Reculver, Kent

Description
Reculver, a village and a parish in Kent. The village stands on the coast, 3 miles E by N of Herne Bay station on the L.C. & D.R., takes its name from the Roman station Regulbium, and was once a market-town. Post town, Herne Bay, under Canterbury. Acreage of the civil parish, 1221; population, 244; of the ecclesiastical, 603. The manor belongs to the Archbishop of Canterbury. Part of the land in the E and the NE is marsh. The coast is partly bluff cliff, partly marsh, protected by a sea-wall, and has suffered much encroachment by the sea. The Roman station of Regulbium was on a cliff overhanging the Thames estuary; guarded a strait dividing the Isle of Thanet from the mainland, and formerly navigable; was garrisoned by the first cohort of the Vetasii-Belgians from Brabant; occupied about 8 acres; is still represented by the S and the E walls, originally about 12 feet thick, and now much shattered and covered with ivy and brushwood; and has yielded many coins, utensils, and other relics. A palace was built on the station by Ethelbert, king of Kent, and is traditionally but incorrectly said to have-been his burial-place. A monastery also was founded herein the 7th century, and was annexed to Christchurch, Canterbury. Coastguard stations are at Reculver and Bishopstone. The living is a vicarage, united with the perpetual curacy of Hoath, in the diocese of Canterbury ; net value, £165 with residence. Patron, the Archbishop of Canterbury. The old church included some Roman masonry; was partly Norman, partly Early English; suffered much damage by erosion of the sea; was mainly taken down in 1809 ; and is now represented only by two towers, called the Sisters, and serving as landmarks to mariners, and by a small part of the walls. The church of St Mary, situated at Hillborough, is a building of flint in the Early English style.