St Nicholas' Church, Worth

and tower]] St Nicholas Church is one of the oldest churches in the country and has been a place of Christian worship and devotion for well over 1000 years. It is known that the church is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and parts of it have been dated to between AD 950 and 1050, in particular the chancel arch and apse. It was built in what, at the time, was a forest. The reason for building a church here is unknown, but it is surmised that the area would have had good hunting grounds and royal or noble visitors to the grounds would need a place to pray in comfort. As it was a large church isolated in the forest, it is unlikely it was just for local needs. After the Norman conquest of England in…

at St Nicholas Church, pictured in 2013]] Worth Church is still in use as a parish church today, - and is thought to be the oldest church in continuous use in the country. It has at least two services each Sunday (usually 8am and 10am) and a midweek Eucharist on Thursdays at 10.30am. It has a band of bellringers and a church choir. The churchyard includes the grave of Robert Whitehead, inventor of the modern torpedo. In a plot bordered with blue railings, his epitaph reads "His fame was known by all nations hereabouts". Also in the churchyard are the Commonwealth war graves of four British Army soldiers and a Royal Navy officer of World War I and a British Army officer and an Indian Army…