St Michael
Playden, Sussex
West of the River Rother, St Michaels spire is a landmark from across the Romney Marshes.
It is most celebrated for its quarter boys, cherubs on the outside of the church who strike the quarter hours. They are a later addition to a clock mechanism that was made in 1560. The boys themselves are modern replicas of the original 18th century figures, which had become weathered. The original boys are now inside the church, where the huge pendulum of the clock can be seen.
The church was restored by the Victorians, but much of the original Norman and later fabric can be seen. A happy legacy of the 19th century is the stained glass in the window of the north aisle, designed by Edward Burne-Jones.
