St. Thomas Becket Church, Fairfield, on The Romney Marsh, Kent at sunrise. The mist rising from the fields and ditches at first light on the marsh, with the sheep looking far less impressed with their surroundings than I was.

St Thomas à Becket Church in Fairfield stands alone in a field on the Marsh, surrounded by watercourses and sheep. A causeway was built in 1913, and until then the church was more often than not surrounded by water during the winter and spring.

Fairfield, the village it once served has long since disappeared, but the church has survived and is now part of the civil parish which includes the villages of Brookland, Brenzett and Snargate. The church is dedicated to St Thomas à Becket, the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1162 until his murder in 1170.

Legend has it that the Archbishop was journeying across the dangerous Romney Marsh when he fell into one of the many ditches. He prayed to St.Thomas, as he came up for the second time, for a miracle to save him from a watery death. Just in time, a farmer arrived to save him, and in gratitude the Archbishop had the little church built and dedicated to St Thomas a Becket.