Patrixbourne is a village and former

civil parish In England, a civil parish is a type of administrative parish used for local government. It is a territorial designation which is the lowest tier of local government. Civil parishes can trace their origin to the ancient system of parishes, w ...

, now in the parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne, in the

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

district in

Kent Kent is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Essex across the Thames Estuary to the north, the Strait of Dover to the south-east, East Sussex to the south-west, Surrey to the west, and Gr ...

, England. It is south-east of

. It is mostly taken up by agricultural hills and along with almost contiguous

Bekesbourne Bekesbourne () is a village and former civil parish, now in the parish of Bekesbourne-with-Patrixbourne, in the Canterbury district, in Kent, South-East England. In 1961 the parish had a population of 538. The village centre is east-south-ea ...

. In 1931 the parish had a population of 245.

Geography

The village is about 3 miles from the city centre along the A2 road to Dover, on a ford over the River Nailbourne.

History

In the Domesday Book Patrixbourne was held by Bishop Odo, but in 1200 it was transferred to a cell of an abbey in Normandy and thereafter to

Merton Priory Merton Priory was an English Augustinian priory founded in 1114 by Gilbert Norman, Sheriff of Surrey under King Henry I (1100–1135). It was situated within the manor of Merton in the county of Surrey, in what is today the Colliers Wood ...

. After the Reformation it passed to the Says and then the Cheyneys. An Anglo-Saxon cemetery is on the Bifrons estate or Bifron's Park in the south of the village. Bifrons took its name from a name for the Roman god

Janus In ancient Roman religion and myth, Janus ( ; ) is the god of beginnings, gates, transitions, time, duality, doorways, passages, frames, and endings. He is usually depicted as having two faces. The month of January is named for Janus (''Ianu ...

("the two-faced") as well as having two wings and was built in the early 1600s by John Bargrave (Bargar) the Elder, brother of Isaac Bargrave,

Dean of Canterbury The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter (religion), Chapter of Canterbury Cathedral, the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The current office of dean (religion), Dean originated after the English Reformation, although Dea ...

. The Bargrave family were staunchly

Royalist A royalist supports a particular monarch as head of state for a particular kingdom, or of a particular dynastic claim. In the abstract, this position is royalism. It is distinct from monarchism, which advocates a monarchical system of gove ...

during the Civil War and Bargrave's son John sold the estate in 1661 as he resumed his ecclesiastical career after the Restoration. In September 1694 the estate was bought by Sandwich MP John Taylor. It was remodelled by Edward Taylor in 1770 and, in 1820, became the seat of Elizabeth, Marchioness Conyngham, wife of the 1st Marquess Conyngham and last mistress of

King George IV George IV (George Augustus Frederick; 12 August 1762 – 26 June 1830) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and King of Hanover from 29 January 1820 until his death in 1830. At the time of his accession to the throne, h ...

. The house was demolished in the late 1940s. The parish church dates from the late Norman period and is dedicated to St Mary. It is built of flint and

Caen Stone Caen stone () is a light creamy-yellow Jurassic limestone quarried in north-western France near the city of Caen. The limestone is a fine grained oolitic limestone formed in shallow water lagoons in the Bathonian Age about 167 million years ...

imported from France and contains 16th and 17th century stained glass from Switzerland. On 1 April 1987 the civil parish was abolished to form "Bekesbourne with Patrixbourne", part also went to

Bridge A bridge is a structure built to Span (engineering), span a physical obstacle (such as a body of water, valley, road, or railway) without blocking the path underneath. It is constructed for the purpose of providing passage over the obstacle, whi ...

and the

unparished area In England, an unparished area is an area that is not covered by a civil parish (the lowest level of local government, not to be confused with an ecclesiastical parish). Most urbanised districts of England are either entirely or partly unparis ...

of Canterbury.

Amenities

Higham Park is a large neoclassical mansion, once the home of eccentric racing driver Count Louis Zborowski. His giant-engined " Chitty Bang Bang" cars were built there, as was Babs, the vehicle used in J.G. Parry-Thomas's attempt for the land speed record at

Pendine Sands Pendine Sands () is a beach on the shores of Carmarthen Bay on the south coast of Wales. It stretches west to east from Gilman Point to Laugharne Sands. The village of Pendine () is close to the western end of the beach. In the early 1900s t ...

in 1927. It is in the far south of the parish, so its nearest amenities are either those of Patrixbourne or of

References

External links

Notes on the village
{{authority control Villages in Kent Former civil parishes in Kent City of Canterbury