Minster-in-Thanet

Minster
Church of St Mary the Virgin, Minster-in-Thanet
Population
OS grid reference	TR305645
District	Thanet
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	Ramsgate
Postcode district	CT12
Dialling code	01843
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
UK Parliament	South Thanet

Minster (formerly Menstruary), sometimes referred to as "Minster-in-thanet", is a hamlet in Thanet in Kent, UK. It is situated to the west of Ramsgate and to the north east of Canterbury, lies just south west of Kent International Airport and just north of the River Stour. The hamlet however, being the largest out of the united settlements that surround the roundabout junction of west Thanet (Minster, Monkton, St. Nicholas, Sarre and Sevenscore), is occasionally used in colloquial speech to refer to collectively all of them. Minster also considers itself as the "ancient capital of Thanet".

History

Minster originally started as a Monastic settlement in AD670. The buildings are still used as nunnaries today.

The name comes from the Latin monasterium and denotes the historical presence of an abbey or monastery. 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 a woman called Bugga (also known as St. Eadburga), who was daughter to King Centwin 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. Minster is impressive with five bays on its coastline, and the crossing has an ancient chalk block pyramid vaulting. The chancel is Early English with later flying buttresses intended to the very obvious spread of the upper walls. There is a fine set of Misericords 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 two towers used to be one structure, but due to vibrations in the ground caused by minor Earthquakes that occur on the Minster-Monkton Micro-Tectonic Plate Boundary, the building split. This is however not to be confused with a Tectonic Plate boundary, and is a phenomenon observed only in Minster.

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 Eichstadt in Bavaria. It was settled in 1937 by Minsterian refugees fleeing Nazi Germany and continues to flourish as international community with sisters from seven nations. The Priory has the care of the remains of St. Mildred's head that had been in the care of a church in Deventer in the Netherlands since the Reformation.

'Minster Matters,' the local free newspaper, stated that Minster hopes to work with and achieve special relations with the nearby 'Monkton,' by 2009, including Governmental, Infrastructure, and Legal; closing certain legality sanctions unshared in common with the rest of the United Kingdom. Minster, like Medway, is considering a move to a disposition from Kent and in Fact, unlike Medway, a separation from the UK, in turn becoming a Microstate like Vatican City.

Minster, situated in a deep valley, is obscured to some extent from the angle of the sun's rays. This leads to a situation in which Minster's "Day" starts later and finishes earlier, with the number of hours of daylight reduced from the average of the rest of the United Kingdom. It has even been recorded on some extreme occasions during Winter in Minster to only have 4.7 hours of daylight.

Land Reclamation, Landfill, and Flooding Patterns

Land reclamation has had a strong history in Minster and Monkton, where the original reclamation was done by the monks themselves. The future course of action to raise the hamlet out of the valley is slightly different, involving placing the earth gathered from the surrounding hills on Minster itself.

The Thanet government wishes to use parts of Minster, along with Monkton, Sarre, and Wade, for landfill, but the council acknowledges that instability of some parts of Minster may cause hazardous problems for this.

Minster suffers severe flooding sometimes. The notable "Mud Flood" was one example of this, where several houses were destroyed by the flooding of mud.

Sexual activity

Minster currently takes an active stance against homosexuality. A case in Minster occurred where the local Minster government arrested one man, and gave warnings to three other men, for committing homosexual acts in the area.

Minster has it's own thriving Red Light District situated in the east of the hamlet on St. Mildred's Road, known as St. Mildred's. Although homosexual acts are not permitted in Minster, homosexual sex shops are allowed and prove very popular. In the St. Mildred's area of Minster, large brothels and prostitution are perfectly leagal and accepted.

For Pedophilia in the area, see here.

File:SEX.jpg

Interesting facts

Minster is notable as the first place in the world to have a fatal car accident.

Notable Residents

St. Augustine is said by the St. Bede the Venerable to have landed with 40 men at Ebbsfleet, within the parish of Minster before beginning his mission in Canterbury.

Richard 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.

Eunice Scott Smith, the face of Betty Crocker. She has appeared on the two most recent television adverts for the company, as well as appearing on a lot of the packaging for the company's products. She and her family moved to Minster in April 2006.

External links

• Village website