Folkestone Abbey
Folkestone Abbey (also known as the Priory of St. Eanswith) was a
Benedictine foundation situated in
Folkestone on the
Kent coast.
It was the first nunnery built in
England, having been founded in
630 for the
Benedictine order by Saint
Eanswythe (or Eanswide), daughter of
Eadbald, King of Kent, who was the son of
Saint Ethelbert, the first Christian king among the English.
The abbey was dedicated to
Saint Peter. Like many other similar foundations it was destroyed by the Danes.
In 1095 another monastery for Benedictine monks was erected on the same site by Nigel de Mundeville, Lord of Folkestone. This was an alien priory, a cell belong to the Abbey of Lonley or Lolley in Normandy, dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith, whose relics were deposited in the church. The cliff on which the monastery was built was gradually undermined by the sea, and William de Abrincis in 1137 gave the monks a new site, that of the present church of Folkestone.
The conventual buildings were erected between the church and the sea coast. Being an alien priory it was occasionally seized by the king, when England was at war with France, but after a time it was made denizen and independent of the mother-house in
Normandy and thus escaped the fate which befell most of the alien priories in the reign of
Henry V. It continued to the time of the
dissolution and was surrendered to the king on
15 November 1535. The names of twelve priors are known, the last being Thomas Barrett or Bassett. The net income at the dissolution was about £50. It was bestowed by
Henry VIII on Edmund, Lord Clinton and Saye.
The only part of the monastic buildings remaining is a Norman doorway, but the foundations may be traced for a considerable distance.
