Saint Eanswythe, The Nunnery, and the Bayle Pond

Saint Eanswythe, The Nunnery, and the Bayle Pond. . , Saint Eanswythe , St Eanswythe was an Anglo-Saxon princess who established the first nunnery and church in Folkestone. Her name is given along with that of St Mary to the present Parish Church. Born circa 614AD, Eanswythe was the daughter of Eadbald King of Kent and Emma daughter of the King of the Franks. Emma was a Christian but Eadbald appears to have been a pagan who sometimes embraced Christian beliefs. Eanswythe's grandparents were King Ethelbert of Kent and Queen Bertha who together had welcomed St Augustine when he arrived in Kent in 597AD as the first Christian missionary to England., Circa 630AD Eadbald built a chapel for Eanswythe somewhere in the Bayle area east of the present parish church. This chapel was dedicated to St Peter and St Paul and here Eanswythe settled a community of nuns and became Abbess and Founder of the first religious community for women in England. The date of Eanswythe's death is usually given as 640AD. Tho nunnery did not long survive her, being either ransacked by Vikings, the victim of coastal erosion or perhaps both. Later a priory of Benedictine Monks was established on The Bayle., There are several legends about Eanswythe. The story is told that she chose not to marry and refused to have a Northumbrian prince as her suitor when his pagan incantations failed a test she put to him, and was unable to lengthen a beam required for the building of her church. Her Christian prayers succeeded. Amongst other legends attached to her name are restoring the sight of the blind and forbidding the birds to eat the nuns' corn., Eanswythe's Saint's day is 12th September as this is the date, when, according to tradition, her relics were translated to the present church circa 1138. In 1885 some bones were discovered in a small leaden casket in the north wall of the Sanctuary when work on the present alabaster arcading was being undertaken. In 1885 and again in 1980 the bones were examined by an expert and the conclusion was that they were from one human skeleton of a young female adult aged between 18 and 25 years of age and about 5' 4" in height. This is consistent with Eanswythe's life story., The Nunnery and later Priory , St Eansythe's Nunnery is thought to have been destroyed circa 831AD. In 927 a Priory of Benedictine monks had been founded on The Bayle. Circa 1138 during the reign of Stephen (1134-1164) and a time of civil war the then Lord of the Manor of Folkestone moved the monks outside 'the castle yard' (i.e. The Bayle) and gave them a new church and priory; a cell of the Abbey of St Mary at Lonlay, France. This Priory was the first of the small religious houses to surrender, doing so in 1535 the year prior to the passing of the Act of Dissolution. King John stayed at the Priory in 1213 whilst meeting with the Papal Legate at Temple Ewell near Dover., The Bayle Pond , Legend has it that The Bayle Pond had its origins when Eanswythe established her nunnery and brought water uphill from a spring under the hills around the town to supply her Nunnery. Other suggestions are that she reactivated an old Roman aqueduct, or that the watercourse was of 16th century construction. The pond has been supplied with water from the town mains since circa 1954, at which time it was much reduced in sizes.