Nestled by the tree-lined River Medway near Aylesford isthe principal house of the Carmelite religious order that

came to Kent in 1242.

The compelling story of the Friars and the Carmelites ofAylesford who were forced from their priory in 1538 only toreturn 400 years later in 1949, is told in the artworks andbuildings discovered on a short walk through the grounds.Here you’ll come across one of the finest intact medievalcourtyards in England, 17th-century thatched barns and ahostelry for pilgrims dating to the late 1200s.

In its 750-year history, this venerable oasis has changed usemany times. In the centuries after the Reformation, themonastic centre was converted into an opulent stately home. Merchant bankers, Royalists during the Civil War, Second

World War servicemen and even the leader of a Scout grouphave all left their mark.

When the Carmelite family returned in the mid-20thcentury, they restored the tranquil gardens, built chapelsand adorned them with distinguished ceramic artworks.Father Malachy Lynch who spearheaded the reconstruction,memorably described the Friars as ‘a prayer in stone’.

During weekends in summer, thousands of pilgrims fill themain piazza in prayer and song, but at other times the Friarsbecomes a sanctuary for quiet reflection and somewhere forfamilies to enjoy a picnic in the leafy surroundings by a lake.Aylesford Priory has a resident community of friars, butyou’ll also find a working pottery and upholstery, seasonalfairs, a popular tearoom and even classic car shows.

Following the dedication of the first Carmelite church atAylesford in 1248, the Order flourished, filling their librarywith manuscripts, constructing guest houses toaccommodate pilgrims and establishing priories elsewhere inthe country (almost one a year in the first 50 years).

The Golden Age of the Carmelites

This golden period continued for a few hundred years, untilKing Henry VIII’s Commissioners entered Aylesford. TheFriars was dissolved and the Crown gave the buildings to awealthy owner who demolished the church and converted theremaining buildings into a private mansion.

A Dutch merchant banker bought the estate in 1633 andused it, not only as his home, but to store arms for theRoyalists during the Civil War. By the mid 17th-century, theFriars was under the ownership of a wealthy businessman, SirJohn Banks, who made lavish alterations and constructed afine dining room, ballroom, walled garden and orangery.

Samuel Pepys visited in 1669, commenting: ‘He keeps thegrounds about [the old priory] and the walls and house, veryhandsome. I was mightily pleased with the sight of it.’ Sadly

Conversion into a country house

In the early 20th century, the Woolseys and their descendentsthe Copley Hewitts spent much money and time restoringmany of the buildings back to their original medieval style,though some were destroyed by fire in 1930. Dances wereheld during the war years and Lord Baden-Powell, founder ofthe Scouts, once visited when Mr Copley Hewitt was involvedwith the Scouting movement.

The war years

The Carmelites had returned to Kent in 1926, but it wasn’tuntil 1949 that their old home came on the market and theywere able to raise the necessary funds. On 31 October 1949,a poignant procession of 50 friars made its way alongAylesford’s streets and through the Friars gatehouse.

Seven hundred years had passed and many of the originalbuildings had been demolished or had changed use. Underthe direction of the new prior, Father Malachy Lynch, newbuildings were constructed and a community of Carmelitefriars flourished once again. Today the Friars fulfils itsoriginal function in welcoming pilgrims and visitors fromaround the world.

Restoration of the Aylesford Priory

Celebrated Polish artist and ceramicist, Adam Kossowski,devoted much of his working life to places of Christian

worship following his release from Soviet labour camp. Hesaid: ‘…When I was so deep in this calamity and nearly dead I promised myself that if I came out of this subhuman land Iwould tender my thanks to God.’

At the Friars, he certainly did that. Kossowski spent the last20 years of his life, until he died in 1986, narrating importantChristian events and the history of the Carmelite Orderthrough his craft. His modernist style is fitting for the age ofthe piazza and brings a tremendous sense of unity to themonastic buildings.

The job of restoringand repairingKossowski’s artworksis painstaking andcostly. Every few yearseach tile must becoated with linseedoil. ‘It is difficult tofind specialists able torepair tiles damagedby leaking roofs anddamp air, now thatKossowski has diedand his students haveretired,’ says theFriars manager, SteveHayden.

The Friars is a short walk west of Aylesford. There are carparking spaces on site. From Aylesford railway station apleasant riverside path through woods leads to Aylesfordvillage and the Friars beyond. Turn left out of the stationand left down Mill Hall, crossing the train tracks. You willsoon reach the River Medway. Turn right and follow thetrail for 1km until you reach the village’s 14th-centurystone bridge. Cross the river, turn left onto the High Streetand continue for 500 metres to the Friars.

It costs £13,000 a month to heat the priory andthousands of pounds are spent every year on the upkeepof the buildings. It is free to enter and enjoy the priorybut donations (and volunteer help!) are welcomed.Accommodation at the Friars can be booked for retreatsor conferences.

The Friars at Aylesford

The FriarsHERITAGE TRAIL

It is free to visit the Friars. Allow around an hour to walkaround the grounds, taking your time to visit the chapels

and gardens. There are three key areas: the medievalcourtyard; the 1950s piazza, surrounded by the Main Shrineand chapels, and the Rosary Way and gardens.

Adam Kossowski

Introduction Entry and orientation

The Prior’s Hall

The Pond

St Joseph’s Chapel

The fire of 1930

Watergate

the ballroom and its ornately carved ceiling and woodpanelling were destroyed by fire in 1930. The walled garden(and its orangery) survived and can be seen through gates asyou begin the walk along the Rosary Way.

For the next few hundred years, the estate prospered anddeclined at different times under the Finch family and theirvarious tenants.

How to get here

The Friars

Opening timesSummer (May–September) 9am–5pmWinter (October–April) 9am–4pmTearoom and shop open at 10am in summer and 11am in winter.

Contact detailsThe Friars, Aylesford, Kent ME20 7BX01622 717272www.thefriars.org.ukenquiry@thefriars.org.uk

This trail is part of the Valley of Visions Community Trails project, encouragingpeople to enjoy, explore and learn about their local area and surrounding

landscape. Why not explore one of the other community trails in the MedwayGap? Just visit www.valleyofvisions.org.uk for further information.

The Friars Heritage Trail

The Main Shrine The Cloisters

The Pilgrims’ Hall

The Bellpull The Great Courtyard The Rosary Way

Car park

Car park

PotteryMalachy

Lynch Centre

ConferenceCentre

Pilgrim’sHall

ChoirChapel

Piazza

CloisterChapel

St Joseph’sChapel

Gatehouse

MainShrine

PeaceGarden

Tea Roomand Shop

RelicChapel

Rosary Way

Exit

Entrance

Aylesford

St Anne’sChapel

Watergate

Prior’sHall

GreatCourtyard

RIVER MEDWAY

Pottery to Lake

From the car parks, walk towards the river until you reachthe pottery and workshop buildings.

When the friars returned to Aylesford in 1949, theyestablished a working farm, pottery and even aprinting press. Vegetable gardens were tended to andpigs, goats and chickens kept in the workshops yousee here today (now privately rented).

A pottery has operated at the Friars for a longtime, but the current building was founded in 1954 byDavid Leach, son of Bernard Leach, sometimesreferred to as the father of British studio pottery. Hetaught the friars and developed distinctive glazes thatwere handed down to successive owners. The green-brown oatmeal glaze is an old Aylesford Priory classic.Potters Billy Byles and Alan Parris run the shop andteach pottery classes (01622 790796;www.aylesfordpottery.co.uk). See them making pots inthe workshop. In 2009 Billy entered the GuinnessBook of World Records for the most number of potsever thrown in an hour (he managed 150).

Leaving the pottery, turn right passing the Malachy Lynchmeeting rooms and more old workshops, then turn leftpast the Main Conference Centre. The lake is ahead.

When the sun is out, families and pilgrims enjoy theserenity of the picnic grounds and sit by the lakewatching the coots and mallards under the weepingwillow. In the days when the Friars was a privatemansion, this lake was once part of a moat thatmade a loop around the estate. The striking blackswans came from Leeds Castle and help keep theCanada geese at bay. Most summers, the female swantakes a two-week holiday, but she always returns toher mate.

Look out for the annual summer fair, held in June. It’sa lively event with dance groups, birds of preydisplays, live music, coconut shies, classic cars andmuch more.

Great Courtyard and the Pilgrim’s Hall

Don’t enter the Main Shrine just yet, but turn immediatelyright at the lake and enter the enclosed medieval courtyard.

It should be immediately apparent that you areentering the oldest part of the Friars. If the buildingsof the Great Courtyard feel more Elizabethanthan medieval it’s because many of the windowswere replaced in the 17th century. There’s onebuilding that is much younger than all theothers, though it’s difficult to spot. Thekitchen (between the Prior’s Hall andPilgrim’s Hall) dates to the 1950s.

Hospitality is an important part of theCarmelite culture and goes back to theorigins of the Order when hermits livingon Mount Carmel in the Holy Landoffered shelter to pilgrims. The friars atAylesford continue that tradition in thePilgrims’ Hall – the building above the riverwith the oldest walls and most colourfulhistory. In the centuries after itsconstruction in 1280, the Pilgrims’ Hallbecame a barn, then a brewery, alms houseand even the headquarters for a Scouts group.Originally there was a fireplace in the middle of theroom where pilgrims travelling to Canterbury wouldgather around, eat and rest. Today, hot meals and aroaring fire once again invite visitors in from theoutside, though the hearth is now set into the wall.

In past centuries, those who travelled by boat wouldenter the Friars by the Watergate. As part of flooddefence work in the 1990s the windows were sealedwith aquarium grade glass and a doorway to the riverhad to be bricked up!

As you exit the Pilgrims’ Hall, note the clever use ofrecycling as you walk towards the Prior’s Hall :the mechanism that operates the bell is made from anold bicycle wheel.

The two huge urns on the green are Venetian anddate to the 17th-century. The odd delivery van andbakery lorry has left cracks in the pots, but nothingtoo severe that the on-site pottery couldn’t patch up.

Two venerable rows of houses form an L-shapearound the west side of the courtyard, providingguest room accommodation. Above each door is amodern stone-carved statue, crafted by MichaelClark. Most depict Carmelite saints.

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Prior’s Hall and the Cloisters

The Prior’s Hall and cloisters are entered by a stonehorse mount on the east side of the Great Courtyard. Passthrough the cloisters and into the Main Shrine.

Polish artist, Adam Kossowski (see box), is bestknown for his distinctive ceramic tile work in thechapels, but in the 15th-century Prior’s Hall, you seehis skill as a painter. The panels tell the story of theCarmelites from the hermits on Mount Carmel andtheir arrival in England, to being driven out by HenryVIII’s Commissioners and eventual return in 1949.

A devastating fire in 1930 gutted the adjoiningcloisters. Also destroyed was the sumptuous ballroomon the first floor, which was built by a wealthy bankerin the 1660s during the conversion of the medievalpriory into an opulent country house.

Main Shrine and Chapels

From the cloisters, continue ahead, visiting the priory’s chapels and the Main Shrine.

Open-air mass is held throughout summer in thespacious piazza , which was built in the 1950s,along with most of the chapels, by the friars, localtradesmen and volunteers. It’s a huge space, yetembracing and can accommodate thousands ofpilgrims. Every weekend in summer, groups fromPoland, the Caribbean, Portugal, Tamil and the UK fillthe arena with music, prayer and song. The magnoliatree spreading along the wall on your left is thought tobe 300 years old.

The first chapel you come to is the Cloister Chapel .Midday mass is held every day during winter. Insummer, the Choir Chapel – perhaps the mostsimply decorated of all the chapels at the Friars –becomes the community chapel. Tucked in the cornerbefore you reach the Main Shrine, is St Anne’s Chapel

, memorable for its green walls and simplicity. Thescraffito work and ceramics are all by Kossowski.Behind the altar you’ll see a 15th-century statuedepicting the mother of Our Lady, Anne.

The Main Shrine is dominated by the sculpture ofthe Virgin Mary, carved by Michael Clark in 1960. Itsoriginal gold paint has worn away but this does notdetract from the arresting form which is the focalpoint of the shrine.

At the left side of the Main Shrine altar is the entranceto the Relic Chapel – the largest of all the chapelsand celebrated for its Kossowski ceramics. Behind thealtar is the reliquary containing the skull of the 13th-century Carmelite Prior General, St Simon Stock.Kossowski created the reliquary which is designed toevoke the cells where the hermits lived on MountCarmel. As you walk around the chapel, you will seethat the ceramics tell the story of Christ’s last days ina series of moving and harrowing scenes.

St Joseph’s Chapel flanks the far side of theShrine. Here, Kossowski is at his very best. The scenesare dramatic and on a scale not seen elsewhere in thepriory. Of particular importance are the scenes fromthe life of the prophet Elijah, an inspirational figurefor the Carmelites.

Rosary Way

On exiting the Main Shrine area, you come to the gatehouse. Turn right along a paved path leading to the Rosary

Way. Follow the trail round to the riverside and go througha gated walkway that leads back into the piazza.

The Rosary Way is the most peaceful part of theFriars where visitors come to pray and reflect. As youwind your way through the wooded grounds towardsthe large shrine of the scapular vision, you arefollowing in the footsteps of hundreds of thousandsof pilgrims who have walked this trail in prayer,stopping at each of the Fifteen Mysteries of the Rosarydisplayed along the wall.

Peace Garden to Tearoom

Enter the Peace Garden through the medievalgatehouse. At the end of the walkway, turn left in thedirection of two barns where you’ll find a tearoom andshop.

The late 16th-century gatehouse was originally builtas a defensive structure and dates to the time whenthe Friars was a private mansion. On entering thePeace Garden, you will find yourself in the mostrecently landscaped area (laid out in 2012), which hasbeen thoughtfully designed to instil a sense of calmwith its fountains, seating areas and plants. The word‘peace’ is translated into 300 languages on tiles atyour feet.

The thatched barns are 17th-century and only justsurvived the great storm of 1987. Sandwiches and acream tea await.

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Heritage Trail