Frindsbury ... of stone, from the treasury of Rochester church". A small wooden church was erected at Strood in 1122 as a chapel of ease to the parish church. It became St Nicholas', the parish church of Strood in 1193 and is situated where the Watling Street left the firm ground to run over the marshes to the Medway bridge. Bishop Gilbert de Glanvill claimed Frinsdsbury back from the monks "as belonging to the maintenance of his table" in 1185. According to Hasted the bishop succeeded in obtaining the church, but the manor remained in the possession of the monks until the dissolution of the monasteries under Henry VIII in 1523. Barnard however records that in 1256, the church of Frindsbury (and thus the income) was returned to the Bishop. There was a chapel dedicated to St Peter (1142) within the Manor of Islingham. Services were held 1330 to 1542 when they were discontinued. The building became an oast house. In 1279 and again in 1293, 1314 and 1357 the bishop of Rochester claimed liberties in the lands of the priory of Frindsbury as well as all lands belonging to the church. There was more building in the 14th century and around 1407. Modern During the English Reformation, decorations were removed or painted over. Wall paintings of St Lawrence, St Edmund of Canterbury, and St William of Perth were discovered in 1883. The church was extensively restored in 1884, with a large donation from a Mrs Murray, wife to Rev. George Edward Murray, son of a former bishop of Rochester. Upnor (St Philip and St James) became an independent parish in 1884, but was reabsorbed in 1955. Architecture As a result of quarrying, the church now stands isolated above chalk cliffs, visible from much of the Medway valley. It is surrounded by graveyards. The West Churchyard is managed by Medway Council and the East Churchyard by the PCC. Exterior The church is a composite building of flint and ragstone rubble with ragstone and Caen Stone dressings. Generally the earlier work is flint/ragstone and the later rubble/limestone. The plan is traditional with a rectangular chancel, arch, nave with aisles north and south and west end tower. The chancel, nave and lower parts of the tower are Norman. In the 14th century the tower stair and south aisle were added. The north aisle was added (or possibly rebuilt) in 1884. The tower