Church of St Stephen

With breath-taking views across the Romney Marsh and Channel, the Grade 1 listed church, next to Lympne Castle, dates from early Norman times. The remains of the original tower can be seen in fragments on the south side of the present church. The original Norman church consisted of a west tower, a nave (now the present chancel) and a short chancel. The roll of vicars of Lympne dates back to AD1291.

There have been bells in St Stephen’s Lympne since at least the 1500s. Around this time the two bells were transferred from the neighbouring parish of St Mary’s West Hythe (now derelict) and the famous Kentish bellfounder, Joseph Hatch, did some casting work to form a ring of four. This was possibly done in the churchyard, as was often the case in this period, as it was easier to carry the basic equipment required for casting to site rather than cast the bells in a foundry and have to transport the heavy bells. Robert Catlin in 1742 recast the entire ring into five bells. He also modified the frame to accommodate them and this frame lasted until 1969. These five were then augmented again in 1951 by the addition of a treble bell donated by the Champneys family. By 1969, the original 1700’s frame was in rather poor condition, to the extent that in some places, there were more metal repair plates than timber. The decision was made to restore the whole installation which involved forming a new upstairs ringing chamber. Until then the bells had been rung in the chancel crossing. The bells were rehung in a new Iroko oak frame and provided with all new fittings. The bells were also tuned. The 1969 work made provision to increase the bells to eight, thus completing the octave. In February 2014, two suitable bells that were to go to America were purchased with a view to completing this work. The bells had been cast in 2004 to make an 8 for the University of Washington in Seattle, using an existing ring of 6 that were redundant. However, the problem came when the bells were found to be too heavy for the tower in America and they required a lighter ring. The six bells went to a tower in England and the two new trebles were not required. These are now installed in Lympne and complete the octave, albeit some considerable time after the initial work. (information courtesy of A Church Near You https://www.achurchnearyou.com/church/12106/about-us/)