Skip to main content
Contact us
Visit Medway Web Logo Visit Medway
  • Plan Your Visit
    • Travelling to Medway
    • Itinerary Ideas
    • Attraction Listings
    • What's On Event Listings
    • Visitor News & Information
    • Places to Stay
    • Accommodation
    • Hotels
    • Bed & Breakfast
    • Self-catering and Holiday Park
    • Visitor Information Centre
    • Parking in Medway
    • Weather and Tide Times
    • Visit Medway Business Hub
    • Medway's Breathtaking Wedding Venues
  • See and Do
    • Attractions and destinations
    • Dickensian Medway
    • Castles and Forts
    • Military and Maritime
    • Natural Landscape & Open Spaces
    • River Medway
    • Houses of History
    • Get Active
    • Rochester Castle
    • The Historic Dockyard Chatham
    • Rochester Cathedral
    • Guildhall Museum
    • Eastgate House & Gardens
    • Upnor Castle
    • Restoration House & Gardens
    • Huguenot Museum
    • Royal Engineers Museum
    • Fort Amherst
    • Shopping & Markets
    • Food & Drink
    • Experience blogs
    • Events, shows & exhibitions
    • River trips
    • Walking tours
  • What's On
    • Queen's Platinum Jubilee
    • A Celebration of Dickens
    • Medway Gaming and Creative Festival
    • Rochester Castle Concerts
    • Gaia at Rochester Cathedral

    Search show and event listings  

    • Medway's Major Events
    • Submit an event listing
  • Queen's Platinum Jubilee
  • Cultural & Creative
    • Rochester Art Gallery
    • Sun Pier House
    • Nucleus Arts Rochester
    • Nucleus Arts Chatham
    • The Central Theatre
    • The Brook Theatre
    • Medway Gaming and Creative Festival
    • Rochester Castle Concerts
    • Gaia at Rochester Cathedral
    • Entangled Realms- 15 Years of Printmaking by Jane Furst
    • The Three Musketeers at Upnor Castle
    • Outdoor Theatre: The Importance of Being Earnest
    • And there's much more... Check out our What's On listings
  • Itinerary Ideas
    • 10 Reasons to Visit
    • Family Fun in Medway
    • Medway's Military Marvels
    • 48 Hours in Medway for the history lover
    • River Adventures
    • Tourism Top 10
    • Medway's Breathtaking Wedding Venues

    Check out our blog features for itinerary ideas and inspiration.

     

    • Heritage Talks & Quizzes
    • Battle of Medway 1667
    • Pictures from the Past by Medway Archives
    • William Cuffay & Chatham Exhibition
  • Visitor News
  • Visit Medway Business Hub

Search our site

Visit Medway Web Logo Visit Medway
Plan Your Visit See and Do What's On Queen's Platinum Jubilee Cultural & Creative Itinerary Ideas Visitor News Visit Medway Business Hub
Terms & Conditions Cookies Accessibility Privacy Contact Us Site Map
  1. Home
  2. See and do
  3. Find Attractions
  4. St James' Church, Cooling
st-james-church-cooling.jpg

St James' Church, Cooling

Web Links Location Local station Higham
Heritage and Gardens

The inspiration for a dramatic Dickens tale... Charles Dickens used the churchyard of St James' Church as his inspiration in the opening chapter of Great Expectations, where the hero Pip meets Magwitch the convict.

In the churchyard, you can find what have become known as Pip's Graves - the forlorn gravestones of 13 babies that Dickens describes in the chapter as "little stone lozenges each about a foot and a half long, which were arranged in a neat row beside their [parents'] graves".

Inside, the church is light and spacious. There is a 500-year-old timber door that still swings on its ancient hinges - even though it now leads to a blocked north doorway! Another quirky feature is the 19th-century vestry - its walls are lined from top to bottom with thousands of cockle shells - the emblem of St James....

st-james-inside.jpg
st-james-church-cooling.jpg

Did you know you can camp out in St James' Church? The church is one of only two churches in Kent where you can enjoy Champing, a unique experience by the Churches Preservation Trust. Find out more. Read our blog. 

Open Map

Address

St James' Church, Cooling Main Road, Cooling Rochester
ME3 8DG

Contact

Alison.Bucknall@Tiscali.co.uk 01634 220204

Links

  • Website
Audio tours
Coaches welcome
Groups welcome
Guide Dogs, Hearing Dogs and Registered Assistance Dogs welcome
Guided tours
Medcouncil Cmykstrapline
Visit Medway
Official website of Visit Medway, Medway Council
Our other sites

Visit Medway B2B Hub Enjoy Medway What's On Medway Tickets Live Medway Council Medway Image Library Adobe Acrobat Reader Google Maps
Our Destinations

Rochester Chatham Gillingham
Terms & Conditions Cookies Accessibility Privacy Contact Us Site Map
Official website of Visit Medway, Medway Council