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Minster Court

Also known as, or recorded in historical documents as; Minster Abbey

In the civil parish of Minster. In the historic county of Kent (Modern Authority of Kent, 1974 county of Kent).

This site has been described as a;
Fortified Ecclesiastical site.
  Confidence: It is probable that this site was a medieval fortification or palace.   Major remains.
In 1027 King Canute granted a deserted nunnery to the Benedictine Monks of St Augustine's Abbey, Canterbury and they constructed a monastic grange. The grange survives in the form of standing buildings, water-filled fishponds and below ground remains. The standing buildings are Listed Grade 1 and incorporate the northern hall range and attached western range, along with the ruined fragment of a square tower which adjoins the southern end of the western range. Faced with rubble ragstone and flint with ashlar dressings, the buildings have been dated by their architectural details to C11 and C12. Renn gives no hint as to why he considers this to be a Norman castle, but it is a manorial centre and of much greater status than most Granges.

This site is a scheduled monument protected by law. This is a Grade 1 listed building protected by law*. (Images of England number 419672)

The Ordnance Survey Map Grid Reference is TR31206435

Air Photo from multimap logo

Air Photo and general mapping

1st edition OS Map from old maps logo

Mid to late 19th century maps

Modern Map from Ordnance Survey logo

Landscape form and features

Modern Map from streetmap logo

General location and route planning

Geograph British Isles geography.org.uk logo
occasionally has photos of the site and will usually give an idea of the surrounding landscape.

Sources of information, references and further reading

This site's English Heritage (PastScape) Defra or Monument number is 469519
This site's County Historic Environment Record (formerly Sites and Monuments Record) number is TR 36 SW 3 'grey' literature, such as watching brief reports, held by H.E.R.s is often poorly referenced and is unlikely to be recorded in this website.

Most of the sites or buildings recorded in this web site are NOT open to the public and permission to visit a site must always be sought from the landowner or tenant.
The information on this web page may be derived from information compiled by and/or copyright of English Heritage and other individuals and organisations. All the sources given should be consulted to identify the original copyright holder and permission obtained from them before use of the information on this site for commercial purposes. I do not receive any income from this site and I fund it myself.
The bibliography owes much to various bibliographies produced by John Kenyon for the Council for British Archaeology, the Castle Studies Group and others.
It is an offence to disturb a Scheduled Monument without consent. It is a destruction of everyone's heritage to remove archaeological evidence from any site without proper recording and reporting. Don't use metal detectors on historic sites without authorisation.
Please help me to make this as useful a resource as possible by contacting me if you see errors or if you can add information.
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*The listed building may not be the actual medieval building, but a building on the site of, or incorporating fragments of, the described site.

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This record last updated on Wednesday, October 28, 2009

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