Descriptive Gazetteer Entry for THANET

THANET, an island and a district in the NE of Kent-The island projects to the North Foreland, at the month of the Thames; is bounded, on the N and the E, by the sea,-on the SE, by Pegwell bay,-on the S, by the river Stour,-on the W, by the rivulet Nethergong; was anciently separated from the land by the Wantsome channel, about a mile wide, along the course of the Stour and the Nethergong, and used as a short cut, in the ordinary passage between London and France; became nearly connected with the land by the silting up of that channel progressively till about the year 1500; appears to have extended much further seaward in the Saxon times than now; measures at present about 10 miles from E to W, and from 2½ to 7¼ from N to S; was known to the ancient Britons as Ruim or Inis-Ruochim, to the Saxons as Tenet or Tanet-lond, to the old geographers as Thanatos; retains, or has furnished, many relics of Roman, Saxon, and Jutish inhabitation; lay, till about the beginning of last century, in nearly as wild a condition as the remotest parts of Cornwall: is now distinguished by rich cultivation and high progress; has generally a light fertile soil on a chalky bottom; includes some rich marshes on the sides of the streams; and gave, from 1628 till 1849, the title of Earl to the family of Tufton.—The district is conterminate with the island and its foreshores; comprises 27,371 acres of land, and 3,712 of water or foreshore; contains ten parishes and a ville; and is divided into the sub-districts of Minster, Margate, and Ramsgate. Poor rates in 1863, £13,250. Pop. in 1851, 31,798; in 1861, 31,862. Houses, 6,254. Marriages in 1863, 304; births, 970,-of which 60 were illegitimate; deaths, 818,-of which 248 were at ages under 5 years, and 35 at ages above 85. Marriages in the ten years 1 851-60, 2,208; births, 8,972; deaths, 6,711. The places of worship, in 1851, were 13 of the Church of England, with 12,333 sittings; 3 of Independents, with 1,675 s.; 8 of Baptists, with 2,660 s.; 2 of Quakers, with 145 s.; 13 of Wesleyans, with 3,075 s.; 3 of Primitive Methodists, with 280 s.; 1 of Lady Huntingdon's Connexion, with 650 s.; 3 undefined, with 1,000 s.; 2 of Roman Catholics, with 650 s.; and 1 of Jews, with 100 s. The schools were 24 public day-schools, with 3,879 scholars; 79 private day-schools, with 1,978 s.; 29 Sunday schools, with 3,430 s.; and 2 evening schools for adults, with 66 s. The workhouse is in Minster.


(John Marius Wilson, Imperial Gazetteer of England and Wales (1870-72))

Linked entities:
Feature Description: "an island and a district"   (ADL Feature Type: "islands")
Administrative units: Thanet RegD/PLU       Kent AncC
Place names: INIS RUOCHIM     |     RUIM     |     TANET LOND     |     TENET     |     THANET
Place: Thanet

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