| Summary : Minster-in-Sheppey was one of the early minsters founded in Kent, being founded in 664 as a nunnery by St Sexburgha. The nunnery was burnt down by the Danes in 855. At some time before the close of the Saxon period the church was rebuilt and refounded as a Benedictine nunnery, and incorporates 7th century fabric. Archbishop Corbeuil refounded it as an Augustinian nunnery in 1123, which was dissolved in 1539.The Benedictine building consisted of two separate but adjacent churches, the conventual church to the North and the parish church to the South. These now form one building, connected by an arcade of pointed arches. The Saxon church to the North shows clear evidence of very early Saxon work, probably 7th century, in the North chancel and nave. The East end of the chancel dates from 1581 when St Katherine's Chapel to the East was demolished. Both churches were altered in the 13th century. The conventual church has a 15th century West tower and widened but foreshortened chancel. The parish church to the South consists of a nave and chancel with South porch. The latter was built in 1879-81 by Ewan Christian. An inventory of 1536 mentions 4 chapels, one of which, St John's, was in the churchyard. |
More information : [TQ 9560 7298] St Mary & St Sexburga's Ch [NR]
[TQ 9562 7299] St John's Chapel [NR] (Site of) [NAT] (1)
The Church of Minster, restored 1880, consists of a wide nave and chancel with porch, and on its N side another chancel and nave. In the later days of the nunnery the N side was the conventual church and the S side parochial, both showing considerable C13th Early English work. It seems that the N side was the old church partly destroyed by the Danes, it showed many traces of fire when restored. In the middle wall there is a Saxon window, and in the N wall traces of two others, their heads turned in Roman tiles. Towards the beginning of the C15th a W tower, with Perpendicular doorway and battlemented cornice, was built at the end of the nuns portion. This is capped by a modern belfry. The S porch is also Perpendicular. There is a good late C14th chancel screen above which is a C13th painted beam placed there in 1881. (2)
The length of the original church appears to have been 72 feet internal by 20 feet wide. (3)
St John's Chapel (site of) applies to the site of the ancient chapel dedicated to St John the Baptist in the year 1489 situated on the E side of the church. (4)
In the inventory of 1536, four chapels are mentioned - the church, Our Lady, St Katherine's and St John in the churchyard. There is no record of the passing of St John's. St Katherine's, which probably lay to the E of the nunnery was demolished in 1581. The present E end would then have been rebuilt with existing materials. (5)
In the N nave and chancel, are remains of the pre-conquest (?late C7th) conventual church, and there is evidence of rebuilding and alterations for the later Augustinian and Benedictine establishments. Arcading on the outer wall-face of the E end of the N chancel is the sole remaining evidence of an external chapel. The confusion of its dedication (auth 1 & 4 St John, auth 5 St Katherine) was not resolved during fieldwork. The Roman building material (brick and box flue-tile) in the fabric of the pre-conquest portion of the church suggests an unrecorded Roman building in the vicinity. A modern vicarage stands on the site of the graveyard. The vicar Revd J.B. Allen knows of no finds being made on this land. (6)
The Abbey Church of St Mary and St Sexburga. Grade A. A large building in flint and rubble. A nunnery was founded here (TQ 97 SE 1). It was burned by the Danes in 855 and rebuilt by Archbishop Corbeuil between 1123 and 1136. It was dissolved in 1539. There remain the conventual and parochial churches standing side by side, the N chancel and nave having been the conventual church and the S chancel and nave the parish church, in the Early English style, with a tower at the W end of the N nave and a S porch. The N half is the oldest portion of the building, with considerable Saxon remains, but the bulk of the building dates from the C13. The tower was added in the C15 but not completed and has a modern wood belfry. The E end of the N chancel dates from 1581, when St Katherine's Chapel beyond it was demolished. The S porch dates from 1879-81, when the whole church was restored from ruins by Christian. (For full description
see list). (7)
TQ 956 730 St Mary and St Sexburga, the abbey church at Minster. The parts of the early fabric which have survived are characteristic of the earliest Anglo-Saxon style of building and it is therefore possible that they are survivals of Sexburga's original church. The fabric is mainly of stone rubble with tile and flint. In the middle ages this church and the parish church stood side by side - the latter forming a very wide aisle to the earlier church. The present church consists of a large W tower, the early nave, a widened, but fore-shortened chancel and the parochial church on the S, through an arcade of pointed arches. The parochial church itself has a nave with a S porch and chancel. (8)
(Additional reference). (9)
(TQ 9565 7297) (Priory Church) [NR] (10)
A chapel, part of Sexburga's nunnery (TQ 97 SE 1) founded in c675 and destroyed by the Danes in the C9th, was rescued from ruin in 1130 and, with the monastery, re-dedicated to St Mary and St Sexburga. (11)
{TQ 956 730] Surviving Church with pre-conquest features. (12)
At Minster-in-Sheppey parts of another early Kentish monastery (after 664) seem to survive in the parish church. (13)
The Saxon church corresponds to the present nave - the rear arches of two Romanesque windows are preserved in the south wall of the nave, the south wall of the original stone church. Further evidence of the Saxon nave is visible in the fabric of the north (exterior) wall; parts of two round-headed windows above a double string-course of stone slabs, with stone quoins at the eastern end (where nave and chancel adjoin). The associated walling extends almost to the level of the present eaves. (14) |