Dode Church
(Our Lady Of The Meadows),
Kent, England.
Photo: 18 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Agw19666.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Text from Wikipedia - the free encyclopædia,
unless otherwise stated.
Archaeological evidence shows habitation in the Dode area during the time of the Roman Empire.
The Church stands at the end of a ten-mile-long Easterly-running Ley Line, connecting three Pre-Reformation Churches, two Roman sites, a Bronze Age burial ground, and two of the Medway megaliths - the Coffin Stone and Kit's Coty House.
Dode Church,
Kent, England.
Photo: 18 August 2012.
Source: Own work.
Author: Agw19666.
(Wikimedia Commons)
The Village of Dode was virtually wiped out by The Black Death during the 14th-Century, and its Church last used as a place of Worship in 1367, then de-Consecrated on the orders of Thomas Trilleck, the Bishop of Rochester. It was originally twinned with another Early-Norman Church in Paddlesworth (now Snodland). Kent.
Stones from the Church were used to build a Mediæval Church nearby.
According to local legend, the last survivor of the Black Death at Dode was a seven-year-old girl, known as the Dode Child. It is said that she took refuge in the Church after all the other Villagers were dead, and died within its walls. The Dode Child is supposed to haunt the Churchyard, having first appeared on a Sunday morning each month for several years, and then every seven years.
Dode Church,
Kent, England.
Available on YouTube
Dowde (or Dode) Church, Kent.
This Norman Church was originally twinned with the Church in Paddlesworth, Kent, and served the Village of Dode. Today, the Church is left virtually isolated down a No-Through Road, with only a few local farms to keep it company. The Village of Dowde no longer exists, as it was wiped out by
the Black Death in the 14th-Century.
Photo: 25 June 2005.
Source: From geograph.org.uk
Author: Hywel Williams
Attribution: Attribution: Hywel Williams.
(Wikimedia Commons)
Following the Black Death, the Village was abandoned, and the Church stood empty for Centuries. In 1901, it was purchased by an antiquarian, George Matthews Arnold, Mayor of Gravesend, Kent. He restored the walls and roof of the Church and, in 1954, the Arnold family returned the building to The Catholic Church. It was re-Dedicated as The Church of Our Lady of The Meadows and Mass was Celebrated there at least once a year.
Painting of George Matthews Arnold in the robes of the
Mayor of Gravesend. He was a Catholic and purchased
Dode Church in 1901 and restored the walls and roof.
Artist: John Haynes-Williams (1836–1908).
Date: 1894.
Collection: Gravesham Borough Council
Source/Photographer:
Art UK -https://www.artuk.org/discover/
(Wikimedia Commons)
A number of volunteers stepped forward, providing enough Four-Wheel-Drive vehicles to transport the Wedding Party and their guests, both to the venue at Dode, and then, afterwards, to the Leather Bottle pub, in Cobham, Kent.






