St Mary the Virgin, Ashford
St Mary the Virgin, Ashford
The Parish Church of St Mary the Virgin on Tufton Street is Ashford’s Grade I town church in Kent, a cruciform ragstone building with a tall central tower, in the Diocese of Canterbury. This is Ashford in Kent, not Ashford-in-the-Water.
- Location
- Ashford, Kent
- Country
- England
- County
- Kent
- City / town
- Ashford
- Address
- Tufton Street, Ashford, Kent, TN23 1QG
- Postcode
- TN23 1QG
- Built
- Late C13 church enlarged in the C14; central tower and roofs heightened in the C15 (major campaign c.1475–83); nave widened 1837 and extended 1860; vestry 1927
- Denomination
- Church of England
- Dedication
- Mary
- Diocese
- Canterbury
- Parish
- Ashford St Mary the Virgin
- Grade
- I
- Style
- Perpendicular
- Materials
- Kentish ragstone, tiled roofs
- Grid reference
- TR 010 427
- Opening hours
- The church is open every day, with coffee mornings running each Monday, Tuesday and Saturday from 10am until 12noon.
- Access
- Level access to the main areas. Accessible toilets nearby
Overview
Domesday Book records a church at Ashford. The listing describes a late-thirteenth-century church enlarged and heightened in the fourteenth century, with the central tower and the walls and roofs of nave, chancel and transepts heightened in the fifteenth. Sir John Fogge of Repton, a servant of Edward IV, promoted the major campaign of about 1475–83 and founded a chantry college beside the church; his tomb stands near the high altar. The plan is cruciform with a four-bay nave, aisled transepts and a three-bay chancel. Materials are Kentish ragstone with tiled roofs.
The nave was widened in 1837 and extended by one bay in 1860; a vestry was added in 1927. The church retains a brass to Elizabeth, Countess of Atholl (d. 1375), and later monuments. It remains the parish church of central Ashford.