Otford Church

Otford village centres around St. Bartholomew’s church, whose history dates back to between 1050 and 1080. Somewhat hidden behind the church is what's left of the Bishop’s Palace. The church itself may look plain on the outside, but within it contains a wealth of history, which these pictures can only touch on extremely fleetingly.

Saint Bartholomew's presides over Otford's village pond and busy roundabout, but this scene exudes an air of rural tranquillity.

The church within at first looks like many other churches until closer inspection reveals an artistic wealth of Kentish history.

The west wall of the church displays a large array of nicely executed hatchments, a colourful tribute to the interesting history of this parish.

Otford church contains a number of beautifully sculptured marble monuments, of which this one, to one of the famous Polhills of Kent, is a particularly fine example. The "leaning" pose seems to suggest an air of thoughtful reflection on the past sojourn on this earth.

This is the royal coat of arms of William III (of Orange - Dutch you know). By the time of the date shown, he was already a widower, having lost Mary, his spouse, three years earlier. Most traditional English village churches had a royal coat of arms.

Technicalities

I took these five pictures with a 7MP Fuji camera bought at Tesco. The camera had a predilection for curvy pictures, so I had to take pictures with extra special care and attention! GIMP was used on the royal coat of arms to "lift them out from the dark".

Thank You

These pictures were taken by me on Sunday, 15th July 2012, on one of Nick's fine CLOG walks from Sevenoaks to Eynsford. Thank you Nick for suggesting and leading this walk. Thank you all for your good company at the time - 3½ years ago. How time flies. Tempus fugit if you must!