Exploring Kent's Past

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Monument details

Summary

Eadbald of Kent (616-640) is said to have built a nunnery, dedicated to St. Peter, for his daughter Eanswith at Folkestone, and this is mentioned in a charter of 927, in which Folkestone is described as a place where there was formerly an abbey of nuns which had been destroyed by the Danes. In the Life of St Eanswith the nunnery is said to have been destroyed by the sea, but this may be a reference to the destruction of the later first Benedictine priory and its re establishment at the parish church. (See TR 23 NW 17). There seems to be no evidence for the exact site of St. Eanswith's nunnery, but the supposition that it was reoccupied by the first Benedictine priory seems likely in view of St Eanswith's reputation. If so, it would have been at C. TR 231359. A reliquary, thought to be St. Eanswith's, was found concealed in a wall of the parish church in 1885 The traditional site of St Eanswith's Minster, was much disturbed in the later 18th century by the building of a fort. Earlier Leland in the 1540's noted a burial ground exposed here by coast erosion, and impressive ruins of ecclesiastical character which contained much Roman bonding tile and which he called 'a solemn old nunnery' Lambarde in 1826 reported much the same.

Monument Types

• NUNNERY (Destroyed, Early Medieval or Anglo-Saxon - 616 AD? (at some time) to 927 AD? (at some time))
• BENEDICTINE MONASTERY (Medieval - 1095 AD to 1137 AD)

Associated Finds

• COIN (Roman - 43 AD to 409 AD)

Full description

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Eadbald of Kent (616-640) is said to have built a nunnery, dedicated to St. Peter, for his daughter Eanswith at Folkestone, and this is mentioned in a charter of 927, in which Folkestone is described as a place where there was formerly an abbey of nuns which had been destroyed by the Danes.

In the Life of St Eanswith (2) the nunnery is said to have been destroyed by the sea, after the relics had been moved to St Peter's church nearby, but this is plainly a reference to the destruction of the first Benedictine priory and its re establishment at the parish church. (See TR 23 NW 17).

There seems to be no evidence for the exact site of St. Eanswith's nunnery, but the supposition that it was reoccupied by the first Benedictine priory seems likely in view of St Eanswith's reputation. If so, it would have been at C. TR 231359. A reliquary, thought to be St. Eanswith's, was found concealed in a wall of the parish church in 1885 (5). (1,2,3,4,5)

The tradition that Folkestone, founded for Eanswith, daughter of Eadbald, was the first Kentish nunnery, is confirmed by the precedenceof the abbesses in witnessing charters. The triangle lying seaward ofthe street called the Bayle, traditionally the site of St Eanswith's minster, was much disturbed in the later 18th century by the building of a fort. Leland in the 1540's noted a burial ground exposed here by coast erosion, and impressive ruins of ecclesiastical character which contained much Roman bonding tile and which he called 'a solemn old nunnery' Lambarde in 1826 reported much the same. Stukely saw pieces of old wall on the cliff edge, "seemingly of man work", and recorded the common occurence of roman coins. (6)

Folkestone. A house of nuns, more or less Benedictine (?) founded before AD 640 and dissolved prior to AD 942. It was a house of alien Benedictine monks in 1095 and was then Benedictine from c. 1399-1535. (7) Folkestone was the site of a nunnery (said to have been the first in England), founded in the 7th century by Eadbald, King of Kent, the father of St Eanswith, its first Abbess. (8)

Additional bibliography - not consulted. (9- 10)

<1> Hasted, E., 1786, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 2, VCH Kent 2 236 (Monograph). SKE8061.

<2> Nova Legenda Anglie 1 1901 297 (OS Card Reference). SKE47717.

<3> Leland's Itinerary 2nd Ed 1744 7 131 (OS Card Reference). SKE46010.

<4> Hasted, E, 1798, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent Volume 8, Hasted's Hist of Kent 2nd Ed 1799 8 179 (Monograph). SKE7940.

<5> Canon Scott Robertson, 1886, St, Eanswith's Reliquary in Folkestone Church, Arch Cant 16 1886 322-326 (W A Scott Robertson) (Article in serial). SKE8383.

<6> Rigold, S. E., 1973, Roman Folkestone Reconsidered, Arch Cant 87 1972 35-36 (S E Rigold) (Article in serial). SKE8045.

<7> Med Rel Houses Eng & Wales 1971 473 (D Knowles & R N Hadcock) (OS Card Reference). SKE46785.

<8> Arch Cant 10 1876 civ (W A Scott Robertson) (OS Card Reference). SKE34512.

<9> Notitia Monastica 1787 Kent (ed Naismith) 25 (Tanner) (OS Card Reference). SKE47710.

<10> Southern Water Services, 1993, Dover & Folkestone Wastewater Treatment scheme Environmental Statement (Unpublished document). SKE6815.

Sources and further reading