BMME _mwmH

The village of Bridge, straddling the main road from Dover to Canterbury,
has been an important village since the Roman occupation of England.

There was probably a Roman bridge across the river (cf Brugge, Bruges
which has a similar name and site). There is however no village mentioned
in the Domesday Book but there is a "Hundred of Brige" i.e. a meeting point
for the villagers on the "Burns" Bishopsbourne, Patrixbourne and Bekesbourne
and hence perhaps it had its chapel (not a chantry) built. This Hundred
was part of the manor of Blecknersbury and was part of the possessions of
St. Augustine's Abbey until the supression of the monastries by Henry VIII.
In 1258 the church at Bridge was appropriated by Archbishop Boniface to

the Prior and Convent of Merton in Surrey in which patronage they remained
until the middle of the 15th century. The church has three aisles and a
chancel with some Norman features remaining in the tower and the western
doorway. There are three bells and there is a board above the belfry
stating that the church and steeple were repaired by one Samuel Hills
Churchwarden in 1787. The pillars which separate the aisles are large

for this size of church; the east end of the north aisle was formerly
partitioned off for a school room. The font is small and though it appears
to be old has nothing peculiar on it. In the Chancel at the north side is
a semi—circular compartment containing in stone the following particulars
exceedingly well carved in "alto relievo"; in the division at the top was
formerly a figure for the Almighty and now much defaced; in the second
division form the West end is the serpent with Adam and Eve eating the
forbidden fruit. In the first from the same end, the Angel driving them
out of Paradise; the third contains Cain and Abel preparing their sacrifices;
the fourth Abel offering his sacrifice with Cain standing beside him and the
fifth Cain staying Abel.

Under an arch in the wall below the above compartments lies the effigy of

a man with his hands closed in the attitude of prayer. On the same wall is
the portrait of Robert Bargrove painted on carpet in a wooden frame believed
to have been executed by Cornelium Jensen the Court painter.

There are several intersting tablets in the Church - in the middle of the
Chancel lies‘buried the second daughter of Sir Dudley Bigges of Ghilham
Castle, Master of the Rolls in 1643, Joan first wife of Sir Arnold Braems
who built much of Dover harbour in the 17th century and lived at Bridge
Place behind the Church. Notice also in the left side aisle the tablet to
Mr. Sicard who is oneaof the many people who lived in the village with
Hugenot forbears. The church was restored by Mrs. Gregory of Bridge Hill
in the middle of the 19th century and it is to her that we owe the striking
Kentish flintstone on the exterior. She was not a native of theavillage
but the daughter of Nathaniel Pattison of Congleton in Cheshire and whose
grandfather founded the first silk mill in Congleton in 1752.