Minster in Sheppey, Kent

Historical Description

Minster-in-Sheppey, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the N coast of the Isle of Sheppey, opposite the Nore, 3 miles E by N of Qneenborough station on the L.C. & D.R. It has a post and telegraph office under Sheerness; money order office, Queenborough. The parish is studded with hamlets. Acreage, 8002 of land and 2118 of water and foreshore; population of the civil parish, 16,111; of the ecclesiastical, 1619. A nunnery was founded at Minster in 660 by Sexburga, widow of Ercombert, king of Kent; was endowed with lands for the maintenance of seventy-seven nuns; underwent desolation by the Danes; was restored for a colony of Benedictine nuns in 1130 by Archbishop Oorboil; had at the dissolution a prioress and ten nuns; went then to Sir Thomas Oheyne; and is now represented only by the church and by the gatehouse, the latter of comparatively late architecture. The general surface is a rich expanse of corn and pasture land, with considerable aggregate of market-gardens; and the coast is bounded by high cliffs, has several coastguard stations, and commands very fine views, both landward and over the estuary of the Thames. An oyster fishery extends In front along a bank called Cheyney Rock, and was at one time very productive and celebrated. The living is a vicarage in the diocese of Canterbury; gross value, £320, in the gift of the Church Patronage Society. The church is duplicate-the N church is that of the ancient nunnery, the S is the parish church and consists of naves and chancels, with a turreted tower to the N church; includes Saxon and Norman portions, and contains the tomb of a Knight Templar, said to be that of Sir Robert de Shurland, and several other tombs and brasses (the celebrated Northwoode brasses of 1350 date in the church). The building was restored in 1880-81. There are Congregational, Wesleyan, and Baptist chapels. The workhouse of Sheppey district is also in this parish.

Transcribed from The Comprehensive Gazetteer of England & Wales, 1894-5

Administration

The following is a list of the administrative units in which this place was either wholly or partly included.

Ancient County	Kent
Ecclesiastical parish	Minster-in-Sheppy St. Mary and St. Sexburgh
Lathe	Scray
Liberty	Isle of Sheppey
Poor Law union	Sheppey

Any dates in this table should be used as a guide only.

Civil Registration

For general information about Civil Registration (births, marriages and deaths) see the Civil Registration page.

Directories & Gazetteers

We have transcribed the entry for Minster in Sheppey from the following:

Samuel Lewis' A Topographical Dictionary of England, by Samuel Lewis, seventh edition, published 1858. (Minster-in-Sheppy (St. Mary and St. Sexburgh))

Newspapers and Periodicals

The British Newspaper Archive have fully searchable digitised copies of the following Kent newspapers online:

Visitations Heraldic

The Visitation of Kent, 1619 is available on the Heraldry page, as is also The Visitation of Kent, 1663-68.