Friends of Barfreston Church 

Welcome to our pages dedicated to the Friends of Barfreston Church.  

In these pages we hope to show you why the Church of St Nicholas is so important, not only to those of us who know and love it but to 12th century church architecture and carving in Kent, in England, in Europe.  

This small Norman church stands on a plateau constructed on a south-east facing slope in the tiny unspoilt village of Barfreston in Kent.  The lower walls are of flint and the upper of Caen ashlar.  Nave and chancel together are less than fifty feet in length; the floor plan could be described as two abutting rectangles.  But how these two boxes have been adorned!  The quality and profusion of the decoration is breathtaking.

The outstanding feature is the south doorway, where major and minor shafts support a tympanum of unsurpassed beauty, aspiration, and breadth of subjects depicted. However the church also possesses a fine rare Norman wheel window in the east end, two other Norman doorways of note, and a corbel table of great variety and inventiveness.

The interior is small but exquisite with an awe-inspiring chancel arch.

Barfreston is simple magnificence. 
An oxymoron?
Come and see! 
You may want to stay and give thanks.