1738. And it's these little details that are always so easy to miss that makes the places like this just so interesting to explore. You don't necessarily need some huge dramatic story for it to be interesting, sometimes it's just the fact that you're standing here in a building where generations of people lived, worshipped, worked and were remembered. And then there's this rather magnificent old wooden chest. Now it dates from the 18th century and it bears the inscription, apologies for my pronunciation, Anna Dirichs Anno 1768, and Historic England describes it as possibly Dutch in origin. So although it might look like a rather ordinary old church chest at first glance it's another little piece of history and another part of the story of this building. And another reminder of the connections that the church like this had with the wider trading world. And my gosh it must be so heavy to lift that up. Beautiful though. I'm going to head back out towards the door and there's also several more ledger stones here set into the floor. And these are something I always love seeing in old churches because the floor itself becomes part of the historical record. So as I always say make sure that you look up as much as you look down because there's just so much to see in these wonderful old time capsules. Now I'm going to head out into the churchyard. There's a rather famous grave out here and there's some wonderful drone shots courtesy of my husband. And this photo is a still from the film. Although there's that busy road running beyond the church it doesn't seem to have changed that much since the movie was shot here in the 1960s. The graveyard was very well looked after and there was these lovely five plots all together and they're obviously visited quite regularly by family members. I thought they were rather lovely. And there's one particular grave here that has a very strong connection with the world of film. Now that's because this is the final resting place of Derek Jarman. And if that name sounds familiar he was an English film director, artist, writer and designer and one of the most distinctive filmmakers of his generation. Now Jarman became particularly associated with Dungeness and he lived in Dungeness at Prospect Cottage and the landscape of this part of Kent became an important part of his life and work. His films included Jubilee, The Tempest, Caravaggio, Edward II, Wittgenstein and Blue and he's buried here in St Plemons in Old Romney. So it's quite a fascinating coincidence that this tiny rural church has connections with two very different generations of filmmaking. You have Walt Disney Productions here in the 1960s to make The Scarecrow of Romney and then decades later the church becomes the final resting place of Derek Jarman. And I'm sure you spotted in the background there that beautiful old yew tree which is such a familiar sight in English churchyards and this one adds another lovely bit of atmosphere to this beautiful setting. I hope you enjoyed our visit here to St Clement's Church in Old Romney. Have you ever seen or heard of that Disney film? I can't say I have but I have to say after being in there now I'm going to go and try and find the film and watch it. And what did you think of the pink pews? Very unusual weren't they? 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