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First mentioned in 1037 by Archbishop Aethelnoth and containing what is debatably the earliest image of St Thomas Becket this fine Norman/Saxon church with Butterfield updates is one of the five Jane Austen churches and sits picturesquely next to the River Stour.

In medieval days the parish of Godstone stretched for eleven miles along the Roman Road from Marden Park in the north to Felbridge in the south, at no point was it more than two miles wide.

A hermit’s hut, chapel or church has stood on this site for at least 1500 years, and St Sampson’s lies on the ancient Saints Way along which many of the Celtic Saints came from Padstow to Fowey, thus avoiding a perilous sea route around Land’s End.

St Mary's is unusual in that is has two main parts, the older is a typically 15th century village church dating from 1228 and the later is the new 20th century nave and sanctuary.

The church was built by the 2nd Viscount Halifax, keen to inspire the local community and encourage their spiritual wellbeing.

A Tudor chapel by a lost village.

A Christus sculpture, by Peter Eugene Ball, hangs above the nave.

A historic Roman Catholic 'Barn' style chapel built in 1755 during penal times.

Completed in 1975 the church is shaped like the prow of a ship.

A very friendly 'free' church.

The chapel dates from 1724, together with a small hospital building, and the almshouses which form the three sided courtyard with St Bartholomew's chapel in the centre,