Dode Church...

Deciding on a whim to walk from Upper Halling to the Amazon and Tiger in Harvel, I chose to take a route that led me past Dode Church in darkest Luddesdown, which I had not seen since before it had been restored in the 1990s.

From Mays Wood to Harvel...

Nestling in Wrangling Lane, which runs along the bottom of the silent and secluded valley beneath Holly Hill, the little church at Dode was built over 900 years ago during the reign of William II of England (William Rufus, the son of the Conqueror) at some time between 1087 and 1100.  Archaeological evidence shows that the area was inhabited during the time of the Roman Empire, and probably before long that.  The church itself is built on a man-made mound that certainly predates it.

Dode (sometimes called "Dowde") Church...

Like many villages in the area at the time, the village of Dode was badly hit by the Black Death in 1349, with every single inhabitant either killed or fled.  Other than the church, no trace of what is sometimes referred to as “The Lost Village of Dode” remains visible anywhere today. 

The church was last used as a place of worship in 1387 and then deconsecrated on the orders of Thomas Trilleck, the Bishop of Rochester, but unlike its structurally-similar twin in Paddlesworth on the outskirts of Snodland (TQ6862 : St Benedict's Church), it was never reconsecrated.

 

With the village abandoned, the church remained unused for centuries. In 1901, it was purchased by an antiquarian, George M. Arnold, Mayor of Gravesend. He restored the walls and roof of the church and in 1954, the Arnold family returned the building to the Catholic Church. It was rededicated as the Church of Our Lady of the Meadows and for a while, mass was celebrated there at least once a year.

Faux standing stones (pretty certain they weren't there 40 years ago...)

The building fell into disuse again however, and was vandalised. In 1990, Doug Chapman, a chartered surveyor who had worked at Canterbury Cathedral, purchased the church and began restoring the building, originally with the intention of turning it into a weekend home. After a change of heart, it was restored as a church and licensed as a civil wedding venue.  Weddings are still regularly held there.

There are many stories linking Dode Church to ancient ley lines and ghostly goings-on, all of which are (in my opinion) just so much credulous mumbo-jumbo. That said, the place is undoubtedly "atmospheric", though whether this is down to the preternatural quiet of its surroundings or an awareness of its long and somewhat sombre history is difficult to say. 

I do not regard myself as particularly superstitious or spiritual, but I do find the place to have a powerful ambience, one that I can only describe as an air of wistful melancholia. I get the feeling that the building itself is sad and lonely and craves human company, that it is desperately seeking joy and happiness, the laughter of children and the communion of the elderly that other less tragic churches get to experience in their weekly existences. There is a sense that it longs to shake it off its neglected and plague-blighted past. Perhaps its current role as a wedding venue is just right for it in that respect.

Dode Church interior, still lit up just after a wedding...

One acquaintance of mine (now a very senior member of Her Majesty’s Constabulary and the most level-headed chap you could possibly meet) tells me that, as a junior police officer, he used to find that night patrols of the Dode area were often particularly eerie, with radio contact never working in the claustrophobic and stifling shadow of Holly Hill. None of his peers liked going near the place at night.

The wedding business seems to be doing well though, and the venue is seldom unused over the weekend.

Harvel C.C. v Leeds & Broomfield C.C...

On a different note, I was pleased to find that Harvel Cricket Club is still going strong, and was able to watch their game against Leeds & Broomfield from the pub garden for a couple of hours before setting off for home again.