Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for MINSTER-IN-SHEPPEY

MINSTER-IN-SHEPPEY, a village, a parish, and a sub-district in Sheppey district, Kent. The village stands on the N coast of the Isle of Sheppey, opposite the Nore, 3 miles E by N of Queenborough r. station; and has a post office, of the name of Minster, under Sittingbourne. The parish contains also the town of Sheerness, and is studded with hamlets and habitations..Acres, 11,035; of which 2,845 are water. Real property, £37,668; of which £250 are in fisheries. Pop. in 1851, 1 1,082; in 1861,15,964. Houses, 2,231. The increase of pop. arose mainly from the establishment of a steamengine factory, and other works, in the royal dockyard of Sheerness; and so many as 12,015 of the pop. in 1861 were in the town of Sheerness, -1,532 on board vessels, 1,005 in Sheerness barracks, and 73 in the military hospital. A nunnery was founded at Minster, in 675, by Sexburga, widow of Ercombert, king of Jent; was endowed with lands for the maintenance of 77 nuns; underwent desolation by the Danes; was restored, for a colony of Benedictine nuns, in 1130, by Archbishop Corboil; had, at the dissolution, a prioress and 10 nuns; went then to Sir Thomas Cheney; and is now represented only by the church, and by the gate-house, the latter of comparatively late architecture. The general surface is a rich expanse of corn and pasture land, with considerable aggregate of market-gardens; and the coast is bounded by high cliffs, has several coast-guard stations, and commands very fine views, both landward and over the estuary of the Thames. An oyster fishery extends in front along a bank called Cheney Rock; and is very productive and celebrated. The living is a p. curacy in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £169.* Patron, James Whitchurch, Esq. The church is that of the ancient nunnery; consists of nave, aisles, chapel, and chancel, with a turreted tower; includes Norman portions; and contains the tomb of a Knight Templar, said to be that of Sir Robert de Shurland, and several other tombs and brasses. The p. cnracy of Sheerness is a separate benefice. There are chapels for Independents, Baptists, Wesleyans, Primitive Methodists, and Roman Catholics, national schools at both Minster and Sheerness, and an endowed school with £19 a year. The workhouse of Sheppey district also is here; and, at the census of 1861, had 107 inmates.—The sub-district contains likewise the parish of Queenborough. Acres, 11,535. Pop., 16,937. Houses, 2,388.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village, a parish, and a sub-district"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Minster in Sheppey AP/CP       Sheppey RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Minster in Sheppey

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