Declared redundant in 1983 and now maintained by the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, St Augustine's sits alongside a quiet side road off the busy A2070, with only a few houses and a farm for company. It doesn't even have a surfaced path - just a grassy lane, which in Spring is a carpet of daffodils.
The church dates from the 13th Century with a tower added early in the 15th. The interior is unusual in that the wide, aisleless nave opens eastwards through two separate arches, onto the chancel and the spacious Lady Chapel. The roof has slender crown-posts on tie-beams, clearly of an ancient date. The whitewashed interior is plain and dignified, with simple Victorian pews and clear glass. There is a fine Coat of Arms of George II, and the pulpit reuses tracery from a Perpendicular screen.
In the chancel, there is a fine 15th Century Piscina and a single Sedile with an embattled top. The Lady Chapel was, at some point, graced with an open fire grate in the corner - presumably to warm the Vicar before winter services...
St Augustine, Snave, Ivychurch TN26 2QJ
