The name stems from it being the district around the Limen, which was the old name for the Eastern Rother.
The history of Lyminge goes back much further, at least to the Roman period, when a villa was built close to the site of the current parish church. Queen Ethelburga of Northumbria founded an abbey here in about AD 633.
In 2012 the remains of a
Saxon feasting hall were uncovered on the village green. The hall was 21m by
8.5m, and probably held up to 60 people. Amidst the foundation walls,
archaeologists found jewellery, bone implements, even a manicure set of bronze.
The hall would have been used
for feasts and drinking lasting days at a time. It seems to have been abandoned
as inhabitants turned to Christianity. Another notable archaeological discovery
was a Jutish burial ground dating to the 6th century.
Lyminge used to be a stop on the now defunct railway line, and the old station building is still there. It has been repurposed as the village library, but they have cleverly kept the outside appearance the same, even down to it being painted in British Rail green and white
There has been continuous settlement since at least the 5th, century AD, and Lyminge is now a thriving village with a selection of shops and two doctor's surgeries. It is the source of the Nailbourne river, which emanates from St. Ethelburga's Well. St. Ethelburga was the widow of Edwin, king of Northumbria, and the daughter of King Ethelbert of Kent in the 7th. century AD.
More about her shortly............
Meanwhile...................yes, I know why they built churches on the highest point of the village, but really, they took no account of my poor aching legs! The lane up to the church here, is particularly steep, but oh so worth it,.
St. Mary & St. Ethelburga church.
The first thing the visitor sees is an enormous
flying buttress holding up the south-east corner of the church - the pathway
actually runs beneath it
The south doorway resembles a lych gate, more than a conventional porch, and is very prettily decorated, as befits the resting place of a queen.
Talking of which, to the right of the door is this stone
And the spot is marked inside the church as well. This is thought to have been
the site of Ethelburga's shrine until the saint's relics were seized by
Archbishop Lanfranc in 1085 and transferred to Canterbury.
Returning to the area around the south door, on the ground is a curious shape, looking a bit like a footpath that goes nowhere, in a paler colour. This is actually the footprint of Queen Ethelburga's original seventh-century church, part of which has been incorporated into the present building.
St Ethelburga was the daughter of King Ethelbert and Queen Bertha.
It was Æthelberht (Ethelbert) who invited Pope Gregory in Rome to send a mission which, under the leadership of St Augustine, arrived in Canterbury in 597 AD. In the following decades, this led to the conversion of the English to Christianity, and acceptance of the authority of the Pope as Head of the Church in England, which only ended when King Henry VIII initiated the Reformation almost a thousand years later.
The present church is also Saxon and stands
north of the original building so that the old north wall is now the south wall
of today's church. When the church was founded, there was no village, which
explains why the present village stands a little removed from this restricted
plateau site. The nave and chancel are
later Saxon work, though the string courses in the chancel may be Roman. You
can easily make out reused Roman stones in the window surrounds.
The archeological dig in 2019, found that The structure was a masonry building in two parts, a rectangular nave with a slightly narrower rounded eastern end, overall some 12.7m long internally by 5.4m across the nave and 4.3m across the apse. In style, the building is almost identical to the very small number of churches all dating to the 7th Century that are known from elsewhere in Kent and, in one case, from Essex. Two samples of mortar taken during the 2019 dig have now been analysed scientifically to provide a date for when it was built. Although both samples suggest a date falling within quite a wide range, the range for one sample centres around the time when Ethelburga was alive, while the other overlaps the first but has a centre point a little later. So the legend of St. Ethelburga is quite probably true.
One of the earliest Christian sites in Kent, the church
began as an abbey founded by Ethelburga and Bishop Paulinus around AD 633.
Ethelburga was the widow of Edwin, king of Northumbria, and daughter of King
Ethelbert.
When Edwin died in battle in
AD 633 Ethelburga fled to Kent where her brother, King Eadbald, gave her land
at Lyminge. Here she occupied a range of old buildings, possibly of Roman
origin. When Ethelburga died in AD 647 she was declared a saint, and her remains
were housed in a shrine, where they quickly became a destination for pilgrims.
The abbey housed both men and
women and lasted until sometime around AD 840 when Lyminge was attacked by the
Danes. The abbey was re-founded for men only in the late 9th century, but the
monks moved to Canterbury in AD 965 and the monastic church became the parish
church for the residents of Lyminge.
There is a lot more information about Ethelburga and the church on the Lyminge Parish Council web-site, so it's a bit pointless me repeating it all here. It certainly is worth reading however, and the story of Ethelburga and her church is fascinating
Lieut. George St. Vincent Pawson R.A.F., M.C. son of the Hon. Mrs. Howard of Sibton Park. We shall no doubt hear a lot about Sibton Park, the 'Big House' on the outskirts of Lyminge. Other than the facts stated on his memorial, I haven't managed to find out much about him.
He died at his home, Sibton Park. He contracted influenza, with was a worldwide-epidemic at the time. Over 50 million died of this so-called 'Spanish Flu' worldwide, including my Great-Uncle, Ethelbert Lancelot. (yes, really!) Poor George developed septic pneumonia, which brought about a rapid decline and death.
Buried in the churchyard.
The view towa\rds the main altar and the Sanctuary, has a warm yellow glow - positively inducing a feeling of peace and serenity - and that in a Buddhist!
More than a hint of Gustav Klimt in this gorgeous embroidered representation of Queen Ethelburga
Tiny shrine to St. Ethelburga
I do so love the dedication on this one - "with great credit to himself; having secured by a peculiar frankness of manner and firmness of character the confidence and esteem of all his brother officers" (well, we quite liked him, but the men thought he was a right b******) :D
A tribute to St. Dunstan, Archbishop of Canterbury, who had the ruins of the church restored.
Leoline died at the home - Toxteth Park, New South Wales, Australia - of Sir G Wigram Allen. He was buried in St. Jude's Cemetery, Randwick, NSW. No idea how he died as yet. Wigram Allen was an Australian politician and philanthropist. He was Speaker in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly 1875–1883.
The fabulous East window, so very detailed and colourful, shows the Nativity.
I was unable to approach some of the memorial tablets, but I will research them best as I can. The two I can read are both to former vicars of the parish. One os to the Rev. Ralph Price and his widow, Albinia. The other is to Rev. Robert Charles Jenkins M.A.
Canon Robert Charles Jenkins was Rector at Lyminge in Kent from 1854 to 1896. He is best known for his antiquarian work, in particular the discovery of the masonry remains of a church that has recently been re-examined and demonstrated through OSL analysis of the mortar to be mid 7th Century in date and thus probably built by Queen Ethelburga as he thought. Yet in his day, Jenkins was also known for his polemical defence of low church Protestantism and opposition to Anglo-Catholicism and the Oxford Movement.
He was immensely proud of his ancestry, and his children, who made global connections throughout the British Empire, as can be seen in the menorial to his 4th. son, Leoline.
George Crichton Jenkins, 2nd son of Rev. Robert Jenkins, and brother to Leoline. Lieutenant Octavious Ridley Lawson and Ensign George Crichton Jenkins from the 18th Royal Irish both drowned whilst bathing in the sea at Camp Patea on 18th December 1865. They are buried together at Wanganui, New Zealand.
Not a very good photograph, but still....the grave of the above.
The eldest of the Jenkins brothers. He was a Lieutenant in the 4th. West India Regiment, and was killed in action during the storming of Fort Tubaba Kullong near the Gambia River. He was just 23.
In 1866, there was conflict within the Basotho Wars (also known as the Free State–Basotho Wars), with a treaty signed that year by the Basotho King Moshoeshoe, ceding territory to the Orange Free State. This ongoing conflict stemmed from unresolved border issues and territorial disputes between the Basotho and the Boers, following the 1854 Sand River Convention that established the Orange Free State.
Thomas Dyffen, who was largely responsible for the bell tower and bells, and who was priest here in 1480. He is buried near the altar.
Margaret Anne, youngest daughter of William Honeywood and Mary Drake-Brockman of Sibton Park.
There is a small museum in one corner of the church, with some interesting finds from the local area, including coins from all ages, the earliest being Roman.
And a model of the church
Couldn't get close enough to read this missive. Shame really, because someone took the time to carve out a complete book! There must be a lot of information here. Stephen Kelcey late of Stone Hall. I can't see any dates, but elsewhere I found a Stephen Kelcey - I hope it's the right one!
When Stephen Kelcey was born in 1760, in Lyminge, Kent, England, United Kingdom, his father, Richard Kelcey, was 48 and his mother, Sarah, was 35. He married Elizabeth Knott on 25 August 1787, in Waltham, Kent, England, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 6 daughters. He died in 1853, in his hometown, at the age of 93, and was buried in Lyminge
Gaily-coloured quilt which disguises the rear of the organ.
a fragment of medieval glass depicting a
bishop's head in the south chancel window
Nicholas Sawkins, Gent who died 8th. May 1647, aged 54. When Nicholas Sawkins was born about 1591, in Lyminge, Kent, England, United Kingdom, his father, James Jeames Sawkins, was 22 and his mother, Margaret Rolfe, was 21. He married Jane Tilden about 1616, in Lyminge, Kent, England, United Kingdom. They were the parents of at least 4 sons and 5 daughters. He died on 8 May 1647, in his hometown, at the age of 57, and was buried in Lyminge
the arms of Cardinal Bourchier (d. 1486) in a small window over
the south door.
Coats-of-arms either side of the Chancel arch
St. Ethelburga’s Well. In
a field off Well Road an ancient spring rises from the earth. The site may be
contemporary with the St Ethelburga's abbey, or perhaps even older, though the
wellhead that covers it is a modern one made of brick and timber.
<
No comments:
Post a Comment