Boppard Church Germany and Reculver Church Kent

As you know I have an interest in Churches whilst on Holiday I cam across the following

Church of St. Severus Marktplatz, Boppard, Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. Notice how different it is from our English Churches, they tell me this was built before Koln Cathedral 

Situated on the upper Middle Rhine, Boppard was first established in Roman times. From around 643, Boppard became a Frankish royal estate before gaining the status of a Free Imperial City (a self-ruling city that enjoyed Imperial immediacy, subordinate only to the emperor) under the Holy Roman Empire.

 As such it was often frequented by the German kings.

In 1309, Emperor Heinrich VII pledged Boppard to his brother, Archbishop Baldwin of Trier. The townsfolk of Boppard opposed this merger, which they considered unlawful and in which they lost their independence. They struggled against this merger with the Electorate of Trier for many years, involving several wars and sieges.

The Carmelite Catholic Church and former Carmelite monastery of Boppard was under construction in 1320 and was extended with a new north nave started in 1439 and consecrated by the then Archbishop of Trier in 1444. It is from the windows of the north wall of this new nave that the Boppard windows in the Burrell Collection come from.

Contrast the above with a little Church of St. Mary the Virgin, Reculver - Church History and Background

Standing in the Churchyard, at the eastern end looking north-east and south-east respectively you can see the locations of two 3rd Century Roman forts; Regulbium (Reculver) and Rutupiae (Richborough). It was at Reculver some 400 years later that an early Christian chantry (monk's chapel) was established by St Augustine's pilgrims from Rome, whose mission it was to plant a church on the pagan isles of Britain.

The well known church by the sea, also dedicated to St Mary the Virgin, with it's two distinctive towers was the product of 12th Century Christian church building fervour and incorporated the earlier Saxon remains. This lasted up to 1809 when the church authorities decreed that it should be demolished and rebuilt inland. The towers have been kept as a navigational mark and sea defences added at various times in recent years to try and avoid their collapse into the sea.

The present site of the church, on the hill a safe mile or so inland, was chosen for it's aspect overlooking the Reculver marshes. With its two forts at either end, the extensive River Wantsum once flowed here, allowing trade shipping direct into the City of Canterbury, the home of the Mother church of the Anglican Communion.

The first church, poorly built in 1810, only lasted about 60 years. The present church was consecrated in 1878 and is the second structure on the chosen site. It is a simple and relatively plain building with seating for just a hundred or so. Obviously it is way off-centre as far as Beltinge is concerned, but the beautiful and quiet site adjoining the school more than makes up for thi