Publication Review

The short history of the Church of St. Peter & St. Paul, Farningham is the final publication in the trilogy of the United Benefice Churches written by George Macknelly. In this interesting publication the author traces the history of the church from the earliest records of its existence in the thirteenth century to the present day. Although St. Peter & St. Paul Church is probably the youngest of the three Benefice Churches, it still has a considerable amount of history to be told. The author describes the various aspects of the church, details of building and restoration works, plus descriptions of the various monuments and the more historically colourful incumbents and benefactors. The publication includes details of the founding of the Church school including an amusing report dated September 1909 on the conditions in the classroom - an early 20th century OFSTED report! This publication is of the usual excellence that we have come to expect from the Local History Society. As well as the author, I feel I must congratulate the two artists, Caroline Gould, whose wonderful charcoal sketch adorns the front cover and Bill Burcham, whose pen and ink drawings of the internal and external aspects of the church add considerably to the content of this publication.

Lesley Burr
Review reprinted from The Trident Magazine