Historical
Thanet - the early days
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Within a couple of centuries, Kent was a Jutish Kingdom with Canterbury as its Capital. Augustine
landed at Ebbsfleet along with his monks in 597 AD and set about
converting the Jutes to Christianity and also founded a monastery in
Canterbury. The first Monastery on the Isle of Thanet was built in Minster where St. Mary the Virgin Church now stands.
In I700 AD a larger Abbey was built where the current Abbey now stands
In 825 AD the Danes ravaged and burnt Minster Abbey along with the Abbess Siledritha and her nuns were murdered or driven out.
Thanet
was again laid waste by the Vikings in 978 AD and the abbey at Minster
burnt along with nuns, clergy and people that had taken refuge there
(see THUNNER'S LEGEND below). By 1020 the Danes had taken control of Thanet and the Abbot of St. Augustine's in Canterbury.
The
Abbot petitioned King Cnut to allow the relics of St. Mildred to be
moved to Canterbury and the lands and the Abbey, at Minster, to be
turned over to him. The people challenged him, getting the relics of
their Saint, but the Abbot got his way.
| LIST OF BURIAL AND ANCIENT SITES | Beaker Period
Cottington Lane, Ebbsfleet.
St Peters Refuse Tip.
Manston Runway Approach.
Chalk Hill, Ramsgate.
Northforeland Avenue.
QEQM Hospital.
Staplehurst Road.
Millmead.
Minster and Monkton.
| Bronze Age
Bradstow School Grounds.
Lord of the Manor.
Bon Secours.
Birchington.
North Foreland.
| Anglo Saxon
7 Anglo Saxon cemeteries have been investigated in Thanet.
A further 2 extensive cemeteries.
11 separate sites or small grave groups.
| Roman Sites
Tivoli Park Roman Villa was located on an intensively occupied Iron Age settlement and cemetery.
Evidence of Romano-British populations of Thanet with 35 recorded burials or cemetery groups.
Villa complex at Abbey Farm, Minster.
Pottery finds from Iron Age to Roman Periods along coast at Birchington.
More information and pictures from Thanet Archaeology Online |
THUNNER'S LEGEND
In
664 Ebbe's (also known as Domneva) cousin Egbert became King of Kent,
Thunner courtier to the king persuaded the king to have the two princes
Ethelred and Ethelbert murdered because they may have had a claim to
the throne. He regretted his action and to appease for his crime
offered Queen Ebbe compensation. Ebbe chose a gift of land, as much as
her doe could run round, the doe stopped at Minster where St. Mary's
church now stands and where the original Abbey was built. Thunner
accused Ebbe of witchcraft and set off in pursuit of the doe. The earth
opened and swallowed him at a spot close to Minster known as Thunner's
Leap.
Ebbe entered the convent as its Abbess.
She died of natural causes in 694 AD. Thunner's
Leap is thought to be at Minster chalk pit, at the roundabout by the
Prospect Inn, and now a Caravan Park. This same place has a more recent
story attached to it, regarding smugglers. ST. MILDRED
Mildred
Ebbe’s daughter succeeded her Mother as Abbess of the Abbey in 697 AD.
Mildred had been sent to Chelles to be educated. During that time, a
nobleman approached the Abbess of Chelles asking her to arrange a
marriage to Mildred. Mildred refused and the Abbess tortured her, first
with threats and beatings and then shut her in a hot oven for three
hours, when she was released from the oven she was unhurt and radiant
with joy. Eventually Mildred escaped and fled. On her arrival in
England, landing at Ebbsfleet where she found a great square stone had
been placed there for her to step on from the ship. The stone retained
the mark of her foot and was taken and kept at the Abbey in Minster.
Healing is said to have taken place, the dust from the stone was mixed
with water for the diseased and infirm and was said to have cured them.
Ref. Sources:
Thanet Archaeology.
Roman Britain.
Anglo Saxon Chronicles.
BBC News.
Website Bygone Kent.
The Green Island At The End Of The World. << Page 1
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