An ancient building once home to a holy relic is now up for sale as a luxury house for nearly £1 million.
St Andrew’s Chapel in Boarley Lane, Boxley, near Maidstone, is believed to have been built in 1484 and had stood empty for 55 years before a conservation group stepped in to save it from ruin.
Once part of the Boxley Abbey estate, it was a point of pilgrimage as it was said to hold the relic of St Andrew’s finger.
In more modern times, the building had served as a grocery shop and post office until its closure in 1970.
But the Grade II* property was placed on the Buildings At Risk register after falling into disrepair and becoming hidden by undergrowth.
In 2018, however, the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildings (SPAB) bought it and began to use its best conservation knowledge and methods to bring it back to life.
After being lovingly restored, the medieval building – which once belonged to the Tudor poet Thomas Wyatt – is now on the market for £950,000 as a luxury three-bedroom home.
Matthew Slocombe, the chief executive of SPAB, said: “The SPAB approach involves understanding the building you’re dealing with to work out its story and structural development.
“By asking the questions: who, what, when, why, and how, the best conservation solution can be identified.
“Ultimately, that is the way to ensure an old building is treated sympathetically.’
The ragstone building’s Kent peg-tiled roof has been restored with new handmade clay tiles, and SPAB has used the seven-year restoration to host courses and working parties to teach traditional craft skills to a new generation.
More than 100 volunteers have helped repair windows, repoint with lime mortar and even build a new acoustic garden wall of ‘rammed earth’ to create a cloistered walkway between the house and its modern two-bay garage.
Today, St Andrew’s boasts wood fibre insulation and secondary glazing alongside an air-source heating system that works without fossil fuel.
It has a modern kitchen, bathroom and wireless lighting system, while retaining many of the building’s internal character features – including Art Deco lino.
It is on sale through Ferris and Co.
The asking price is £950,000.
Tim Ferris from the estate agents said: “In 43 years in business, this is the oldest property I’ve ever had to sell.
“It’s a bit of an eclectic mix – as well as the 15th century origins, there were Edwardian extensions and more changes again in the 1930s.
“That has given it a special appeal because every room you go in is a bit of a surprise, each room is different from the next.
“SPAB has fitted it out with the most amazing heating system and an air circulation unit, and it is well insulated to a rating that many modern buildings would love to achieve.
“The downside is that it is very close to M20 and there is a lot of traffic noise, though SPAB has installed secondary double glazing to the mullion windows and built an acoustic wall to shield the garden.
“It is a property for a homeowner who will very much feel a custodian of history.
“But I understand that SPAB spent nearly £2m on its restoration, so the purchaser is getting a real bargain.”
Boxley Abbey was a Cistercian monastery founded in 1146 and colonised originally by monks from Clairvaux Abbey in France.
It was dissolved by Henry VIII in 1537 and largely demolished, with the remains converted into private homes.
St Andrew’s Chapel was largely occupied by tenant farmers until around 1890, when Frederick Mannering opened a grocery shop in part of the premises.
Later, probably around 1931, the shop became the village post office and functioned as such until 1969.
SPAB purchased the building for around £60,000 in 2018.
