St George's Church, Gravesend

St George's Church, Gravesend is a Grade II*-listed Anglican church dedicated to Saint George,[1] which is situated near the foot of Gravesend High Street in the Borough of Gravesham. It serves as Gravesend's parish church and is located in the diocese of Rochester, Kent, England.

St George's church with the Pocahontas statue in the foreground
Statue of Pocahontas

History

Gravesend was recorded in the Domesday Book as part of the parish of St Mary the Virgin at Heacham. In 1478, a chapel of ease to St Mary's was licensed by King Edward IV, after three years' public petitioning for a place which "in time to come shall become the parish church" and dedicated to St George, after St George's Chapel, Windsor.

In 1497 King Henry VII granted the citizens of Gravesend a parish church, which was consecrated by John Fisher, bishop of Rochester in 1510; and (after St Mary's was damaged by fire in 1508, becoming ruined by 1529) the new church was established as the parish church in 1544.

The 15th-century edifice burned down on 24 August 1727 when a great fire consumed much of Gravesend, also destroying approximately 110 houses as well as the parish church. Services were transferred to the Town Hall until a new church building - constructed in the Georgian style being part-funded by the Commission for Building Fifty New Churches - was completed in 1731.

Notable People

Pocahontas, Native American wife of English-born colonist John Rolfe, died in Gravesend on her way back to the New World at age 20 or 21 and was buried under the chancel of this church on 21 March 1617. When the church was rebuilt in 1731 the exact spot was lost. William Ordway Partridge's bronze statue commemorates her.

References
  1. Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1089034)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 25 July 2013.

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