St Mary's Church, Newington

Housing the unofficial shrine of a man murdered while on pilgrimage to Canterbury, this church now lies several miles to the north of the main Pilgrims Way route

Highlights

• Intact tomb shrine of a possible saint
• Extensive medieval wall paintings

Some say this church contains the tomb of a medieval saint, a pilgrim murdered on his way to Canterbury in 1150. If so, St Robert of Newington is the rarest of survivors: an English saint lying undisturbed in his original grave. There is admittedly no evidence that St Robert was ever considered a saint by the church as a whole. But there is some indication of local veneration: a will of 1504 refers to ‘St Robert of Newenton’, implying that his grave is a place of pilgrimage. An excellent article by Diana Webb gathering the scant historical evidence can be found by searching for ‘Robert’ on the website www.kentarchaeology.org.uk. He may have been called Robert Le Bouser. 

With only limited documentary evidence, it is better to contemplate the physical reality of the tomb itself. This solid structure is located in the south chapel, on the right at the front of the nave. Judging by the design alone, it could certainly be a saint’s shrine. This thick shiny slab of marble has no discernible markings on any surface, but it looks and feels as substantial as any medieval shrine structure I have seen in England. If it is not the tomb of a medieval saint, we would benefit from an explanation as to why it is so grand. On the other hand, if it is a shrine then it would have been destroyed at the Reformation. Even from the far side of the church, it looks like a medieval shrine. Had I been a reformer wandering around the church with a mallet, I would have dealt it a couple of sharp blows just to be on the safe side. 

The conjecture that St Robert was a pilgrim derives from the fact that the church is near the pilgrimage route to Canterbury. Certainly logical but not enough to secure St Robert an entry in the Oxford Dictionary of Saints, or indeed any church calendar. Simon Jenkins conveys its main points about the mystery tomb in his guide to English churches. Shrine or not, the appealing church merits a detour. It has extensive wall paintings, including some fairly well-preserved saints in the north aisle window splays.

Directions

St Mary’s Church, High Oak Hill, Newington ME9 7JX

www.thesix.org.uk

W3W: decoder.ferried.conceals

GPS: 51.3566N 0.6732E

Newington railway station 500m. 

The church is a little way out of Newington village, on the north side of the railway. It is open Saturdays May–July 10am–4pm, Sundays April–October 11am–5pm, contact the church to visit at other times; see website.

‍