A church in Kent is fundraising to create a memorial for Anne Boleyn to reveal her legacy on Christianity in England, beyond the tale of a Tudor queen who met an unfortunate end. 

St Peter's Church in Hever is attached to the castle where Boleyn lived before her marriage to King Henry VIII. Historians and congregants are aiming to raise more than £85,000 for the marble portrait, which would honour her influence on theology and access to the Bible, in anticipation of the 500th anniversary of her execution in 1536.

Dr Owen Emmerson, Heaver Castle historian, told Premier Christian News that the memorial would “celebrate her life, her courage, and the vital role that she played in changing the course of English history.”

Boleyn presented the king with the works of William Tyndale, including his translation of the New Testament that was seen as heretical at the time, described by Dr Emmerson as an “incredibly brave thing to do.”

“She championed the word of God in the vernacular. She very much wanted people to be able to access the Bible in their own language, and she often championed these causes to her own detriment. So, I see a very brave, a very courageous woman, a woman who's not afraid to speak her mind at a point in which the patriarchy is very much in power”, he said. 

As an important figure in the Henrician Reformation, King Henry breaking away from the papacy, Boleyn has been included in the Rochester Triptych, paintings of those associated with the diocese who have lived and died for their beliefs. She is also included in the Cathedral’s calendar of prayer. 

The medallion memorial would encourage the castle’s 500,000 annual visitors to look eye-to-eye with her in the place where she worshiped and contemplate on her legacy. Constructed around the only agreed upon contemporary picture of Boleyn, it has been designed by stonemason James Elliott and stone carver Lucy Churchill.