Folkstone, Abbey of
FOLKSTONE, ABBEY OF
The first nunnery of Anglo-Saxon England, was built by King Eadwald of Kent c. 630 for his daughter Eanswith, its first abbess (c. 614–640). The destruction of the abbey was begun by the incursions of the sea and completed by Danish invaders, perhaps in 867. In 927 King Athelstan granted the land to Christ Church, Canterbury, to be refounded as a priory for monks, dedicated to St. Mary and St. Eanswith. After the Norman Conquest the house became an alien cell of Lonlay, Normandy, but later returned to English allegiance. When the sea again undermined the site, the monks, in 1137, moved for safety to a new church. Here, in what is now the parish church, St. Eanswith's reputed relics are still preserved, although nothing remains of the monastic buildings that were surrendered to King Henry VIII on Nov. 15, 1535.
Bibliography: w. dugdale, Monasticon Anglicanum (London 1655–73); best ed. by j. caley et al., 6 v. (1817–30) 1:97, 451, 4:672–675. l. h. cottineau, Répertoire topobibliographique des abbayes et prieurés, 2 v. (Mâcon 1935–39) 1:1167.
[f. corrigan]