Minster-in-Thanet
Encyclopedia
Minster-in-Thanet, also known as Minster, is a village and civil parish in the Thanet
District of Kent
, England. The village is situated to the west of Ramsgate
and to the north east of Canterbury
; it lies just south west of Kent International Airport
and just north of the River Stour
. Minster is also the "ancient capital of Thanet".
or monastery
.
settlement in AD 670. The buildings are still used as nunneries today. The first abbey in the village was founded by St. Domneva, a widowed noblewoman, whose daughter St. Mildred
, is taken as the first Abbess
. The tradition is that Domneva was granted as much land as a hind could run over in a day, the hind remains the village emblem, see also Thanet
. The abbey was extinguished by Viking
raiding. The next abbess after St. Mildred was St Edburga
daughter of King Centwine of the West Saxons.
The parish church of St. Mary-the-Virgin is largely Norman
but with significant traces of earlier work, the problems of which are unresolved. The nave
is impressive with five bay
s, and the crossing
has an ancient chalk block vaulting
. The chancel
is Early English with later flying buttress
es intended to the very obvious spread of the upper walls. There is a fine set of Misericord
s reliably dated around 1400. The tower has a curious turret at its southeast corner that is locally referred to as a Saxon watch tower but is built at least partly from Caen
stone; it may be that it may be dated from the time of the conquest but in an antique style sometimes called Saxo-Norman. A doorway in the turret opens out some two metres above the present roof line.
The church was used by both the brethren of the second abbey, a dependency of St. Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury and as a parish church. Socket holes in the piers of the crossing suggest that, as well as a rood screen
, there was a further screen dividing nave and crossing, such as still exists at Dunster
in Somerset
. This abbey surrendered during the dissolution in 1534.
Minster Abbey is a house incorporating remains of the Saxon abbey and alleged to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in England. It now houses the village's third religious community, a Priory of Roman Catholic Benedictine
sisters that is a daughter community of Eichstätt
in Bavaria. It was settled in 1937 by refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and continues to flourish as an international community. The Priory has the care of a relic of St. Mildred that had been in the care of a church in Deventer
in the Netherlands
since the Reformation
.
es, farm
s and river
s. Thanet District Council
has, however, assessed Minster Marshes, south of the village, as being unstable, and some areas of Minster, particularly in the south of the village, have suffered from flooding.
Land reclamation
has had a strong history in Minster and Monkton, where the original reclamation was done by the monks themselves.
lies to the south of the village, on the line from Canterbury West
to Ramsgate
and on the junction to the Kent Coast Line
.
Bus services are provided Monday to Saturday by Eastonways
, with services to Ramsgate, Monkton and Westood. On weekdays during term times, a number of school services are run by either Eastonways or Stagecoach.
Thanet
Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974...
District of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, England. The village is situated to the west of Ramsgate
Ramsgate
Ramsgate is a seaside town in the district of Thanet in east Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century and is a member of the ancient confederation of Cinque Ports. It has a population of around 40,000. Ramsgate's main attraction is its coastline and its main...
and to the north east of Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
; it lies just south west of Kent International Airport
Kent International Airport
Manston - Kent's International Airport is an airport located at Manston in the District of Thanet within Kent, England, northeast of Canterbury. It was formerly called RAF Manston , and was also known as London Manston Airport...
and just north of the River Stour
River Stour, Kent
The River Stour is the river in Kent, England that flows into the English Channel at Pegwell Bay. Above Plucks Gutter, where the Little Stour joins it, the river is normally known as the Great Stour. The upper section of the river, above its confluence with the East Stour at Ashford is sometimes...
. Minster is also the "ancient capital of Thanet".
Toponymy
The name comes from the Latin monasterium and denotes the historical presence of an abbeyAbbey
An abbey is a Catholic monastery or convent, under the authority of an Abbot or an Abbess, who serves as the spiritual father or mother of the community.The term can also refer to an establishment which has long ceased to function as an abbey,...
or monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
.
History
Minster originally started as a monasticMonastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
settlement in AD 670. The buildings are still used as nunneries today. The first abbey in the village was founded by St. Domneva, a widowed noblewoman, whose daughter St. Mildred
Mildrith
Saint Mildthryth , also Mildrith, Mildryth or Mildred, was an Anglo-Saxon abbess.Mildthryth was the daughter of King Merewalh of Magonsaete, a sub-kingdom of Mercia, and Eormenburh , herself the daughter of King Æthelberht of Kent. Her sisters Milburh and Mildgytha were considered to be saints...
, is taken as the first Abbess
Abbess
An abbess is the female superior, or mother superior, of a community of nuns, often an abbey....
. The tradition is that Domneva was granted as much land as a hind could run over in a day, the hind remains the village emblem, see also Thanet
Thanet
Thanet is a local government district of Kent, England which was formed under the Local Government Act 1972, and came into being on 1 April 1974...
. The abbey was extinguished by Viking
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
raiding. The next abbess after St. Mildred was St Edburga
Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet
Saint Edburga of Minster-in-Thanet was the only daughter of King Centwine and Queen Engyth of Wessex in the 8th century of the Kent royal family and a saint in the Roman Catholic Church. Edburga was a friend and student of Saint Mildred and regularly corresponded to Saint Boniface...
daughter of King Centwine of the West Saxons.
The parish church of St. Mary-the-Virgin is largely Norman
Norman architecture
About|Romanesque architecture, primarily English|other buildings in Normandy|Architecture of Normandy.File:Durham Cathedral. Nave by James Valentine c.1890.jpg|thumb|200px|The nave of Durham Cathedral demonstrates the characteristic round arched style, though use of shallow pointed arches above the...
but with significant traces of earlier work, the problems of which are unresolved. The nave
Nave
In Romanesque and Gothic Christian abbey, cathedral basilica and church architecture, the nave is the central approach to the high altar, the main body of the church. "Nave" was probably suggested by the keel shape of its vaulting...
is impressive with five bay
Bay (architecture)
A bay is a unit of form in architecture. This unit is defined as the zone between the outer edges of an engaged column, pilaster, or post; or within a window frame, doorframe, or vertical 'bas relief' wall form.-Defining elements:...
s, and the crossing
Crossing (architecture)
A crossing, in ecclesiastical architecture, is the junction of the four arms of a cruciform church.In a typically oriented church , the crossing gives access to the nave on the west, the transept arms on the north and south, and the choir on the east.The crossing is sometimes surmounted by a tower...
has an ancient chalk block vaulting
Vault (architecture)
A Vault is an architectural term for an arched form used to provide a space with a ceiling or roof. The parts of a vault exert lateral thrust that require a counter resistance. When vaults are built underground, the ground gives all the resistance required...
. The chancel
Chancel
In church architecture, the chancel is the space around the altar in the sanctuary at the liturgical east end of a traditional Christian church building...
is Early English with later flying buttress
Flying buttress
A flying buttress is a specific form of buttressing most strongly associated with Gothic church architecture. The purpose of any buttress is to resist the lateral forces pushing a wall outwards by redirecting them to the ground...
es intended to the very obvious spread of the upper walls. There is a fine set of Misericord
Misericord
A misericord is a small wooden shelf on the underside of a folding seat in a church, installed to provide a degree of comfort for a person who has to stand during long periods of prayer.-Origins:...
s reliably dated around 1400. The tower has a curious turret at its southeast corner that is locally referred to as a Saxon watch tower but is built at least partly from Caen
Caen
Caen is a commune in northwestern France. It is the prefecture of the Calvados department and the capital of the Basse-Normandie region. It is located inland from the English Channel....
stone; it may be that it may be dated from the time of the conquest but in an antique style sometimes called Saxo-Norman. A doorway in the turret opens out some two metres above the present roof line.
The church was used by both the brethren of the second abbey, a dependency of St. Augustine's Abbey in Canterbury and as a parish church. Socket holes in the piers of the crossing suggest that, as well as a rood screen
Rood screen
The rood screen is a common feature in late medieval church architecture. It is typically an ornate partition between the chancel and nave, of more or less open tracery constructed of wood, stone, or wrought iron...
, there was a further screen dividing nave and crossing, such as still exists at Dunster
Dunster
Dunster is a village and civil parish in west Somerset, England, situated on the Bristol Channel coast south-southeast of Minehead and northwest of Taunton. The village has a population of 862 .The village has numerous restaurants and three pubs...
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
. This abbey surrendered during the dissolution in 1534.
Minster Abbey is a house incorporating remains of the Saxon abbey and alleged to be the oldest continuously inhabited house in England. It now houses the village's third religious community, a Priory of Roman Catholic Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
sisters that is a daughter community of Eichstätt
Eichstätt
Eichstätt is a town in the federal state of Bavaria, Germany, and capital of the District of Eichstätt. It is located along the Altmühl River, at , and had a population of 13,078 in 2002. It is home to the Katholische Universität Eichstätt-Ingolstadt, the lone Catholic university in Germany. The...
in Bavaria. It was settled in 1937 by refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and continues to flourish as an international community. The Priory has the care of a relic of St. Mildred that had been in the care of a church in Deventer
Deventer
Deventer is a municipality and city in the Salland region of the Dutch province of Overijssel. Deventer is largely situated on the east bank of the river IJssel, but also has a small part of its territory on the west bank. In 2005 the municipality of Bathmen Deventer is a municipality and city in...
in the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
since the Reformation
Protestant Reformation
The Protestant Reformation was a 16th-century split within Western Christianity initiated by Martin Luther, John Calvin and other early Protestants. The efforts of the self-described "reformers", who objected to the doctrines, rituals and ecclesiastical structure of the Roman Catholic Church, led...
.
Landscape
Generally a flat landscape, the area's main features include marshMarsh
In geography, a marsh, or morass, is a type of wetland that is subject to frequent or continuous flood. Typically the water is shallow and features grasses, rushes, reeds, typhas, sedges, other herbaceous plants, and moss....
es, farm
Farm
A farm is an area of land, or, for aquaculture, lake, river or sea, including various structures, devoted primarily to the practice of producing and managing food , fibres and, increasingly, fuel. It is the basic production facility in food production. Farms may be owned and operated by a single...
s and river
River
A river is a natural watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, a lake, a sea, or another river. In a few cases, a river simply flows into the ground or dries up completely before reaching another body of water. Small rivers may also be called by several other names, including...
s. Thanet District Council
Thanet District Council
Thanet District Council is the local government body for the Thanet district. Its administrative centre is Margate. It is one of the district councils in Kent...
has, however, assessed Minster Marshes, south of the village, as being unstable, and some areas of Minster, particularly in the south of the village, have suffered from flooding.
Land reclamation
Land reclamation
Land reclamation, usually known as reclamation, is the process to create new land from sea or riverbeds. The land reclaimed is known as reclamation ground or landfill.- Habitation :...
has had a strong history in Minster and Monkton, where the original reclamation was done by the monks themselves.
Education
The Primary School is called "Minster Church of England Primary School", which caters for the village's population. As of 2007, there are 410 pupils attending the school.Transport
Minster railway stationMinster railway station
Minster railway station serves Minster in Kent and surrounding villages. The station, and all trains serving it, are operated by Southeastern.- History :...
lies to the south of the village, on the line from Canterbury West
Canterbury West railway station
Canterbury West railway station is one of two stations in Canterbury in Kent. It is north-northwest of the city centre. It is served by Southeastern....
to Ramsgate
Ramsgate railway station
Ramsgate railway station serves the town of Ramsgate in Thanet in Kent, England, and is located about 10 minutes away on foot from the town centre. The station lies on the Chatham Main Line 127 km east of London Victoria, the Kent Coast Line, and the Ashford to Ramsgate line...
and on the junction to the Kent Coast Line
Kent Coast Line
The Kent Coast Line is railway line that runs from Dover Priory to Margate in the English county of Kent.It was electrified by BR under the 1955 Modernisation Plan.- Services :...
.
Bus services are provided Monday to Saturday by Eastonways
Eastonways
Eastonways is an independent bus and coach operator provides regular bus services in and around Thanet, Kent in England.Eastonways' services regularly operate in Margate, Westgate, Broadstairs, St Peters, Ramsgate and surrounding villages, Birchington, Acol, Manston, Minster & MonktonThese services...
, with services to Ramsgate, Monkton and Westood. On weekdays during term times, a number of school services are run by either Eastonways or Stagecoach.
Notable residents
- St. Augustine of CanterburyAugustine of CanterburyAugustine of Canterbury was a Benedictine monk who became the first Archbishop of Canterbury in the year 597...
is said by the Venerable BedeBedeBede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
to have landed with 40 men at EbbsfleetEbbsfleet, ThanetEbbsfleet is a hamlet near Ramsgate, Kent, at the head of Pegwell Bay. Historically it was a peninsula on the south coast of the Isle of Thanet, marking the eastern end of the Wantsum Channel that separated Thanet from the rest of Kent....
, within the parishParishA parish is a territorial unit historically under the pastoral care and clerical jurisdiction of one parish priest, who might be assisted in his pastoral duties by a curate or curates - also priests but not the parish priest - from a more or less central parish church with its associated organization...
of Minster, before beginning his mission in CanterburyCanterburyCanterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
.
- Richard CulmerRichard CulmerSir Richard Culmer is listed by the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography as being of unknown parentage, although some sources indicate that he was the eldest son of Sir Henry Culmer , the first Baron Culmer...
, the infamous Puritan minister known locally as Blue Dick Culmer, was presented to the living but the people rejected him and his name - to this day - is still omitted from the role of incumbents in the church porch.