Augustus Pugin had built his home, The Grange, in Ramsgate, and St Augustine's Church next door.

He donated the church to the Catholic Diocese of Southwark before his death in 1852, and The Grange remained in private hands.

[3] In 1856, the Bishop of Southwark, Thomas Grant, invited the Subiaco Cassinese Congregation of the Benedictines to form a monastic community in Kent and take over the running of the church.

[3] The monastery became independent in 1876, a priory in 1881 and was raised to the status of an abbey by Pope Leo XIII in 1896.

On 1 March 2012, the Archbishop of Southwark, Peter Smith established the church as a Shrine to St Augustine of Canterbury.