The ''Limenwara'' or ''Limenware'' were a people of
Anglo-Saxon England
Anglo-Saxon England or Early Medieval England, existing from the 5th to the 11th centuries from the end of Roman Britain until the Norman conquest in 1066, consisted of various Anglo-Saxon kingdoms until 927, when it was united as the Kingdom o ...
whose territory formed a ''
regio'' or early administrative subdivision of the
Kingdom of Kent.
The name means "Limen-dwellers", with "Limen" being the name of the former eastern arm of the
River Rother, which at that time entered the sea at
Lympne.
The territory was based around two main settlements, with Lympne as the original
royal vill and centre of royal administration and
Lyminge
Lyminge is a village in southeast Kent, England. It lies about five miles (8 km) from Folkestone and the Channel Tunnel, on the road passing through the Elham Valley. At the 2011 Census the population of Etchinghill was included. The Nail ...
emerging from an outlying estate as the territory's
minster and centre of ecclesiastic administration.
There is evidence of considerable continuity with earlier
Roman occupation: Lympne was the site of the Roman
Saxon Shore
The Saxon Shore ( la, litus Saxonicum) was a military command of the late Roman Empire, consisting of a series of fortifications on both sides of the Channel. It was established in the late 3rd century and was led by the "Count of the Saxon Shor ...
fort of ''
Portus Lemanis'', and the minster at Lyminge possibly occupying the site of an earlier
Roman temple.
The territory of the ''Limenwara'' survived as one of the
lathes of the later
county of
Kent, originally taking its name from the Limenwara themselves, but later being renamed the lathe of
Shepway.
References
Bibliography
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{{Heptarchy
History of Kent
Peoples of Anglo-Saxon England