Ebbsfleet Thanet – not to be confused with the new town near Gravesend – is the site
where St Augustine, sent, by Pope Gregory, to re-establish the Christian church in
the South of England, celebrated his first mass, in 597AD. In 1884, they erected
a stone cross on the site, to commemorate the landing.
According to Bede, who recorded St Augustines arrival in his history, 600 families
lived on Thanet at the time of the monks arrival, and the Wantsum River, which stretched
three furlongs (600 metres) wide, could only be crossed in two places, and joined
the sea at either end.
