Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne is a

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of Parish (administrative division), administrative parish used for Local government in England, local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government below district ...

in the

City of Canterbury The City of Canterbury () is a local government district with city status in Kent, England. As well as Canterbury itself, the district extends north to the coastal towns of Whistable and Herne Bay. History The district was formed on 1 April ...

district of

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe ...

. It is located 4 miles south-east of Canterbury. According to the 2001

census A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses in ...

it had a

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using ...

of 868, increasing to 925 at the 2011 Census. The parish consists of

Bekesbourne Bekesbourne is a village near Canterbury in Kent, South East England. The village is centred ESE of the city's cathedral and its centre stretches less than 1 km from its railway station to the A2 road to the south. Amenities The parish c ...

and Patrixbourne. It is most famous for being the home location of

Howletts Wild Animal Park Howletts Wild Animal Park (formerly known as Howletts Zoo) in the parish of Bekesbourne, near Canterbury in Kent, was established as a private zoo in 1957 by John Aspinall. In 1962, the House known as Howletts was being restored. A small cott ...

, but it is also renowned for the growing of hops and sunflowers. It has one church and has a medieval historical connection with Archbishop

Thomas Cranmer Thomas Cranmer (2 July 1489 – 21 March 1556) was a leader of the English Reformation and Archbishop of Canterbury during the reigns of Henry VIII, Edward VI and, for a short time, Mary I. He helped build the case for the annulment of Henry ...

, who was responsible for the reform of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

under

Henry VIII Henry VIII (28 June 149128 January 1547) was King of England from 22 April 1509 until his death in 1547. Henry is best known for his six marriages, and for his efforts to have his first marriage (to Catherine of Aragon) annulled. His disagr ...

. The archiepiscopal palace was built around 1552 for Cranmer using buildings belonging to Christchurch, Canterbury. It was destroyed in the Civil War and only the gatehouse, now a cottage, survives. The gatehouse consists of two storeys of red brick laid in English bond and a hipped slate roof. In the west wall is a four-centred stone doorway with a stone over it inscribed "T C 1552" and a cartouche of the arms of Archbishop Parker of Canterbury.

Footnotes

City of Canterbury Civil parishes in Kent {{Kent-geo-stub