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The Doomsday Book is a survey of England drawn up by William the Conqueror in 1086, it refers to Buckland as having a mill and lone church, it is worth six pounds. There were about twenty families in the parish of Buckland at this time.

Roman remains have been found in Buckland so Christian worship may have been practiced here in the 4th century, before the Romans left our islands and the Saxons took their place. To these heathen Saxons Augustine brought back the Christian faith in 597 and the country was soon divided into manors and parishes.  

In 619 the church of St. Martin le Grand was founded in Dover beside today's market square. The manor of Buckland was in the hands of the Canons of St. Martin's, who would minister to the people in a building with stone foundations but wooden superstructure. Some stone foundations were uncovered during excavations in the churchyard about fifty years ago.

The Normans were great builders in stone. Benedictine monks at St. Martin's Priory, which had succeeded the old St. Martin's le Grand, inherited charge of Buckland and a start was made on the construction of a stone church, 1180 is the date given for its completion.

In 1234 the Pope confirmed that Buckland was in the possession of St. Martin's Priory. There was some involvement with St. Radigund's Abbey and quarrels over tithes continued to the 16th century. 1247 is the date for the first naming of a parish priest for Buckland and a list of his successors is recorded inside the church near the North porch.  In 1320 the chancel was xtended eastwards to the window we see today, though the glass is modern being a replacement of panes damaged in the last war. The chancel was opened to a south chapel by a remarkably uneven series of openings. This south chapel has been dedicated to St. Thomas de la Hale, a monk of St. Martin's Priory said to have been murdered in 1295 by piratical French sailors. The church thus formed remained substantially unchanged until 1850. In 1377 there were boundary disputes with Charlton, tithes being the root cause of controversy. Buckland has at various times been merged with Charlton, River, Whitfield, St. Mary's and Lydden.

Tudor times were marked by dereliction and decline in Buckland as reported by visitations: "the church is unrepayred: the Bible is rent and torn: the church floor is not paved: there be not seats sufficient in the church". Priests often held several livings and drew in their tithes. In 1535 the Priory of St. Martin disappeared in the dissolution of the monasteries. Property was seized by Henry VIII and the living of Buckland passed into the hands of the Archbishop of Canterbury who -still retains the patronage. Another loss at this time was the Leper Hospital of St. Bartholomew that had been established in Buckland by the monks of St.Martin's in 1141.

There were references to Henry VIII and the 'new faith', followed by a return to Roman Catholicism under Mary, followed in turn by a period of stability under Elizabeth. So it is not surprising that in the 16th century there were only about six Christenings each year, falling to four each year in the 17th century.

Little of note happened through the two hundred years that preceded the middle of the nineteenth century. Then followed a flourish of active development between 1839 and 1939. In 1839 the Buckland school was founded, in 1845 two cottages, one the Pineapple Inn and the other known as Victoria Tea Gardens, were purchased to form the present Rectory.

In 1851 The south chapel was extended to form an aisle by piercing its west wall and opening three new arches in the nave, corresponding in size with their Norman counterparts on the north side. The north porch was rebuilt and the church was reseated.

In 1859 Buckland school building came into use. The school bell, from the wrecked ship Earl of Eglinton, now hangs by the choir vestry door.

In 1874 Rev. Turberville Evans became Rector and ministered at Buckland for 43 years. He reported that, "I thought of conducting a mission but the church is overfull already".

In 1880 it was decided to double the length of the nave and aisles but, to do that, it was necessary either to destroy or remove the ancient Yew tree at the westend. Local people wanted the tree spared because it had long been an object of curiosity to visitors. The plea of "Spare that tree", prevailed and it was resolved to secure the necessary extension of the church westwards by removing the Yew tree with its roots and earth, en bloc, to a more westward site.

The removal of the Yew tree aroused widespread attention with many theories as to its age, some asserted that it was verging on 900 years, others that it was there before the Conquest. However, the firm who moved it said they had transplanted another Yew which was 600 years old, but was a "chicken" to the Buckland Yew.

The best account of the moving of the Yew is probably that given by the Buckland parish magazine for March 1880:-

The operations commenced on Tuesday, 24 February 1880, when a trench was dug on all sides four feet wide leaving a large block of earth, 18 feet long by 16 feet wide. The trench was made 5 feet deep and a long cutting formed from the old position to the new one gradually rising to within one foot of the surface. The large block of earth was then bound with planks of timber held in place by chains, with straw being inserted between the timbers to hold the soil  together, luckily there were no large roots which had to be carved out.

As soon as the earth was bound, men began tunneling under the tree in four drifts, into these drifts were placed huge baulks of timber, then were placed battens and six inch wooden rollers. When these were secure the remaining earth was cut away between the baulks of timber, and the whole mass estimated to be 56 tons, was then resting on the baulks and rollers. 

Various boughs were propped up with heavy timbers then chains and blocks were fitted; when all was ready the move began; at about 5 p.m. on Wednesday, 3 March it started its move. It was continued through the following day and completed by 9.30 a.m. on Friday, 5 March, the Yew tree was then allowed to settle down into position, turf was packed between the baulks, then with powerful jacks they were raised and the rollers were taken out; the baulks were then withdrawn, the holes packed with turf and soil banked up as it now stands today. 

Mr. Barron of Barron and Son of Borrowash near Derby had supervised the move and far from causing the death of the great tree, the move seems to have renewed its lease of life, its vitality has certainly increased and its branches have extended at least six feet.

The enlargement of Buckland Church in 1880 was carried out by Mr. W.J. Adcock of Dover and consisted of an extension of the nave and aisles which added three arches and piers on each side to the arcade of the nave which gave enough room for another 250 worshippers, the cost of these enlargement was £2,000 

Two old monuments in the interior were erected in corresponding position in the new work, one is the memorial to Admiral Sir John Bentley who died in 1772. It is a large marble slab with the inscription being surmounted by an unfurled flag and an urn. It is placed in the Southwest corner of the south aisle.

The second is a memorial slab near the bottom of the north aisle to the Rev. Alexander James M.A. who died in March 1813; also on the north wall are recorded the parish priests of Buckland since 1247.

In 1884 the Willis 2 manual tracker action organ was installed and has been played by several distinguished organists, "Nobby" Clark, "Tommy" Hill and Reg Adams, to name but three.

In 1887 the font, which is made of Cornish marble, was installed to mark the occasion of Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee. In 1890 Wiggins Teape took over and enlarged the Buckland Mill. The attractive Lychgate was built in 1891 and then in 1897 the wrought iron chancel screen was erected to mark Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee. In 1902 a daughter church dedicated to St. Barnabas was built at the corner of Cherry Tree Avenue near Barton Road School. It became a separate parish in 1903 until the building was destroyed in the last war. The choir vestry and sacristry were built in 1931/2 in memory of Oscar Clayton Worthington and this enabled the south chapel to be opened up and dedicated to St. Thomas de la Hale.

This period of great expansion, borne on the flood tide of late Victorian religious revival, owed much to Turberville Evans, M.A. of Oxford, Rector from 1874 to 1919. Charles Henry Bailey was a worthy successor until 1929, followed by Ronald Sinclair, both Oxford Masters of Arts and holders of the Military Cross. In 1932 George James Browne was inducted and earned the love and respect of his people during the sufferings of the second world war.

When peace returned to Dover in 1946 a new council housing estate was built in Buckland Valley and a conventional district named St. Nicholas was constituted to serve the area. In 1960 a new church of St. Nicholas was built and in 1974 an Order in Council confirmed St. Nicholas as a parish in its own right. The priest in charge is also curate of St. Andrew's and a valuable pastoral relationship exists between the two parishes. In 1971 the bells of St. Andrew's were re-hung. One bell dates back to the middle of the 15th century and attention is drawn to the tablet on the west wall near the six bell ropes. In the post-war reconstruction of education, Buckland School building became vacant and the church purchased part as a Parish Center, used 'after interior decoration and improvements for many purposes that link church and community. Soon after the war ended Canon Browne retired and first Rev. Gordon Parlett and now Canon Leonard Tyzack have kept the church in good heart in an increasingly secular age.

In April this year the Bishop of Dover came to rededicate St. Catherines Chapel which has been refurbished in memory of Miss Amy Yarrow and other members of the family. The new altar frontal design shows a series of wheels which depict the association of the Catherine Wheel and the various wheels used in the paper mill machinery.

Text from 
Church Leaflet
By Kind Permission of The Late Canon Leonard Tyzack