Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for LYMINGE

LYMINGE, a village and a parish in Elham district, Kent. The village stands 1¾ mile E of Stane-street, 3½ NE of Westenhanger r. station, and 3¾ N of Hythe; has a post office under Hythe; and will have a station on the Elham Valley railway, which was begun to be forwarded in 1867. The parish comprises 4,459 acres. Real property, £4,078. Pop., 938. Houses, 156. The property is much subdivided. The manor belonged to a nunnery founded here in 633, by Ethelburga, daughter of King Ethelbert; passed to the Archbishops of Canterbury; was surrendered by Archbishop Cranmer to the Crown; went through varions possessors to Lord Loughborough; and belongs now to Stephen Kelcey, Esq. The nunnery was destroyed by the Danes, and early disappeared. A spring, called St. Eadburg's well, is near the church, and emits a headstream of the Little Stour river. Upwards of 1,000 acres are under wood; and part of the land is hilly, with a light poor Soil: but the rest is very fertile. The living is a rectory, united with the p. curacy of Paddlesworth, in the diocese of Canterbury. Value, £920.* Patron, the Rev. R.Jenkins. The church belonged to the nunnery; was built out of the materials of a Roman structure, some remains of which still exist; is mentioned in charter's of Wihtred and Cuthred, of the years 697 and 804; was the burial-place of Ethelburga: comprises nave, N aisle, and chancel, with a remarkable flying-buttress; and was recently repaired. There are a Wesleyan chapel, a national school, and charities £38. The Elham workhouse also is here; and, at the census of 1861, had 215 inmates.


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

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "a village and a parish"   (ADL Feature Type: "populated places")
Administrative units: Lyminge AP/CP       Elham RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place: Lyminge

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