Iwade comes from the Old English ‘iw’ meaning a ‘yew-tree’ and ‘wæd’ as a ‘ford’;
therefore, a ‘crossing-place where yew-trees grow’, although, in this instance a
‘crossing-place to the island’ – the Isle of Sheppey.
Iwade parish church is a Grade: I listed building, dedicated to All Saints, and built
in the 13th century as a Chapel-of-Ease to St Mary’s, Teynham. The nave and central
windows date to the 14th Century while the South-East window, font, memorial brass
and rood screen appeared in the 1400’s. In the 16th century, the parishioners rebuilt
the south aisle and chancel. In 1798, Edward Hasted described All Saints as a ‘small
neat building, consists of two isles and two chancels, having a low pointed steeple,
in which are two bells. There is some good painted glass in the windows of it’. In
1874, the architect Ewan Christian carried out restoration work, in particular removing
the plaster from the walls of the chancel. In 1992, Whitechapel restored and rehung
the two bells.
