Conservation works are underway at one of Kent’s oldest and once-forgotten churches.

The 900-year-old seats at Dode Church, near Luddesdown, Gravesend, are one of the features which have been restored after falling into disrepair following more than two decades of use.

The ancient Norman seats would have been where the congregation sat whilst they heard the news of the assassination of Archbishop Thomas Beckett or prayed for their loved ones when the Black Death hit England.

In Medieval times, they would have surrounded the nave of the church and only used by the elderly, infirm or pregnant women, giving rise to the saying ‘weakest to the wall’.

The church and village of Dode were abandoned during the plague in the 14th century and left derelict the former religious centre became a ruin known as the Lost Village of Dode.

That was until Doug Chapman found it in 1990, bought the site and restored it as a venue for weddings, pagan handfastings, and birth-related ceremonies.

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Although the historic seats could be used, they had become uncomfortable as they started to be sat upon again.

Doug said: “Following the initial renovations and after being unused for more than 600 years, the church itself is now in a good state of repair.

“As funds permit we are slowly repairing and conserving the secondary elements and it was important that the continuing degradation of this important feature was arrested.

“Dode is after all a working church and not a museum.

“It may be the only church in the country where the full extent of seating of this type remains and its continued use, after nine centuries, is actively encouraged.”

The work, which took around a week, included strengthening the structures using lime mortar and surfacing with oak from reclaimed railway sleepers to prevent future degradation.

It is thought to have totalled a four-figure sum, although Doug does not yet know the full cost as a few minor alterations still need to be completed.