Reculver
Encyclopedia
Reculver is a hamlet and coastal resort situated about 3 miles (5 km) east of Herne Bay
in southeast England. It is a ward of the City of Canterbury
district in the county of Kent
. Reculver once occupied a strategic location at the western end of the Wantsum Channel
, between the Isle of Thanet
and the Kent mainland. This led the Romans to build a small fort, probably at the time of their conquest of Britain
in 43 AD, and, starting late in the 2nd century, they built a "castrum
" called Regulbium
, which later was part of the chain of Saxon Shore
forts. The military connection continued in World War II, when Barnes Wallis' "bouncing bombs" were tested in the sea off Reculver.
Reculver retained its importance after the Romans left, as an Anglo-Saxon palace may have been built in the ruins of the Roman fort before a "preaching cross
" and monastery were built there. During the Middle Ages the twin spires of the church became a landmark for mariners known as the "Twin Sisters", supposedly after daughters of Geoffrey St Clare. The facade of St John's Cathedral in Parramatta, Australia, is a copy of that at Reculver.
Reculver declined in importance 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. Protecting the ruins and the rest of Reculver from erosion is an ongoing challenge.
The 1930s saw a revival as a tourism industry developed and there are now three caravan parks. Reculver Country Park is a Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest
; it has rare clifftop meadows and is important for migrating birds. 135 people were recorded by the 2001 census, nearly a quarter of whom were in caravans.
Reculver once occupied a strategic location on routes between continental Europe and the east coast of England, but sedimentation and coastal erosion have obscured its importance. In ancient times it lay on a promontory at the western entrance to the Wantsum Channel
, a sea lane between the Isle of Thanet
and the Kent mainland, that silted up during the Middle Ages. The Roman fort and medieval church stand on the remains of the promontory, now "a small knoll which, rising to a maximum height of 50 feet, is the last seaward extension of the Blean
Hills." Place-name authorities state that the name "Regulbium" was Celtic in origin, meaning "at the promontory
", or "great headland
", and that, in Old English, this became corrupted to "Raculf", sometimes given as "Raculfceastre", giving rise to the modern "Reculver".
Sediments laid down around 55 million years ago are particularly well displayed in the cliffs at Reculver. 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. It rests unconformably on the Chalk Group, and forms the base of the cliffs in the Reculver and Herne Bay area. Above the Thanet Sand are the Upnor Formation, a medium sandstone, and the sandy clays of the Harwich Formation at the Paleocene/Eocene
boundary. The highest cliffs, rising to a maximum height of about 115 feet (35 m) to the west of Reculver, have a cap of London Clay, a fine silty clay of Eocene age.
These rocks are easily washed away by the sea, and the cliffs are eroding at a rate of approximately 5 feet (2 m) a year. It has been estimated that the Romans built their fort about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the sea. A plan is in place to manage this erosion whereby some parts of the coastline like the country park will be allowed to continue eroding, and others – including the site of the Roman fort and St Mary's Church – will be protected from further erosion.
flint tools have been washed out from the cliffs to the west of Reculver, a Mesolithic
tranchet axe
was found at Reculver in 1960, but is "likely to have been a casual loss". Evidence for human settlement at Reculver itself begins with late Bronze Age
ditches, followed by an early Iron Age
farmstead slightly to the west of the church ruins, a Roman "fortlet" probably dating to their conquest of Britain
, which began in 43 AD, and a well known Roman fort, or "castrum
", which was probably 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. 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
". These were also found by archaeologists, together with the commandant's house, probable barracks
, a bath house
and a corn drying kiln
. Presumably the fort was built at Reculver because of its strategic position at the northern entrance to the Wantsum Channel
, and covering the mouths of both the River Thames
and the River Medway
. While it was normal for a Roman fort to be accompanied by a civilian settlement, or "vicus
", it is believed from "significant Roman structures and features" that at Reculver it was "extensive" and lay to the north and west of the fort, mostly in an area now lost to the sea.Citing Battely, J., Antiquitates Rutupinae, Oxford, 1774, p. 54, reports that "a Roman building with a hypocaust
and tesselated pavement
stood considerably to the northward of the fort".
Towards the end of the 3rd century, a Roman naval commander named Carausius
was given the task of clearing pirates from the sea between Britannia
and the European mainland. 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
" shows that the fort at Reculver, then known as "Regulbium", became part of this arrangement. Archaeological evidence indicates that the fort was abandoned in the 360s.
kings of Kent. 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. While excavation has shown no evidence of this, and the story has been described as "probably no more than a pious legend", Anglo-Saxon kings were peripatetic, and the Roman remains at Reculver would have been "the only substantial building for miles around". A church was built on the same site in about 669, when King Ecgberht of Kent
granted land for the foundation of a monastery
there. This foundation "illustrates the widespread practice [in Anglo-Saxon England] of re-using Roman walled places for major churches". Ten years later, in 679, King Hlothhere of Kent
presided over a council at Reculver, attended by Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury
, at which he granted the monastery lands at Sturry
, about 6.2 miles (10 km) south-west of Reculver, and in the western part of the Isle of Thanet
, across the Wantsum to the east. In the original, 7th century charter
recording this grant, Reculver is referred to as a "civitas", or "city". In 692 Reculver's abbot
, Berhtwald, a former abbot of Glastonbury
in Somerset
, was elected Archbishop of Canterbury
. 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."
Monastic life had ceased at Reculver by the early 10th century, though whether or not this was due to the attentions of Viking
s is unclear. The minster subsequently became St. Mary's parish church of Reculver: a charter of the mid 10th century records its gift by King Eadred of England into the possession of Canterbury Cathedral
, at which time the estate included the later parishes of Hoath
and Herne
, land in Thanet, and land "at Chilmington
for the repair of the church".
According to Domesday Book
, in 1086 the Archbishop of Canterbury had an annual income from Reculver of £42.7s. (£42.35): this value can be compared with, for example, the £20 due to the archbishop from the manor
of Maidstone
, and the £50 due to him from the borough of Sandwich
, both of which he also held. 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".
Reculver remained an unusually large and valuable parish in the late 13th century, when it included chapels of ease
at St. Nicholas-at-Wade and All Saints, on the Isle of Thanet, as well as at Hoath and Herne: in 1291, the "Taxatio" of Pope Nicholas IV
put the total income due to the rector and vicar at about £130, and this wealth led to disputes between lay and Church interests, over control of its benefice
.
Over time, the church gained structural additions: principally, the towers were added in the 12th century, and, according to local legend, they were topped with spires "in the early years of the 16th century", since when they have been known locally as the "Twin Sisters". 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."A ground plan of the church exists, showing how it was enlarged in stages from the 7th century to the 15th 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":
In 1927 archaeologists discovered the base of the cross, which has been dated to the early 7th century and thus predated the monastery. This may originally have been an open-air preaching cross
like the Ruthwell Cross
, around which the monastery was later built. In 2000 the surviving fragments of the cross, now at Canterbury Cathedral along with the base, 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.
. Consequently, the old church was no longer required:
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 groyne
s, designed to protect the cliff on which it stands. 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
. These structures remained until they were removed at a date after 1928.
The demolition of this "shrine of early Christendom", and exemplar of Anglo-Saxon church architecture and sculpture, was otherwise thorough, and it is now represented only by the minimal ruins on the site, some fragments of the cross which had enthused Leland, and the parts of two massive stone columns. The cross fragments and column parts may be viewed in the crypt at Canterbury Cathedral
. The vicarage
was abandoned at the same time as the church. When the Hoy and Anchor Inn
fell into the sea, the redundant vicarage was used as a temporary replacement under the same name, until a new Hoy and Anchor Inn was built. The vicarage soon followed the original inn into the sea, and the new inn was re-named as the "King Ethelbert Inn" in the 1830s. It was later extended, probably in the 1880s, into the form in which it stands today.
of 1801, the number of people present in the parish of Reculver 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. In the most recent census of 2001, however, only 135 people were found. The image on the left shows that there was sufficient tourism in 1913 to support a cafe. Today the site of the church is managed by English Heritage
, and the village has all but disappeared. New sea defences were built in the 1990s, including covering the beaches around the church with boulders
, but the struggle to protect the towers from the sea continues. A visitor centre in Reculver Country Park, just west of Reculver church, highlights the archaeological, historical, geological and wildlife conservation value of the area.
, the Reculver coastline was one location used to test Barnes Wallis
's "bouncing bomb
" prototypes. Different, inert versions of the bomb were tested at Reculver, leading to the development of the operational version known as "Upkeep". 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
bomber
s, 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.
On 6 June 1997 it was announced on the BBC World News that four of the prototype bouncing bombs had been discovered at Reculver. Each weighing approximately 4 tons
(4.1 tonnes), attempts were made to salvage them, as a result of which, one prototype is displayed in Herne Bay Museum and Gallery
, a little over 3 miles (5 km) to the west of Reculver. Others are on display in Dover Castle
and in the Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum at the former RAF Manston
, on the Isle of Thanet
.
. To the east, however, is an oyster
hatchery
belonging to the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, from which young oysters are transplanted to the sea bed at Whitstable
.
in partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust
and English Heritage
. The park first won a Green Flag Award
in 2005, and it is estimated that over 10,000 people visit the park each year, including up to 3,500 students for educational trips.
The new Reculver Centre for Renewable Energy and Interpretation opened in July 2009, marking 200 years of the moving of Reculver village. The centre features a log burner fuelled by logs from the Blean woodland
and solar and photo voltaic panels
to convert sunlight to energy. Displays and information describing the history, geography and wildlife of the area are available inside the centre.
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
. In winter Brent Geese
and wading birds such as Turnstone
s may be seen, during the summer months Sand Martin
s nest in the soft cliffs, and wading Curlews
may be seen at any time. The grasslands on the cliff top are amongst the few remaining cliff top wildflower meadows left in Kent, and are home to butterflies and Skylark
s. Also present is the nationally scarce species of digger wasp Alysson lunicornis.
for the Reculver towers, as the "Twin Sisters". According to this, late in the 15th century there were two orphaned daughters of Sir Geoffrey St Clare, twin sisters named Frances and Isabella. Frances became prioress of the Benedictine
priory
of Davington
, near Faversham
, while Isabella remained a ward
of Abbot John of St Augustine's Abbey
, in Canterbury
, who was the sisters' uncle. Isabella was then betrothed to Henry de Belville, but unfortunately he was fatally wounded when fighting for Richard III
at the Battle of Bosworth Field
, in 1485. Isabella then joined her sister, "took the veil", and became a nun
. Fourteen years later, Frances was taken ill. The sisters made a vow 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 set off on their promised pilgrimage. They sailed from Faversham, but their ship was caught in a storm and ran aground on a sandbank
near Reculver called "The Horse". Frances was soon rescued, but 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".
A re-invention of the story is in the Ingoldsby Legends, where two brothers, named Robert and Richard de Birchington, are substituted for the two sisters.
The twin towers and west front of St John's Cathedral, Parramatta, in Sydney, Australia, which were added in 1817-1819, are based on the Reculver towers. A campaign to save Reculver church was under way when Governor Lachlan Macquarie
and his wife Elizabeth
left England in 1809. Mrs Macquarie showed Lieutenant John Watts, ADC
of the 46th Regiment of Foot
, a watercolour of Reculver church and asked him to design some towers for St John's in Parramatta. A watercolour of Reculver Church in the Mitchell Library section of the State Library of New South Wales
has a note in Governor Macquarie's hand that he laid the foundation stone on 23 December 1818, and that Mrs Macquarie chose the plan and Lt Watts was responsible for implementing the design. A stone from Reculver was presented to St John's Cathedral by the Historic Building and Monuments Commission for England – now English Heritage
– in 1990.
Herne Bay, Kent
Herne Bay is a seaside town in Kent, South East England, with a population of 35,188. On the south coast of the Thames Estuary, it is north of Canterbury and east of Whitstable. It neighbours the ancient villages of Herne and Reculver and is part of the City of Canterbury local government district...
in southeast England. It is a ward of the City of Canterbury
City of Canterbury
The City of Canterbury is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. The main settlement in the district is Canterbury, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.-History:...
district in the county of Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
. Reculver once occupied a strategic location at the western end of the Wantsum Channel
Wantsum Channel
The Wantsum Channel is the name given to a now silted-up watercourse separating the Isle of Thanet and what was the mainland of the English county of Kent...
, between the Isle of Thanet
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet lies at the most easterly point of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the nearly -wide River Wantsum, it is no longer an island ....
and the Kent mainland. This led the Romans to build a small fort, probably at the time of their conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
in 43 AD, and, starting late in the 2nd century, they built a "castrum
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
" called Regulbium
Regulbium
Regulbium was the name of an ancient Roman fort of the Saxon Shore in the vicinity of the modern English resort of Reculver in Kent. Its name derives from the local Celtic language, meaning "great headland".- History :...
, which later was part of the chain of Saxon Shore
Saxon Shore
Saxon Shore could refer to one of the following:* Saxon Shore, a military command of the Late Roman Empire, encompassing southern Britain and the coasts of northern France...
forts. The military connection continued in World War II, when Barnes Wallis' "bouncing bombs" were tested in the sea off Reculver.
Reculver retained its importance after the Romans left, as an Anglo-Saxon palace may have been built in the ruins of the Roman fort before a "preaching cross
Preaching cross
A preaching cross is a cross, sometimes surmounting a pulpit, erected out of doors to designate a preaching place.In Britain and Ireland, many free-standing upright crosses – or high crosses – were erected. Some of these crosses bear figurative or decorative carvings, or inscriptions in runes...
" and monastery were built there. During the Middle Ages the twin spires of the church became a landmark for mariners known as the "Twin Sisters", supposedly after daughters of Geoffrey St Clare. The facade of St John's Cathedral in Parramatta, Australia, is a copy of that at Reculver.
Reculver declined in importance 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. Protecting the ruins and the rest of Reculver from erosion is an ongoing challenge.
The 1930s saw a revival as a tourism industry developed and there are now three caravan parks. Reculver Country Park is a Special Protection Area and Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
; it has rare clifftop meadows and is important for migrating birds. 135 people were recorded by the 2001 census, nearly a quarter of whom were in caravans.
Geography
Wantsum Channel
The Wantsum Channel is the name given to a now silted-up watercourse separating the Isle of Thanet and what was the mainland of the English county of Kent...
, a sea lane between the Isle of Thanet
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet lies at the most easterly point of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the nearly -wide River Wantsum, it is no longer an island ....
and the Kent mainland, that silted up during the Middle Ages. The Roman fort and medieval church stand on the remains of the promontory, now "a small knoll which, rising to a maximum height of 50 feet, is the last seaward extension of the Blean
Blean
Blean is located in the Canterbury district of Kent, England. It is the name of the civil parish as well as the village within it: the latter is scattered along the road between Canterbury and Whitstable, in the middle of what was once the extensive Forest of Blean.The village name of Blean is...
Hills." Place-name authorities state that the name "Regulbium" was Celtic in origin, meaning "at the promontory
Promontory
Promontory may refer to:*Promontory, a prominent mass of land which overlooks lower lying land or a body of water*Promontory, Utah, the location where the United States first Transcontinental Railroad was completed...
", or "great headland
Headland
A headland is a point of land, usually high and often with a sheer drop, that extends out into a body of water.Headland can also refer to:*Headlands and bays*headLand, an Australian television series...
", and that, in Old English, this became corrupted to "Raculf", sometimes given as "Raculfceastre", giving rise to the modern "Reculver".
Sediments laid down around 55 million years ago are particularly well displayed in the cliffs at Reculver. 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
Thanetian
The Thanetian is, in the ICS' Geologic timescale, the latest age or uppermost stratigraphic stage of the Paleocene Epoch or series. It spans the time between and . The Thanetian is preceded by the Selandian age and followed by the Ypresian age...
(late Paleocene
Paleocene
The Paleocene or Palaeocene, the "early recent", is a geologic epoch that lasted from about . It is the first epoch of the Palaeogene Period in the modern Cenozoic Era...
) age. It rests unconformably on the Chalk Group, and forms the base of the cliffs in the Reculver and Herne Bay area. Above the Thanet Sand are the Upnor Formation, a medium sandstone, and the sandy clays of the Harwich Formation at the Paleocene/Eocene
Eocene
The Eocene Epoch, lasting from about 56 to 34 million years ago , is a major division of the geologic timescale and the second epoch of the Paleogene Period in the Cenozoic Era. The Eocene spans the time from the end of the Palaeocene Epoch to the beginning of the Oligocene Epoch. The start of the...
boundary. The highest cliffs, rising to a maximum height of about 115 feet (35 m) to the west of Reculver, have a cap of London Clay, a fine silty clay of Eocene age.
These rocks are easily washed away by the sea, and the cliffs are eroding at a rate of approximately 5 feet (2 m) a year. It has been estimated that the Romans built their fort about 1 mile (1.6 km) from the sea. A plan is in place to manage this erosion whereby some parts of the coastline like the country park will be allowed to continue eroding, and others – including the site of the Roman fort and St Mary's Church – will be protected from further erosion.
Pre-historic and Roman
While Stone AgeStone Age
The Stone Age is a broad prehistoric period, lasting about 2.5 million years , during which humans and their predecessor species in the genus Homo, as well as the earlier partly contemporary genera Australopithecus and Paranthropus, widely used exclusively stone as their hard material in the...
flint tools have been washed out from the cliffs to the west of Reculver, a Mesolithic
Mesolithic
The Mesolithic is an archaeological concept used to refer to certain groups of archaeological cultures defined as falling between the Paleolithic and the Neolithic....
tranchet axe
Tranchet axe
A Tranchet axe is a lithic tool made by removing a flake, known, when using this method, as a tranchet flake, parallel to the final intended cutting edge of the tool which creates a single straight edge as wide as the tool itself. It is found in some Acheulean assemblages as well as in Mesolithic...
was found at Reculver in 1960, but is "likely to have been a casual loss". Evidence for human settlement at Reculver itself begins with late Bronze Age
Bronze Age
The Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
ditches, followed by an early Iron Age
British Iron Age
The British Iron Age is a conventional name used in the archaeology of Great Britain, referring to the prehistoric and protohistoric phases of the Iron-Age culture of the main island and the smaller islands, typically excluding prehistoric Ireland, and which had an independent Iron Age culture of...
farmstead slightly to the west of the church ruins, a Roman "fortlet" probably dating to their conquest of Britain
Roman conquest of Britain
The Roman conquest of Britain was a gradual process, beginning effectively in AD 43 under Emperor Claudius, whose general Aulus Plautius served as first governor of Britannia. Great Britain had already frequently been the target of invasions, planned and actual, by forces of the Roman Republic and...
, which began in 43 AD, and a well known Roman fort, or "castrum
Castra
The Latin word castra, with its singular castrum, was used by the ancient Romans to mean buildings or plots of land reserved to or constructed for use as a military defensive position. The word appears in both Oscan and Umbrian as well as in Latin. It may have descended from Indo-European to Italic...
", which was probably 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. The plaque effectively records the establishment of the fort, since it records the construction of two of its principal buildings, the "basilica
Basilica
The Latin word basilica , was originally used to describe a Roman public building, usually located in the forum of a Roman town. Public basilicas began to appear in Hellenistic cities in the 2nd century BC.The term was also applied to buildings used for religious purposes...
" and the "sacellum
Sacellum
In ancient Roman religion, a sacellum is a small shrine. The word is a diminutive from sacer . The numerous sacella of ancient Rome included both shrines maintained on private properties by families, and public shrines...
". These were also found by archaeologists, together with the commandant's house, probable barracks
Barracks
Barracks are specialised buildings for permanent military accommodation; the word may apply to separate housing blocks or to complete complexes. Their main object is to separate soldiers from the civilian population and reinforce discipline, training and esprit de corps. They were sometimes called...
, a bath house
Thermae
In ancient Rome, thermae and balnea were facilities for bathing...
and a corn drying kiln
Kiln
A kiln is a thermally insulated chamber, or oven, in which a controlled temperature regime is produced. Uses include the hardening, burning or drying of materials...
. Presumably the fort was built at Reculver because of its strategic position at the northern entrance to the Wantsum Channel
Wantsum Channel
The Wantsum Channel is the name given to a now silted-up watercourse separating the Isle of Thanet and what was the mainland of the English county of Kent...
, and covering the mouths of both the River Thames
River Thames
The River Thames flows through southern England. It is the longest river entirely in England and the second longest in the United Kingdom. While it is best known because its lower reaches flow through central London, the river flows alongside several other towns and cities, including Oxford,...
and the River Medway
River Medway
The River Medway, which is almost entirely in Kent, England, flows for from just inside the West Sussex border to the point where it enters the Thames Estuary....
. While it was normal for a Roman fort to be accompanied by a civilian settlement, or "vicus
Vicus (Rome)
In ancient Rome, the vicus was a neighborhood. During the Republican era, the four regiones of the city of Rome were subdivided into vici. In the 1st century BC, Augustus reorganized the city for administrative purposes into 14 regions, comprising 265 vici. Each vicus had its own board of...
", it is believed from "significant Roman structures and features" that at Reculver it was "extensive" and lay to the north and west of the fort, mostly in an area now lost to the sea.Citing Battely, J., Antiquitates Rutupinae, Oxford, 1774, p. 54, reports that "a Roman building with a hypocaust
Hypocaust
A hypocaust was an ancient Roman system of underfloor heating, used to heat houses with hot air. The word derives from the Ancient Greek hypo meaning "under" and caust-, meaning "burnt"...
and tesselated pavement
Mosaic
Mosaic is the art of creating images with an assemblage of small pieces of colored glass, stone, or other materials. It may be a technique of decorative art, an aspect of interior decoration, or of cultural and spiritual significance as in a cathedral...
stood considerably to the northward of the fort".
Towards the end of the 3rd century, a Roman naval commander named Carausius
Carausius
Marcus Aurelius Mausaeus Valerius Carausius was a military commander of the Roman Empire in the 3rd century. He was a Menapian from Belgic Gaul, who usurped power in 286, declaring himself emperor in Britain and northern Gaul. He did this only 13 years after the Gallic Empire of the Batavian...
was given the task of clearing pirates from the sea between Britannia
Roman Britain
Roman Britain was the part of the island of Great Britain controlled by the Roman Empire from AD 43 until ca. AD 410.The Romans referred to the imperial province as Britannia, which eventually comprised all of the island of Great Britain south of the fluid frontier with Caledonia...
and the European mainland. 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
Count of the Saxon Shore
The Count of the Saxon Shore for Britain was the head of the "Saxon Shore" military command of the later Roman Empire.The post was possibly created during the reign of Constantine I and was probably existent by AD 367 when Nectaridus is elliptically referred to as one by Ammianus...
". The "Notitia Dignitatum
Notitia Dignitatum
The Notitia Dignitatum is a unique document of the Roman imperial chanceries. One of the very few surviving documents of Roman government, it details the administrative organisation of the eastern and western empires, listing several thousand offices from the imperial court down to the provincial...
" shows that the fort at Reculver, then known as "Regulbium", became part of this arrangement. Archaeological evidence indicates that the fort was abandoned in the 360s.
Monastery and church
After the Roman occupation of Britain ended in about 410, Reculver became a seat of the Anglo-SaxonHistory of Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England refers to the period of the history of that part of Britain, that became known as England, lasting from the end of Roman occupation and establishment of Anglo-Saxon kingdoms in the 5th century until the Norman conquest of England in 1066 by William the Conqueror...
kings of Kent. 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. While excavation has shown no evidence of this, and the story has been described as "probably no more than a pious legend", Anglo-Saxon kings were peripatetic, and the Roman remains at Reculver would have been "the only substantial building for miles around". A church was built on the same site in about 669, when King Ecgberht of Kent
Ecgberht of Kent
Ecgberht was a King of Kent who ruled from 664 to 673, succeeding his father Eorcenberht s:Ecclesiastical History of the English People/Book 4#1....
granted land for the foundation of a monastery
Monastery
Monastery denotes the building, or complex of buildings, that houses a room reserved for prayer as well as the domestic quarters and workplace of monastics, whether monks or nuns, and whether living in community or alone .Monasteries may vary greatly in size – a small dwelling accommodating only...
there. This foundation "illustrates the widespread practice [in Anglo-Saxon England] of re-using Roman walled places for major churches". Ten years later, in 679, King Hlothhere of Kent
Hlothhere of Kent
Hlothhere was a King of Kent who ruled from 673 to 685.He succeeded his brother Ecgberht I in 673. He must have come into conflict with Mercia, since in 676 the Mercian king Æthelred invaded Kent and caused great destruction; according to Bede, even churches and monasteries were not spared, and...
presided over a council at Reculver, attended by Archbishop Theodore of Canterbury
Theodore of Tarsus
Theodore was the eighth Archbishop of Canterbury, best known for his reform of the English Church and establishment of a school in Canterbury....
, at which he granted the monastery lands at Sturry
Sturry
Sturry is a village on the Great Stour river three miles north-east of Canterbury in Kent. The large parish of Sturry Church incorporates the former mining village of Hersden and several hamlets.-Geography:...
, about 6.2 miles (10 km) south-west of Reculver, and in the western part of the Isle of Thanet
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet lies at the most easterly point of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the nearly -wide River Wantsum, it is no longer an island ....
, across the Wantsum to the east. In the original, 7th century charter
Anglo-Saxon Charters
Anglo-Saxon charters are documents from the early medieval period in Britain which typically make a grant of land or record a privilege. The earliest surviving charters were drawn up in the 670s; the oldest surviving charters granted land to the Church, but from the eighth century surviving...
recording this grant, Reculver is referred to as a "civitas", or "city". In 692 Reculver's abbot
Abbot
The word abbot, meaning father, is a title given to the head of a monastery in various traditions, including Christianity. The office may also be given as an honorary title to a clergyman who is not actually the head of a monastery...
, Berhtwald, a former abbot of Glastonbury
Glastonbury Abbey
Glastonbury Abbey was a monastery in Glastonbury, Somerset, England. The ruins are now a grade I listed building, and a Scheduled Ancient Monument and are open as a visitor attraction....
in Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
, was elected Archbishop of Canterbury
Archbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
. Bede
Bede
Bede , also referred to as Saint Bede or the Venerable Bede , was a monk at the Northumbrian monastery of Saint Peter at Monkwearmouth, today part of Sunderland, England, and of its companion monastery, Saint Paul's, in modern Jarrow , both in the Kingdom of Northumbria...
, writing no more than 40 years later, described him as having been "learned in the Scriptures and well versed in ecclesiastical and monastic affairs."
Viking
The term Viking is customarily used to refer to the Norse explorers, warriors, merchants, and pirates who raided, traded, explored and settled in wide areas of Europe, Asia and the North Atlantic islands from the late 8th to the mid-11th century.These Norsemen used their famed longships to...
s is unclear. The minster subsequently became St. Mary's parish church of Reculver: a charter of the mid 10th century records its gift by King Eadred of England into the possession of Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
, at which time the estate included the later parishes of Hoath
Hoath
Hoath is a village and civil parish situated within the City of Canterbury local government district. The hamlets of Knaves Ash, Maypole, Ford, Old Tree, Shelvingford and Stoney Acre are included in the parish.-Geography:...
and Herne
Herne, Kent
Herne is a village in South East England, divided by the Thanet Way from the seaside resort of Herne Bay. Administratively it is in the civil parish of Herne and Broomfield in Kent. Between Herne and Broomfield is the former hamlet of Hunters Forstal; Herne Common lies to the south.The hamlet of...
, land in Thanet, and land "at Chilmington
Chilmington Green
Chilmington Green is a hamlet on the edge of the Kentish Weald comprising 10 listed buildings.Ashford Borough Council is planning to build a new dormitory town of up to 7000 houses on 1000 acres of productive agricultural land around the hamlet....
for the repair of the church".
According to Domesday Book
Domesday Book
Domesday Book , now held at The National Archives, Kew, Richmond upon Thames in South West London, is the record of the great survey of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086...
, in 1086 the Archbishop of Canterbury had an annual income from Reculver of £42.7s. (£42.35): this value can be compared with, for example, the £20 due to the archbishop from the manor
Manorialism
Manorialism, an essential element of feudal society, was the organizing principle of rural economy that originated in the villa system of the Late Roman Empire, was widely practiced in medieval western and parts of central Europe, and was slowly replaced by the advent of a money-based market...
of Maidstone
Maidstone
Maidstone is the county town of Kent, England, south-east of London. The River Medway runs through the centre of the town linking Maidstone to Rochester and the Thames Estuary. Historically, the river was a source and route for much of the town's trade. Maidstone was the centre of the agricultural...
, and the £50 due to him from the borough of Sandwich
Sandwich, Kent
Sandwich is a historic town and civil parish on the River Stour in the Non-metropolitan district of Dover, within the ceremonial county of Kent, south-east England. It has a population of 6,800....
, both of which he also held. Included in the Domesday account for Reculver, as well as the church, farmland, a mill
Windmill
A windmill is a machine which converts the energy of wind into rotational energy by means of vanes called sails or blades. Originally windmills were developed for milling grain for food production. In the course of history the windmill was adapted to many other industrial uses. An important...
, salt pans
Salt evaporation pond
Salt evaporation ponds, also called salterns or salt pans, are shallow artificial ponds designed to produce salts from sea water or other brines. The seawater or brine is fed into large ponds and water is drawn out through natural evaporation which allows the salt to be subsequently harvested...
and a fishery
History of fishing
Fishing is the activity of catching fish. It is an ancient practice dating back at least 40,000 years. Since the 16th century fishing vessels have been able to cross oceans in pursuit of fish and since the 19th century it has been possible to use larger vessels and in some cases process the fish on...
, 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".
Reculver remained an unusually large and valuable parish in the late 13th century, when it included chapels of ease
Chapel of ease
A chapel of ease is a church building other than the parish church, built within the bounds of a parish for the attendance of those who cannot reach the parish church conveniently....
at St. Nicholas-at-Wade and All Saints, on the Isle of Thanet, as well as at Hoath and Herne: in 1291, the "Taxatio" of Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV
Pope Nicholas IV , born Girolamo Masci, was Pope from February 22, 1288 to April 4, 1292. A Franciscan friar, he had been legate to the Greeks under Pope Gregory X in 1272, succeeded Bonaventure as Minister General of his religious order in 1274, was made Cardinal Priest of Santa Prassede and...
put the total income due to the rector and vicar at about £130, and this wealth led to disputes between lay and Church interests, over control of its benefice
Benefice
A benefice is a reward received in exchange for services rendered and as a retainer for future services. The term is now almost obsolete.-Church of England:...
.
Over time, the church gained structural additions: principally, the towers were added in the 12th century, and, according to local legend, they were topped with spires "in the early years of the 16th century", since when they have been known locally as the "Twin Sisters". 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."A ground plan of the church exists, showing how it was enlarged in stages from the 7th century to the 15th 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":
In 1927 archaeologists discovered the base of the cross, which has been dated to the early 7th century and thus predated the monastery. This may originally have been an open-air preaching cross
Preaching cross
A preaching cross is a cross, sometimes surmounting a pulpit, erected out of doors to designate a preaching place.In Britain and Ireland, many free-standing upright crosses – or high crosses – were erected. Some of these crosses bear figurative or decorative carvings, or inscriptions in runes...
like the Ruthwell Cross
Ruthwell Cross
The Ruthwell Cross is a stone Anglo-Saxon cross probably dating from the 8th century, when Ruthwell was part of the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of Northumbria; it is now in Scotland. Anglo-Saxon crosses are closely related to the contemporary Irish high crosses, and both are part of the Insular art tradition...
, around which the monastery was later built. In 2000 the surviving fragments of the cross, now at Canterbury Cathedral along with the base, were used to design a Millennium Cross to commemorate two thousand years of Christianity
Christianity
Christianity is a monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus as presented in canonical gospels and other New Testament writings...
. This stands at the entrance to the car park and was commissioned by Canterbury City Council.
Loss to the sea
Recording his visit to Reculver in 1540, Leland wrote that it was then "withyn a Quarter of a Myle or litle more of the Se Syde [and that] The Towne at this tyme is but Village lyke." A map of about 1630 shows that the church itself 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." The village was mostly abandoned around the end of the 18th century, and a new church was planned a little to the west and further inland, at HillboroughHillborough
Hillborough is an area of eastern Herne Bay in Kent, England....
. Consequently, the old church was no longer required:
Trinity House
Trinity House
The Corporation of Trinity House of Deptford Strond is the official General Lighthouse Authority for England, Wales and other British territorial waters...
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 groyne
Groyne
A groyne is a rigid hydraulic structure built from an ocean shore or from a bank that interrupts water flow and limits the movement of sediment. In the ocean, groynes create beaches, or avoid having them washed away by longshore drift. In a river, groynes prevent erosion and ice-jamming, which...
s, designed to protect the cliff on which it stands. 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
Weather vane
A weather vane is an instrument for showing the direction of the wind. They are typically used as an architectural ornament to the highest point of a building....
. These structures remained until they were removed at a date after 1928.
The demolition of this "shrine of early Christendom", and exemplar of Anglo-Saxon church architecture and sculpture, was otherwise thorough, and it is now represented only by the minimal ruins on the site, some fragments of the cross which had enthused Leland, and the parts of two massive stone columns. The cross fragments and column parts may be viewed in the crypt at Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral
Canterbury Cathedral in Canterbury, Kent, is one of the oldest and most famous Christian structures in England and forms part of a World Heritage Site....
. The vicarage
Rectory
A rectory is the residence, or former residence, of a rector, most often a Christian cleric, but in some cases an academic rector or other person with that title...
was abandoned at the same time as the church. When the Hoy and Anchor Inn
INN
InterNetNews is a Usenet news server package, originally released by Rich Salz in 1991, and presented at the Summer 1992 USENIX conference in San Antonio, Texas...
fell into the sea, the redundant vicarage was used as a temporary replacement under the same name, until a new Hoy and Anchor Inn was built. The vicarage soon followed the original inn into the sea, and the new inn was re-named as the "King Ethelbert Inn" in the 1830s. It was later extended, probably in the 1880s, into the form in which it stands today.
Tourist resort
In the censusCensus in the United Kingdom
Coincident full censuses have taken place in the different jurisdictions of the United Kingdom every ten years since 1801, with the exceptions of 1941 and in both Northern Ireland and the Irish Free State in 1921; simultaneous censuses were taken in the Channel Islands and the Isle of Man, with...
of 1801, the number of people present in the parish of Reculver 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. In the most recent census of 2001, however, only 135 people were found. The image on the left shows that there was sufficient tourism in 1913 to support a cafe. Today the site of the church is managed by English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
, and the village has all but disappeared. New sea defences were built in the 1990s, including covering the beaches around the church with boulders
Riprap
Riprap — also known as rip rap, rubble, shot rock or rock armour or "Rip-rap" — is rock or other material used to armor shorelines, streambeds, bridge abutments, pilings and other shoreline structures against scour, water or ice erosion.It is made from a variety of rock types, commonly granite or...
, but the struggle to protect the towers from the sea continues. A visitor centre in Reculver Country Park, just west of Reculver church, highlights the archaeological, historical, geological and wildlife conservation value of the area.
Bouncing bombs
During the Second World WarWorld War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
, the Reculver coastline was one location used to test Barnes Wallis
Barnes Wallis
Sir Barnes Neville Wallis, CBE FRS, RDI, FRAeS , was an English scientist, engineer and inventor. He is best known for inventing the bouncing bomb used by the RAF in Operation Chastise to attack the dams of the Ruhr Valley during World War II...
's "bouncing bomb
Bouncing bomb
A bouncing bomb is a bomb designed specifically to bounce to a target across water in a calculated manner, in order to avoid obstacles such as torpedo nets, and to allow both the bomb's speed on arrival at the target and the timing of its detonation to be pre-determined...
" prototypes. Different, inert versions of the bomb were tested at Reculver, leading to the development of the operational version known as "Upkeep". It was this bomb which was used by the RAF
Royal Air Force
The Royal Air Force is the aerial warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Formed on 1 April 1918, it is the oldest independent air force in the world...
's 617 Squadron
No. 617 Squadron RAF
No. 617 Squadron is a Royal Air Force aircraft squadron based at RAF Lossiemouth in Scotland. It currently operates the Tornado GR4 in the ground attack and reconnaissance role...
in Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise
Operation Chastise was an attack on German dams carried out on 16–17 May 1943 by Royal Air Force No. 617 Squadron, subsequently known as the "Dambusters", using a specially developed "bouncing bomb" invented and developed by Barnes Wallis...
, otherwise known as the "Dambuster raids", in which dams in the Ruhr
Ruhr
The Ruhr is a medium-size river in western Germany , a right tributary of the Rhine.-Description:The source of the Ruhr is near the town of Winterberg in the mountainous Sauerland region, at an elevation of approximately 2,200 feet...
district of Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
were attacked on the night of 16–17 May 1943 by formations
Tactical formation
A tactical formation is the arrangement or deployment of moving military forces such as infantry, cavalry, AFVs, military aircraft, or naval vessels...
of Lancaster
Avro Lancaster
The Avro Lancaster is a British four-engined Second World War heavy bomber made initially by Avro for the Royal Air Force . It first saw active service in 1942, and together with the Handley Page Halifax it was one of the main heavy bombers of the RAF, the RCAF, and squadrons from other...
bomber
Bomber
A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground and sea targets, by dropping bombs on them, or – in recent years – by launching cruise missiles at them.-Classifications of bombers:...
s, led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson
Guy Gibson
Wing Commander Guy Penrose Gibson VC, DSO & Bar, DFC & Bar, RAF , was the first CO of the Royal Air Force's 617 Squadron, which he led in the "Dam Busters" raid in 1943, resulting in the destruction of two large dams in the Ruhr area...
, for which he was awarded the Victoria Cross
Victoria Cross
The Victoria Cross is the highest military decoration awarded for valour "in the face of the enemy" to members of the armed forces of various Commonwealth countries, and previous British Empire territories....
. On 17 May 2003, a Lancaster bomber overflew the Reculver testing site to commemorate the 60th anniversary of the exploit.
On 6 June 1997 it was announced on the BBC World News that four of the prototype bouncing bombs had been discovered at Reculver. Each weighing approximately 4 tons
Long ton
Long ton is the name for the unit called the "ton" in the avoirdupois or Imperial system of measurements, as used in the United Kingdom and several other Commonwealth countries. It has been mostly replaced by the tonne, and in the United States by the short ton...
(4.1 tonnes), attempts were made to salvage them, as a result of which, one prototype is displayed in Herne Bay Museum and Gallery
Herne Bay Museum and Gallery
Herne Bay Museum and Gallery is a local museum in Herne Bay, Kent, England. It was established in 1932 and is notable for being a seaside tourist attraction featuring local archaeological and social history, for featuring the history of the town as a tourist resort, for its local art exhibitions,...
, a little over 3 miles (5 km) to the west of Reculver. Others are on display in Dover Castle
Dover Castle
Dover Castle is a medieval castle in the town of the same name in the English county of Kent. It was founded in the 12th century and has been described as the "Key to England" due to its defensive significance throughout history...
and in the Spitfire & Hurricane Memorial Museum at the former RAF Manston
RAF Manston
RAF Manston was an RAF station in the north-east of Kent, at on the Isle of Thanet from 1916 until 1996. The site is now split between a commercial airport Kent International Airport and a continuing military use by the Defence Fire Training and Development Centre , following on from a long...
, on the Isle of Thanet
Isle of Thanet
The Isle of Thanet lies at the most easterly point of Kent, England. While in the past it was separated from the mainland by the nearly -wide River Wantsum, it is no longer an island ....
.
Economy
Apart from the Roman and church ruins, Reculver today consists of the country park, a public house, The King Ethelbert free house, and a nearby shop and cafe, surrounded by three caravan parksRV park
A recreational vehicle park or caravan park is a place where people with recreational vehicles can stay overnight, or longer, in alloted spaces known as "pitches"...
. To the east, however, is an oyster
Oyster
The word oyster is used as a common name for a number of distinct groups of bivalve molluscs which live in marine or brackish habitats. The valves are highly calcified....
hatchery
Hatchery
A hatchery is a facility where eggs are hatched under artificial conditions, especially those of fish or poultry. It may be used for ex-situ conservation purposes, i.e. to breed rare or endangered species under controlled conditions; alternatively, it may be for economic reasons A hatchery is a...
belonging to the Whitstable Oyster Fishery Company, from which young oysters are transplanted to the sea bed at Whitstable
Whitstable
Whitstable is a seaside town in Northeast Kent, Southeast England. It is approximately north of the city of Canterbury and approximately west of the seaside town of Herne Bay. It is part of the City of Canterbury district and has a population of about 30,000.Whitstable is famous for its oysters,...
.
Country park
Reculver Country Park 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 Reculver Towers west to Bishopstone Glen. The park is managed by Canterbury City CouncilCity of Canterbury
The City of Canterbury is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. The main settlement in the district is Canterbury, the seat of the Archbishop of Canterbury.-History:...
in partnership with Kent Wildlife Trust
Kent Wildlife Trust
Kent Wildlife Trust covers the county of Kent, England, and is one of the largest of the 47 Wildlife Trust organisations in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney...
and English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
. The park first won a Green Flag Award
Green Flag Award
The Green Flag Award is the benchmark national standard for parks and green spaces in the United Kingdom. The scheme was set up in 1996 to recognise and reward green spaces in England and Wales that met the laid down high standards...
in 2005, and it is estimated that over 10,000 people visit the park each year, including up to 3,500 students for educational trips.
The new Reculver Centre for Renewable Energy and Interpretation opened in July 2009, marking 200 years of the moving of Reculver village. The centre features a log burner fuelled by logs from the Blean woodland
East Blean Woods
East Blean Woods is a National Nature Reserve south of Herne Bay in southeast England.The reserve covers 122 hectares of ancient semi-natural woodland situated on poorly drained London clay, with a small area of gravelly soil in the south. The underlying clay results in much surface water and mud...
and solar and photo voltaic panels
Solar power
Solar energy, radiant light and heat from the sun, has been harnessed by humans since ancient times using a range of ever-evolving technologies. Solar radiation, along with secondary solar-powered resources such as wind and wave power, hydroelectricity and biomass, account for most of the available...
to convert sunlight to energy. Displays and information describing the history, geography and wildlife of the area are available inside the centre.
Wildlife
Special Protection Area
A Special Protection Area or SPA is a designation under the European Union Directive on the Conservation of Wild Birds.Under the Directive, Member States of the European Union have a duty to safeguard the habitats of migratory birds and certain particularly threatened birds.Together with Special...
(SPA) and Site of Special Scientific Interest
Site of Special Scientific Interest
A Site of Special Scientific Interest is a conservation designation denoting a protected area in the United Kingdom. SSSIs are the basic building block of site-based nature conservation legislation and most other legal nature/geological conservation designations in Great Britain are based upon...
(SSSI), due partly to the thousands of birds that visit Reculver each year during their migrations from the Arctic
Arctic
The Arctic is a region located at the northern-most part of the Earth. The Arctic consists of the Arctic Ocean and parts of Canada, Russia, Greenland, the United States, Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Iceland. The Arctic region consists of a vast, ice-covered ocean, surrounded by treeless permafrost...
. In winter Brent Geese
Brent Goose
The Brant or Brent Goose, Branta bernicla, is a species of goose of the genus Branta. The Black Brant is an American subspecies. The specific descriptor bernicla is from the same source as "barnacle" in Barnacle Goose, which looks similar but is not a close relation.-Appearance:The Brant Goose is...
and wading birds such as Turnstone
Turnstone
Turnstones are the bird species in the genus Arenaria in the family Scolopacidae. They are closely related to calidrid sandpipers and might be considered members of the tribe Calidriini....
s may be seen, during the summer months Sand Martin
Sand Martin
The Sand Martin is a migratory passerine bird in the swallow family. It has a wide range in summer, embracing practically the whole of Europe and the Mediterranean countries, part of northern Asia and also North America. It winters in eastern and southern Africa, South America and South Asia...
s nest in the soft cliffs, and wading Curlews
Eurasian Curlew
The Eurasian Curlew, Numenius arquata, is a wader in the large family Scolopacidae. It is one of the most widespread of the curlews, breeding across temperate Europe and Asia...
may be seen at any time. The grasslands on the cliff top are amongst the few remaining cliff top wildflower meadows left in Kent, and are home to butterflies and Skylark
Skylark
The Skylark is a small passerine bird species. This lark breeds across most of Europe and Asia and in the mountains of north Africa. It is mainly resident in the west of its range, but eastern populations are more migratory, moving further south in winter. Even in the milder west of its range,...
s. Also present is the nationally scarce species of digger wasp Alysson lunicornis.
Legends
Crying Baby
According to legend there is often heard the sound of a crying baby, in the grounds of the fort and among the ruins of the church. Archaeological excavations conducted in the 1960s within the fort revealed numerous infant skeletons buried under the walls of Roman structures, probably barrack blocks, from which coins were recovered from between c. 270 and 300 AD.Twin Sisters
A story which has been told many times, incorporating varying details, but following essentially the same course, concerns the origin of a bynameEpithet
An epithet or byname is a descriptive term accompanying or occurring in place of a name and having entered common usage. It has various shades of meaning when applied to seemingly real or fictitious people, divinities, objects, and binomial nomenclature. It is also a descriptive title...
for the Reculver towers, as the "Twin Sisters". According to this, late in the 15th century there were two orphaned daughters of Sir Geoffrey St Clare, twin sisters named Frances and Isabella. Frances became prioress of the Benedictine
Benedictine
Benedictine refers to the spirituality and consecrated life in accordance with the Rule of St Benedict, written by Benedict of Nursia in the sixth century for the cenobitic communities he founded in central Italy. The most notable of these is Monte Cassino, the first monastery founded by Benedict...
priory
Priory
A priory is a house of men or women under religious vows that is headed by a prior or prioress. Priories may be houses of mendicant friars or religious sisters , or monasteries of monks or nuns .The Benedictines and their offshoots , the Premonstratensians, and the...
of Davington
Davington
Davington is a suburb of Faversham in Kent, England.The population of Davington parish is approaching 6,000. Davington Priory is a local government ward within the Faversham Town Council and Swale Borough Council areas...
, near Faversham
Faversham
Faversham is a market town and civil parish in the Swale borough of Kent, England. The parish of Faversham grew up around an ancient sea port on Faversham Creek and was the birthplace of the explosives industry in England.-History:...
, while Isabella remained a ward
Ward (law)
In law, a ward is someone placed under the protection of a legal guardian. A court may take responsibility for the legal protection of an individual, usually either a child or incapacitated person, in which case the ward is known as a ward of the court, or a ward of the state, in the United States,...
of Abbot John of St Augustine's Abbey
St Augustine's Abbey
St Augustine's Abbey was a Benedictine abbey in Canterbury, Kent, England.-Early history:In 597 Saint Augustine arrived in England, having been sent by Pope Gregory I, on what might nowadays be called a revival mission. The King of Kent at this time was Æthelberht, who happened to be married to a...
, in Canterbury
Canterbury
Canterbury is a historic English cathedral city, which lies at the heart of the City of Canterbury, a district of Kent in South East England. It lies on the River Stour....
, who was the sisters' uncle. Isabella was then betrothed to Henry de Belville, but unfortunately he was fatally wounded when fighting for Richard III
Richard III of England
Richard III was King of England for two years, from 1483 until his death in 1485 during the Battle of Bosworth Field. He was the last king of the House of York and the last of the Plantagenet dynasty...
at the Battle of Bosworth Field
Battle of Bosworth Field
The Battle of Bosworth Field was the penultimate battle of the Wars of the Roses, the civil war between the House of Lancaster and the House of York that raged across England in the latter half of the 15th century. Fought on 22 August 1485, the battle was won by the Lancastrians...
, in 1485. Isabella then joined her sister, "took the veil", and became a nun
Nun
A nun is a woman who has taken vows committing her to live a spiritual life. She may be an ascetic who voluntarily chooses to leave mainstream society and live her life in prayer and contemplation in a monastery or convent...
. Fourteen years later, Frances was taken ill. The sisters made a vow that, if Frances recovered, they would go on pilgrimage to give thanks at the Shrine of Our Ladye Star of the Sea
Shrine of Our Lady, Bradstowe
The Shrine of Our Ladye Star of the Sea was an old chapel on the cliffs at Broadstairs . Dating back at least to the 1350s, the two towers of the chapel were a major landmark for sailors in the area...
in Broadstairs
Broadstairs
Broadstairs is a coastal town on the Isle of Thanet in the Thanet district of east Kent, England, about south-east of London. It is part of the civil parish of Broadstairs and St Peter's, which includes St. Peter's and had a population in 2001 of about 24,000. Situated between Margate and...
.
Frances recovered, so they set off on their promised pilgrimage. They sailed from Faversham, but their ship was caught in a storm and ran aground on a sandbank
Shoal
Shoal, shoals or shoaling may mean:* Shoal, a sandbank or reef creating shallow water, especially where it forms a hazard to shipping* Shoal draught , of a boat with shallow draught which can pass over some shoals: see Draft...
near Reculver called "The Horse". Frances was soon rescued, but 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".
A re-invention of the story is in the Ingoldsby Legends, where two brothers, named Robert and Richard de Birchington, are substituted for the two sisters.
Parramatta cathedral
Lachlan Macquarie
Major-General Lachlan Macquarie CB , was a British military officer and colonial administrator. He served as the last autocratic Governor of New South Wales, Australia from 1810 to 1821 and had a leading role in the social, economic and architectural development of the colony...
and his wife Elizabeth
Elizabeth Macquarie
Elizabeth Macquarie was the second wife of Lachlan Macquarie who served as Governor of New South Wales from 1810 to 1821. She played a significant role in the establishment of the colony and is recognised in the naming of numerous Australian landmarks including Mrs Macquarie's Chair, Campbelltown...
left England in 1809. Mrs Macquarie showed Lieutenant John Watts, ADC
Aide-de-camp
An aide-de-camp is a personal assistant, secretary, or adjutant to a person of high rank, usually a senior military officer or a head of state...
of the 46th Regiment of Foot
46th (South Devonshire) Regiment of Foot
The 46th Regiment of Foot was an infantry regiment of the British Army, created in 1741 and amalgamated into the Duke of Cornwall's Light Infantry in 1881.-History:...
, a watercolour of Reculver church and asked him to design some towers for St John's in Parramatta. A watercolour of Reculver Church in the Mitchell Library section of the State Library of New South Wales
State Library of New South Wales
The State Library of New South Wales is a large public library owned by the state of New South Wales, Australia. It is located in Macquarie Street, Sydney near Shakespeare Place...
has a note in Governor Macquarie's hand that he laid the foundation stone on 23 December 1818, and that Mrs Macquarie chose the plan and Lt Watts was responsible for implementing the design. A stone from Reculver was presented to St John's Cathedral by the Historic Building and Monuments Commission for England – now English Heritage
English Heritage
English Heritage . is an executive non-departmental public body of the British Government sponsored by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport...
– in 1990.
External links
- Church of St Mary at PastScape.org,
- Reculver Towers and Roman Fort page at English Heritage
- Regulbium at PastScape.org, English Heritage
- Reculver Country Park, Canterbury City Council
- Reculver Visitor Centre and Country Park, Kent Wildlife TrustKent Wildlife TrustKent Wildlife Trust covers the county of Kent, England, and is one of the largest of the 47 Wildlife Trust organisations in the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man and Alderney...