Sarr

SARR, a ville, in the union of the Isle of Thanet, cinque-port liberty of Sandwich, locally in the hundred of Ringslow, or Isle of Thanet, lathe of St. Augustine, E. division of Kent, 8¾ miles (N. E.) from Canterbury; containing 215 inhabitants. This place derives its name from an ancient ford at low water, leading from the Isle of Thanet to the main land, and, previously to the arrival of the Saxons, forming a communication with Chislet on the opposite bank. It was anciently a separate parish, in old documents designated St. Giles at Serre, but is now united with St. Nicholas', Sandwich. The road from Canterbury to Ramsgate and Margate passes through it, and the place once carried on a considerable trade; but on the failure of the river Wantsune, the business declined, and the inhabitants removing to other places, the church fell into decay. In Archbishop Parker's visitation, in 1561, the living is returned as "Vicaria Sarre Dissoluta." The ville comprises 653 acres, of which 138 are marsh land.