All Saints, Maidstone is Kent’s largest parish church and one of the largest in England. Pevsner describes it as Kent’s, “grandest Perpendicular church”. It is Grade 1 Listed and dates from the end of the 14th century when it was rebuilt as a collegiate church, possibly under the direction of Henry Yevele. While it remains architecturally homogeneous of this period, the roofing was replaced later in the 19th century.
Inevitably, a very large old building of this stature will be complex and expensive to maintain. An urgent project completed in 2021 saw corbel stones in the main Nave stabilised and secured for the time being to prevent them literally falling to the ground! FKC contributed £6,000 towards the cost of this work.
On a larger scale, deterioration of the Nave roof in particular is a challenge too big to be tackled in one go. An initial campaign saw the leaking west end of this roof extensively restored together with replacement of rainwater ware within budget and to a tight time scale in 2022 at a cost of over £500,000. Much of this expense was met by the Government’s Culture Recovery Fund and also the Listed Places of Worship Scheme. However, the PCC had to secure a large sum themselves and FKC are proud to have given a grant of £25,000 to this end.
The PCC were pleased with the contractor’s work and a bonus was that the project was used to train apprentices in heritage skills.
