The History of our church

The story of St Mary’s starts with a decision back in 1902. St George’s parish council had noticed lots of new houses popping up south of Old Road West, and they thought it would be great to have a mission church there. So, the first St Mary’s opened its doors in 1904 as a simple tin hut church on Dashwood Lane, close to Woodlands Park and Lynton Road South. It was a daughter church of St George’s, sharing the same clergy as the main church in the town centre.

Then, in 1933, they realised that with more houses being built and plans for even more, they needed a permanent church. They picked Wrotham Road as the spot, and the current building was born! The foundation stone was laid in May 1938, and the whole project, led by Rev A. A. Burrows, was finished in November 1938.  It cost a total of £6,190.

The old church then became the hall, where they held Sunday school, social events, and school dinners for St George’s school during the week.

Between 1938 and 1951, St Mary’s continued to be within St George’s parish, but eventually, due to all of the building, they decided it was time for St Mary’s to become a parish of its own. On March 5th, 1951, the new parish was officially created, and Rev H Pickup became the first official vicar of St Mary’s Gravesend.  

There have now been 9 vicars of St Mary’s:

1951-1957 Rev Harold Pickup

1957-1963 Rev Alan Dunstan

1963-1978 Rev Michael David

1978-1987 Rev Anthony Atherton

1988-1997 Rev Chris Kitchener

1997-2002 Rev Richard Hayes

2003-2013 Rev Ruth Oats

2014-2023 Rev Trudi Oliver

2026-date Rev Colin Fairweather

Over the years, the church has seen many changes inside, but the next big building project came in 1967 when they built a new vicarage in New House Lane, after selling the old one at 150 Darnley Road. Then, in 1969, the church community built a new hall, and again in 1972 after a fire burnt it down. At the same time they knocked through and added the etched glass doors, slope and choir vestry to join the hall and church.  This was funded by selling the old site on Dashwood Road, where the church/hall had reached the end of its life. 

Back in 1990, we started the next stage of building, which meant taking down the walls that separated the chancel and nave, as well as removing the fixed choir stalls and pulpit. This allowed us to create a chapel at the top with screens and a small altar, so we could bring the main altar closer to the congregation and add new, portable furniture. The old altar rails were moved down onto a new platform, but they were designed to be removable, so we could easily change how we used the space.  Since then we have benefited hugely from the flexible space that can be changed to suit different types of worship, holiday clubs and other events within the space.  It’s also now much easier to see and be a part of communion.

St Mary’s continues to develop and to change, but we remember the dedication of all those people who built, refined, and grew our church over so many years of service and prayer.  I wonder what will be next for St Mary’s as our mission develops and we respond to the changing needs of our community and congregation.