The parish church at Snodland is dedicated to All Saints.
The history of this site spans centuries, there is documentary
evidence of a church here by 1000 A.D.
When All Saints was first built in stone, the workmen had some
useful materials close at hand from the abandoned Roman Villa a few
yards to the north. Some Roman tiles and 'tufa' can still be seen
in the older walls of the present building.
It seems likely that the present nave occupies the space of the
original church building. The central area of the west wall is
perhaps the only part of that earliest stone building to survive,
but maybe the chancel also dates from this time. Significantly
these are the only parts of the walls which include the Roman
material.
Above the west window, itself dating from around 1300 or soon
after, an earlier Norman-style arch can still be seen. Perhaps the
chancel also had Norman windows once, but again these were replaced
early on by 'Decorated' windows of c.1300. Two only survive - on
the north side nearest the east end - and one can see where a third
one has been bricked in to allow room for the much larger 14th
century one to be inserted. Although the window pattern on the
south side of the chancel is similar, these are nineteenth-century
copies added in 1870.
Burials took place in the churchyard until 1896; thereafter
(with a few exceptions) at Snodland cemetery, the churchyard is
noticeably empty of memorials.
Snodland Cemetery was opened in 1896 and the first burial took
place on 19 March. Within the cemetery there are many outstanding
memorials, worthy of a visit.
The coordinates take you to a tomb chest 'Sacred to the memory
of SAMUEL, only son of WILLIAM LEE Esq. of Holborough who departed
this life August ABth 1852, aged CD years.
The cache is located approximately 1 mile away by foot, it is
located at Northing 51 20.(D-B-A)DA Easting 000 26.(D-B-A)DD
Please ensure that you hide the cache back correctly, so that it
is completely out of sight of muggles.
The cache is a 35mm film canister containing a log book and a
small pencil (So you may wish to take your own writing
implement).
If anybody
would like to expand this series please do, I would just ask that
you let sadexploration know first so he can keep track of the
Church numbers and names to avoid duplication