Project Case Studies
THE HANCOCK TOMB RESTORATION AT IVYCHURCH
The Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust supported vital work to restore a 145-year old tomb at St. George’s.
Restoration photos by Celia Heritage
BEFORE
AFTER
Background
The grave of former Curate, the Reverend Richard Hancock, was in danger of being lost in the undergrowth. Rusted iron railings had partially collapsed and presented a potential hazard. The salty sea air on Romney Marsh speeds up the corrosion of untreated ironwork - an ongoing challenge for the historic marsh churches. The Trust supported St. George’s at Ivychurch with approximately £7,000 to enable this work to be completed.
Little information is available concerning Rev. Hanock, who is buried here. He died on 27 March 1879 and was buried four days later, on 31st March 1879.
He was the Curate of St. George’s, Ivychurch - an ordained member of the clergy who assists the parish priest in their duties. The term comes from the Latin word curatus, which means "care".
Reverend Hanock’s grave is noted in The Monumental Inscriptions in the churchyard of Ivychurch Church, authored by Leland L. Duncan in the early 20th Century.
Leland Lewis Duncan, MVO, OBE, FSA (24 August 1862 – 26 December 1923) was an English public servant, antiquary and author. He was a life member of the Kent Archaeological Society:
“Our member Leland L. Duncan (1862-1923) was such a person who worked tirelessly to promote interest in our past through the study of early documents, such as wills and State Papers through to the recording of churchyard memorial inscriptions as a source of information. After his death very many of his unpublished notebooks, papers and other collections were put into the care of archives and learned societies; some came to Kent Archaeological Society of which he was a life member.”
Duncan made many field trips to note the deteriorating engravings amongst the memorials of churchyards, carefully recorded in an extensive set of notebooks. In his text about Ivychurch, he noted:
“460. (By east window) A cross in rails to the Reverend Richard Worew HANDCOCK 27 March 1879.”
A transcription of Duncan’s original survey (plus many others he made for Kent) can be found on the Kent Archaeological Society website.
Duncan’s survey of nearby All Saints’, Lydd
In June 2014, a survey of Ivychurch churchyard was carried out to identify how many of the gravestones listed in Duncan’s survey survived, and to list those gravestones which had been erected since his survey was carried out. As noted here by RMHCT Trustee Celia Heritage, many of the gravestones in the churchyard were very hard to read due to the weathering of time and pollution. The 2014 survey noted:
“460. (By east window) A cross surrounded by rails to the Reverend Richard Andrew (not Worew) HANCOCK 27 March 1879.”
AND, NEARBY
“460a. Remains of base of tomb surrounded by rails but with no surviving inscription or any identifying feature as of 2009. May have been missed by LLD or may have post dated his survey. The remains of this stone were removed in 2014 following subsidence.”
RESTORATION WORK:
With funding support from the Romney Marsh Historic Churches Trust, Eastwell Ironworks, based in New Romney, were contracted to work on the Hancock grave restoration and the grave was tidied up, with vegetation removed.
With the work successfully completed to a high standard, this monument should now stand for another 145 years, at least.
Many thanks to all involved and to our members and donors, who make such work possible.
More about St George’s
IVYCHURCH
3D Virtual Tour preview, showing restored western window and fragments of original stone.
More photos of St George’s, Ivychurch
Audio Guide
Discover more about St George’s Church at Ivychurch with our new self-guided tour. Scan the QR code on your mobile device or click the tour button to view online.
Listen online
An audio-only version of the tour is also available to listen to here.
