Generous donations have seen a huge wooden cross return to a Medway church after an 18 month absence.

It has been put back on the west tower of St Stephen’s Church, in Maidstone Road, Chatham.

The large oak cross was made by Cullen & Lang of Ashford at a cost of £9,000 and was lifted on top of the building with a crane lift provided by Liftec Crane Hire Limited of Rochester.

The old cross, which had been there for almost 60 years, had to be taken down in June last year after the weather had taken its toll. Dry rot on the lower part forced its removal for safety reasons.

The new cross was paid for with donations from the congregation, people living in the area and fund-raising schemes, including the sale of small crosses make locally by Paul Webber from the wood of the original cross.

Keith Price, spokesman for the church, said: “Everyone at St Stephen’s is delighted to see the cross back in its rightful place.”

After the morning service on Sunday, it was blessed the vicar, the Rev Barry Linney.

The church, at Huntsman’s Corner, was built in 1959 in the typical style of the period, when the ecclesiastical district became a parish in its own right.

The present St Stephen’s parish was formed out of St John’s parish, Chatham, in the same year. Planning for a church hall to serve the southern part of St John’s parish, Chatham, seems to have begun in 1932, according to records.

This culminated in a church hall, built in 1935 in nearby Wallace Road, which functioned as a mission hall in St John’s parish until 1938.

The hall then became a district church serving an ecclesiastical district within St John’s parish and was known as St Stephen’s Church.