As seen from the south, Ash church appears typically Kentish, with it russet-tiled nave and slightly lower chancel, and the sturdy battlemented west tower and polygonal stairturret. The walls, as in all the upland churches, are built of the flints which the plough everywhere turns up, split and laid split-face outwards to form a smooth surface. Originally they were rendered over with a thick white lime-mortar, traces of which can still be seen in a few sheltered areas of walling (e.g. under the eaves of the north aisle).
The dressed stone used for windows and doorways is mostly grey ragstone from quarries a few miles to the south-east which also supplied the stone for all London's major medieval buildings. But the honey-coloured sand stone used on the south aisle and porch probably comes from the Tonbridge area, a little further afield and rarely used in the uplands. The red brick on the tower, the turret and some of the buttresses is patching, probably of the late eighteenth century. This too was originally hidden by render, but now that it is visible it adds a touch of warm colour to the building. Internally the walls retain their thick coat of rendering, limewashed over. Whether medieval wallpaintings survive under the limewash is not known .The roof timbers are of oak in its natural colour and in the nave and north aisle are medieval.
Further details can be found here.
The above coordinates take you to the main church notice board.
The Young Ash Alive meet at AB.CDam on the E Sunday.
Now walk down the footpath to the main church door. On it was a sign with phone numbers in case you want to have a look around the church. One was 01474 FGHJKJ.
Have a sit down to work out the final location. Although finding Charles Arthur Papworth may help first. Lth October MNPP.
The final magnetic cache can be found at:
N 51° 21. (E+A-C) L (P-M)
E000° 17. (D+E) (N-P) (E-A)
(Puzzle updated 6/7/15 due to missing sign).
Congratulations to JJB and Charlton11 on the FTF - despite my deliberate (!?!) error (now corrected).
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For full information on how you can expand the Church Micro series by sadexploration please read the Place your own Church Micro page before you contact him at churchmicro@gmail.com.
See also the Church Micro Statistics and Home pages for further information about the series.
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