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===Pre-historic and Roman===
===Pre-historic and Roman===
{{main|Regulbium}}
{{main|Regulbium}}
[[Stone Age]] flint tools have been washed out from the cliffs to the west of Reculver,<ref name=HistCont2.0>[http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/assets/countryside/reculvermasterplanvol1sep09forweb.pdf ''Reculver Masterplan Report Volume&nbsp;1''], Section 2.0 "Historical Context". (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 17&nbsp;July 2010.</ref> and a [[Mesolithic]] [[tranchet axe]] was found at Reculver in 1960, but is "likely to have been a casual loss".<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|page=192}}.</ref> Evidence for human settlement at Reculver begins with late [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] and [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] ditches, which indicate an "extensive phased settlement",<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|page=192}}; [http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1906717&resourceID=304 "(West of Fort on Cliff)"] & [http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1864064&resourceID=304 "Reculver"]. (2006). Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 24&nbsp;January 2012.</ref> where Iron Age gold coins have been found.<ref>[http://www.kent.gov.uk/ExploringKentsPast/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MKE6487 "Iron Age gold coins (5), found at Reculver"]. (2009). Exploring Kent's Past. Retrieved 24&nbsp;January 2012.</ref> This was followed by a Roman "fortlet" dating to their [[Roman conquest of Britain|conquest of Britain]], which began in 43&nbsp;AD,<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=192–3}}.</ref> and a Roman fort, or "[[Castra|''castrum'']]", called ''Regulbium'', which was started late in the 2nd century: this date is derived in part from a re-construction of a uniquely detailed plaque, fragments of which were found by archaeologists in the 1960s.<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=206–18 (esp. 210–3)}}; {{harvnb|Philp|1969a|page=}}; {{harvnb|Philp|1969b|page=}}; [http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=467087 "Regulbium"]. ( 2007). English Heritage PastScape. Retrieved 8&nbsp;December 2010.</ref> The plaque effectively records the establishment of the fort, since it records the construction of two of its principal buildings, the "''[[basilica]]''" and the "''[[sacellum]]''".<ref name=Philp1969b>{{harvnb|Philp|1969b|page=}}.</ref>{{#tag:ref|The reconstructed plaque mentions the ''basilica'' and an "''aedes principiorum''", for which ''sacellum'', or "headquarters shrine", is understood.<ref name=Philp1969b />|group="Fn"}} These were found by archaeologists, together with probable officers' quarters, barracks and a [[Thermae|bath house]].<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=54–9, 60–3, 73–80}}.</ref>{{#tag:ref|A [[strigil]], which would have been used in the bath house, was found on the shore at Reculver some time before 1708, and is described and illustrated in {{harvnb|Roach Smith|1850|loc=p.&nbsp;203 & Plate&nbsp;7, Fig.&nbsp;12}}.|group="Fn"}} A Roman oven was also found {{convert|200|ft|m|0}} south-east of the fort, which was probably used for drying food such as [[Wheat|corn]] and fish: the main chamber of the oven measured about 16&nbsp;feet (4.9&nbsp;m) by 15&nbsp;feet (4.8&nbsp;m) overall, and was found to be "unique and cleverly engineered".<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=92–5}}.</ref>
[[Stone Age]] flint tools have been washed out from the cliffs to the west of Reculver,<ref name=HistCont2.0>[http://www.canterbury.gov.uk/assets/countryside/reculvermasterplanvol1sep09forweb.pdf ''Reculver Masterplan Report Volume&nbsp;1''], Section 2.0 "Historical Context". (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 17&nbsp;July 2010.</ref> and a [[Mesolithic]] [[tranchet axe]] was found at Reculver in 1960, but is "likely to have been a casual loss".<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|page=192}}.</ref> Evidence for human settlement at Reculver begins with late [[Bronze Age Britain|Bronze Age]] and [[British Iron Age|Iron Age]] ditches, which indicate an "extensive phased settlement",<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|page=192}}; [http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1906717&resourceID=304 "(West of Fort on Cliff)"] & [http://www.heritagegateway.org.uk/Gateway/Results_Single.aspx?uid=1864064&resourceID=304 "Reculver"]. (2006). Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 24&nbsp;January 2012.</ref> where a Bronze Age [[palstave]] and Iron Age gold coins have been found.<ref>[http://www.kent.gov.uk/ExploringKentsPast/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MKE6498 "Palstave, found at Reculver"] & [http://www.kent.gov.uk/ExploringKentsPast/SingleResult.aspx?uid=MKE6487 "Iron Age gold coins (5), found at Reculver"]. (2009). Exploring Kent's Past. Retrieved 24&nbsp;January 2012.</ref> This was followed by a Roman "fortlet" dating to their [[Roman conquest of Britain|conquest of Britain]], which began in 43&nbsp;AD,<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=192–3}}.</ref> and a Roman fort, or "[[Castra|''castrum'']]", called ''Regulbium'', which was started late in the 2nd century: this date is derived in part from a re-construction of a uniquely detailed plaque, fragments of which were found by archaeologists in the 1960s.<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=206–18 (esp. 210–3)}}; {{harvnb|Philp|1969a|page=}}; {{harvnb|Philp|1969b|page=}}; [http://www.pastscape.org.uk/hob.aspx?hob_id=467087 "Regulbium"]. ( 2007). English Heritage PastScape. Retrieved 8&nbsp;December 2010.</ref> The plaque effectively records the establishment of the fort, since it records the construction of two of its principal buildings, the "''[[basilica]]''" and the "''[[sacellum]]''".<ref name=Philp1969b>{{harvnb|Philp|1969b|page=}}.</ref>{{#tag:ref|The reconstructed plaque mentions the ''basilica'' and an "''aedes principiorum''", for which ''sacellum'', or "headquarters shrine", is understood.<ref name=Philp1969b />|group="Fn"}} These were found by archaeologists, together with probable officers' quarters, barracks and a [[Thermae|bath house]].<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=54–9, 60–3, 73–80}}.</ref>{{#tag:ref|A [[strigil]], which would have been used in the bath house, was found on the shore at Reculver some time before 1708, and is described and illustrated in {{harvnb|Roach Smith|1850|loc=p.&nbsp;203 & Plate&nbsp;7, Fig.&nbsp;12}}.|group="Fn"}} A Roman oven was also found {{convert|200|ft|m|0}} south-east of the fort, which was probably used for drying food such as [[Wheat|corn]] and fish: the main chamber of the oven measured about 16&nbsp;feet (4.9&nbsp;m) by 15&nbsp;feet (4.8&nbsp;m) overall, and was found to be "unique and cleverly engineered".<ref>{{harvnb|Philp|2005|pages=92–5}}.</ref>


[[File:Roman Wall, Reculver Roman Fort - geograph.org.uk - 1470820.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Part of the south wall of the Roman fort|Part of the south wall of ''[[Regulbium]]'']]
[[File:Roman Wall, Reculver Roman Fort - geograph.org.uk - 1470820.jpg|thumb|left|alt=Part of the south wall of the Roman fort|Part of the south wall of ''[[Regulbium]]'']]

Revision as of 16:14, 24 January 2012

Reculver
The twin towers of St Mary's Church
Area2.79 sq mi (7.2 km2) [1]
Population135 [2]
• Density48/sq mi (19/km2)
OS grid referenceTR2269
Civil parish
District
Shire county
Region
CountryEngland
Sovereign stateUnited Kingdom
Post townCANTERBURY
Postcode districtCT6
Dialling code01227
PoliceKent
FireKent
AmbulanceSouth East Coast
UK Parliament
List of places
UK
England
Kent

Reculver is a village and coastal resort about 3 miles (5 km) east of Herne Bay in south-east England, in a ward of the same name, in the City of Canterbury district of Kent. It is about 30 miles (48 km) east by north of the county town of Maidstone, and about 58 miles (93 km) east by south from London. Reculver once occupied a strategic location at the north-western end of the Wantsum Channel, between the Isle of Thanet and the Kent mainland. This led the Romans to build a small fort there at the time of their conquest of Britain in 43 AD, and, starting late in the 2nd century, they built a larger fort, or "castrum", called Regulbium, which later was part of the chain of Saxon Shore forts. The military connection resumed in the Second World War, when Barnes Wallis's bouncing bombs were tested in the sea off Reculver.

After the Romans left Britain in the early 5th century, Reculver became a landed estate of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent. The site of the Roman fort was given over for the establishment of a monastery dedicated to St Mary in 669 AD, and King Eadberht I of Kent was buried there in 748. During the Middle Ages Reculver was a thriving township with a weekly market and a yearly fair, and it was a member of the Cinque Port of Sandwich. The twin spires of the church became a landmark for mariners known as the "Twin Sisters", supposedly after daughters of Geoffrey St Clare, and the 19th century facade of St John's Cathedral in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, is a copy of that at Reculver. Among notable residents was Robert Hunt, who celebrated the first Christian service of holy communion in what is now the United States of America, in 1607.

Reculver declined as the Wantsum Channel silted up, and coastal erosion claimed many buildings constructed on the soft sandy cliffs. The village was largely abandoned in the late 18th century, and most of the church was demolished in the early 19th century. Protecting the ruins and the rest of Reculver from erosion is an ongoing challenge.

The 20th century saw a revival as a tourism industry developed and there are now three caravan parks. The census of 2001 recorded 135 people in the Reculver area, nearly a quarter of whom were in caravans at the time. Reculver Country Park is a Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest, which has rare clifftop meadows and is important for migrating birds.

History

Map of late Roman Kent, in the early 5th century, showing how Reculver was then at the north-eastern corner of mainland Kent, with the Wantsum Channel between it and the Isle of Thanet
Regulbium (marked as "Reculbium") in late Roman Kent: Gardiner, S.R., A School Atlas Of English History, 1892

Toponymy

The earliest recorded form of the name, Regulbium, was Celtic in origin, meaning "at the promontory", or "great headland", and, in Old English, this became corrupted to Raculf, sometimes given as Raculfceastre, giving rise to the modern "Reculver".[3][Fn 1] The form "Raculfceastre" includes the Old English place-name element "ceaster", which frequently relates to "a [Roman] city or walled town".[5]

Pre-historic and Roman

Main article: Regulbium

Stone Age flint tools have been washed out from the cliffs to the west of Reculver,[6] and a Mesolithic tranchet axe was found at Reculver in 1960, but is "likely to have been a casual loss".[7] Evidence for human settlement at Reculver begins with late Bronze Age and Iron Age ditches, which indicate an "extensive phased settlement",[8] where a Bronze Age palstave and Iron Age gold coins have been found.[9] This was followed by a Roman "fortlet" dating to their conquest of Britain, which began in 43 AD,[10] and a Roman fort, or "castrum", called Regulbium, which was started late in the 2nd century: this date is derived in part from a re-construction of a uniquely detailed plaque, fragments of which were found by archaeologists in the 1960s.[11] The plaque effectively records the establishment of the fort, since it records the construction of two of its principal buildings, the "basilica" and the "sacellum".[12][Fn 2] These were found by archaeologists, together with probable officers' quarters, barracks and a bath house.[13][Fn 3] A Roman oven was also found 200 feet (61 m) south-east of the fort, which was probably used for drying food such as corn and fish: the main chamber of the oven measured about 16 feet (4.9 m) by 15 feet (4.8 m) overall, and was found to be "unique and cleverly engineered".[14]

Part of the south wall of the Roman fort
Part of the south wall of Regulbium

The fort's location at the north-eastern extremity of mainland Kent was strategic, lying as it did "at the main point of contact in the system [of Saxon Shore forts]",[15] and "commanding an extensive view on all sides".[16] The entrance to the headquarters building, or "principia", faced north, indicating that the fort's main gate was on its north side, facing the promontory and the sea.[17] The fort was connected to the network of Roman roads through a link to Canterbury, about 8.5 miles (14 km) to the south-west.[18] It must also have had a harbour nearby,[18] and, though this has not yet been found, it was probably near to the fort's southern or eastern side.[19][Fn 4] Roman forts were normally accompanied by a civilian settlement, or "vicus", and "it is clear that significant Roman structures and features existed"[21] outside the north and west sides of the fort, mostly in areas now lost to the sea, and that the vicus at Reculver was "extensive".[22][Fn 5]

Towards the end of the 3rd century, a Roman naval commander named Carausius was given the task of clearing pirates from the sea between the Roman provinces in Britain, or "Britannia", and on the European mainland.[24] In so doing he established a new chain of command, the British part of which was later to pass under the control of a "Count of the Saxon Shore". The Notitia Dignitatum, a Roman administrative document of the early 5th century, shows that the fort at Reculver became part of this arrangement, but archaeological evidence indicates that it "was abandoned in the 360s."[25]

Monastery and church

Reculver church in 1782
Reculver church viewed from the shore to the east-northeast in 1782: The Gentleman's Magazine, September 1809[26]

After the Roman occupation of Britain ended in about 410, Reculver became a landed estate of the Anglo-Saxon kings of Kent, possibly with a "royal toll-station [or a] significant coastal trading settlement,"[27] given the types and quantity of coins found there.[27][Fn 6] Other early Anglo-Saxon items found at Reculver include a fragment of a gilt bronze brooch, or "fibula", which was "originally circular in shape [and] was set with coloured stones or glass",[28][Fn 7] a claw beaker,[30] and pottery.[31] King Æthelberht of Kent is said to have moved his royal court there from Canterbury in about 597, and to have built a palace on the site of the Roman ruins;[32] but archaeological excavation has shown no evidence of this, and the story has been described as "probably no more than a pious legend".[33][Fn 8] A church was built on the site of the Roman fort in about 669, when King Ecgberht of Kent granted land for the foundation of a monastery there, which was dedicated to St Mary.[34]

The monastery "developed as the [centre] of a large estate, a manor and a parish",[33] and, by the early 9th century, it had become "extremely wealthy",[35] but it then fell under the control of the archbishops of Canterbury.[36] By the 10th century the church and the estate were in the hands of the kings of Wessex, though the church may have remained a monastery, despite the likelihood of Viking attacks.[37] The church and the estate were given back to the archbishops of Canterbury in 949 by King Eadred of England, at which time the estate centred on Reculver included Hoath, Herne and land in the west of the Isle of Thanet.[38]

By 1066 the monastery was "no more than a parish church".[38] However, in 1086 Reculver "was a hundred of it self",[39] with the estate centred on Reculver valued in Domesday Book at £42.7s. (£42.35), and, in the 13th century, the parish of Reculver remained one of "exceptional wealth".[40] The church building was extended considerably during the Middle Ages, including the addition of the towers in the 12th century,[41] suggesting that "a thriving township must have developed nearby",[33] a "substantial settlement… with dozens of houses".[42][Fn 9] In 1220, King Henry III granted the archbishop of Canterbury a market to be held weekly at Reculver, on Thursdays,[44] and "a fair was anciently held [there] on St Giles's Day, September 1".[45][Fn 10] The parish was broken up in the late 13th century, when chapelries at Herne and St Nicholas-at-Wade, on the Isle of Thanet, were converted into parishes, though Hoath was still a perpetual curacy belonging to Reculver parish in the 19th century.[47]

Loss to the sea

Reculver in 1685
Estate map of Reculver of 1685:[48] the church, the "chapel-house", the Roman fort and the former town of Reculver, described as "Village-lyke" in 1540.[49]

By 1540, when John Leland recorded a visit to Reculver, it was "withyn a Quarter of a Myle or litle more of the Se Syde [and] The Towne at this tyme [was] but Village lyke".[50] Soon after, in 1576, William Lambarde described Reculver as "poore and simple".[51] In 1588, there were 165 communicants – people in Reculver parish taking part in services of holy communion at the church – and in 1640 there were 169,[32] but a map of "about 1630"[52] shows that the church then stood only about 500 feet (152 m) from the shore, and the village's failure to support two "beer shops" in the 1660s has been taken as "a clear indication of the dwindling population at the time."[33] The village was mostly abandoned around the end of the 18th century, its residents moving to Hillborough, about 1.25 miles (2 km) south-west of Reculver, but within Reculver parish, where a new parish church was opened in 1813.[53][Fn 11] At about this time,

…from the present shore as far as a place called the Black Rock, seen at lowwater mark, where tradition says, a parish church once stood, there [were] found quantities of tiles, bricks, fragments of walls, tesselated pavements, and other marks of a ruinated town, and the household furniture, dress, and equipment of the horses belonging to the inhabitants of it, [were] continually found among the sands…

— Edward Hasted, The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 9, 1800[32]
The Reculver Millennium Cross monument of 2000
Reculver towers, framed by the Millennium Cross of 2000 and the King Ethelbert Inn

By 1800, there were only five or six houses left at Reculver, "inhabited mostly by fishermen and smugglers",[32] and in 1821 Reculver was described as a principal station for the "Smuggling Preventive Service".[59] Work began to demolish the old church in 1805,[60] but Trinity House intervened to ensure that the towers were preserved as a navigational aid. In 1810 it bought what was left of the structure, and built the first groynes, designed to protect the cliff on which it stands.[61]

The vicarage was abandoned at the same time as the church, or a little earlier.[33][Fn 12] When the Hoy and Anchor Inn fell into the sea, the redundant vicarage was used as a temporary replacement under the same name.[63][Fn 13] Despite the report in 1800 that there were then only five or six houses left at Reculver,[32] a new Hoy and Anchor Inn was built by 1809,[64] and this was re-named as the "King Ethelbert Inn" in the 1830s.[33][Fn 14] The inn was later extended into the form in which it stands today, "probably… in 1883".[33] Today the site of the church is managed by English Heritage, and the village has all but disappeared. In 2000 the surviving fragments of an early medieval cross which once stood inside the old church were used to design a Millennium Cross to commemorate two thousand years of Christianity. This stands at the entrance to the car park and was commissioned by Canterbury City Council.[65]

Bouncing bombs

Main article: Bouncing bomb
A prototype bouncing bomb
A prototype bouncing bomb on display in Herne Bay Museum and Gallery. Reculver towers can be seen in the background of the accompanying artist's impression.

During the Second World War, the Reculver coastline was one location used to test Barnes Wallis's "bouncing bomb" prototypes.[66] Different, inert versions of the bomb were tested at Reculver, leading to the development of the operational version known as "Upkeep".[67] It was this bomb which was used by the RAF's 617 Squadron in Operation Chastise, otherwise known as the "Dambuster raids", in which dams in the Ruhr district of Germany were attacked on the night of 16–17 May 1943 by formations of Lancaster bombers. The operation was led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross. On 17 May 2003, a Lancaster bomber overflew the Reculver testing site to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the exploit.[68]

Four prototype bouncing bombs were recovered from the shoreline at Reculver in 1997, one of which is displayed in Herne Bay Museum and Gallery, a little over 3 miles (5 km) to the west of Reculver.[69] Others are on display in Dover Castle and in the Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum at the former RAF Manston, on the Isle of Thanet.[70]

Governance

In the 10th century charter by which King Eadred gave Reculver to the archbishops of Canterbury,[71][Fn 15] the limits of the mainland part of the estate were "roughly equivalent to the… parishes of Reculver, Hoath and Herne".[72] In 1086, Domesday Book named Reculver as a hundred,[73] meaning that it was then the meeting-place for the hundred court.[74] As well as Reculver itself, the hundred of Reculver included Hoath and Herne, and it "may also have included the adjoining part of Thanet".[75] The parishes of Herne and St Nicholas-at-Wade, on the Isle of Thanet, were created from parts of Reculver parish late in the 13th century,[76] though these new parishes continued to have a subordinate relationship with the parish of Reculver into the 19th century, while Hoath remained a perpetual curacy of Reculver.[77] By 1377, the local hundred was Bleangate,[78][Fn 16] which, by the 17th century, included Chislet, Herne, Hoath, Reculver, Stourmouth, Sturry and Westbere.[79][Fn 17]

Reculver parish was represented as tithings – known in Kent as "borghs"[43] – under various names in Bleangate hundred for the purposes of the Hearth Tax, levied between 1662 and 1689.[83] In 1663, it was divided into Reculver Street borgh and Brookgate borgh, which were recorded under a parish heading for Reculver, together with Hoath borgh.[84] In 1673, Reculver borgh and Brookgate borgh were recorded under a heading for Herne parish, and Hoath was recorded under its own parish heading.[85] However, borghs in Kent had "nothing to do with ecclesiastical administration but [were] related to the earlier manorial [and hundredal] pattern of the county".[86] By the time of the Hearth Tax, Bleangate hundred had been divided into two half hundreds, and the constable of the northern half hundred was chosen "at the court leet of the manor of Reculver",[87] though by 1800 this manorial court was "usually held at Herne".[32]

Reculver electoral ward
Map of Reculver electoral ward, 2010

Reculver's parish boundary, enclosing an area of about 2 square miles (5 km2), remained the same for both ecclesiastical and civil purposes until 1934.[88] Included were Reculver, Hillborough, Bishopstone and Brook (now Brook Farm), though the parish extended west almost to Beltinge, in Herne parish, and to Broomfield in the south-west – where the boundary with Herne parish ran along the centre of the main thoroughfare, now Margate Road – and it was bounded in open country on the south-east and east by the parish of Chislet.[89][Fn 18] In 1934, the civil functions of the parish were merged into the civil parish of Herne Bay.[88] Conversely, Reculver is now in an electoral ward of the same name, in the local government district of Canterbury, which includes Beltinge, Bishopstone, Brook Farm, Hillborough and most of the eastern part of the town of Herne Bay.[90] This ward has three seats on Canterbury City Council, and, in the local elections of 2011, these seats were won by the existing holders Jennie Edwards, Gillian Reuby and Ann Taylor, all Conservative.[91]

At the national level, Reculver is in the English parliamentary constituency of North Thanet, for which Roger Gale (Conservative) has been MP since 1983.[92] In the general election of 2010, Gale won 22,826 votes (52.57%), giving him a majority of 13,528. Labour won 9,298 votes (21.42%), the Liberal Democrats 8,400 (19.35%), and the United Kingdom Independence Party 2,819 (6.5%).[92] For European elections, Reculver is in the South East England constituency. MEPs elected in the European election of 2009 were Daniel Hannan, Richard Ashworth, Nirj Deva and James Elles (Conservative); Sharon Bowles and Catherine Bearder (Liberal Democrats); Nigel Farage and Marta Andreasen (United Kingdom Independence Party); Caroline Lucas (Green Party);[Fn 19] and Peter Skinner (Labour).[94]

Geography

Looking east from Reculver churchyard
Looking east across the mouth of the former Wantsum Channel, from Reculver churchyard: snaking away in the centre is the sea wall, and an oyster hatchery is to the right. Margate is on the horizon.

Reculver is located on the north coast of Kent, about 3 miles (5 km) east of Herne Bay, 8 miles (13 km) west of Margate, 30 miles (48 km) east by north of the county town of Maidstone, and 58 miles (93 km) east by south from London. It once occupied a strategic location on routes between continental Europe and the east coast of England, but this has been obscured by sedimentation and coastal erosion.[95] In the Iron Age, it lay on a promontory at the north-western entrance to the Wantsum Channel, a sea lane between the Isle of Thanet and the Kent mainland, which silted up during the Middle Ages.[96][Fn 20] The ruins of a Roman fort and a medieval church stand on the remains of the promontory, now "a small knoll which, rising to a maximum height of 50 feet [15 m], is the last seaward extension of the Blean Hills."[97]

Sediments laid down around 55 million years ago are particularly well displayed in the cliffs at Reculver.[98] Nearby Herne Bay is the type location for the Thanet Sand Formation, a fine-grained sand that can be clayey and glauconitic and is of Thanetian (late Paleocene) age.[99] It rests unconformably on the Chalk Group,[99] and forms the base of the cliffs in the Reculver and Herne Bay area.[100] Above the Thanet Sand are the Upnor Formation, a medium sandstone,[101] and the sandy clays of the Harwich Formation at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary.[102] The highest cliffs, rising to a maximum height of about 115 feet (35 m) to the west of Reculver,[103] have a cap of London Clay,[100] a fine silty clay of Eocene age.[104]

Sea defences immediately west of the ruined church
Looking west: the sea defences date to the 1990s, and the cliffs beyond are still eroding fast. Until the late 18th century, the centre of Reculver village was at about the centre of the image.

These rocks are easily washed away by the sea.[105] It has been estimated that the Roman fort was originally about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the sea, but the cliffs are eroding at a rate of approximately 5 feet (2 m) a year.[106] Coastal erosion had washed away most of Reculver village by 1800, leading residents to re-locate to Hillborough, within Reculver parish.[107] A plan is in place to manage this erosion whereby some parts of the coastline such as the country park will be allowed to continue eroding, and others – including the site of the Roman fort and the medieval church – will be protected from further erosion.[108] New sea defences were built in the 1990s, including covering the beaches around the church with boulders.[109]

The warmest time of year in Kent is in July and August, with average maximum temperatures of around 21 °C (70 °F), and the coolest is in January and February, with average minimum temperatures of around 1 °C (34 °F).[110] Average maximum and minimum temperatures are about 0.5 °C higher than they are nationally.[111] Locations on the north coast of Kent, like Reculver, are sometimes warmer than areas further inland, owing to the influence of the North Downs to the south.[112] Average annual rainfall in Kent is about 728 millimetres (29 in), with the highest rainfall from October to January.[110] This is lower than the national average annual rainfall of 838 millimetres (33 in),[111] and occasional drought conditions can lead to the imposition of hosepipe bans.[113]

Demography

A postcard sent from Reculver in 1913
Postcard of Reculver from 1913, with a tourist cafe in the foreground

In the census of 1801, the number of people present in the parish of Reculver, enclosing an area of about 2 square miles (5 km2) and including the settlements of Reculver, Hillborough, Bishopstone and part of Broomfield, was given as 252, and this figure remained roughly stable until the 20th century, when it increased dramatically: in the census of 1931, the number was given as 829.[114][Fn 21] In 2005, the population of Reculver was estimated to increase from "about twenty [permanent residents]… to over 1,000 at the height of the [summer] holiday season".[115]

In the most recent census for which data are available, recorded in springtime on 29 April 2001, the relevant census area covered 2.79 square miles (7 km2),[1] and included only Reculver and outlying farms and houses, in which 135 people were found, almost a quarter of whom were in caravans.[2] All were born in the United Kingdom except for three individuals from the Republic of Ireland, and three from South Africa. Gender was given as 69 female and 66 male, and the age distribution was 12 individuals aged 0–5 years (8.8%), 16 aged 6–16 years (14%), 30 aged 17–35 years (22.2%), 14 aged 36–45 years (10.3%), 44 aged 46–64 years (32.5%), and 21 aged 65 years and over (15.5%). Half (67) of all the individuals recorded were described as economically active, with 58 of these having employers and nine being self-employed; none were recorded as full-time students or unemployed. Twenty-four people were described as retired (17.7%). Of those aged 16–74 years, 14 (12.8%) were placed at the highest level for education or qualification. From April 2001 to March 2002, the average gross weekly income of households in the ward of Reculver, which includes Beltinge, Bishopstone, Hillborough and most of the eastern part of the town of Herne Bay, was estimated by the Office for National Statistics as £560,[116] or £29,120 per year. Christianity was the only religion represented, by 99 individuals, with 22 recorded as having no religion, and 14 whose religion was not stated.

Economy

Reculver is dominated by caravan parks, the first of which appeared after the Second World War.[117][Fn 22] Also present are a country park, The King Ethelbert public house, which is a "free house", and a nearby shop and cafe.[6] Reculver was defined as a "key heritage area" in 2008, and there are plans for its development as a destination for green tourism.[118][Fn 23]

On the eastern side of Reculver is a hatchery for oysters, belonging to a seafood company which is based in Reculver.[119] Young oysters are transplanted from there to the sea bed at Whitstable.[120] Oysters from the shores around Richborough, a little over 8 miles (13 km) south-east of Reculver, were noted as a delicacy by the 1st–2nd century Roman poet Juvenal,[121] and in 1576 oysters from Reculver itself were "reputed as farre to passe those of Whitstaple, as Whitstaple doe surmount the rest of this shyre [of Kent] in savorie saltnesse."[122]

Culture and community

Culture

Twin Sisters

Reculver towers from the beach to the west
Remains of St Mary's church viewed from the west, September 2005

A byname for the towers of the ruined church is the "Twin Sisters", and an account of how this first arose was "current about a hundred years after its supposed happening [in the late 15th century], but in its usual form it is very largely [a] creation… [involving] pseudo-historical detail".[123][Fn 24] The Ingoldsby Legends includes a re-invention of the story in which two brothers, Robert and Richard de Birchington, are substituted for the two sisters.[127]

Crying baby

It is reported that the sound of a crying baby is often heard in the grounds of the fort and among the ruins of the church.[128] Archaeological excavations conducted in the 1960s within the fort revealed numerous infant skeletons buried under and in the walls of Roman structures, probably barrack blocks, from which coins were recovered and dated between c. 270 and 300 AD.[129] It is unknown whether the babies were selected for burial because they were already dead, perhaps stillborn, or if they were killed for the purpose, but they were probably buried in the buildings' structure as ritual sacrifices.[130][Fn 25] A baby's feeding bottle was also found, on its side in an excavated floor, and within 10 feet (3 m) of one of the infant skeletons, "but it cannot with certainty be associated with the burials."[132]

Community facilities

The nearest post office to Reculver is in Beltinge, about 1.9 miles (3 km) to the west-southwest.[133] The nearest general practitioner (GP) surgery is about 1.5 miles (2 km) to the south-west, between Bishopstone and Hillborough, with others located in Beltinge, Herne Bay, Broomfield and St Nicholas-at-Wade.[134] The nearest hospital is the Queen Victoria Memorial Hospital, about 2.5 miles (4 km) to the west in Herne Bay. This is a general hospital, and has an accident and emergency (A&E) department.[135] The nearest community hall is in Beltinge, about 1.9 miles (3 km) west-southwest.[136]

Landmarks

King Hlothhere's charter of 679
King Hlothhere of Kent grants land to Abbot Berhtwald and his monastery at Reculver in 679, in the earliest surviving original Anglo-Saxon charter[137]

Ruined church of St Mary

The medieval towers of the ruined church of St Mary are Reculver's "most dominant features".[138] These towers were added in the 12th century to an existing church, which was founded in 669, when King Ecgberht of Kent granted land at Reculver to "Bassa the priest", for the foundation of a monastery.[34] It may be that King Ecgberht was "interested in setting up a centre with a stronger English element at Reculver, distinct from the Canterbury church that was destined to be dominated by [Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury], [Abbot Hadrian of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury] and their non-native followers."[139][Fn 26]

The foundation of this church, sited within the remains of the Roman fort of Regulbium, "illustrates the widespread practice [in Anglo-Saxon England] of re-using Roman walled places for major churches",[140] and the new church was built "almost completely from demolished Roman structures".[141] The original structure formed a nave, measuring 37.5 feet (11 m) by 24 feet (7 m), and an apsidal chancel, which was externally polygonal but internally round, and was entered from the nave by a triple arch formed by two columns, made of limestone from Marquise, in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.[142][Fn 27] Around the inside of the apse was a stone bench, and two small rooms, or "porticus", were built out from the north and south sides of the chancel, from which they could be accessed. The inclusion of porticus at Reculver in the 7th century is "without parallel in western Europe,"[144] except among contemporary churches in Kent and at Bradwell, in Essex.[145] This, and the stone bench around the inside of the apse, have been attributed to influence from the Syrian Church, at a time when its followers were being displaced.[146]

Ten years after the foundation of the monastery, in 679, King Hlothhere of Kent granted lands at Sturry, about 6.2 miles (10 km) south-west of Reculver, and at Sarre, in the western part of the Isle of Thanet, across the Wantsum Channel to the east, to Abbot Berhtwald and to the monastery.[147] The grant was made at Reculver, the charter in which it was recorded was probably written by a Reculver scribe, and the grant of Sarre in particular "must be regarded as a sign of enormous royal favour to the minster".[148][Fn 28] In the original, 7th century charter recording this grant, Reculver is referred to as a "civitas", or "city", but this is probably a reference to either its Roman origins or its monastic status, rather than a large population centre.[149] In 692 Reculver's abbot Berhtwald, a former abbot of Glastonbury in Somerset, was elected Archbishop of Canterbury.[150] Bede, writing no more than 40 years later, described him as having been "learned in the Scriptures and well versed in ecclesiastical and monastic affairs",[151][Fn 29] though Berhtwald "was clearly no scholar".[152]

Ruined south wall of Reculver church
The south wall of the church incorporates Roman tiles.

Further charters show that the monastery at Reculver continued to benefit from Kentish kings in the 8th century, under abbots Heahberht, Deneheah and Hwitred,[153] and, by the early 9th century, it had become "extremely wealthy".[35] However, from the early 9th century "the minster is referred to in the sources as essentially a piece of property".[36] In 811, control of Reculver was in the hands of Archbishop Wulfred of Canterbury, who is recorded as having deprived Reculver of some of its land,[154] and soon after Reculver featured in a "monumental showdown"[36] between Archbishop Wulfred and King Coenwulf of Mercia over the control of monasteries,[36] to which the subsequent control of Reculver by archbishops of Canterbury has been attributed.[155] By the 10th century, "Reculver was no longer an important church in Kent, and… control over the [church] and its territory [was in the hands of the kings of Wessex]".[156] In a charter of 949, King Eadred of England gave Reculver back to the archbishops of Canterbury, at which time the estate included Hoath and Herne, land at Sarre, in Thanet, and land "at Chilmington for the repair of the church".[157][Fn 30]

Reculver may have remained home to a monastic community into the 10th century, despite the likelihood of Viking attacks.[37][Fn 31] The last abbot is recorded as "Wenredus",[160] though when he was abbot is unknown. In the first half of the 11th century, the church was governed by a dean named Givehard (Guichardus),[38] with two monks named Fresnot and Tancrad, indicating the presence of a religious community of Continental origin, possibly Flemings.[38] By 1066 the monastery was "no more than a parish church, with no baptismal function, and its lands [had been] absorbed into the… endowment [of the archbishops of Canterbury]."[38] Domesday Book records the archbishop's annual income from Reculver in 1086 as £42.7s. (£42.35): this value can be compared with, for example, the £20 due to him from the manor of Maidstone, and £50 from the borough of Sandwich.[161][Fn 32] Included in the Domesday account for Reculver, as well as the church, farmland, a mill, salt pans and a fishery, are 90 villeins and 25 bordars: these numbers can be multiplied four or five times to account for dependents, as they only "relate to adult male heads of households".[162][Fn 33] The mill was probably a watermill, near Brook Farm.[163]

By the 13th century Reculver parish provided an ecclesiastical benefice of "exceptional wealth",[40] which led to disputes between lay and Church interests.[164] In 1291, the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV put the total income due to the rector and vicar at about £130.[165][Fn 34] Included in the parish were chapels of ease at St Nicholas-at-Wade and All Saints, both on the Isle of Thanet, as well as at Hoath and Herne.[164][Fn 35]

The triple arch in the 7th century church of Reculver
Triple arch of the 7th century church, between the nave and the chancel, until demolition in the early 19th century: the arch was 22 feet (7 m) high, and the columns 17 feet (5 m)[168]

The parish was broken up in the late 13th century by Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury from 1294 to 1313, who converted Reculver's chapelries at Herne and St Nicholas-at-Wade into parishes, "induced by the great inconveniences which arose from the distance of these chapels from the mother church."[76] However, Reculver continued to receive payments from the parishes of Herne and St Nicholas-at-Wade in the 19th century "as a token of subjection to Reculver",[169] as well as for the repair of Reculver church, and it retained a perpetual curacy at Hoath.[76]

The church building was considerably enlarged over time: the outer walls of the porticus were extended to enclose the nave in the 8th century, forming a series of rooms on both northern and southern sides and a porch across the western side; the towers were added as part of an extension with a new west front in the 12th century; the chancel was more than doubled in size in the 13th century; and north and south porches were added in the 15th century.[170] According to local legend the towers were topped with spires "in the early years of the 16th century",[123] since when they have been known to mariners as the "Twin Sisters".[171] The addition of the towers, and the extent to which the church was enlarged in the Middle Ages, suggest that "a thriving township must have developed nearby."[33] However, the church retained many prominent Anglo-Saxon features, and, on a visit to Reculver in 1540, one of these raised John Leland to "an enthusiasm which he seldom displayed":[172]

Yn the enteryng of the quyer ys one of the fayrest and the most auncyent crosse that ever I saw, a ix footes, as I ges, yn highte. It standeth lyke a fayr columne. The base greate stone ys not wrought. The second stone being rownd hath curiously wrought and paynted the images of Christ, Peter, Paule, John and James, as I remember. Christ sayeth [I am the Alpha and the Omega]. Peter sayeth, [You are Christ, son of the living God]. The saing of the other iij when painted [was in Roman capitals] but now obliterated. The second stone is of the Passion. The third conteineth the xii Apostles. The iiii hath the image of Christ hanging and fastened with iiii nayles and [a support beneath the feet]. the hiest part of the pyller hath the figure of a crosse.

— John Leland, "Itinerary", 1640[49]
Reculver church in 1800 and in the early 1900s
Reculver church as it was in 1800 (above), and in the early 1900s (below). The church is decayed in the earlier view, but retains its spires. The Trinity House wind vanes in the later view were removed some time after 1928,[173] but the ruins remain in a similar state today.

This cross had been removed from the church by 1784.[174] In 1927 archaeologists discovered what was believed to be the base of a 7th–century cross,[175] and it has been suggested that the monastery at Reculver was originally built around this cross.[176] The Reculver cross has been compared with the Anglo-Saxon Ruthwell Cross – an open-air preaching cross in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland[177] – and traces of paint on fragments of the Reculver cross "show that the sculpture was once picked out in colours."[178] Later, stylistic assessments indicate that the cross, carved from a re-used Roman column, probably dates from the 8th century or the 9th, and that the stone believed to have been the base may have been the original, 7th century altar.[179][Fn 36]

No other buildings belonging to the monastery have been found by archaeologists, but they may all have been in the area to the north of the church, which has been lost to the sea.[181] A building which stood west-northwest of the church, and was used as a cottage until it was demolished by the sea in 1781,[182] "appears… to have had a Saxon doorway and the proportions of a pre-[Norman Conquest] church."[181] Leland reported another building, "a [neglected] chapel out of the chyrch yard wher sum say was a paroch chirch [before] the abbay was suppressed":[49] this building was known as the "chapel-house" and stood in the north-eastern corner of the fort until it collapsed into the sea in 1802.[183][Fn 37] This period of destruction culminated in the demolition of almost all of the church of St Mary itself, begun in 1805 using gunpowder:[54]

[In] 1805 ... the young clergyman of the parish, urged on by his Philistine mother, rashly besought his parishioners to demolish this shrine of early Christendom. This they duly did and all save the western towers, which still act as a landmark for shipping, was razed to the ground.

— Nigel & Mary Kerr, A Guide to Anglo-Saxon Sites, 1982[117]

The demolition of this "shrine of early Christendom", and exemplar of Anglo-Saxon church architecture and sculpture,[140][Fn 38] was otherwise thorough, and it is now represented only by the ruins on the site, material incorporated into a replacement parish church at Hillborough,[185] fragments of the cross, and the parts of two massive stone columns, which had been part of the church's triple arch. The columns and fragments of the cross are on display in Canterbury Cathedral.[6][Fn 39] A storm destroyed the spires at a date prior to 1819, and Trinity House replaced them with similarly shaped, open structures, topped by wind vanes.[186][Fn 40] These structures remained until they were removed some time after 1928.[173] The ruins of the church, and the site of the Roman fort within which it was built, are now in the care of English Heritage.[187]

The facade of St John's cathedral, Parramatta
The facade of St John's, Parramatta, NSW, Australia

The twin towers and west front of St John's Cathedral, Parramatta, in Sydney, Australia, which were added in 1817–1819, are based on those of the church at Reculver.[188] A campaign to save Reculver church had been under way when Governor Lachlan Macquarie and his wife Elizabeth left England for Australia in 1809:

Mrs Elizabeth Macquarie showed Lieutenant John Watts, Aide De Camp of the 46th Regiment a watercolour of the church and asked him to design some towers for [St John's, Parramatta]. A watercolour of Reculver Church in the [Mitchell Library section of the State Library of New South Wales] has a note in Macquarie's hand that he laid the foundation stone on 23 December 1818. Mrs Macquarie chose the plan and Lt. Watts was responsible for implementing the design…

— NSW Department of Planning, Heritage Branch, "St. John's Anglican Cathedral"[188][Fn 41]

In 1990, a stone from Reculver was presented to St John's Cathedral by the Historic Building and Monuments Commission for England, now English Heritage.[190]

Country park

A Eurasian Curlew
Eurasian Curlew at Reculver, 2007

Reculver Country Park is a Special Protection Area (SPA) and Site of Special Scientific Interest (SSSI), due partly to the thousands of birds that visit Reculver each year during their migrations from the Arctic, and is managed by Canterbury City Council in partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust and English Heritage.[191] It comprises a narrow strip of protected, cliff-top land about 1.5 miles (2 km) long, running from the remaining enclosure of the Roman fort and the church ruins west to Bishopstone Glen. In winter Brent Geese and wading birds such as Turnstones may be seen, during the summer months Sand Martins nest in the soft cliffs,[192] and wading Curlews may be seen at any time. The grasslands on the cliff top are among the few remaining cliff top wildflower meadows left in Kent, and are home to butterflies and Skylarks. Also present is the nationally scarce species of digger wasp Alysson lunicornis.[193][Fn 42] The park first won a Green Flag Award in 2005, and it is estimated that over 10,000 people visit it each year, including up to 3,500 students for educational trips.[194]

In 2011, it was found that the shoreline in the Herne Bay area, including Reculver, had come under threat from an invasive species, the Carpet sea squirt (Didemnum vexillum), also known as "marine vomit".[195] First recorded in UK waters in 2008, the Carpet sea squirt is indigenous to the sea around Japan, but it has been carried to other parts of the world, including New Zealand and the USA,[196] on boat hulls, fishing equipment, and floating seaweed. Carpet sea squirt can overgrow other, sessile species, "potentially smothering species living in gravel and affecting fisheries."[196][Fn 43]

Centre for renewable energy

A visitor centre in Reculver Country Park re-opened in 2009 as the Reculver Renewable Energy and Interpretation Centre, "marking 200 years of the moving of Reculver village".[197][Fn 11] The centre features a log burner fuelled by logs from the Blean woodland, solar and photovoltaic panels provide electrical power for the centre, and it has displays and information describing the history, geography and wildlife of the area.[198]

Transport

The nearest railway stations to Reculver are at Herne Bay, about 3.75 miles (6 km) to the west, and Birchington-on-Sea, about 4.5 miles (7 km) to the east. Both stations are on the Chatham Main Line, running between London's Victoria station and Ramsgate, on the south-eastern coast of the Isle of Thanet.[199] The railway first reached Herne Bay from the west in 1861, and was extended to Ramsgate Harbour railway station by 1863,[200] but no provision was made for direct access from Reculver. A short-lived goods station for Reculver was opened on the main line in 1864, and in 1884 the South Eastern Railway proposed a branch from its Ashford to Ramsgate line to serve Reculver and Herne Bay, but this was never built.[201] Rudimentary houses were erected by the railway company on marshland near Reculver in 1858 for the navvies who constructed the line through the area; these had been taken over by enginemen of the South Eastern and Chatham Railway by October 1904, when they were replaced by cottages.[202]

A Stagecoach bus service, route 7/7A, which is operated on behalf of Kent County Council, connects Reculver with Herne Bay and Canterbury daily, except on Sundays and bank holidays.[203] Other destinations on this route include Reculver Church of England Primary School, at Hillborough, Chislet, Hoath, and the railway station at Sturry, on the Ashford to Ramsgate line. Reculver is at the end of an unclassified road, Reculver Lane, and is about 2 miles (3 km) by road from the nearest major junction of the A299, or "Thanet Way". From Roman times Reculver was connected to Canterbury by "a well-aligned road… following parish boundaries for a large part of its course,… the original [Reculver] end of which has now fallen into the sea, [but was marked] as 'The King’s Highway' on [an estate map of 1685]."[204][Fn 44]

Looking west from Reculver churchyard
Looking west from Reculver churchyard: in medieval times a harbour lay in the area of sea to the right. Most of Reculver village lay in the area of the car park and the adjacent sea. The nearest building on the left is the King Ethelbert Inn, built and extended in the 19th century.

There is no formal access to Reculver by sea. Passenger steamships called at Herne Bay pier on their route between London and destinations along the north coast of Kent from 1832, but this service ceased in 1862.[206] However, Reculver has had connections with the sea since the 1st century, when the Roman fort of Regulbium had a "supporting harbour",[18] and the quantity and variety of coins found at Reculver dating from the 7th century to the 8th "[almost] certainly [have a] connection with [its] position on a major trading route".[27] Anglo-Saxon Reculver "probably had its own harbour facilities… [and the monastery at Reculver] may well have had a fleet of ships and its own boatyard."[207] The 10th century charter in which King Eadred gave Reculver to the archbishops of Canterbury "[implies] a sandstone-island [north of Reculver] with its own 'mini-Wantsum [Channel]',… [which] could have provided a sheltered channel for beaching and berthing ships."[207] In the Middle Ages, Reculver was a member of the Cinque Port of Sandwich.[208]

In the 16th century, oysters dredged at Reculver were reported as better than any in Kent,[122] and, in the 17th century, an inlet north-west of Reculver was described as "anciently for a harber of ships, called now The Old Pen".[209] The former name of the King Ethelbert Inn at Reculver, the "Hoy and Anchor", makes reference to hoys, "a type of local trading [sailing] vessel",[33] which continued to serve the coastline around Reculver in the mid 19th century, by which time the remnant of the village had been recorded as home only to "fishermen and smugglers".[210] Coastguards were stationed at Reculver from the mid 19th century until they were withdrawn in the mid 20th century,[211] but the towers of the ruined church of Reculver remain a landmark for mariners, both practically and through their use to mark the division between areas covered by Thames Coastguard and Dover Coastguard.[212]

Education

Reculver Church of England Primary School is adjacent to the church at Hillborough, in Reculver parish, where Reculver residents relocated in the early 19th century due to coastal erosion.[54] It caters for children aged between 4 and 11, including those from outside the immediate area.[213][Fn 45] In 2006, the school was ranked above both the local and national averages in most criteria,[215] but it was rated as "satisfactory" (Grade 3) in most aspects by an Ofsted report in July 2010, when it had 489 pupils.[216] A "Section 8" report[217] of November 2011 described progress at the school as "satisfactory … [Provisional] results in the 2011 national tests [showed] an upward swing, bringing attainment broadly in line with national averages."[216] The school's site also hosts Beltinge Day Nursery[218] and Reculver Breakfast and Afterschool Club.[219] The nearest school for older children is Herne Bay High School.[220]

Religion

The church at Hillborough
Reculver parish church of St Mary the Virgin, Hillborough, built in 1876

In 1813, an Anglican church dedicated to St Mary the Virgin was opened at Hillborough, about 1.25 miles (2 km) south-west of Reculver, but within Reculver parish, as a replacement for the old church at Reculver.[221] A "miserable little [church]… built in a rough and poverty-stricken style",[221] it was replaced by the present structure, which was begun in 1876, and consecrated in 1878.[222]

The church of 1876 was built by Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke.[223] It has seating for about 100 people, and is a "simple and relatively plain building",[224] though it incorporates "much of the… stonework [from the old church at Reculver]".[185] A war memorial stands at the edge of the churchyard, facing into the adjacent Reculver Lane, and records the names of 27 parishioners who died fighting in the First World War and the Second World War.[225]

Notable people

King Eadberht I of Kent was buried in the church at Reculver in 748.[226][Fn 46] His tomb was in the south porticus of the church, adjacent to the chancel, though this later became part of the church's south aisle, and the tomb was "a monument of an antique form, mounted with two spires".[32] This was traditionally believed to be the tomb of King Æthelberht I of Kent.[229][Fn 47]

Replica of the ship Susan Constant
A full-size replica of the Susan Constant, in which Robert Hunt, former vicar of Reculver, sailed to the Colony of Virginia in 1606

Simon of Faversham, a 14th century philosopher and theologian, was appointed rector of Reculver but was forced to defend his appointment to the pope, and died "either at the [papal curia in Avignon] or on his way there, some time before 19 July 1306."[230]

The first recorded owner of Brook, about 0.8 miles (1 km) south-southwest of Reculver, but within Reculver parish, was Nicholas Tingewick,[231] physician to King Edward I and, until 1310, rector of Reculver.[232] He was regarded as the "best doctor for the king's health",[232] and his medical practice "left more records than that of most physicians of his time."[232] Brook subsequently passed to James de la Pine, sheriff of Kent in 1353–4 and 1355–6.[233] His grandson sold it to an ancestor of Henry Cheyne,[234] who was elected knight of the shire for Kent in 1563, and was created "Lord Cheyney" in 1572.[235] He sold all of his possessions in Kent by 1574 to "finance his extravagance",[235] and Brook subsequently became the property of Sir Cavalliero Maycott, "an eminent courtier in the reigns of Elizabeth and James",[234] who had "a handsome monument [in the church at Reculver] representing Sir Cavalliero and Lady Maycote, with their eight children, all in alabaster figures, kneeling".[174] Brook is now Brook Farm, "where is a curious old gateway",[174] a "very rustic Elizabethan affair",[223] all of brick, with mouldings.[223][Fn 48]

Thomas Broke, alderman and MP for Calais in the mid 16th century,[237] may have been a son of Thomas Brooke of Reculver, as well as being a "religious radical".[238] Ralph Brooke, officer of arms as Rouge Croix Pursuivant and York Herald under Elizabeth I and James I, died in 1625 and was buried in the church at Reculver, where he was commemorated by a black marble tablet on the wall of the chancel, showing him dressed in his herald's coat.[239]

Robert Hunt, vicar of Reculver from 1595 to 1602, became minister of religion to the English colonial settlement at Jamestown, Virginia, sailing there in the ship Susan Constant in 1606, and "probably celebrated the first known service of holy communion in what is today the United States of America on 21 June 1607."[240] Barnabas Knell was vicar of Reculver from 1602 to 1646, during which time his son Paul Knell was "chaplain to a regiment of cuirassiers, to whom he preached a sermon, ‘The convoy of a Christian’, in August 1643, during the siege of Gloucester."[241] An estate map of 1685 shows that much of Reculver then belonged to James Oxenden, who spent much of his life as an MP for Kent constituencies, between 1679 and 1702.[242]

See also

References

Footnotes

  1. ^ "Many more [Old English] forms are on record."[4]
  2. ^ The reconstructed plaque mentions the basilica and an "aedes principiorum", for which sacellum, or "headquarters shrine", is understood.[12]
  3. ^ A strigil, which would have been used in the bath house, was found on the shore at Reculver some time before 1708, and is described and illustrated in Roach Smith 1850, p. 203 & Plate 7, Fig. 12.
  4. ^ "The evidence suggests that [most of the Saxon Shore forts] were constructed c. 225-290, and this means that the system was conceived about sixty years before the historical records refer to Germanic raiding. The discrepancy cannot be explained if they were a purpose-built defensive system, but it can be explained if they were a series of state trans-shipment centres."[20]
  5. ^ "[A] Roman building with a hypocaust and [mosaic floor] stood considerably to the northward of the fort".[23]
  6. ^ While "[it] must be certain that the Roman fort had a supporting harbour, probably a natural feature improved by quays and jetties",[18] "[the] quantity of seventh- and eighth-century coins picked up from Reculver and its vicinity is paralleled [in England] only at Hamwic: finds include gold thrymsas and some 50 sceattas, with contemporary Merovingian coins and a small group of Northumbrian issues. … Almost certainly there is some connection with Reculver's position on a major trading route…"[27]
  7. ^ "[The Reculver fibula] belongs to a class of ornaments… remarkable for peculiarities which seem almost to restrict them to the early Kentish Saxons. Battely speaks of the fibulæ found at Reculver, [in the late 17th and early 18th centuries] as being almost innumerable; some of these… were constructed with much artistic skill and good workmanship; they were either enameled, or set with precious stones."[29]
  8. ^ The Roman remains at Reculver would have been "the only substantial building for miles around",[33] but "Anglo-Saxon kings seem to have shown little interest in establishing themselves in old Roman forts."[27]
  9. ^ Hasted 1800 refers to Reculver as a borough,[32] but it is not listed as such in Beresford, M. & Finberg, H.P.R., English Medieval Boroughs A Hand-List, Newton Abbot: David & Charles, 1973. However, tithings in Kent were known as "borghs", a word cognate with "borough", but derived from "borh", a "pledge".[43]
  10. ^ William Lambarde, writing in 1576, gave the day of the fair as "7.Septemb. being the Nativitie of the blessed virgine Marie",[46] to whom the church at Reculver was dedicated.
  11. ^ a b There is no record of the settlement of Reculver being moved to a new site: rather, "the gradual erosion of the coastline meant that [Reculver's] residents began to abandon it, moving instead to Hillborough [within the same parish]."[54] An OS map of 1885 has the place-name "Reculver" against the location of the church at Hillborough,[55] as does a map of 1903,[56] but these are exceptional when compared with a map of 1805,[57] other 19th- and 20th-century maps,[58] and with current OS maps at grid reference TR225692.
  12. ^ In a letter written in March 1809 to The Gentleman's Magazine, but published in September, T. Mot wrote that the vicarage was "one of the most mean structures ever appropriated to such a purpose".[62] Another letter to the same magazine described the vicarage as follows: "[It has] the appearance of some antiquity; it consists of two miserable rooms on the ground floor and a like number above, with no other conveniences or appurtenances of any kind. In fact was it not for the stone porch with which the entrance is decorated, it would pass only for the cottage of a labourer."[33]
  13. ^ T. Mot's letter in The Gentleman's Magazine ends with the observation that "[the] jolly landlord revelled with his noisy guests, where late the venerable Vicar smoked his lonely pipe."[62] An image of the vicarage in use as the Hoy and Anchor Inn, adapted from The Gentleman's Magazine, 79, 1809, Plate II, is at "King Ethelbert Pub Reculver 1808". (2011). Picasa Web Albums. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  14. ^ "On the entrance door [of the King Ethelbert Inn] are the words 'Hoy and Anchor Bar'".[33]
  15. ^ References such as "S 8" indicate the number given to an Anglo-Saxon charter in Sawyer 1968. S 8 is the earliest genuine Anglo-Saxon charter known to have survived in its original form. The Latin texts of most of the Sawyer references in this article can be found through the list at "ASChart Anglo-Saxon Charters". (2011). King's College London Digital Humanities. Retrieved 7 December 2011.
  16. ^ Bleangate is about 1.25 miles (2 km) south-west of Herne, at OS grid reference TR167645.
  17. ^ All the members of Bleangate hundred were assessed at the same rate of £12.14s. (£12.70)[80] for taxes known as "fifteenths and tenths".[81] This is the only hundred in Kent where all settlements were assessed at the same amount for this type of tax.[82]
  18. ^ For the current ecclesiastical parish boundary, see "Reculver". (2008). The Church of England. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  19. ^ Caroline Lucas gave up her role as MEP in 2010, when she was elected as the UK's first Green Party MP, for Brighton Pavilion.[93]
  20. ^ Philp 2005, Fig. 4 shows a conjectured Roman coastline around Reculver, where the fort is located near the root of a promontory projecting about 1.25 miles (2 km) north-eastwards into the sea. This promontory is defined on its north-western side by a long inlet of the sea, and on its south-eastern side by the Wantsum Channel, and is made a peninsula by an inlet of the Wantsum Channel just south of the Roman fort.
  21. ^ The increase in numbers in the early 20th century may be partly due to holidaymakers, who were included in census returns: while the postcard image from 1913 shows that there was sufficient tourism by then to support a cafe, the census of 2001, undertaken on 29 April, albeit covering a smaller area than the earliest censuses, records almost a quarter (32) of the 135 people in the Reculver area as being in a "Caravan or other mobile or temporary structure". "Accommodation Type – People (UV42)". (2004). Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 9 September 2010. Includes a map of the area covered.
  22. ^ "Shortly after World War II a caravan site was established below the church which has since grown so large that much imagination is now required to conjure up the majesty of its former setting."[117] A post-war image of the ruins at Reculver surrounded by caravans is at "Reculver Caravan Camp". (2011). Picasa Web Albums. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  23. ^ "Reculver’s role in the region wide development of East Kent as a green tourism destination is central to [Natural East Kent]’s work. The objective is to create access to good connections across the region for walkers and cyclists, to provide good interpretation of natural and heritage assets and to support the private sector to provide good quality accommodation."[118]
  24. ^ This byname is also found as "The Sisters" and the "Two Sisters", but the towers are also sometimes known as simply "The Reculvers".[124] The "usual form" of this story concerns twin sisters named Frances and Isabella, orphaned daughters of Sir Geoffrey St Clare. Frances became prioress of the Benedictine priory of Davington, near Faversham, while Isabella was a ward of "Abbot John of Canterbury", who was the sisters' uncle. Isabella became betrothed to Henry de Belville, but he died fighting for Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field, in 1485. Isabella then joined her sister and became a nun. Fourteen years later, Frances became ill. The sisters vowed that, if Frances recovered, they would go on pilgrimage to give thanks at the Shrine of Our Ladye Star of the Sea in Broadstairs. Frances recovered, so they sailed from Faversham for Broadstairs, but their ship was caught in a storm and ran aground on a sandbank near Reculver called "The Horse". Frances was soon rescued, but night fell and Isabella was left on the wreck until daylight. Though she too was then rescued, she died of exposure in her sister's arms. Frances completed the vow to make offerings to the shrine at Broadstairs, and then restored Reculver church, also dedicated to St Mary, adding spires to the towers, which were known thereafter as the "Twin Sisters".[125] Mention of a sandbank near Reculver named "The Horse" may be a "pseudo-historical detail", and no such sandbank is marked in this location on modern charts; but it is in their nature to move over time, and it is shown in a chart from 1790.[126] A "Horse Channel" is marked on modern charts in about the same location, approximately 0.31 miles (0.5 km) north-west of Reculver towers.
  25. ^ "The Romans officially condemned human sacrifice… Human life was cheap on the frontier, however, and Roman auxiliaries could be as barbarous as those they fought. … Even in the most civilised parts of [Roman] Britain, the authorities seem on occasion to have turned a blind eye to infant sacrifice, which may of course have been surreptitious."[131]
  26. ^ According to Hasted 1800, King Ecgberht gave Reculver for the establishment of a monastery "as an atonement for the murder of his two nephews [sons of Eormenred of Kent]",[32] but Kelly 2008 makes no mention of this, instead placing the monastery's establishment in the context of domination of the early Kentish church by "non-native" leaders, and observing that "[perhaps] it is no coincidence that in the year of Theodore's arrival [from Rome] King Ecgberht was involved in the establishment of a house of male religious [at Reculver] in a strategic location outside Canterbury. … It may be significant that the next archbishop after the death of Theodore in 690 was Berhtwald, abbot of Reculver by 679 and perhaps Bassa's immediate successor."[139]
  27. ^ The columns "are Saxon rather than Roman."[143] A photograph of an English Heritage information plaque for visitors to the site of the church, headed "An Anglo-Saxon Church", and showing a reconstruction of the original church of Reculver, with monks robed in black in the chancel, is at "The church of St Mary, Reculver, Kent". (2011). Anglo-Saxon Churches in England. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  28. ^ "Sarre was a highly strategic place, overlooking the confluence of the Wantsum and the Great Stour, directly linked to Canterbury… In the early 760s it was the site of a toll-station, where the agents of the Kentish kings collected dues on trading ships using the Wantsum route … but its importance goes back much earlier … and it may be that the minster [at Reculver] received a share of the royal tolls levied at Sarre."[148]
  29. ^ See also Historia ecclesiastica gentis Anglorum, v, 8. (2011). Wikisource. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  30. ^ The text of this charter, with an English translation, is online at "Anglo-Saxon Charter S 546 Archive Christ Church, Canterbury". Kemble Anglo-Saxon Charters. Retrieved 11 September 2010. See also Gough 1992; Brooks, N. (1989), "The creation and early structure of the kingdom of Kent", in Bassett, S. (ed.), The Origins of Anglo-Saxon Kingdoms, Leicester University Press, p. 72.
  31. ^ "[The abbot and monastic community of Reculver] may have been given a refuge [from the Vikings] within Canterbury, as were the abbess and community at Lyminge as early as 804 (S 160)."[156] "Indeed, if [other Kentish] minsters' [post-Viking] monopoly on archiepiscopal chrism is really a survival from the seventh century, the Eastern Kentish church preserved its primary… character against all the odds",[158] though "[by the eleventh century] Reculver [seems] to have dropped out of sight entirely".[159]
  32. ^ Of the £42.7s. from Reculver, £7.7s. (£7.35) was from an unspecified source. While Hoath, Herne and western parts of the Isle of Thanet were Reculver possessions in the Anglo-Saxon period, and remained attached to Reculver long after 1086, of these only Reculver is mentioned by name in Domesday Book: "[as] the name [Reculver] is used here, it means something larger than the parish but much smaller than the thirteenth-century manor of Reculver. It is fairly sure to have included Hoath…; it may also have included the adjoining part of Thanet, [including] All Saints… and St Nicholas-at-Wade… [The separate manor of Nortone is] Herne… under another name."[75]
  33. ^ The multiplication indicated by Eales would give a peasant population for the whole of the estate centred on Reculver in 1086 of 460–575 people.
  34. ^ From 1310, the rector of Reculver was the archbishop of Canterbury.[166]
  35. ^ "[In about 1296, Archbishop Robert Winchelsey of Canterbury] united to [the] church of St. Nicholas the adjoining parish of All Saints, the church of which had been before esteemed as a chapel of ease to [St Nicholas], and soon afterwards became desecrated and fell to ruin. This small parish of All Saints, the church or chapel of which may be seen in an antient map of this island, in Trinity college library, in Cambridge, had formerly within its bounds a vill or town, called All Saints, belonging to it. This is now called the [borgh] of All Saints, in St. Nicholas parish. This church has been long since so entirely demolished, that there are no marks of it left. It appears by Leland that it was so in [the mid 16th century], but how long is not known. It appears to have stood not far from [Shuart] house."[167] The site of All Saints church is marked on the 1877 OS 1:10,560 scale (6 inch/mile) map of Kent, about 330 yards (302 m) east of Shuart, and land between Shuart and the church site is marked there as "Glebe". The current OS grid reference is TR271678. See also Jenkins, F. (1981), "The church of All Saints, Shuart in the Isle of Thanet", in Detsicas, A. (ed.), Collectanea Historica: Essays in Memory of Stuart Rigold, Maidstone: Kent Archaeological Society, pp. 147–54.
  36. ^ "Some later 7th- or early 8th-century work… contains a few blocks of freestone less likely to have been found among Roman ruins. … [Fine] stone from northern France was used for the cross-head".[180]
  37. ^ In 1800, these buildings were described as follows: "[An] ancient gothic building, formerly the chapel of St. James, and belonging to the hermit of Reculver. It is now converted into a cottage, the walls of which are mostly composed of Roman bricks, and in the wall is an arch entirely so. [And] a small house, which has a religious gothic appearance, and is supposed to have been formerly the dwelling of the hermit, and king Richard II in his 3d year, granted a commission to Thomas Hamond, hermyte of the chapel of St. James, &c. being at our lady of Reculver, ordeyned for the sepulture of such persons as by casualtie of stormy or other misadventures were perished to receive the alms of charitable people for the building of the roof of the chapel fallen down."[32]
  38. ^ T. Mot's letter to The Gentleman's Magazine in 1809 describes the church in some detail, and says that it was then somewhat delapidated, with "trifling … repairs such as have only tended to obliterate its once-harmonizing beauties."[184] See also Gough 2001.
  39. ^ A contemporary image of the church's destruction is at Witney 1978, Plate 7, and an aerial view of the ruins is at Plate 8.
  40. ^ A stone tablet incorporated into the church ruins reads: "These TOWERS the Remains of the once venerable Church of RECULVERS, were purchased of the Parish by the Corporation of Trinity House, of Deptford Strond in the Year 1810, and Groins laid down at their Expence, to protect the Cliff on which the Church had stood. When the ancient Spires were afterwards blown down, the present Substitutes were erected, to render the Towers still sufficiently conspicuous to be useful to Navigation. Captn. Joseph Cotton, deputy Master in the year 1819."[186] A 1909 image showing Reculver towers topped by Trinity House wind vanes is at "Reculver Towers 1909". (2011). Picasa Web Albums. Retrieved 7 January 2012.
  41. ^ In the watercolour, the sea is shown washing against the cliff, and the spires of Reculver church have been replaced by the Trinity House wind vanes; the accompanying note is annotated with a reference to Jervis, J. (1935), "Parramatta During the Macquarie Period", Journal and Proceedings 4, Parramatta Historical Society, p. 163, saying that the note is "evidently a copy of what was evidently intended as an inscription upon the foundation stone of the towers of the Parramatta Church".[189] For Lt. John Watts, see also "The Military at Parramatta". (2010). Royal New South Wales Lancers. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  42. ^ For more on the wildlife, see Reculver Country Park Wildlife Resource Pack. (not dated). Kent Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  43. ^ Carpet sea squirt is classified as an "alert species", and the public are requested to "report any sightings as soon as possible."[196]
  44. ^ "[A] road that is now hard to trace ran from Canterbury to Reculver; its course may have been via Fordwich (there is now a footpath from Fordwich to Canterbury that may represent it), where the Stour was crossed, Buckwell, Maypole [in the civil parish of Hoath], and Hillborough to Reculver. It would not have been impossible for the Romans to have constructed a road between Richborough and Reculver, but it would have been an enormous task and scarcely worth the trouble; the only practicable route would have been by way of Chislet, Upstreet, and Grove on the banks of the Wantsum Channel, and then at least three waterways would have had to be negotiated."[205]
  45. ^ The school's brochure states, in effect, that proximity to the school only becomes an admission criterion in the event that the school is over-subscribed.[214]
  46. ^ In her entry for "Æthelberht II (d. 762)" in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Susan Kelly states that Eadbert I of Kent was buried at Reculver "in 748".[226] However, in Kelly 2008, she observes that there is "a much better context"[227] for this tomb to belong to Eadberht II, who "faded from view c. 763 x 764".[228]
  47. ^ "[The royal tomb at Reculver was] in a position corresponding to the south porticus (at St Augustine's kings were buried in the south porticus); an inscription or other record identifying [the occupant] as King Eadberht (grand-)son of King Æthelberht may have given rise to the later belief that it was the earlier King Æthelberht himself that was buried [at Reculver]."[228]
  48. ^ The gateway at Brook Farm is a scheduled monument.[236] It can be viewed from the adjacent road, Brook Lane, and is mapped as a historic feature at OS grid reference TR219681.

Notes

  1. ^ a b "Key Figures for Physical Environment". (2007). Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 23 December 2011.
  2. ^ a b "Census 2001". (2001). Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  3. ^ Ekwall 1960, p. 383; Mills 1998, p. 285; Glover 1976, p. 155; Jessup 1936, p. 190.
  4. ^ Ekwall 1960, p. 383.
  5. ^ Ekwall 1960, pp. xxvii, 92.
  6. ^ a b c Reculver Masterplan Report Volume 1, Section 2.0 "Historical Context". (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  7. ^ Philp 2005, p. 192.
  8. ^ Philp 2005, p. 192; "(West of Fort on Cliff)" & "Reculver". (2006). Heritage Gateway. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  9. ^ "Palstave, found at Reculver" & "Iron Age gold coins (5), found at Reculver". (2009). Exploring Kent's Past. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  10. ^ Philp 2005, pp. 192–3.
  11. ^ Philp 2005, pp. 206–18 (esp. 210–3); Philp 1969a; Philp 1969b; "Regulbium". ( 2007). English Heritage PastScape. Retrieved 8 December 2010.
  12. ^ a b Philp 1969b.
  13. ^ Philp 2005, pp. 54–9, 60–3, 73–80.
  14. ^ Philp 2005, pp. 92–5.
  15. ^ Cotterill, J. (1993), "Saxon Raiding and the Role of the Late Roman Coastal Forts of Britain", Britannia 24, p. 236.
  16. ^ Bagshaw 1847, p. 224.
  17. ^ Harris 2001, p. 33.
  18. ^ a b c d Philp 2005, p. 3.
  19. ^ Philp 2005, p. 3; Harris 2001, p. 32.
  20. ^ Cotterill, J. (1993), "Saxon Raiding and the Role of the Late Roman Coastal Forts of Britain", Britannia 24, p. 238.
  21. ^ Philp 2005, p. 95.
  22. ^ Philp 2005, pp. 95–7.
  23. ^ Jessup 1936, p. 188, citing Battely, J. (1774), Antiquitates Rutupinae, Oxford, p. 54.
  24. ^ "Ahead of his time: Carausius was a pirate, a rebel and the first ruler of a unified Britain". (2010). The Independent. Retrieved 26 December 2011.
  25. ^ Cotterill, J. (1993), "Saxon Raiding and the Role of the Late Roman Coastal Forts of Britain", Britannia 24, pp. 227–39 (esp. 235).
  26. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine, 79, 1809, Plate I.
  27. ^ a b c d e Kelly 2008, p. 73.
  28. ^ Roach Smith 1850, pp. 213–4 & Plate 7, Fig. 18; "Keystone garnet disc brooch from Reculver". (2009). Exploring Kent's Past. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  29. ^ Roach Smith 1850, p. 214.
  30. ^ "AS claw beaker, Reculver". (2009). Exploring Kent's Past. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  31. ^ "Anglo Saxon Pagan pottery from Reculver". (2009). Exploring Kent's Past. Retrieved 24 January 2012.
  32. ^ a b c d e f g h i j Hasted 1800, pp. 109–25.
  33. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l Gough 2001.
  34. ^ a b Garmonsway, G.N. (1972, 1975), The Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, Dent, Dutton, pp. 34–5; Fletcher 1965, pp. 16–31; Page 1926, pp. 141–2; Kelly 2008, pp. 71–2.
  35. ^ a b Blair 2005, p. 123.
  36. ^ a b c d Kelly 2008, p. 80.
  37. ^ a b Kelly 2008, pp. 81–2; Brooks, N. (1979), "England in the Ninth Century: The Crucible of Defeat", in Transactions of the Royal Historical Society 5th series 29, pp. 1–20 (esp. 12); Brooks 1984, pp. 203–4; Kerr 1982, pp. 192–94.
  38. ^ a b c d e Kelly 2008, p. 82.
  39. ^ Kilburne 1659, p. 221.
  40. ^ a b Graham 1944, p. 1.
  41. ^ Jessup 1936, pp. 180–2.
  42. ^ Philp 2005, p. 11.
  43. ^ a b Baker, A.R.H., "Field Systems in the Vale of Holmesdale", Agricultural History Review, 14(1), 1966, p. 11(note). Click on the link "Alan R. H. Baker Field Systems in the Vale of Holmesdale" to download the article in PDF format.
  44. ^ Gazetteer of Markets and Fairs in England and Wales to 1516. (2010). Centre for Metropolitan History. Retrieved 29 December 2011. Click on "List of Places", "[R]", "Reculver (Kent)".
  45. ^ Duncombe 1784, p. 73.
  46. ^ Lambarde 1596, p. 65.
  47. ^ Bagshaw 1847, p. 217.
  48. ^ Roach Smith 1850, map: between pp. 192–3; description: p. 193.
  49. ^ a b c Hearne 1711, p. 137.
  50. ^ Hearne 1711, p. 137; Jessup 1936, p. 187.
  51. ^ Lambarde 1596, p. 207.
  52. ^ Jessup 1936, p. 189.
  53. ^ Kelly 2008, p. 67; Harris 2001, p. 36; The Gentleman's Magazine, 201, 1856, p. 317 & note.
  54. ^ a b c Harris 2001, p. 36.
  55. ^ "Kent New Divisions of County". (1885). Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  56. ^ "Ordnance Survey of England and Wales Sheets 20 & 24". (1903). Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  57. ^ "C. Smith New Map of Great Britain and Ireland". (1805). Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  58. ^ "Historical maps". (2009). Vision of Britain. Retrieved 22 January 2012.
  59. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine, 91, 1821, p. 319; Coastguard, "1.1 Before the Coastguard". (2009). The National Archives. Retrieved 8 January 2012.
  60. ^ Kelly 2008, p. 67.
  61. ^ Jessup 1936, p. 187.
  62. ^ a b The Gentleman's Magazine, 79, 1809, p. 802.
  63. ^ Lewis 1911, p. 62.
  64. ^ The Gentleman's Magazine, 79, 1809, p. 907.
  65. ^ Reculver Masterplan Report Volume 1, Section 2.1 "Bronze Age to Late Norman". (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  66. ^ Flower, S. (2002), A Hell Of A Bomb, Stroud: Tempus, p. 21.
  67. ^ "Media". (2007). The Dambusters (617 Squadron). Retrieved 16 July 2010. "Upkeep test drop 1" & "Upkeep test drop 2".
  68. ^ "Anniversary tribute to Dambusters". (2003). BBC News Online. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  69. ^ "The tide is turned for Dam Buster bombs raised". (1997). The Independent. Retrieved 20 December 2011; "Bouncing bomb back". (1999). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 16 July 2010.
  70. ^ "People's Museum - Week two gallery The Bouncing Bomb". (2006). BBC History. Retrieved 24 December 2011; "Other Exhibits The Dambusters Bouncing Bomb". (not dated). RAF Manston Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum. Retrieved 24 December 2011.
  71. ^ Sawyer 1968, S 546.
  72. ^ Kelly 2008, p. 73; Flight 2010, p. 162.
  73. ^ Duncombe 1784, p. 67.
  74. ^ Turner, S., "Aspects of the development of public assembly in the Danelaw", in Assemblage the Sheffield graduate journal of archaeology, 5, 2000. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  75. ^ a b Flight 2010, p. 162.
  76. ^ a b c Hasted 1800, pp. 109–25; Bagshaw 1847, p. 217.
  77. ^ Hasted 1800, pp. 109–25; Bagshaw 1847, pp. 217, 225.
  78. ^ "E 179/129/760" (E 179 Database). (not dated). The National Archives. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  79. ^ Kilburne 1659, p. 332.
  80. ^ Lambarde 1576, p. 28.
  81. ^ "Taxation records before 1689", 4.2 Fifteenths and Tenths, 1334-1624. (not dated). The National Archives. Retrieved 3 January 2012.
  82. ^ Lambarde 1576, pp. 25–47.
  83. ^ "Tax grant details" (hearth tax). (not dated). The National Archives. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  84. ^ E 179/249/33 Part 2 of 10. (1663). The National Archives. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  85. ^ "E 179/129/746". (1673). The National Archives. Retrieved 14 January 2012.
  86. ^ Harrington, D. (2000), Kent Hearth Tax Assessment Lady Day 1664, pp. xx–xxi ("Lady Day" is 25 March).
  87. ^ Harrington, D. (1999), Kent Hearth Tax Assessment Lady Day 1664 CKS: Q/RTh, pp. 264, 266–7
  88. ^ a b "Relationships / unit history of Reculver". (2009). Vision of Britain. Retrieved 28 December 2011; Bagshaw 1847, p. 224.
  89. ^ "Diagram of Kent". (1928). Vision of Britain. Retrieved 21 January 2012.
  90. ^ Election Maps. (2012). Ordnance Survey. Retrieved 15 January 2012. To view the ward boundary, navigate the site for "Canterbury" local authority, then adjust the map to show Reculver: with "Ward" selected under the "Show layers" tab, click on "Show entire Electoral division on map", and then on Reculver in the map.
  91. ^ "Election results for Reculver". (2011). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 15 January 2012.
  92. ^ a b "Roger Gale". (not dated). www.parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  93. ^ "Caroline Lucas". (not dated). www.parliament.uk. Retrieved 15 December 2011; "General Election 2010: Caroline Lucas becomes Britain's first Green MP". (2010). The Telegraph. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  94. ^ "European Parliamentary Election South East Region". (2009). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 15 December 2011.
  95. ^ Jessup 1936, pp. 179(note), 193.
  96. ^ Jessup 1936, pp. 179(note), 193; Philp 2005, Fig. 4.
  97. ^ Jessup 1936, p. 188.
  98. ^ "The Geology of Kent". (not dated). Kent Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 17 September 2010.
  99. ^ a b British Geological Survey (2010). "The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details Thanet Sand Formation". NERC. Retrieved 17 September 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  100. ^ a b Ward 1978.
  101. ^ British Geological Survey (2010). "The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details Upnor Formation". NERC. Retrieved 17 September 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  102. ^ British Geological Survey (2010). "The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details Harwich Formation". NERC. Retrieved 17 September 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  103. ^ Reculver Masterplan Report Volume 1, Section 4.1 "Topography, Landscape and Sea" (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  104. ^ British Geological Survey (2010). "The BGS Lexicon of Named Rock Units — Result Details London Clay Formation". NERC. Retrieved 17 September 2010. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |accessdate= (help)
  105. ^ Reculver Country Park Geology Resource Pack. (not dated). Kent Wildlife Trust. Retrieved 12 September 2010.
  106. ^ Jessup 1936, pp. 186–8.
  107. ^ Hasted 1800, pp. 109–25; Harris 2001, p. 36.
  108. ^ Reculver Masterplan Report Volume 1, Section 3.8 "Coastal Protection" (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 17 July 2010.
  109. ^ Reculver Masterplan Report Volume 2, "Project Plans". (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  110. ^ a b "Wye 1971–2000 averages". (not dated). Met Office. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  111. ^ a b "England 1971–2000 averages". (not dated). Met Office. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  112. ^ "Kent weather exposed". (not dated). BBC Kent. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  113. ^ Final Drought Plan, "7.2 Historic Droughts", pp. 67–8. (2007). South East Water. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  114. ^ "Reculver Population 1801 to 1921". (2009). Kent Archaeological Society. Retrieved 7 September 2010; "Reculver AP/CP" (where "AP/CP" means "Ancient Parish and Civil Parish"). (2009). Vision of Britain. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  115. ^ Philp 2005, p. 2.
  116. ^ "Neighbourhood Statistics Area: Reculver (ward)". (not dated). Office for National Statistics. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  117. ^ a b c Kerr 1982, p. 194
  118. ^ a b Reculver Masterplan Report Volume 1, Section 3.4 "Natural East Kent (NEK)" (2008). Canterbury City Council Online. Retrieved 13 December 2011.
  119. ^ "Invasive carpet seasquirt spreads rapidly on the Herne Bay coast". (2011). Kentish Gazette. Retrieved 21 December 2011.
  120. ^ "The Return of the Natives: Whitstable's oysters back in fashion". (2009). Mail Online. Retrieved 7 September 2010.
  121. ^ Duncombe 1784, p. 79.
  122. ^ a b Lambarde 1596, p. 261.
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