The twin towers of St. Mary's Church are a well known landmark for sailors and local people alike along this stretch of the North Kent Coast between Herne Bay and Birchington. It is said that back in the Middle Ages ships would dip their sails as they sailed passed the Church as a sign of respect.

The remaining wall of the original Roman Fort - looking South. © P.E. Blanche 1998	The gatehouse of the original Roman Fort - looking North to where a large part of the walls have been washed into the sea. © P.E. Blanche 1998

Originally, this was the Roman fort at what was then known as, Reculbium, which guarded the North end of the Wantsum Channel which cut off the Isle of Thanet from the rest of Kent. There is a legend that there is often heard the sound of a baby crying in the grounds of the fort and the Church ruins. From information I have read, it seems that fairly recent excavations of this site by The Kent Archaeology Society revealed several infant skeletons buried under the walls of a Roman barrack block which would have been built in approximately 200-250 A.D. I have seen one source quote three as the number of remains found and another which puts the figure as high as eleven. One source says that as there seemed to be no damage to the skeletons that they were probably infants that died of natural causes whereas another says that it was not unusual to bury the infants alive. If this was the case then one would assume that they suffocated and therefore there would not necessarily be signs of trauma - especially given the age of the remains and the fact that they had a wall dumped on top of them. Although infant mortality would have been high in those days, I personally can't see the Romans waiting for deaths from natural causes if they needed eleven (or more) bodies to satisfy the needs of their construction.

St. Mary's Church, Reculver from the West. © P.E. Blanche 1998

Another legend that surrounds this site relates to the Church itself. The towers of the Church are known as "the Twin Sisters" and at one time had an additional spire on the top of each tower. The body of the Church which had stood on the site in varying forms since 669 A.D. was demolished in 1809 but the towers were left as a navigational aid for shipping and eventually maintained by Trinity House. The spires on top of the towers were finally removed sometime around 1880. The legend, which is a little long and complicated can be summerized as follows:

In the 15th Century there were two well-connected sisters, one of whom was the Abbess of Faversham. One of the sisters fell ill and when she recovered, the two of them decided to go and give their thanks at the shrine of St. Mary, Bradstowe (or Broadstairs). They sailed from Faversham but off Reculver were hit by a storm which wrecked their ship. Both sisters were saved but one of the two died as the results of exposure. The remaining sister then added two spires to the existing towers and they were thereafter known as the "twin sisters".

I do not have any definitive reason why the church was abandoned but can reasonably assume it was because the coastline was being rapidly eroded at this point. As I understand it, the churchyard was to the North of the Church itself and has been washed away by the sea long ago, together with a large proportion of the remains of the Roman fort. Apparently, it was not unusual during the 19th Century to find the odd bone or skull washed up on the shore having been excavated by the sea. Although, the old Church has not been used for many years now, genealogists researching families in this area should not overlook this Church and it's newer counterpart that stands about a mile inland.

June 6, 1997 It was announced on the BBC World News tonight that four of the prototype "bouncing bombs" invented by Barnes Wallace and tested off Reculver had been discovered still sitting in the mud offshore. Three of these "bombs", each weighing approximately four tons and as prototypes containing no explosive, were recovered today while the fourth is expected to be retrieved tomorrow. It is hoped that they will eventually be placed on permanent display somewhere in Kent.

The final versions of these bombs were dropped on the Ruhr Dams by a team of Lancaster bombers led by Wing Commander Guy Gibson, D.S.O.,D.F.C. (later to be awarded the V.C.). The development of the bombs, their testing and the final attack was immortalized in the 1955 film, "The Dam Busters" starring Richard Todd as Guy Gibson and Michael Redgrave as Barnes Wallace.

Back to the previous page.

Back to the opening page.