Archaeologia Cantiana Vol. 14 -1882  page 19

Smarden Church by the Rev  Francis  Haslewood

with shingles, was ceiled in about a hundred years ago and remained concealed till the plaster was removed and the timbers again exposed to view in 1869, when the whole fabric underwent thorough restoration.    The style of architecture points to the Edwardian or Decorated period, and indicates thirteenth or fourteenth century work. Though traces of an earlier period do not appear, there must have been a church prior to that date, for though Smarden is not mentioned in Domesday, yet we find King John presented one Adam of Essex to the vacant benefice in 1205; and there is another early reference to the church, when a certain Allan de Radingate, having been guilty of theft, fled hither for sanctuary, in 1250.*    When noting the various objects of antiquarian interest, found within the sacred edifice, let us begin    * Furley, Hist. of the Weald of Kent, ii., 33.

Smarden Church: before restoration

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