Isle of Thanet
Thanet would mean "place of the holm oaks", such as the Northern French Thenney (Eure, Thaneth ab.
[8] The 7th-century Archbishop Isidore of Seville recorded an apocryphal folk-etymology in which the island's name is fancifully connected with the Greek word for death (Thanatos/Θάνατος), stating that Thanet, "an island of the ocean separated from Britain by a narrow channel ... [was] called Tanatos from the death of serpents; for while it has none of its own, soil taken from it to any place whatsoever kills snakes there.
In 2017 archaeologists from the University of Leicester excavated a Roman fort covering up to 49 acres (20 ha) at Ebbsfleet, and dated it to around 55–50 BC.
They further linked it to Caesar's invasion of Britain in 54 BC, and suggested that the invading force arrived in nearby Pegwell Bay.
According to the eighth-century ecclesiastical historian Bede, Vortigern, King of the Britons, was under attack from other tribes and called for assistance.
As the following extract from the Historia Brittonum (first written sometime shortly after 833) testifies: Then came three keels, driven into exile from Germany.
In them were the brothers Horsa and Hengest ... Vortigern welcomed them, and handed over to them the island that in their language is called Thanet, in British Ruoihm.
[18][a] In reality, it appears to have been settled by Jutes[b] under Visigothic authority between 476-517 AD,[19][20] though they may have been present earlier as Foederati.
The Saxon Chronicle recounts that in 1052 Earl Godwin after obtaining hostages and provisions from Sandwich sailed through the "Wantsume" towards "Northmuth" and "Lundene".
[27] Isidore of Seville wrote c.615-30 A.D. of the Isle of Thanet: "Tanatos insula Oceani freto Gallico, a Brittania aestuario tenui separata, frumentariis campis et gleba uberi.
Dicta autem Tanatos a morte serpentum, quos dum ipsa nesciat, asportata inde terra quoquo gentium vecta sit, angues ilico perimit"[28]Which translates as: "Thanet is an island in the Ocean in the Gallic (i.e. English) channel, separated from Britannia by a narrow estuary, with fruitful fields and rich soil.
[31] In 865, the Great Heathen Army encamped in Thanet and was promised by the people of Kent danegeld in exchange for peace.
[39] The 1085 survey of the Domesday Book revealed that Thanet had as tenants-in-chief the See of Canterbury and the Abbey of St Augustine, separated into the abbey-manors of St. Mildred's (larger) and Monocatune (Monkton, Monks-town).
[42] By 1334–1335 Thanet had the highest population density in Kent according to King Edward III's lay subsidy rolls.
[49] Beneath this and outcropping around the margins of the Isle is the Seaford Chalk Formation which contains relatively more flint nodules and seams.
The area gives its name to the internationally recognised Thanetian, descriptive of rocks of this particular part of the Palaeocene throughout the world.
Brickearth head deposits lie within many of the shallow chalk valleys and across some areas of flatter ground within the Isle.
Eventually the sea broke through river valleys in the North Downs to the south (Middle Chalk) and finally today's English Channel was opened up.
The Wantsum Channel gradually narrowed as pebble beaches built up at the southern end of the strait, blocking silt coming down the Stour.
There was also previously a stream called the Nethergong on the western side that had its outlet at Northmouth (Yenlade) about 1.8 km (1.1 mi) to the east of Reculver.
[57] Today the Isle is an island no longer and the erstwhile channel is now flat marshland criss-crossed by drainage ditches.
