Minster-in-Sheppy (St. Mary and St. Sexburgh)

MINSTER-in-Sheppy (St. Mary and St. Sexburgh), a parish, in the union of Sheppy, liberty of the Isle of Sheppy, lathe of Scray, county of Kent; containing, with the port of Sheerness, which is a vill having independent jurisdiction, 8684 inhabitants, This place is celebrated as the site of a convent founded in 675, by Sexburga, mother of Egbert, King of Kent, for seventy-seven nuns, who suffered greatly during the invasion of England by the Danes, by whom the house was eventually destroyed. It was re-established in 1130, for Benedictine nuns, and dedicated to St. Mary and St. Sexburgh, by William, Archbishop of Canterbury, and continued to flourish till the Dissolution, when its revenue was returned at £122. 14. 6.: the remains have been converted into a farmhouse. The parish comprises by admeasurement 6500 acres, of which 4138 are pasture, 1850 arable, 466 meadow, and 46 wood; the lands are generally marshy, and the soil clay. The navigable river Hoale intersects the parish, and, in connexion with the pier at Sheerness, where is a commodious wharf, gives facilities for the conveyance of produce in that direction; while the King's Ferry affords communication with the main land. The village is situated on high land, commanding extensive views; a fair is held in it on Palm-Monday and Tuesday. The living is a perpetual curacy; net income, £169, with a glebe-house; patron, T. Mitchell, Esq.; impropriator, W. Hopson, Esq., whose tithes have been commuted for £1602. 11. The church, an ancient structure, with a massive square tower crowned by a turret, appears to have been formerly much larger than at present. At Sheerness is a separate incumbency. There are places of worship for Baptists, Independents, Primitive Methodists, and Wesleyans; and a Roman Catholic chapel.