A suspected drink driver has allegedly damaged an historic church wall at one of the oldest places of worship in the Medway Towns.

It is understood a woman driving a black Ford Focus crashed into the wall at St Batholomew’s Chapel and caused thousands of pounds worth of damage to it.

The church, on the corner of Gundulph Road on the border of Rochester and Chatham, dates back 900 years.

It was bought at auction for £46,000 in 2011 by property investor Paul Fernback who spent a huge undisclosed sum restoring it.

Mr Fernback’s firm struck a deal with a local religious group and it is now called Celestial Church of Christ.

The Grade II-listed chapel, which has been claimed to have the oldest stained glass window in the country, was built in about 1120 as part of St Bartholomew’s Hospital, and is the only building from that period still standing in the area.

A spokesman for police in Medway, said: “Kent Police was called at 1.50am on Sunday, April 19, to a report of a collision in High Street, Rochester.

"It was reported a black Ford Focus was involved in a collision and ended up on its roof after colliding with a wall.

“A 23-year-old woman from Gillingham was arrested at the scene for drink driving and has been bailed to June 3, pending further inquiries.”

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