Reculver

Reculver
The twin towers of St Mary's Church
Reculver  Reculver shown within Kent
Area	2.79 sq mi (7.2 km2) [20]
Population	135 [21]
- Density	48 /sq mi (19 /km2)
OS grid reference	TR2269
Civil parish	Herne Bay
District	City of Canterbury
Shire county	Kent
Region	South East
Country	England
Sovereign state	United Kingdom
Post town	CANTERBURY
Postcode district	CT6
Dialling code	01227
Police	Kent
Fire	Kent
Ambulance	South East Coast
EU Parliament	South East England
UK Parliament	Canterbury
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 II of Kent was buried there in the 760s. 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", and the 19th century facade of St John's Cathedral in Parramatta, a suburb of Sydney, Australia, is a copy of that at Reculver.

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

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".^{[22][Fn 1]} The form "Raculfceastre" includes the Old English place-name element "ceaster", which frequently relates to "a [Roman] city or walled town".^[23]

Pre-historic and Roman

Stone Age flint tools have been washed out from the cliffs to the west of Reculver,^[24] and a Mesolithic tranchet axe was found at Reculver in 1960, but this was probably a casual loss.^[25] Evidence for human settlement at Reculver begins with late Bronze Age and Iron Age ditches, which indicate an "extensive phased settlement",^[26] where a Bronze Age palstave and Iron Age gold coins have been found.^[27] This was followed by a Roman "fortlet" dating to their conquest of Britain, which began in 43 AD,^[28] and a full-size 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.^[29] 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.^{[30][Fn 2]} These were found by archaeologists, together with probable officers' quarters, barracks and a bath house.^{[31][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".^[32]

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]",^[33] and allowing observation from the fort on all sides.^[34] The entrance to the headquarters building, or "principia", faced north, indicating that the fort's main gate was on its north side, facing the eponymous promontory and the sea.^[35] 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.^[36] It must also have had a harbour nearby,^[36] and, though this has not yet been found, it was probably near to the fort's southern or eastern side.^{[37][Fn 4]} Roman forts were normally accompanied by a civilian settlement, or "vicus", and it is clear that significant Roman structures and features existed 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".^{[38][Fn 5]} It may have covered "some ten hectares [25 acres] in all."^[39]

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.^[40] 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.^[41]

Monastery and church

Reculver church viewed from the shore to the east-northeast in 1782: The Gentleman's Magazine, September 1809^[4]

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,"^[42] given the types and quantity of coins found there.^{[42][Fn 6]} Other early Anglo-Saxon items found at Reculver include a fragment of a gilt bronze brooch, or "fibula", which was originally circular and set with coloured stones or glass,^{[43][Fn 7]} a claw beaker,^[44] and pottery.^[45] King Æthelberht of Kent was traditionally said to have moved his royal court there from Canterbury in about 597, for example by John Duncombe in 1784,^[46] and to have built a palace on the site of the Roman ruins;^[2] but archaeological excavation has shown no evidence of this, and the story has been described as probably a "pious legend".^{[47][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.^[48]

The monastery developed as the centre of a "large estate, a manor and a parish",^[47] and, by the early 9th century, it had become "extremely wealthy",^[49] but it then fell under the control of the archbishops of Canterbury.^[50] 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.^[51] 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.^[52]

By 1066 the monastery had become a parish church.^[52] However, in 1086 Reculver was named in Domesday Book as a hundred, with the estate centred on Reculver valued at £42.7s. (£42.35);^[53] and, in the 13th century, the parish of Reculver remained one of "exceptional wealth".^[54] The church building was extended considerably during the Middle Ages, including the addition of the towers in the 12th century,^[55] indicating that the settlement at Reculver had become a "thriving township",^[47] with "dozens of houses".^{[56][Fn 9]} The parish was broken up in 1310, when chapelries at Herne and, on the Isle of Thanet, St Nicholas-at-Wade and All Saints were converted into parishes, though Hoath was still a perpetual curacy belonging to Reculver parish in the 19th century.^[57] Records for the poll tax of 1377 show that there were then 364 individuals of 14 years and above, not including "honest beggars", in the reduced parish of Reculver.^{[58][Fn 10]}

Loss to the sea

Estate map of Reculver of 1685:^[28] the church, the "chapel-house", the Roman fort and the former town of Reculver, described as "Village-lyke" in 1540.^[29]

By 1540, when John Leland recorded a visit to Reculver, the coastline had receded to within little more than a quarter of a mile (402 m) of the "Towne [which] at this tyme [was] but Village lyke".^[59] Soon after, in 1576, William Lambarde described Reculver as "poore and simple".^[60] 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,^[2] but a map of "about 1630"^[61] 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 points clearly to a dwindling population.^[47] 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.^{[62][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^[2]

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",^[2] and in 1821 Reculver was described as a principal station for the "Smuggling Preventive Service".^[63] Work began to demolish the old church in 1805,^[64] 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.^[65]

The vicarage was abandoned at the same time as the church, or a little earlier.^{[47][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.^{[66][Fn 13]} Despite the report in 1800 that there were then only five or six houses left at Reculver,^[2] a new Hoy and Anchor Inn was built by 1809,^[67] and this was renamed as the "King Ethelbert Inn" in the 1830s.^{[47][Fn 14]} Further construction work is indicated by a stone over the doorway to the inn bearing a date of 1843,^[68] and it was later extended into the form in which it stands today, "probably ... in 1883".^{[47][Fn 15]} Today the site of the church is managed by English Heritage, and the village has all but disappeared.^{[Fn 16]} 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.^[69]

Bouncing bombs

Barnes Wallis and others watch a practice Upkeep bomb strike the shoreline at Reculver, 1943

During the Second World War, the Reculver coastline was one location used to test Barnes Wallis's "bouncing bomb" prototypes.^[70] Reculver was chosen for its seclusion,^[71] though the presence of the church towers as a clear marker for the bombers, and the potential to recover prototypes owing to the shallow water, probably were also factors.^[72] Different, inert versions of the bomb were tested at Reculver, leading to the development of the operational version known as "Upkeep".^[73] 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.^[74]

Two prototype bouncing bombs, about 6 feet (2 m) long and 3 feet (1 m) wide, lay in marshland behind the sea wall at Reculver until about 1977, when they were removed by the Army.^[72] Other prototypes 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.^[75] Others are on display in Dover Castle and in the Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum at the former RAF Manston, on the Isle of Thanet.^[76]

Governance

In the 10th century charter by which King Eadred gave Reculver to the archbishops of Canterbury, the boundary of the mainland part of the estate was about the same as those for the parishes of Reculver, Hoath and Herne, and the estate included part of the Isle of Thanet.^{[77][Fn 17]} In 1086, Domesday Book named Reculver as a hundred,^[53] meaning that it was then the meeting-place for the hundred court.^[78] As well as Reculver itself, the hundred of Reculver included Hoath and Herne, and it may also have included the neighbouring area of Thanet.^[79] The parishes of Herne, to the west of Reculver, and St Nicholas-at-Wade on the Isle of Thanet were created from parts of Reculver parish in 1310,^[80] 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.^[81] By 1377, the local hundred was named after Bleangate,^{[82][Fn 18]} in a detached part of Chislet parish, and, by the 17th century, it included Chislet, Herne, Hoath, Reculver, Stourmouth, Sturry and Westbere.^{[83][Fn 19]}

Reculver parish was recorded as tithings – known in Kent as "borghs"^[84] – under various names in Bleangate hundred for the purposes of the Hearth Tax, levied between 1662 and 1689.^[85] 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.^[86] In 1673, Reculver borgh and Brookgate borgh were recorded under a heading for Herne parish, and Hoath was recorded under its own parish heading.^[87] However, borghs in Kent, and tithings generally, were related to the manorial and hundredal administration of the county, rather than to the parishes in which they lay.^[88] 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,^[89] though by 1800 this court was usually held at Herne.^[2]

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 from its division in 1310 until 1934.^[90] Included were Reculver, Hillborough, Bishopstone and Brook (now Brook Farm), and 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.^{[91][Fn 20]} In 1934, the civil functions of the parish were merged into the civil parish of Herne Bay.^[90] 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.^[92] 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.^[93]

At the national level, Reculver is in the English parliamentary constituency of North Thanet, for which Roger Gale (Conservative) has been MP since 1983.^[94] 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%).^[94] 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; replaced by Keith Taylor in 2010);^{[95][Fn 21]} and Peter Skinner (Labour).^[96]

Geography

Reculver viewed from the Country Park cliff-top, which is eroding at about 6.5 feet (2 m) per year. The sea defences at centre date to the 1990s. Until the late 18th century, the centre of Reculver village was slightly left of centre in the area shown.

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.^[97] 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.^{[98][Fn 22]} The ruins of a Roman fort and a medieval church stand on the remains of the promontory, a low hill with a maximum height of 50 feet (15 m), which is the "last seaward extension of the Blean Hills."^[99]

Sediments laid down around 55 million years ago are particularly well displayed in the cliffs at Reculver.^[100] 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.^[101] It rests unconformably on the Chalk Group,^[101] and forms the base of the cliffs in the Reculver and Herne Bay area.^[102] Above the Thanet Sand are the Upnor Formation, a medium sandstone,^[103] and the sandy clays of the Harwich Formation at the Paleocene/Eocene boundary.^[104] The highest cliffs, rising to a maximum height of about 115 feet (35 m) to the west of Reculver,^[105] have a cap of London Clay,^[102] a fine silty clay of Eocene age.^[106]

These rocks are easily washed away by the sea.^[107] 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.^[108] Coastal erosion had washed away most of Reculver village by 1800, leading residents to re-locate to Hillborough, within Reculver parish.^[109] 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.^[110] New sea defences were built in the 1990s, including covering the beaches around the church with boulders.^[111]

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).^[112] Average maximum and minimum temperatures are about 0.5 °C higher than they are nationally.^[113] 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.^[114] Average annual rainfall in Kent is about 728 millimetres (29 in), with the highest rainfall from October to January.^[112] This is lower than the national average annual rainfall of 838 millimetres (33 in),^[113] and occasional drought conditions can lead to the imposition of hosepipe bans.^[115]

Demography

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.^{[116][Fn 23]} 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".^[117]

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

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),^[20] and included only Reculver and outlying farms and houses, in which 135 people were found, almost a quarter of whom were in caravans.^[21] 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,^[118] 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.^[21]

Economy

Looking east across the mouth of the former Wantsum Channel, from Reculver churchyard: an oyster hatchery is to the right. Margate is on the horizon.

In the Middle Ages, Reculver was a member of the Cinque Port of Sandwich.^[119] The connection with Sandwich may have begun in the 11th century, and membership of the Cinque Ports involved Reculver in supplying ships and men for the king's use, in return for concessions such as tax exemption.^[120] In 1220, King Henry III granted the archbishop of Canterbury a market to be held weekly at Reculver, on Thursdays,^[121] and a fair was held there on Saint Giles's Day, 1 September.^{[122][Fn 24]}

Today Reculver is dominated by caravan parks, the first of which appeared after the Second World War.^{[123][Fn 25]} Also present are a country park, The King Ethelbert public house, which is a "free house",^{[Fn 26]} and a nearby shop and cafe.^[24] Reculver was defined as a "key heritage area" in 2008, and there are plans for its development as a destination for green tourism.^{[124][Fn 27]}

On the eastern side of Reculver is a hatchery for oysters, belonging to a seafood company which is based in Reculver.^[125] Young oysters are transplanted from there to the sea bed at Whitstable.^[126] Oysters from the "Rutupian shore" – the shoreline 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,^[127] 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."^[128]

Culture and community

Culture

Twin Sisters

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, for example in a 19th-century travel guide,^[129] it is mostly an invention created around "pseudo-historical detail".^{[130][Fn 28]} 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.^[131]

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.^[132] 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 to 270–300 AD.^[133] 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 as ritual sacrifices.^{[134][Fn 29]} 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 need not have been connected with the burials.^[135]

Community facilities

The nearest post office to Reculver is in Beltinge, about 1.9 miles (3 km) to the west-southwest.^[136] 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.^[137] 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.^[138] The nearest community hall is in Beltinge, about 1.9 miles (3 km) west-southwest.^[139]

Landmarks

King Hlothhere of Kent grants land to Abbot Berhtwald and his monastery at Reculver in 679, in the earliest surviving original Anglo-Saxon charter^[50]

Ruined church of St Mary

The medieval towers of the ruined church of St Mary are Reculver's "most dominant features".^[140] These towers were added in the late 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.^[48] It may be that King Ecgberht's intention in founding a monastery at Reculver was to create a centre with a stronger English element, to counterbalance domination of the Canterbury church by Archbishop Theodore, Abbot Hadrian of St Augustine's, and their "non-native followers."^{[141][Fn 30]}

The foundation of this church, sited within the remains of the Roman fort of Regulbium, exemplifies the "widespread practice [in Anglo-Saxon England] of re-using Roman walled places for major churches",^[142] and the new church was built "almost completely from demolished Roman structures".^[143] 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 through a triple arch formed by two columns, made of limestone from Marquise, in the Pas-de-Calais region of northern France.^{[144][Fn 31]} 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.^{[145][Fn 32]} The presence of a stone bench around the inside of the apse has 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 [church at Reculver]".^{[148][Fn 33]} 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 well educated in the Bible and experienced in ecclesiastical and monastic affairs,^{[151][Fn 34]} but in terms indicating that Berhtwald was not a scholar.^[152]

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".^[49] However, from the early 9th century it appears in records as "essentially a piece of property".^[50] 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"^[50] between Archbishop Wulfred and King Coenwulf of Mercia over the control of monasteries,^[50] to which the subsequent control of Reculver by archbishops of Canterbury has been attributed.^[155] By the 10th century, Reculver had ceased to be an important church in Kent, and, together with its territory, it was under the control 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, about 23.5 miles (38 km) south-west of Reculver.^{[157][Fn 35]}

The south wall of the church incorporates Roman tiles.

Reculver may have remained home to a monastic community into the 10th century, despite the likelihood of Viking attacks.^{[51][Fn 36]} A monk of Reculver named Ymar was recorded as a saint by Thomas Elmham in the early 15th century, who found the name in a martyrology, and wrote that Ymar was buried in St John’s church, Margate: Ymar was probably killed by Danes in the 10th century, and hence regarded as a martyr.^[158] The last abbot is recorded as "Wenredus",^[159] though when he was abbot is unknown. In the first half of the 11th century, the church was referred to as a monastery governed by a dean named Givehard (Guichardus),^[160] with two monks named Fresnot and Tancrad, indicating the presence of a religious community of Continental origin, possibly Flemings.^[52] By 1066 the monastery had become a parish church, with no baptismal function, and its territory had become part of the endowment of the archbishops of Canterbury.^[52] 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.^{[53][Fn 37]} 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 represent "adult male heads of households".^{[161][Fn 38]}

By the 13th century Reculver parish provided an ecclesiastical benefice of "exceptional wealth",^[54] which led to disputes between lay and Church interests.^[162] In 1291, the Taxatio of Pope Nicholas IV put the total income due to the rector and vicar of Reculver at about £130.^{[163][Fn 39]} 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.^[162]

The parish was broken up in 1310 by Robert Winchelsey, archbishop of Canterbury from 1294 to 1313, who created parishes from Reculver's chapelries at Herne and, on the Isle of Thanet, St Nicholas-at-Wade and All Saints, in response to the difficulties posed by the distance between them and their mother church at Reculver, and a "steady increase in population".^{[164][Fn 40]} At this time All Saints became part of St Nicholas-at-Wade parish, and its church was later demolished.^[165] 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",^[166] as well as for the repair of Reculver church, and it retained a perpetual curacy at Hoath.^[80]

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)^[12]

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 late 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.^[167] According to local legend the towers were topped with spires early in the 16th century,^[130] since when they have been known to mariners as the "Twin Sisters".^[168] 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."^[47] 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":^[169]

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^[170]

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,^[11] but the ruins remain in a similar state today.

This cross had been removed from the church by 1784.^{[171][Fn 41]} In 1927 archaeologists discovered what was believed to be the base of a 7th–century cross,^[172] and it has been suggested that the monastery at Reculver was originally built around this cross.^[173] The Reculver cross has been compared with the Anglo-Saxon Ruthwell Cross – an open-air preaching cross in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland^[174] – and traces of paint on fragments of the Reculver cross show that its details were once multicoloured.^[175] 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.^{[176][Fn 42]}

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.^[177] A building which stood west-northwest of the church, and was used as a cottage until it was demolished by the sea in 1781,^[178] may have had an Anglo-Saxon doorway, and appears to have had the dimensions of an Anglo-Saxon church.^[177] Leland reported another building, a neglected chapel outside the churchyard, where it was believed that a parish church had stood while the main church at Reculver was still a monastery:^[170] 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.^{[179][Fn 43]} This period of destruction culminated in the demolition of almost all of the church of St Mary itself, begun in 1805 using gunpowder:^[180]

[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^[123]

The demolition of this "shrine of early Christendom", and exemplar of Anglo-Saxon church architecture and sculpture,^{[142][Fn 44]} was otherwise thorough, and it is now represented only by the ruins on the site, material incorporated into a replacement parish church at Hillborough,^[181] fragments of the cross, and the two 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.^{[24][Fn 45]} 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.^{[5][Fn 46]} These structures remained until they were removed some time after 1928.^[182] 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.^[183]

The facade of St John's Cathedral, 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.^[184] 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"^{[184][Fn 47]}

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.^[185]

Country park

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.^[186] 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,^[187] 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.^{[188][Fn 48]} 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.^[189]

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".^[190] 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,^[4] 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."^{[4][Fn 49]}

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".^{[191][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.^[191]

Transport

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. The bus stop is adjacent to the inn.

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 road, the presence of which is reflected in parish boundaries for much of its length.^[192] The Reculver end of this road has disappeared owing to coastal erosion, but it is marked as "The King’s highe Way" on an estate map of 1685.^{[192][Fn 50]} Remains of a Roman road leading to the east gate of the fort have also been found, which were "substantial ... consisting of a sandstone platform [10–13 feet (3–4 m)] wide and at least [11 inches (30 cm)] deep."^[193]

In 1817, the nearest coaching route to Reculver was that running between London, Canterbury and the Isle of Thanet, which passed through Upstreet, about 4 miles (6 km) south of Reculver, before entering Thanet.^[194] In 1839, coaches and vans ran daily from Herne Bay to Canterbury and on to destinations on the southern and eastern coast of Kent, with access to the English Channel, at Deal, Dover, Sandgate and Hythe.^[195] In 1865, transport between Herne Bay and Reculver was available by "fly" – a type of one-horse hackney carriage.^[196]

As of 2012, a bus service, route 7/7A, which is operated on behalf of Kent County Council, connects Reculver directlly with Herne Bay and Canterbury daily, except on Sundays and bank holidays.^[197] Other destinations on this route include Reculver Church of England Primary School, at Hillborough, Broomfield, Chislet, Hoath, and the railway station at Sturry, on the Ashford to Ramsgate line. Route 36 connects Reculver with Herne Bay and Margate daily except Sundays.^[198] Other destinations on this route include Reculver Church of England Primary School, at Hillborough, Beltinge, Birchington-on-Sea and Westgate-on-Sea. The bus stop at Reculver is adjacent to the King Ethelbert Inn.

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]

Reculver from the sea: All About Margate and Herne Bay, 1865

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.^[203] However, Reculver has had connections with the sea since the 1st century, when the Roman fort of Regulbium had a supporting harbour,^[36] and the quantity and variety of coins found at Reculver dating from the 7th century to the 8th are almost certainly related to its location on a "major trading route".^[42] Anglo-Saxon Reculver probably had its own harbour, and the monastery at Reculver may well have operated a "fleet of ships and its own boatyard."^[204] Details in the 10th century charter in which King Eadred gave Reculver to the archbishops of Canterbury suggest that there was then an island north of Reculver, with its own "mini-Wantsum [Channel, which] could have provided a sheltered channel for beaching and berthing ships";^[205] the present day Black Rock beyond the shoreline at Reculver may be a remnant of this island.^[206]

In the 16th century, oysters dredged at Reculver were reported as better than any in Kent,^[128] 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".^[207] In the 18th century, there was a place for landing passengers and goods at Reculver village.^[208] The former name of the King Ethelbert Inn at Reculver, the "Hoy and Anchor", makes reference to hoys, a local type of merchant sailing vessel,^[47] 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".^[209] A travel guide of 1865 advised that

[the] best way to visit Reculver from Margate is by means of a sailing or rowing boat ... [although] Herne Bay is by far the most convenient place to get to Reculver from, as you can be rowed to the foot of the twin towers in little more than half an hour ... [after which] we run the boat on the beach, and plant our foot on the famous "Rutupian shore," sung by Juvenal ...

— All About Margate and Herne Bay, 1865^[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 late 18th century and early 19th century due to coastal erosion.^[180] It caters for children aged between 4 and 11, including those from outside the immediate area.^{[213][Fn 51]} In 2006, the school was ranked above both the local and national averages in most criteria,^[214] but it was rated as "satisfactory" (Grade 3) in most aspects by an Ofsted report in July 2010, when it had 489 pupils.^[215] A "Section 8" report^[216] of November 2011 described remedial progress at the school as "satisfactory",^[215] and the school scored slightly below the national average for English and mathematics in the national tests of 2011, when it had 483 pupils.^[217] The school's site also hosts Beltinge Day Nursery and Reculver Breakfast and Afterschool Club.^[218] The nearest school for older children is Herne Bay High School.^[219]

Religion

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

In 1813, a new Anglican parish church for Reculver, also 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.^[220] A "miserable little [church] ... built in a rough and poverty-stricken style",^[220] it was replaced by the present structure, which was begun in 1876, and consecrated in 1878.^[221]

The church of 1876 was built by Gothic Revival architect Joseph Clarke,^[222] who was surveyor for the diocese of Canterbury at the time.^[13] It has seating for about 100 people, and is a "simple and relatively plain building",^[223] though it incorporates stonework from the old church at Reculver.^{[181][Fn 52]} 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.^[224]

Notable people

King Eadberht II of Kent was buried in the church at Reculver in the 760s.^{[15][Fn 53]} 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.^[19] This was traditionally believed to be the tomb of King Æthelberht I of Kent,^{[225][Fn 54]} and was "of an antique form, mounted with two spires".^[2] 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 in France, either on his way to the papal curia in Avignon or after his arrival, some time before 19 July 1306.^[226]

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

The first recorded owner of Brook, about 0.8 miles (1 km) south-southwest of Reculver, but within Reculver parish, was Nicholas Tingewick,^[227] physician to King Edward I and, until 1310, rector of Reculver.^[228] He was regarded as the "best doctor for the king's health",^[228] and there are more records of his medical practice than there are for "most physicians of his time."^[228] Brook subsequently passed to James de la Pine, sheriff of Kent in the early 1350s.^{[229][Fn 55]} His grandson sold it to an ancestor of Henry Cheyne,^[230] who was elected knight of the shire for Kent in 1563, and was created "Lord Cheyney" in 1572.^[231] He had sold all of his possessions in Kent by 1574 to "finance his extravagance",^[231] and Brook subsequently became the property of Sir Cavalliero Maycott, who was a leading courtier to Elizabeth I and James I.^[230] He had a "handsome monument [in the church at Reculver] representing Sir Cavalliero and Lady Maycote, with their eight children, all in alabaster figures, kneeling".^[171] Brook is now Brook Farm, where there is a remnant of Maycott's home in the form of a gateway,^[171] which is a "very rustic Elizabethan affair",^[222] all of brick, with mouldings.^{[222][Fn 56]}

Thomas Broke, alderman and MP for Calais in the mid-16th century,^[232] may have been a son of Thomas Brooke of Reculver, as well as being a "religious radical".^[233] 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.^[234]

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."^[235] Barnabas Knell was vicar of Reculver from 1602 to 1646, during which time his son Paul Knell was the chaplain for a regiment of cuirassiers, to whom he preached a sermon, "The convoy of a Christian", during the siege of Gloucester, in August 1643.^[236] 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.^[237]

See also

• Regulbium
• Wantsum Channel

References

Footnotes

Notes

Bibliography

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Reculver.

• Church of St Mary – English Heritage PastScape
• Reculver Country Park – Canterbury City Council
• Reculver Towers and Roman Fort – English Heritage
• Reculver Visitor Centre and Country Park – Kent Wildlife Trust
• Regulbium – English Heritage PastScape

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