Famous across the world as ‘the moving church’, St Mark's is a tribute to the determination of one man who, in the 1950s, spent three years moving a church from London and storing it here in Kent. The building started life as All Saints, North Peckham. Once in Kent the parts sat waiting for money and permissions and finally in 1958 work started on the re-use of the materials, in an entirely different form. The builders were Durtnells, the longest established building firm in England, and the architect R Gilbert Scott. The work was very quick and the church was opened in 1959. The church is of brick throughout, with Bath stone dressings. There is little decoration, but above the altar is a mural of Christ in Majesty painted by Roland Pym, a local artist. Christ is about as elongated as he could be made although the tall wings on the angels around him lessen the effect. The windows are clear; all etched with scenes from the Bible - each one based on the 15th century ‘Biblia Pauperum’.
