Churches Tourism Association

The Parish Church of St Mary of Charity, Faversham

Built to InSpire is a Heritage project that has been funded by the Local Heritage Initiative.  The aims of which are to heighten the awareness amongst the local community, schools and visitors to the richness of treasures within the church and churchyard of St Mary of Charity and to gain an understanding of the origins, history and importance of the church within the local community, including customs and traditions.

Jo Richards - Project Co-ordinator, Built to InSpire 2007

Built to InSpire Publications: The publication of a series of leaflets and booklets that are aimed at special interest groups or for those visitors who are seeking more information than our brochure currently offers. They depict a number of aspects of church life and heritage throughout the ages to the modern day.  

• The Misericords (Leslie A Smith) ISBN 0-9548484-1-1
• The Brasses (Leslie A Smith) ISBN 0-9548484-0-3
• The Organs (Martin Renshaw) ISBN 0-9548484-2-X
• The Historic Churchyard (Arthur Percival) ISBN 0-9548484-7-0
• The Bells (N J Davies) ISBN 0-9548484-5-4
• History and Monuments (Arthur Percival) ISBN 0-9548484-3-8
• The Windows (Keith Tyler) ISBN 0-9548484-6-2
• Ecology (Rev Bill Hornsby) ISBN 0-9548484-8-9
• The Clocks (Mike Bundock) ISBN 0-9548484-4-6
• Ecclesiastical Features (Brian Jones) ISBN 978-0-9555041-0-5
• Liturgical Colours and Seasons (Brian Jones) 978-0-9555041-1-2
• Painted Column (Ann Marshall) 978-0-9555041-2-9
• The Hassocks (Joanna Barnes) 978-0-9555041-3-6

These publications have had a number of reviews and recently quoted in Ecclesiology Today as “quite simply an exemplary set of publications”. They can be purchased directly from the church, or via the on-line order form.

Other elements of the project:

• Educational Packs:The publication of two Church Heritage activity booklets for children (KS1 and KS2), Teachers’ Activity Packs including CD and worksheets and a Church Construction Kit to cut out and create a small church model.
• Exhibition: An exhibition has been mounted in the church, depicting many aspects of the church and its historic life. Includes a time-line charting the town and church history over 2 millennia, photographs and personnel memoirs, ecclesiastical features; and colours and seasons of the church’s calendar. The exhibition is on permanent display in the North Transept of the church. There is also a portable exhibition depicting the same information, which can be taken outside the church for display purposes.
• Church model:Church Model depicting the current church is displayed in a showcase within the church in the North Transept.
• A Journey Around the Church (work in progress):A series of boards describing the ecclesiastical heritage of the church
• Memoirs of Church and Community (work in progress):Capturing the memories of local people about the church and the community, and making an audio diary.
• DVD (work in progress):The DVD will comprise two discs.  1 – highlighting the history of the church in the community and 2 – a journey around the church to complement the 10 display boards.  DVD will form part of educational pack and be a stand-alone presentation in its own right. 
• Mini Vicars:Robust robes for children to dress up in as mini vicars. These appeal to children of all ages, and can be used as part of a school visit or other organisations eg Cubs, Brownies etc.
• Talks and Tours: As part of the promotion of the project the Built to InSpire Team offer talks and tours of the church, and take the project outside to deliver presentations at conferences etc.

You can visit the project website here.