2024 represents the 40th Anniversary of St Peter’s.

The story begins in 1977 when the Diocese of Southwark recognized that numbers in Bearsted and Harrietsham were sufficient to grant us the status of a parish in its own right. Fr John Hine was appointed the first priest of the new parish and in the early days we had to rely on the goodwill of other Bearsted faith communities to help us out.

In time and due to growing numbers, we moved from the upper room at the Memorial Hall to the larger hall on Sundays. Weekday Masses were held at Fr John’s home in Bramley Crescent or in the homes of parishioners, but it was becoming clear that we needed a home of our own at the Bearsted end of the parish. (The Church of the Good Shepherd at Harrietsham had been purchased in 1970 by Maidstone Parish at a cost of £3,000, paid back in 1977.)

A former nursery site had been bought by Hillreed Developers and after talks, a joint application was made for a church and small housing estate. Planning permission was granted, the ground was consecrated and work on building the church started in April 1984.

Construction was completed in late 1984 and the Solemn Dedication took place on the 4th November 1984.

At the Dedication event, the architect of the building Robert Guthrie handed over the keys to Archbishop Michael Bowen of Southwark with the words ‘Your Grace, on behalf of all who have worked on this building, I am happy to hand over the completed church ready for worship.’

The church was named after St Peter, which was the oldest pre-reformation church in Maidstone. The then-Anglican vicar at St Peters Maidstone donated two pieces of ragstone and these were incorporated into the structure of the new building.

(Text taken from the Silver Jubilee Booklet, see the link below)