Ancient Reculver Towers

[Neilsouth]

Some time in the distant past there were two sisters, the orphaned daughters of Sir Geoffrey St Clare, Frances and Isabella. Frances became abbess of the Benedictine priory of Davington near Faversham, whilst Isabella, as the ward of John Abbot of Canterbury was betrothed to Henry de Belville, who fought for Richard III, and was fatally injured at the battle of Bosworth Field. Isabella then like her sister 'took the veil', for 14 years until Frances was taken ill.

The sisters made a vow that if Frances recovered they would make a pilgrimage and make offerings at the Shrine of Our Lady (Broadstairs) to give their thanks. Sailing from Faversham, when off Reculver they became shipwrecked on the Columbine Sands in a storm for lack of any sea mark.

Frances was rescued, but Isabella had to stay on the wreck until daylight, at length rescued she was later to die herself from exposure, in her sister's arms. Frances completed the pilgrimage alone on foot. In loving memory of her sister Frances restored the Reculver church adding two spires to the existing towers and they were thereafter known as the "twin sisters". Unfortunately for this 18th century legend, the towers had spires already in the 15th century.

The coastline was being rapidly eroded at this point and the churchyard, to the North of the Church has long since been lost to the sea, together with a large proportion of the remains of the Roman fort.

As long ago as 1700 the sea had begun to threaten the stability of the shallow hill the reculver (Regulbium) Roman fort had been built upon, whereby the great north wall . After vainly trying to save the remains of the church and its yard, in 1809 the authorities allowed its demolition. The vicarage also abandoned in 1809, was briefly used as a public house known as 'The Hoy and Anchor', while the present 'The King Ethelbert Inn' was being built to replace the old Hoy and Anchor which had fallen into the sea from the cliff a few years before. The story has been retold and reinvented many times perhaps the most famous being from the Ingoldsby Legends, when two brothers (Robert and Richard de Birchington) were substituted as the sisters who adopted this famous landmark. (Tom Ingoldsby being the pen name of Richard Harris Barham).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reculver

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[Neilsouth]

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the lonely Graves

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