History of St. Peter's Church 

There would appear to have been a Church on this site since Saxon times and to this day there is a Saxon window above the porch.  St Peters is mentioned in the Domesday Monachorum and again in the White Book of St Augustine (c.1200).  Considerable rebuilding work was carried out around this time but the Church fell into disrepair in about 1349.  After the Reformation there was some renewal work but again the Church fell into disrepair.  Substantial renovation work was carried out in 1894 St Peter’s was spared the more Victorian Gothic extravagances, but in doing so St Peter’s lost its most distinctive Saxon feature.  St Peter’s has only one bell but it is the reputedly oldest one in Kent and dates from 1150.
 
In 1972 the Church was reordered and the pews removed and replaced by light oak chairs.  A new altar of Baltic pine was installed along the north wall thus facing the congregation.  Above the altar a hanging cross was installed made of two lengths of Jellutong, a Malaysian hardwood, and is suspended by iron chains from the roof. It depicts the marks of the crucifixion hands, feet and crown of thorns.
 
 
(Information taken from the Church of St Peter Whitfield – A short history by Joyce Molyneux MA)