Reflections on forty years of the RMHCT, with our President John Doyle

The President of Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, watercolour artist John Doyle MBE, talks to RMHCT volunteer Didier Rochard, as the Trust celebrates its 40th anniversary.

“Romney Marsh is available – it’s quite easy to get to - but it’s entirely different! It’s been called the Fifth Continent for good reason. It’s entirely different to the rest of England really.”

It is widely known that the President of the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust is watercolour artist John Doyle MBE. Born in 1928 and painting since his twenties, John is regarded as a master of watercolour. He was even commissioned to paint Canterbury Cathedral for Pope Pius VI and is a former President of the Royal Watercolour Society.  

What is less well-known, however, is that nearly all meetings of the RMHCT Council have been held at John’s beautiful home in Warehorne, since the Trust was founded in 1982. The meetings are usually held in John’s studio.

Before the annual Summer meeting, members of the RMHCT Council are often treated to a tour of John’s magnificent garden, which tumbles down the hillside towards Romney Marsh. The epitome of an English country garden, it is work of art in itself. Curious sheep peer at us over the garden fence.  

“I’ve lived here for 51 years. The house isn’t on the marsh but it is only a few hundred yards off it and I have a very good view from up high, looking over it! ”

According to John, Romney Marsh hasn’t changed much in half a century, other than a bit of post war development along the coast. Of course, this hasn’t always been the case – the landscape itself here has changed dramatically over the centuries; a result of weather phenomena and the actions of settlers, who drained the land for farming. Many of the marsh churches have stood for nearly 1,000 years and several of them would have once been on islands or by estuaries. They are all now landlocked.

“It’s all very interesting and not many people know about it. The Trust has a role to play in educating people.”

John describes with awe, the ornate nature of the medieval churches and how life on the marsh would have once centred around worship. He describes the large number of altars, and the guilds associated with them as being “like working men’s clubs!”. Indeed, in medieval times, the community worshipped on as many as 50 saints’ days. People’s lives revolved around them.

“They are wonderful historical places. They have got an incredible holy feeling – a feeling of peace. And in an age which is becoming more and more violent and challenging, people will find the churches are little havens of peace.”

John frowns upon a locked church door. “If a church is open”, he says, “people will go in them – because they’re interesting!”. It is this lifelong interest which has inspired John to paint so many of the churches.

“I’ve been painting them all my life. I still do. I love painting buildings – Venice, Rome, Sienna – Italy mainly. The churches on Romney Marsh are very good subjects, particularly seen in the landscape – they make fabulous pictures.”

Without the work of the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, it is highly likely that many of the churches would look much the worse for wear. The Trust supports the maintenance of all 14 churches south of the Royal Military Canal, as well as four ruined churches. St Augustine’s at Snave is now maintained entirely by the Trust and was saved from a change to secular use.

“I was concerned that they were all going to be made redundant. So I went to see the then Bishop of Dover, Bob Hardy. He was a lovely guy and I said, ‘Look all of these churches are going to be made redundant because there’s no way that the communities and villages can support them. We’ve formed a Trust and we think it’s going to be viable. Can we have your assurance that they’re not going to be made redundant?’. We discussed taking on the church at Snave – it is now entirely maintained by the Trust and we have the right to have one service there a year for Harvest Festival- this comes under the care of the local priest for the Saxon Shore Benefice.”

John describes the Roman Catholic singing that has taken place at Snave in recent years, courtesy of the Latin Mass Society. Events like this continue to draw new visitors and worshippers to the churches.

“I would like to see them continue. Once a church becomes deconsecrated the heart seems to go out of it and it becomes a shell. These churches have nearly 1,000 years of Christian worship – it does leave behind a definite feeling which is different from an ordinary building. They have a feeling about them and an atmosphere.”

From John’s garden, Warehorne church can be seen clearly on this bright evening. The church lies a few feet off the marsh and therefore isn’t one of those maintained by the RMHCT, but John explains that most of the Romney Marsh churches can be seen from the tower with a telescope. Without the work of the Trust it’s questionable how many of these churches would still be seen today.

“Of course the real worry is the future and bringing young people into the churches. I fear it will be difficult…. They’ve got to be used, for things other than worship too. JAM on the Marsh have been wonderful – they’ve used all of the churches - tours, talks, concerts, exhibitions. If they’re not used they’ll just fade away – that is my fear.”

Over the past 40 years John Doyle has played a huge role in championing the marsh churches and in helping people to understand and appreciate their value. Modestly, he downplays his role as President of the Trust - “For some reason they keep inviting me back! All I’ve done is jolly people up!”.

There is no doubting that John’s role has been far more significant. He has brought the marsh churches to the attention of some highly influential people.

“I suppose through my painting I have bumped into a quite a few people and I have managed to get hold of some fairly distinguished people to come and speak to us [at the AGM].”

Such contributions are, of course, vital to promote the work of the Trust and to generate essential funds to support the churches. Over the past 40 years the Trust has funded numerous repair works, without which many of the buildings would be crumbling.

“I’d like to see them all maintained, in good order, and I’d like to see them all still used for worship.”

Several of the churches are now very well-known and draw visitors from around the world, but some are still hidden gems.

“Romney Marsh is an odd place. It’s still very unspoilt. You can walk around some of those little lanes and never see another car or person. It’s a wilderness. The person, in that setting, gets a certain magic – take little Fairfield stuck out in the middle of a field, far from other habitation. There aren’t many places like that.”

Does John have a favourite church? I can immediately tell he’s been asked this question before.

“Several! And I wouldn’t want to pick out any one that is more wonderful than the others. Little Fairfield is famous of course. Lydd is the largest parish church in the Diocese. New Romney... Old Romney… Ivychurch… Brookland is a fabulous church. All of them have something extraordinary to offer.”

It is true, every one of the churches is unique, not only in its architecture but also in its story. The history and folklore surrounding some of the churches is actually quite surprising, as users of the Trust’s new Audio Guide App have been discovering. Now 40 years old, the Trust itself is starting to have its own history. John recalls the early days of the Trust:

“The highlight was when we founded it. We got a lot of publicity from Bill Deedes who was MP for Ashford and editor of the Telegraph…. I also went and visited a lot of the heads of Oxford and Cambridge colleges with a begging bowl! I had just finished painting a lot of colleges in Oxford and Cambridge and I’d lived in Oxford for three years painting the colleges for an exhibition, so I knew a lot of the bursars in the colleges.”

Some people may not be aware that in the early days of Oxford and Cambridge Universities, several of the colleges held lands on or close to Romney Marsh.

“We have been taking money out of all the land around Lydd and New Romney for 500 years so it’s about time we gave something back, they said. Some of the Oxford and Cambridge colleges were very, very generous and we got the warden of All Souls to come and talk to us.”

John lists several other high-profile speakers who have addressed the AGMs over the years. In 2023 Dame Joanna Lumley addressed a large audience at All Saints church in Lydd. The speakers for 2022 were Charles Moore (Lord Moore of Etchingham and former editor of both the Daily and Sunday Telegraphs) and Mervyn King (Lord King of Lothbury and former Governor of the Bank of England). The Trust has been highly successful in garnering loyal supporters, not forgetting of course the Council members themselves, many of whom have served for several decades.

“The inaugural meeting was in Leeds Castle. Lord Geoffrey-Lloyd, who was running Leeds Castle Trust, seemed to like the idea of the Trust and he gave us all the backing he could.”

Now, 40 years later, following a lot of hard work from the Trust and the local communities, the churches still stand as Sentinels on the marsh. There are many successes to be celebrated, none of which could have happened without the generous supporters and members of the Trust.

“Obviously it would be nice to have more members. I would be satisfied if we managed to maintain 1,000 members. At one point we had more members than the National Churches Trust!”

In addition to essential building repairs and restoration work, in more recent years the RMHCT has played an active role in outreach and education projects. Just this month, four new community mosaics, funded by the Trust have been unveiled, meaning there is now a mosaic for every medieval church on Romney Marsh. Ten mosaics were completed in 2021 in collaboration with the Fifth Continent Landscape Partnership Scheme, funded by National Lottery Heritage Fund and RMHCT have helped complete the set. Under the guidance of artist Yolanda Houston from Teach Me in New Romney, over 500 community participants have been involved in laying thousands of tiles. The youngest participant was 3 years old and the oldest was 90! It is projects like this which are helping engage new audiences and visitors with the churches. Visitors can now take a self-guided audio tour using the Trust’s new app, or even take 3D virtual tours from anywhere in the world, using pioneering technology.

We hope that the next 40 years of the Trust continue to bring exciting developments for the cherished marsh churches. With your generous support, the churches will continue to provide sanctuary and peace for many generations to come, in this unspoilt corner of England. John Doyle’s vision is an enduring one, and the legacy of his work with the Trust will extend far into the future.

Author: Didier Rochard, RMHCT Volunteer

• Help preserve the medieval churches for future generations: Become a member; Make a donation; or Volunteer with us.

• Learn more about the churches with our Church Audio Tour App.