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55
BC-410 AD
Romans in Thanet
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Just across the Wantsum Channel
lay Rutupiae (Richborough) and Regulbium (Reculver) two of the most
important military installations of the Roman Empire. Of Roman life
within the Isle we know little. The remains of a Roman villa were found
at Tivoli Park in Margate in 1920. The walls were made of flint and were
almost four feet thick and there were remnants of coloured frescoes and
underfloor heating ducts (hypercausts). There was also a British-Romano
pottery nearby. Altogether sites of 12 other Roman villas have been
found in Thanet. Evidence of a Roman dock was found by workmen at
Ramsgate harbour in 1938. Among the remains of wooden piles were found
brass coins of the Constantine emperors. It would appear that the
Ramsgate area was particularly populated during the Roman occupation.
The A253 (Sarre-Ramsgate Road) known in medieval times as Dunstete, is
considered to have been a Roman road dating from the first century.
Then, as later, Sarre must have been the main point for boat
communication with the mainland.
There may be traces of a Roman water mill at Stuart Farm near St
Nicholas. Bones of hares, red and roe deer and a possible wild boar tusk
have also been found from this time, showing that the woods were still
fairly extensive.
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410 AD |
Around this time the Romans left
Britain |
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449 AD
The landing of the Jutes
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King Vortigern of Kent (a Romano
British leader) invited two Jutish leaders, Hengist and Horsa, to help
him protect his kingdom from the Saxons and Franks who were constantly
raiding his shores. For this service they were rewarded with the gift of
the Isle of Thanet. It is generally agreed that the Jutes landed at
Pegwell Bay. There is a tradition that they brought the White Horse on
their banner, preserved to this day as the emblem of Kent. (Some
historians believe that Horsa in fact refers to the White Horse emblem,
and not a person).
The villa system and the Celtic language of the ancient Britons
vanished, and all the old place names in Thanet are of Anglo-Saxon
origin with the exception perhaps of Sarre which is considered to be
Romano British or earlier. The disappearance of the Celtic names from
Thanet hints at a mass slaughter of the civilised Romano-British
population by the fierce Jutish tribesmen. The population seems to have
fallen steeply leading to regrowth of trees. Recent excavation of an
Anglo-Saxon burial ground at the head of Dane Valley provides evidence
of a surprisingly large community. According to the Anglo-Saxon
Chronicle, "The first footing of the Anglo-Saxon peoples in the
land that they would name 'England' ", was at Ebbsfleet in Thanet
in AD 449. Within a couple of generations Kent was a Jutish kingdom,
with Canterbury as its capital, and Thanet close to this focus of wealth
and power.
Under the Kingdom of Kent, Thanet was apparently a separate
administrative district. A royal palace and court was established at
Sarre where the king controlled the ferry to the mainland. This is
supported by archaeological evidence of graves of heavily armed males of
evidently high status. Sarre has perhaps the richest Saxon burial ground
in England. The estimated total population of Thanet at this time was
about 1,500.
Wave after wave of settlers followed. New kingdoms were born, and
within about 450 years Alfred's Kingdom of England was in being.
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597 AD
The Arrival of Christianity
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Augustine landed at Ebbsfleet
with 40 monks, and went on to meet King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha (King
and Queen of Kent). According to the venerable Bede [672- 735 AD], the
King of Kent came to Thanet and received Augustine "sitting in the
open air". Bede also left us a description of Thanet:
"Now at the east end of Kent is Thanet which island is parted
from the mainland by the River Wantsum (Vantsumu) which is of three
furlongs breadth and in two places only passable for both the heads of
him runneth to the sea."
Augustine and his monks set about converting the pagan Jutes. They
founded a monastery in Canterbury.
The 'inge' (ingas) terminals in place names of Thanet indicate to
some scholars that a secondary wave of colonisation took place during
this century at places already settled by earlier Jutish settlers or
even by the Romans. Garlinge is probably the earliest Saxon name in
Thanet. The terminal 'ton' would appear to derive from early Saxon times
to at least the 13th century. There are 12 or 13 'ton' placenames in
Thanet - Upton, Dumpton, etc.
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670 AD
Thanet's first Monastery
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King Egbert presented the land at
Reculver for the construction of a church. This was demolished in 1809
as the cliff was thought to be falling into the sea. Only the towers
were saved as a landmark for mariners.
The first monastery on the Isle of Thanet was founded in Minster.
Today St Mary's Church stands upon this site
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700 AD |
During this century a large
monastery was erected in Minster. Minster Abbey now stands upon this
site. |
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825 AD
The Vikings
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The Danes ravaged and burned
Minster Abbey, and the nuns - greatly reduced from former raids, were
murdered or driven out. The island was thus deprived of its
administrative machinery. |
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841-851
AD |
The Vikings made a severe raid on
Thanet, later wintering on the island from 850-851. |
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978 AD |
The island was again laid waste
by the Danish (Viking) pirates, and 'the monastery of Nuns of Minster
burnt with the clergy and people who had taken refuge there'. |
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1020 |
The Danes were in complete
control of the Isle of Thanet and the Abbot of St Augustine's Abbey,
Canterbury, petitioned King Cnut to allow him the relics of St Mildred
and the lands of the Abbey at Minster. The people of Thanet fought
against losing the relics of their saint, but the Abbot got his way and
thus began a long period of bitterness between the people of Thanet and
St Augustine's Abbey. |
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1050 |
St John the Baptist Church was
built in Margate. |
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1062 |
St Lawrence Church was built in
Ramsgate. This, plus a few cottages near the harbour, formed the
beginnings of the town of Ramsgate. |
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1066 |
William the Conqueror's army
by-passed Thanet, marching from Dover to Canterbury. But, according to
some sources, Thanet was amongst the districts which William ordered to
be devastated in the Autumn of 1085 to discourage the threatened
invasion from Denmark.
The Doomesday Book states the population of Thanet as consisting of
three knights, 71 cottagers, rustics or freemen and 239 villains or
bondsmen.
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1070 |
St Peter's Church was built in St
Peter's. |
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1081 |
The Dauphin of France landed his
army in Thanet prior to joining the discontented Barons who had invited
him to help them in resisting the demands of King John. |
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1165
Discontent between Thanet and Canterbury
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Discontent smouldered between the
Church who owned much of the land in Thanet and her tenants. The Abbot
of St Augustine's required that tenants attend his court in Canterbury -
every three weeks - or pay a fine. The journey to Canterbury was arduous
and time-wasting and only minor matters could be settled in the court at
Minster. Complaints about the attendance at Canterbury were made
unsuccessfully this year and again in 1176, resulting then in an
agreement between the Abbot and 29 men of Thanet that they would attend
court. |
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1242 |
Minster still had a harbour
accessible to the sea via its own creek. During this century the ebbing
of the sea from the Wantsum and the reclamation of marshland caused
Minster and Sarre to lose their maritime use, and the open seaports of
Thanet grew in importance. Sheep, and later cattle, raising began on the
newly-won marsh pastures and dairy farming became very profitable. |
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1291 |
The Vicar of St Peter's paid tax
on his income towards the crusades. |
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1300 |
Thanet tenants at Salmestone
Grange planned open rebellion against the powerful Abbot in Canterbury.
After much mayhem they were brought to justice, found guilty and
imprisoned until the damage they had caused was paid for - £200. After
the dissolution of the monasteries Salmestone was granted to the
Archbishop of Canterbury. |
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1313 |
The Abbot of St Augustine was
confirmed in rights at Minster, which gave him absolute power over the
land and the people of Thanet. In spite of the demands of the monks, the
population of Thanet greatly increased, and a tax register dated 1334-35
reveals approximately 5-7,000 people in Thanet and Stonar - a rise of
between three and five times since 1086. |
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1325-26
Disease and Pestilence
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A great drought hit Thanet and
East Kent and a series of animal plagues began in 1327. In 1348 came the
Black Death which devasted the population already weakened by starvation
due to the adverse weather. Labour declined, wages rose and prices fell
and holdings fell vacant. |
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1381
Rebellion
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The extensive rights of
jurisdiction of the Abbot of St Augustine's at Minster were reconfirmed,
the obligations of which were evidently felt to be too onerous. This led
to the men of the Thanet estates taking part in Wat Tyler's rebellion -
the Peasants' Revolt of 1381. The Thanet revolt broke out at St Laurence
and St John's on 13th June, triggered off by the arrival of Tyler and
his men at Canterbury on 10th June. Following a command by Tyler, a
200-strong crowd attacked the house of William Medmenham (a
representative of the Abbot), and burnt "the books and muniments"
and "took away and burnt the rolls", to the value of 20 marks.
It does not appear that any Thanet men followed Tyler to London, but six
people from Canterbury were amongst those hanged. |
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1400 |
At this time the shrine of Our
Ladye of Bradstowe in Broadstairs was attracting pilgrims from all
parts, and was so venerated that ships lowered their topsails when
sailing past the edifice. |
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1450
More Rebellion
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At least 11 Thanet men including
four constables of the Hundred of Ringslow took part in Jack Cade's
rebellion which was based on Ashford. Their grievances seem to have
centred on the oppression and corruption of the Dover Cinque Port court
and the corruption surrounding the election of Knights of the Shire. |
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1483 |
Richard III granted Ramsgate an
association with Sandwich as a limb of the Cinque Ports. |
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1485
Bridge with Mainland
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During this first year of the
reign of the first Tudor (Henry VII), an act permitted a bridge to be
built over the Wantsum at Sarre. The bridge did not much ease the
difficult journey to Canterbury and London over unmade roads. It was
however perhaps the beginning of the end of Thanet as a real island. |
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1495
Culmer's Land
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Richard Culmer of St Peter's
propounded a Will bequeathing six acres of land, the rent of which was
to be distributed every Good Friday amongst the most needy and poor in
the parish reserving four pence to be given to the vicar that he might
remember the soul of the donor on Dominical prayer. Culmer's land still
exists to this day as allotments, administerd by a trust. |
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1499
Lighthouse
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The Wantsum Channel was silting
up and shipping had to negotiate the North Foreland. The oldest working
lighthouse in England was built at the North Foreland. |
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1500s
Poor Laws
Shipbuilding
Alchemy
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In Elizabethan times the
Householders in Thanet were recorded thus:
Parish of St Laurence (Ramsgate) 98
Parish of St John (Margate) 107
Parish of St Peters (Broadstairs) 186
Under the 16th century Poor Laws, the Thanet parishes were slowly
turned into administrative units - Birchington (1538), St Laurence and
St John's (1559) and St Peter's (1582). They had to appoint Overseers of
the Poor to administer relief, and local farmers figured prominently in
this role.
George Culmer had a shipbuilding yard in Broadstairs on the present
site of the Pavilion Garden on the Sands.
One of the last of the great alchemists, Thomas Charnock, was born in
Thanet in the sixteenth century.
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1538
Broadstairs Pier
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George Culmer excavated along the
line of the cliffs at Broadstairs to develop the harbour and build the
pier - due to storms it was later rebuilt several times. Centuries later
Charles Dickens was to write that the pier: "...is fortunately
without the slightest pretension to architecture, and very picturesque
in consequence". |
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1540
York Gate
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The York Gate in Harbour Street
Broadstairs was built by George Culmer. The flint arch contained a
portcullis which could be let down to protect the inhabitants from
pirates and other marauders who might attempt a landing at the harbour.
In the reign of Elizabeth I, George Culmer's son gave the Pier and
the York Gate to the inhabitants of 'Bradstowe' forever.
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1556-60 |
Mary Tudor paid £8 to Ramsgate
for them to help the Lord Warden of Sandwich to supply soldiers to go to
the French wars. |
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1586 |
In his 'Brittania', William
Camden described the inhabitants of Margate, Ramsgate and Broadstairs as
"....excessively industrious .... being fishermen and ploughmen,
farmers and sailors, the same persons that guide the plough in the
fields steering the helm at sea......" |
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1588
The Spanish Armada
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The White family of Broadstairs
helped provision of the English fleet who were anchored offshore to
await the Spanish Armada. The inhabitants of Thanet paid for the defence
of the realm against the Armada and by tradition warning beacons were
lighted at Beacon Road, Broadstairs. Many sick and wounded English
seamen were landed at Margate and Broadstairs. Henry Crisp (of the
Birchington Quex family) commanded a company of 250 trained officers and
local militia men to defend the island. |
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1600
Wantsum
silts up
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The Wantsum Channel had almost
silted up. This was due to changing tides and also the Christchurch
monks reclaiming and draining the land. The ports and ferry points of
Sandwich, Fordwich, Minster and Sarre lay on the Wantsum and could
therefore no longer operate. |
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1601 |
St Mary's Chapel in Broadstairs
was built on the site of the Shrine of Our Ladye of Bradstowe. The
building is now used as a bookshop. |
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1635 |
The original North Foreland
Lighthouse was replaced by a stone tower with an open coal fire on top. |
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1683
Kingsgate
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Charles II, with his brother the
Duke of York, made a landing in bad weather at St Bartholomew's stairs
just north of Broadstairs. A flint gateway erected to record the landing
was later removed by Lord Holland to the grounds of Port Regis. This
part of the town is now Kingsgate, having been re-named 'The King's
Gate' by Order of Charles II.
source
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