St Laurence's Church, also known as St Laurence-in-Thanet, is a

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the State religion#State churches, established List of Christian denominations, Christian church in England and the Crown Dependencies. It is the mother church of the Anglicanism, Anglican Christian tradition, ...

parish church A parish church (or parochial church) in Christianity is the Church (building), church which acts as the religious centre of a parish. In many parts of the world, especially in rural areas, the parish church may play a significant role in com ...

Ramsgate Ramsgate is a seaside resort, seaside town and civil parish in the district of Thanet District, Thanet in eastern Kent, England. It was one of the great English seaside towns of the 19th century. In 2021 it had a population of 42,027. Ramsgate' ...

Thanet Thanet may refer to: * Isle of Thanet, a former island, now a peninsula, at the most easterly point of Kent, England * Thanet District, a local government district containing the island *Thanet College, former name of East Kent College * Thanet Ca ...

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 ...

History

The church, founded in 1062, is a

grade I listed building In the United Kingdom, a listed building is a structure of particular architectural or historic interest deserving of special protection. Such buildings are placed on one of the four statutory lists maintained by Historic England in England, Hi ...

, and is the oldest church in Ramsgate. It was an abbey church until 1275, when it became the parish church for the entire area, and inherited many of the former responsibilities of the church in nearby Minster. The building was enlarged in the 12th and 13th centuries, when the chancel and side aisles were added. A lightning strike in 1439 resulted in the church being rebuilt, with the tower being raised to its present height. As Ramsgate grew in size, the town was granted its own church. St Laurence became a separate parish for the villagers of St Lawrence in 1826, just as the parish church of St George was being built to serve the residents of the town.

Churchyard

The parish church of St Laurence in Thanet

St Laurence has a large churchyard covering three and a half acres. It contains over 1400 known graves, the earliest of which is dated to 1656. It also contains the mausoleum of the family of one of Queen Victoria's cousins, Augusta d'Este, later Baroness Truro.

Notable burials in the graveyard

*Admiral William Fox (c1733-1810) * Sir William Garrow (1760–1840) * John Collis Browne (1819–1884)

The d'Este Mausoleum

John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore (1730 – 25 February 1809) was a British colonial administrator who served as the List of colonial governors of Virginia, governor of Virginia from 1771 to 1775. Dunmore was named List of colonial governors of ...

(1732–1809) * Lady Charlotte Murray, Countess of Dunmore (1740-1818) *

Lady Augusta Murray Lady Augusta De Ameland (''born'' Murray; 27 January 1761 – 4 March 1830) was a Scottish aristocrat and the first wife of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex, the sixth son of George III. They married on 4 April 1793 in Rome. Their unio ...

(1761-1830) * Sir Augustus Frederick d'Este (1794-1848) *

Thomas Wilde, 1st Baron Truro Thomas Wilde, 1st Baron Truro, (7 July 178211 November 1855) was a British lawyer, judge, and politician. He was Lord Chancellor, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain between 1850 and 1852. Background and education Born in London, Truro was t ...

(1782–1855) *

Augusta Emma d'Este Augusta Emma Wilde, Baroness Truro (née d'Este; 11 August 1801 – 21 May 1866) was the daughter of Prince Augustus Frederick, Duke of Sussex and Lady Augusta Murray. Her mother was the second daughter of John Murray, 4th Earl of Dunm ...

, Baroness Truro (1801–1866)

References

External links

A Church Near You entry

Parish website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Ramsgate, Saint Laurence Church of England church buildings in Kent Grade I listed churches in Kent

Saint Laurence Saint Lawrence or Laurence (; 31 December 225 – 10 August 258) was one of the seven deacons of the city of Rome under Pope Sixtus II who were martyred in the persecution of the Christians that the Roman emperor Valerian ordered in 258. ...

11th-century church buildings in England Diocese of Canterbury